Rumor has it the Vatican may be planning to announce a Catholic boycott of the upcoming film Angels and Demons, opening worldwide in May:
Avvenire, the Vatican’s official newspaper, ran a story in Friday’s edition noting that the church “cannot approve” of such a problematic film. The Turin daily La Stampa, meanwhile, said the Vatican soon will call for a boycott of the film, though the same article also quoted Archbishop Velasio De Paolis, who warned against a “boomerang effect” that could call attention to the film and eventually make it more popular.
Of course, the Vatican actually did boycott The Da Vinci Code a few years back (for “slanderous” offenses against Catholicism), but the film earned three-quarters of a billion dollars around the world anyway.
What can the highest of the high priests of the Catholic Church be thinking? What can the Vatican hope to accomplish with a boycott of Angels and Demons?
(If you have a suggestion for a QOTD, feel free to email me.)
What anybody does when they announce boycotts (Jesse Jackson does this a lot). They are just calling attention to what they think is offensive material or offensive behaviors.
Let them announce. Let them boycott and move on.
I doubt they expect to accomplish anything beyond just taking their official stand for any who care. It doesn’t affect me one bit: I’m even less interested in A&D than I was in TDC. :)
(That’s not for religious reasons, either. I’m still not over my aversion brought on be seeing so many copies of TDC everywhere. Yeah, I’ve got issues.) ;)
The Vatican and The Pope are just plain pathetic.
Believe, I’m Italian, and I live side by side with this kind of people, who can’t help to put their nose in the way you think, you live, who you marry, with whom or how many times you have sex, how can you die and how long you have to suffer before dying, since we don’t have yet no DNR or whatsoever.
This all strikes me as terrible silly. The Vatican calling for a boycott on Angels & Demons is like J.K. Rowling calling for a boycott on Chronicles of Narnia because it misrepresents Giants.
It’s all independent fantasy, folks, what’s said in one has no impact on what’s said in the other.
If it makes them sleep better at night, the Pope should just consider it Vatican fanfiction. :)
If anything it makes me want to see the movie more. Then again I read the book so I already wanted to see it anyways.
This is all very confusing. See, the Vatican boycotted the first movie, which made me want to see it.
Then I saw it, and the movie (unlike the book) was TERRIBLE. Audrey Tatou had all the acting chops of a wooden plank.
So, this can’t be as bad as the first one, right? I’ve read Angels and Demons, I think it lends itself better to movie-making, and they cut out Tatou…and look, the church is boycotting it again!
Hanks gets my money again…
I don’t know what they think they’re doing, but they’re only succeeding in legitimising Dan Brown’s pseudo-mystical and utterly ridiculous bullshit. People who might otherwise go “dude, really? They’re the descendants of Mary Magdalene? How on earth does that prove that Jesus of Nazareth ever got married? Do we have his DNA? Fuck no. They could be Pontius Pilate’s descendants for all we know. WTF-ever.” end up thinking there must be something to it because, hey, the church is really upset about it.
It’s profoundly stupid. If the Pope had any brains he’d say “we’re not threatened by nonsensical fantasy” and leave it at that.
Better question: What can the Vatican accomplish, period?
Here in Italy, unfortunately for people like me, a lot.
The scandal of Da Vinci Code IMHO wasn’t about Jesus having child from Mary Madgalene, was about exposing the criminalization of feminine gender and women in general perpetrated by the Catholic Church in the last two millennia.
It was her predominant role in jesus life, her role as one of the apostole, a woman sitting side by side to eleven men, that bother Vatican and the Pope, not her so called supposed descendancy.
The rest of the fuss is just cover up, IMHO.
This reminds me of the classic “Father Ted” episode where Father Ted and Father Dougal mount a protest against a blasphemous film …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT9xuXQjxMM
Down with that sort of thing!
No idea, but it’s depressing that it amde that much money.
and the movie (unlike the book) was TERRIBLE.
No, the movie, EXACTLY like the book, was terrible.
I just think the pope needs to get laid.
What does everyone else think?