The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown and the new film version from director Ron Howard are serving as inspiration for bloggers: the blogosphere is absolutely on fire about both. The posts have been increasing in the lead-up to the film's opening today. Not everyone is excited about the film. The film has been criticized by the Catholic Church and other religious groups. Opus Dei even started a blog to battle errors they believe are found in the book and film.
The controversy about some of the elements in the book -- especially about Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene -- are part of what is driving the blog posts. As anyone who has ever moderated a web forum or blog comments will tell you, there is nothing that starts flame wars like religious discussions. People also love the codes and secrets contained in the mystery novel.
Early
reviews of the film are in from critics who saw the film at the Cannes
Film Festival and are mixed so far. But mixed reviews
are unlikely to stop the book's fans from flocking to the theatres, especially when Roger Ebert gives the film a "Thumbs Up."
Technorati shows about 100,000 posts for The Da Vinci Code and the graph on the right shows that posts have increased to nearly 4,000 daily as the film date got closer and closer. And that's just the English language posts. BlogPulse shows 54,000+ posts, Google shows over 250,000 posts and IceRocket's index has over 100,000 post about The Da Vinci Code.
Here is a a collection of blogosphere links discussing the Da Vinci Code book and film. For the ten people left on the planet who don't know the book's big reveal then be warned: most of the articles and posts are full of spoilers.
The Book: The Da Vinci Code novel has sold over
43 million in hardcover worldwide since it was released in 2003.
The novel was finally
released in paperback this year and has already sold six million copies. Some sources put the total of books sold as exceeding 60 million copies.
Leonardo Da Vinci: The film has stirred interest in artist and inventor
Leonardo Da Vinci and
there have been new tv shows, like Da
Vinci & The Code He Lived By about his art and his inventions. Most
of the interest is in Da Vinci's painting of The Last Supper. A
Blog Critics post
points to resources like The Artcyclopedia
and this website for pictures
and information about Da Vinci's artwork. Technorati shows over 3,000 posts
discussing Da Vinci and the Last Supper.
Fending Off Lawsuits: Dan Brown has had to fend off lawsuits and
plagiarism accusations. He won the most recent case in England.
The judge Peter Smith even came up with some code of his own.
Dan Brown also won in a lawsuit
from author Lewis Perdue, who believes
his novels Daughter of God and The Da Vinci Legacy were plagiarised by author Dan Brown.
One cardinal has even threatened lawsuits.
Now that the plagiarism lawsuits are over Dan Brown is back
to writing his next novel, The Solomon Keys.
Opus Dei: Opus Dei launched
a blog to try and counter the evil image of them portrayed in the book and film.
Catholic Church: A Catholic Cardinal said
the film must be stopped. The Catholic Church has urged boycotts.
There have also been protests worldwide. Even some nuns are protesting.
Actor Tom Hanks recently defended the film from critics.
More Da Vinci Code and Religion: LifeChanging Blog points to
this collection
of Da Vinci Code related articles from Christianity Today. Here is an article debunking some of The Da Vinci Code from CatholicEducation.org. In some
countries Muslims are also upset about the novel and the film -- the film has
been banned in some Middle East countries. But the film will
be seen an India where a ban had been threatend. A British poll shows that many do believe some of what is suggested in
the novel. The Da Vinci Hoax blog claims to dispel errors contained in the book.
Gay Spirituality and Culture says the book's fans are not stupid: "It's easy for
conservative religionists to focus on allegations that Dan Brown's book drops the ball on some historical details, but this is a diversionary tactic. Conservatives do not want to address the overarching factual basis behind the Code's historiography: in the past 2,000 years, there has been a major shift of
religious paradigm."
Cannes Premiere: Perez Hilton has a picture of the Da Vinci Code pyramid at Cannes. ReadersRead.com has a another photo from Cannes. Monsters and Critics has a photo gallery from Cannes.
Will the film be a hit? That's one of the biggest debates in the blogosphere today. Defamer says Sony is not opening the champagne just yet.
Ben Witherington thinks the film will be a huge hit based on a seminar he gave in Burlington, N.C. a town of about 50,000. 2,000 of the town's 50,000 residents attended the seminar. "My prediction is that it will eclipse all other previous movies in sales including Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, perhaps in short order. And in fact the church is trying to respond to the book and the whole Da Vinci phenomena, but its response is piecemeal and inadequate."
Brendan Loy is ignoring the bad reviews: "Becky and I are off to see The Da Vinci Code. I realize many critics don't like it, complaining that it has too much exposition and gets bogged down in its own plot. But whatever. I’d
pay $8.50 (or $6.50 in this case, since it's a matinee) to watch Ian McKellen and Tom Hanks standing in a garden watching grass grow. They're that good. :)"
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown and the 
