Book Controversies: The Da Vinci Code

 One of the prominent book controversies in my memory came in the early 2000's with the release of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. I was in a Catholic-based elementary school at the time, and the novel's premise of Jesus Christ marrying Mary Magdalene and their subsequent lineage of children was causing a fervor.

At least that's what it seemed like from the news broadcasts I remember hearing in the morning, and from a few cheeky references made by the priest during homilies. There certainly was some amount of public outcry and boycott against the novel, and especially against the author, who stubbornly insisted in interviews that although his characters were fiction, the mystery they were engaging with was based in fact (which have been heavily disputed by religious and historical scholars). He was not the first to submit such claims, but the pop culture status of his novel elevated the conversation to a global talking point.

What I remember though, is that that anger and fervor never really came home around me. Adults around me either talked excitedly about it, being engaged in the mystery or swept up in the fiction, called it bad writing and dismissed it, or giggled and joked about it in a sort of taboo scandalizing way like it was the new "forbidden fruit" (A-P-P-L-E) type thing. For me, it kept my attention in Renaissance artwork and architecture that I carry to this day. Probably fueled my enjoyment of the Assassin's Creed franchise with its themes of secrets hidden in history and devious cover-ups. But that was about the extent of it; I moved on with my life and I think most other people did as well.

I think it was my first exposure to how so many controversies become so blown out of proportion once they reach that level of pop culture status. That doesn't mean that controversies don't have real-world consequences for those involved. We know real people are hurting as consequences of book bans and threats to libraries and librarians happening now across the US. But often times those that cry the loudest in the controversy and keep it in the media cycle are those that have an agenda to fulfill by keeping the conversation prevalent, those that can profit off the attention, or those that never even read the book.