THE APPEAL OF THE DAVINCI CODE

By Shlomoh Sherman
May, 2006


Last weekend the DavinciCode movie opened to a $77 million gross. Not the largest summer weekend take but not bad. The book was on the best seller list for over a year. New york City ordered 600 copies for its public library system. Yet when my sister tried to borrow
it from her local NYC library, she would up 70 on the waiting list, and this was after almost a year of it appearing in print.

So what is the appeal of the Davinci Code?

Well it's not history altho Dan Brown, the author, acts like he is privy to some historial secrets. He's not. It's not so much the story. It's an idea that has fired the reading public.

For thousands of years religion has kept women "in their place." It's only when we leave the world of our ancestors' religions and enter the modern world that women at last have an opportunity to achieve equality. They have an opportunity and have come far - but they have not yet achieved equality with men.

The West is still in the grip of a belief in a sole male deity who calls the shots. He has no consort. His laws mitigate against equality of sexes because they mitigate against sex as an expression of romance. If the West had a female deity to complement the male deity of the Bible, our civilization would be better off. But both Judaism and Christianity don't want women to have power and so they are not happy with the idea of a female deity.

Along comes Dan Brown with his super heroine Mary Magdalene. She is the queen who returns to the West in the 21st century. She complements Jesus in a way that is uncomfortable to people of traditional religion. Women can identify with THIS Mary Magdalene as a figurehead for liberation of and power for women.

She is the new goddess for the 21st century.


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