Dan Brown's Women and Religion Diverge

Angels and Demons and The Davinci Code Have Different Female Roles.

May 31, 2009

The movie, Angels and Demons, based on the novel by the same name by Dan Brown, has just been released. It's a good time to look at Brown's themes of women and religion.

Although Angels and Demons was written first, it is The Da Vinci Code that made Dan Brown a household name. Some people found the book entertaining, some found it irritating.

What is perhaps interesting to note, however, is the difference between the female characters and the role of religion between the two books.

The Woman in Angels and Demons

Vittoria Vetra, a scientist of the highest caliber, has created, with her team, antimatter. The first moment of life, as it were. She is intelligent, beautiful and well spoken. When she speaks, it is with conviction.

Of course, because she is not the hero of the story, she must play the foil to Robert Langdon, professor of symbology. The antimatter-creating-scientist must depend on the symbologist to figure out the clues in order to get her project back, the one that could destroy the Vatican altogether.

In a way, this creates the "Eve syndrome." She has created destruction, and only the man can keep her destruction from ruining the world, especially the world of religion (the Vatican). She has overstepped her boundaries by taking the ultimate power of creation into her own hands, and the world is going to pay for it.

When they are running to or from anything at all, she is behind him, following his lead. When he posits a theory, he must explain it to her--the creator of antimatter.

The Woman of The Da Vinci Code

Sophie Neveu is a member of the French Police. She is a cryptologist, a woman who breaks codes for a living. She is also the daughter of a man famous for his study of Da Vinci and the world of symbology attached to Da Vinci.

Again, she is intelligent, beautiful, and a side kick. This time, however, she has even less activity and intelligence that her counterpart in Angels and Demons.

For most of the novel, she asks questions. Even with her background in code breaking and as the granddaughter of a symbologist, she has no idea whatsoever what Robert Langdon is talking about. She must be coached every step of the way, and even her own expertise falters in the wake of Langdon's superior knowledge.

And this from a book positing the lost and primary nature of the woman in religion (in the form of Mary Magdalene).

The Nature of the Catholic Church

The Da Vinci Code raised an uproar in the Catholic community. It's declarations of corruption, of indecency and even murder brought the church to Dan Brown's doorstep. Hundreds of websites were dedicated to debunking Brown's (fictional, mind you) claims.

Perhaps the primary difference between The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons with regard to the church has to do with the complicity of the church itself in the duplicity.

In Angels and Demons, there is a clear, intense hierarchy of men who run the Catholic church. The crisis, however, is brought about not by the church overall, but by one man in paricular. By the end, the reader is uncomfortable, unable to decide whether the church is still the good guy, but knowing full well that there was little harm done by the institution itself.

In The Da Vinci Code, however, it is the church itself involved in the corruption. The highest members know of murder and beatings, and condone them in order to keep the secret of Mary Magdalene safely stowed away. They hunt down the descendants of Jesus in order to kill them and keep the line from destroying the Catholic church altogether. It is the institution of the Catholic Church that is corrupt, not just one man.

Perhaps that is why there has been less uproar about Angels and Demons this time around. A single crazed priest is much easier to swallow than an entire religion gone power crazy. But Brown's treatment of the female figure as a somewhat useless foil at best, and a brainless ninny at worst, is cringe-worthy. Hopefully his newest novel, The Lost Symbol, due out September 09, will rectify that at least a little.

The copyright of the article Dan Brown's Women and Religion Diverge in Lifestyle/Pop Culture Books is owned by Victoria Oldham. Permission to republish Dan Brown's Women and Religion Diverge in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.