Why the fuss over Brown’s The Da Vinci code? The dynamism of 'icons' and the in/stability of meaning

Abstract

Dan Brown’s book, “The Da Vinci code” (2003) and the sub-sequent motion picture by the same title (2006), have created a considerable stir within, but not limited to, Christian circles. The cause of the controversy is that, despite Brown’s overt pre-sentation of this work as fiction, it draws on figures, events and themes regarded in religious circles as sacred – most par-ticularly in Christian circles. Holy figures, events and themes are sensitive matters to believers: the meanings attached to them are regarded as essentially fixed, with connotations of perma-nence and eternity. Literature of many kinds, however, reinter-pret set meanings, loosening their perceived inflexibility, thus opening up a dynamism quite foreign to popular notions of definite meaning.