The Da Vinci Code
Bestseller of a sexual ideology
The Da Vinci Code, was first published by Dan Brown in 2003. This book is probably the most popular novel written in the last ten years.
It is also of interest in regard to sexual politics. Why? Because the novel deals centrally
with the perverse question, did Jesus fuck and what would that mean?
Anything to do with sexual politics and deviance
is off course fair subject matter for ThinkBomb. So welcome to the analysis…
The Da Vinci Code book has become famous and controversial mainly for its claim that Christ had sex and that the established Catholic Church is an oppressive organisation. Various religious groups have therefore taken issue with the Da Vinci Code, its outrageous and provocative claims. No similar thing can be said about the book's claims about the history of sexual power and implicitly about contemporary sexual politics. Feminism is writ large in the book. In fact, we may say that it is a work of feminist pulp fiction. Yet no media attention has previously been drawn to this.
A work of fiction presents a problem for a critical examination of its political, historical and social claims. Dan Brown, the author, can claim that he didn't intend for his (fictional) claims to be taken seriously. It was just written as entertainment. But of course this is disingenuous. It is an argument that provides him an opportunity to be unaccountable, to make claims that WILL be taken seriously by many people. It is possible for an author to use fiction as a vehicle for presenting facts, or myths, and then to hide, when the "fictional" work is criticized.
The aim here is not to question the intention of Dan Brown. It is simply to analyse his claims, which have caused such controversy and have been influential.
An overview of the plot
The Da Vinci Code is broadly a detective thriller, in which there is a search for a precious object (the Holy Grail), via various clues and symbols and a wild chase. The plot involves murder, institutional power, conspiracy. Brown draws in ancient characters such as the Knight's Templar and suggests new information (revelations) about Christ, about Art and a variety of other things. The plot development takes place in real locations in Europe, with factual accounts of places and buildings. This genuinely factual component of the book helps to authenticate the book; makes it more plausible in the other plot realms.
The key sexual theme of the book, and arguably the central underlying political claim, is about the suppression of women in western society. To put that another way, the Catholic Church, as an institutionalised religion, controlled western societies and in the process also suppressed women.
The central story of the book revolves around the Louvre, a murder and Leonardo Da Vinci’s art. In the storyline, Brown treats Leonardo’s famous painting of Mona Lisa as a central plot device. The Mona Lisa is also characterised as a powerful political-sexual symbol.
According to the plot, da Vinci was essentially a feminist… and as is pointed out, also a fag, which may not be so coincidental. Da Vinci apparently painted the Mona Lisa in such a way that a sacred feminine side to her was emphasised, even though she is apparently also androgynous, according to Langdon, the hero-professor of the novel.
This is revealed in a lecture that Langdon gives to inmates in a prison:
"Because da Vinci was a big fan of feminine principles, he made Mona Lisa look more majestic from the left than the right…Actually, da Vinci was in tune with the balance between male and female." Chapter 26, Page 166
Langdon then explains that the knowing smile of Mona Lisa is due to her embodiment of male and female energy: a harmonious androgyny.
Da Vinci, who lived hundreds of years ago, was allegedly an artistic proto-feminist. Essentially, da Vinci and many others, in an organisation called “the Priory”, attempted to maintain the memory of female sacredness, through secret symbols and a secret society. This storyline then takes us to the central thesis of the book. The Mona Lisa and its symbolism leads us to an understanding that the sacred feminine side of humanity has been suppressed for millenia.
The novel's hero Langdon, continues to reflect on what is essentially Brown's own underlying propaganda/fantasy:
“the Priory’s tradition of perpetuating goddess worship is based on a belief that powerful men in the early Christian Church "conned" the world by propagating lies that devalued the female and tipped the scales in favour of the masculine." Chapter 28, page 172
Professor Langdon then explains that the Priory believed that it was the emperor Constantine, who:
"converted the world from matriarchal paganism to patriarchal Christianity by waging a campaign of propaganda that demonized the sacred feminine, obliterating the goddess from modern religion for ever." Chapter 28, page 172
Dan Brown indicates, in his literary disguise as Professor Langdon, that The Church suppressed the significance of Mary Magdalene as an individual warranting Christian devotion. This is where the question of whether Christ fucked is crucial. If Christ fucked a woman, then that woman is Mary Madgalene, and she must be given a higher status in Christian ideology. If Marie Magdalene is given a higher status, then so will all women... in a religious parallel to feminist goals.
Brown… sorry, Langdon, his fictional professor, claims that symbols of feminine power were suppressed and distorted in ancient times and in the present day. Mary Magdalene was suppressed symbolically and this led to the suppression of womankind, actually. Most importantly, and strictly along feminist lines, Brown/Langdon suggests that patriarchal/religious world power has led to a global imbalance of sexual power. This imbalance is responsible for many of the evils of the world, particularly war.
Professor Langdon speaks:
'Maleus Maleficarum… indoctrinated the world to the dangers of freethinking women' and instructed the clergy how to locate, torture and destroy them."
Landon, the professor, then claims that The Church burned 5 million women in 300 years of witch hunts. This murder of women, including gypsies, female scholars, priestesses and mystics, resulted in the world becoming a masculine-dominated place.
"Women, once celebrated as an essential half of the spiritual enlightenment, had been banished from the temples of the world." Chapter 28, pages 173-174
The effect of women's disempowerment resulted in...
“testosterone-fueled wars, a plethora of misogynistic societies and a growing disrespect for Mother Earth." Page 174
In other words, all evil in the world is caused by the absence of female power, including the modern environmental crisis. All evil is male. Man destroys the world, but women can clean it up!
In his book, Dan Brown makes an identical claim to standard feminism. His book is in its central theme a feminist text. This is quite extraordinary, given that it is a work of fiction that has been read by millions of people. Fiction is a type of literature that is often taken very seriously by readers. Fiction literature often acts as an educational device, helping to form people’s concept of historical events or human nature. So Dan Brown is effectively also acting to perpetuate a modern myth about sexual power. Dan Brown has helped to perpetuate feminism: its myths, its lies and fantasies. Yet there has been no resistance to this aspect of his book.
This brings us to one final question about the author of The Da Vinci Code himself. What kind of man is he in regard to his sexual attitude?
Dan Brown seems to hold men in contempt. In a late episode of the book he allows his hero professor to disparage his own male students, while upholding the maturity of the female students:
"The next time you find yourself with a woman" he tells his male students, "Challenge yourself to find that spark of divinity that man can only achieve through union with the sacred feminine.'
The women smiled knowingly, nodding.
The men exchanged dubious giggles and off-colour jokes.
Langdon sighed. College men were still boys." Chapter 74, Page 413
Of course the college women in his class are all mature.
We have to ask ourselves here whether Dan Brown the author is directly projecting his own feelings about the nature of sexual maturity. If he is, then it reflects badly on his patronising attitude toward men in general. We may well say the opposite of what Brown proposes in his novel. It is not the sacred female that has been usurped. It is the "sacred" male that has been usurped in modern societies. It is the masculine that has been suppressed, in symbol and in actuality, in modern society.
All quotes are taken from the text The Da Vinci Code, Corgi Books, Transworld, 2004
Reference:
DanBrown.com
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