So what's the big deal with The Da Vinci Code? Three years later and everyone still talks about it. Even after receiving so much acclaim over all these years, I never had the desire to read it. Perhaps it was the hefty price tag attached to the hardback version when it first came out. Maybe it's that juvenile thought process of: It's cool to not like the Da Vinci Code since everyone else likes it so much, very similar to the way one might act when their favorite indie band gets too big (sorry Dashboard, you'll always have a spot in my closet next to all my other skeletons). Or maybe it was simply the fact that it was a series of words collected on numerous sheets of paper to which is commonly referred to as a 'book', but I wasn't going to have anything to do with it. I wasn't going to read it.
I finally caved. Earlier this week, my dad lent me The Da Vinci Code so that I could read it before the film came out. It didn't surprise me that the book was a very fast read; everyone who reads it says that. In fact, everything that people say about the book is true. It's a great book, well written, well researched, and it keeps you hooked all the way through. I finished it in a little less than two days. I don't think I have done that since Hop on Pop and even that took nearly a week.
Yesterday I watched the movie going into it with very little expectations due to the recent reviews of the film. I definitely don't think it deserves a lower freshness rating than RV. (I haven't seen RV but I can't even begin to imagine what a nightmarish bloody turd that movie must be.) The movie doesn't live up to the novel, but what book adaptations ever do? The book is so heavily saturated with what has to be hundreds of hours of research-based information that there is no way two and a half hours of film can do it justice. If it were done in a ten-hour mini-series event starring a lesser known actor where the story and the history wouldn't have to battle it out with such an iconic actor, it would then have the proper forum to be brought to life in a manner closer to the vision of the author.
On a similar note, The Da Vinci Code is popular!!! Hey did you know that people like The Da Vinci Code!?! There seems to be dozens of TV shows out right now trying to mooch off the success of the book and movie. Every channel seems to be running a special on the real Da Vinci code, or about Leonardo Da Vinci, or the story behind the story behind the story. But it's not just television that's whoring it up. Magazines, books, anything that can have words written on it more than likely has 'Da Vinci' in big bold letters across the front. Barnes and Nobel had a whole table devoted to all things Da Vinci. I was in line at the market today and saw a food and health magazine for women that said "Take The Da Vinci Diet". What the crap is that? I'm going to start marketing a new cracker called Super Da Vincheese's and selling them to soccer moms that want their child to be the popular kid at lunch. Truth be told, all it takes is a soda can wrapped in tin foil to turn your kid into an instant schoolyard success.
