I read with interest on the article 'Finding an Acceptable Balance' in today's Straits Times.
The release of the movie The Da Vinci Code here in Singapore has raised certain issues with the National Council of Churches of Singapore (NCCS).
The article states that the NCCS asserts that while "artistic license is one thing, but when non-facts are presented as facts to strike at the very foundations of our faith, people get upset." In response to NCCS, the Media Development Authority (MDA) stated that "the film should be viewed as a thriller and a piece of fiction...The film can be shown but at a higher rating as only mature audience will be able to discern and differentiate between fact and fiction."
The article then hovers around the difference between the conservative NCCS and such similar councils in the Western countries who are apparently more liberal. This I shall, however, not comment on.
The Da Vinci Code is a book primarily based on fiction rather than fact. What has been presented in this book is purely for entertainment sake and of course, for interest sake. While certain thought-provoking messages and themes were portrayed in this book, yet, granted the nature of such themes and messages, it should therefore be evident that this book is purely playing on fiction rather than fact.
I do not agree with the stand NCCS has taken in response to the release of The Da Vinci Code. I feel that while non-facts are indeed present in the movie, yet these non-facts have in no way been advocated as facts. Rather than to cement their argument on the deprecation of the foundation of the faith, they should, instead, draw references from scripture and use it as a basis of their argument to counter the non-facts as presented in the movie or even in the book. The issue here is not about the foundation of the faith, but rather it is the confidence of NCCS in it's believers of the faith.
I am wholly in favour of MDA's NC16 rating for this movie owing to the provocative themes displayed. What this movie requires is a discerning eye and of course an eye for pure entertainment. This movie should be treated like any other kind of movies that have been or are or will be showing in the cinemas.
I will watch The Da Vinci Code in one of the cinemas purely for entertainment sake and to see whether the director has managed to capture the essence of the character of the book.
---till later---
