International protests against "Da Vinci Code" movie

[asterroc]

In Athens, Greece, some 200 religious protesters, waving crucifixes and Greek flags, demonstrated Tuesday in protest of the film. The protesters -- including Orthodox monks and nuns -- later marched peacefully to parliament.

"All religions merit respect, so why don't they show respect in this case instead of attacking all that we hold sacred?" said Athanasios Papageorgiou, president of St. John the Theologian group in Peania, east of Athens.

"I've read the book. It's despicable," he added. "The Muslims for one cartoon burnt anything, so what should we do?"
--CNN/AP

Protest peacefully, that's what! Duh. I'm waiting for the Vatican to make a statement.

Meanwhile, the movie manages to offend secular groups as well.

Also, while not planning a protest or boycott, members of the National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation expressed unhappiness with the film's heavy, a monk-assassin, being an albino, as described in the book.

Michael McGowan, an albino who heads the organization, said "The Da Vinci Code" will be the 68th movie since 1960 to feature an evil albino.

The "Da Vinci" character "is just the latest in a long string," McGowan said. "The problem is there has been no balance. There are no realistic, sympathetic or heroic characters with albinism that you can find in movies or popular culture."

He said the group aims to use the movie's popularity to raise awareness about the realities of albinism. People with albinism have little or no pigmentation in their skin, eyes and hair.

Comments

[sclerotic-rings.livejournal.com]

No heroic albinos in popular culture? Have they not even heard of one of my childhood fictional role models (http://www.stormbringer.net/elric.html)?

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

They said popular culture. SF fandom exists precisely because it's not popular.

I never actually read that series, I'm afraid.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

I find it strange how all these religious groups are encouraging disclaimers that it's a work of fiction. NO SHIT! Tom Hanks isn't an globe-trotting historian-detective. A disclaimer would be insulting the viewers' intelligence. I'm sure there's already such a disclaimer in the book, that's standard for fiction novels, and the movie's based on the book, so it's a no-brainer. *sigh*

enough Jesus to go around?

[magicgravel.livejournal.com]

I only read the first quarter of the book, then skipped to the wikipedia summaries. Basically all it says is that Jesus married and fathered a child. Is that so bad? We are glad to hear of John Elway and John Lennon and Teddy Roosevelt having kids.

Re: enough Jesus to go around?

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Not any worse than drawing cartoons of Prophet Mohammed.