Last night, I went to see the Da Vinci Code movie with JK and I had a blast. Not so much because it’s a good movie (because, hell, it’s not) but because of all the different directions you can potentially run with it. I have a few different conversations about it that I think would be worth starting. But here are two interlocking ones to get the ball rolling.

I found a LiveJournal blogger yesterday who I think has perfectly crystallized one of the streams of thought regarding this movie and book. It has to do with how could people take it so seriously (protests, etc), since it’s “only” a work of fiction, after all:

GET OVER IT PEOPLE, THE DA VINCI CODE IS A FUCKING MOVIE! A MOVIE! NOT SCRIPTURE! NOT LAW! NOT ANYTHING MORE THAN A HOLLYWOOD MOVIE OF A WORK OF FICTION!!!!!

I’m not going to argue that it’s not a work of fiction, even though Dan Brown himself alleges that it’s all completely based in fact. But I’ve seen few people ask the simple question why fiction is so powerful as to provoke this kind of response to people. When you say something is “just fiction” or “just entertainment”, you break down a whole line of worthwhile questioning before you eve get started.

So what are the possible benefits of producing a work of fiction on the subject of Jesus and religion and hidden history. I’ll start and you can add your own items to the list.

1. Fiction is more emotionally gripping than fact. It operates on different parts of the mind and heart to read a novel with protagonists and intrigue and bad guys and suspense than to simply read a dry history of events.
2. A story invites multiple interpretations rather than singular readings. Though the dichotomy is probably a false one, we are taught that fiction is interpretive and facts are not. Facts are just facts. We aren’t typically taught that they can be twisted or distorted or highlighted to suit a specific agenda. By dumping the need for factual accuracy, you’re given a sort of creative license to do whatever you want with the material and concepts at hand. The cognitive dissonance caused by introducing new ideas is greatly limited because the guard is let down during periods of “entertainment.”
3. Moving something into the realm of fiction cuts off certain arguments at the knees. If people attack your work of fiction as inaccurate or misleading, you can simply use the defense of “This is just fiction. Did you forget?” It makes your attackers look like idiots for criticizing you - while they simultaneously energize your work of “fiction”. We tend to believe culturally that it’s only children and crazies who can’t successfully distinguish fact from fiction. People who get drawn into arguing against it suddenly becomes as foolish as Dan Quayle assailing the tv character of Murphy Brown.
4. And yet, there’s some deep part of our mind that makes literally no distinction between fact and fiction. It is unconcerned even with if something is happening to you or if you’re watching it happen to someone else. It reacts similarly in either case. Check out one of the underlying scientific bases behind this, with mirror neurons. And also check this fiction authors description of that effect when we immerse ourselves in stories.

What else do stories do? Why else are they powerful and important? I don’t believe that there is any such thing as “just fiction” or “simple entertainment”. Adopting such a stance reduces one’s powers of discernment and the ability to reflect on the intended and actual effects of a piece of communication. Breaking things down into strict categories of “fact” versus “fiction” is a misdirection that obscures the fact that both are equally valid and effective modes of human communication. We can tell lies with facts and truths with fiction, and vice versa. And it’s up to us to figure out which is which, because no one else is going to do that for us.