Arts and Ideas:
Decoding the Da Vinci Code
Spring 2007
Room: HUM 206
Time: MW 5:30-6:50
Instructor: Dr. Micheal Crafton
Office:
Office of the Vice President, Sanford Hall
Email: mcrafton@westga.edu
Home page: http://www.westga.edu/~mcrafton/
Course Description: Regardless of your own particular beliefs or
response to the publication of the Da
Vinci Code, a novel by Dan Brown and recent film by Ron Howard, there can
be no disputing the fact of its popularity. The number of copies sold has been
remarkable, very remarkable. It is also
a sign of the power of this very story that so many attendant books and videos
have been published over the past year or so.
In fact, often in a Waldenbooks or Barnes and Nobles, you will not find
a single presentation of the novel but rather a display of the Da Vinci Code industry, the novel, other novels by Dan Brown, and all
the various explanations, justifications, vilifications, travels guides, maps,
and picture books to help you make sure you understand this novel. What’s more, people are buying these books in
significant numbers.
What is behind this? This course will attempt to answer, at least
in part, this question by looking at some of the traditions, very old
traditions in many cases, the novel is building upon, and we will try to assess
just how much the novel simply continues these old traditions, such as the
literature of the Holy Grail, or the importance of the feminine in religion and
myth, and where the novel departs from them.
We will employ the tools and texts of history, philosophy, and religion
to help us sort out the truth claims of the novel and then we will invoke the
disciplines of literature, art, and mythology to help us with the fictional
constructions of the novel, its mythmaking quality. Finally, we will attempt finish the
exploration of the novel’s penetration into popular culture by examining some
of the various spoofs and parodies. The Norman Rockwell Code could well be
the most insightful and the most enjoyable.
Students will not only look at texts and
cultural events that impinge directly upon the Da Vinci Code (church group discussions of the text, web sites, visiting
lecturers, articles and films) but also at the indirect analogues to the
text. The book participates in many
genres: it’s a detective story, an academic novel, a romance, a quest novel, a
search for identity, a muckraker novel, a travel narrative, and a celebration
of high Western art. It is also celebration of anthropology and the wisdom of
the ancients, a Holy Grail quest, a tale of scandal, and a critique of
religion, a critique of patriarchy, a celebration of sex, a semiotic puzzle
book, a mythmaker, and a sly postmodernist play of blurring the boundaries
between fiction and truth. This course
will make you a “symbologist,” like Robert Langdon, admired by your friends and
feared by the pious.
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Requirements: |
Grade weights: |
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Three tests |
70% |
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Attend five artistic events (plays,
recitals, concerts, shows) during the course of the semester. For each event, the student must submit a
one to two page summary and review of the event |
20% |
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Participation (Coming to class prepared,
engaged, and contributing.) |
10% |
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Learning Outcomes |
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General
Learning Outcomes of All XIDS Classes: To establish an understanding of the
interrelationships among the arts and ideas. To give the student a framework
inclusive of the historical settings, cultural forces, and philosophical
wellsprings that contribute to the production of artistic works. To experience participating in the
performance of a creative, collaborative work of art. Learning
Outcomes for Decoding the Da Vinci Code: To
gain a general sense of what in this novel by Dan Brown has appealed to
millions of readers and disturbed and angered so many as well. To
understand some of the historical, artistic, literary and philosophical
contexts that the novel builds upon: Women in Catholic Church; the early
history of the Church; the role of secret societies in medieval and modern
societies; the literary and interpretation of the Holy Grail. Finally,
to understand the appeal of codes, secret codes, that open up prophesies,
reveal hidden truths. |
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Texts: |
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Da Vinci Code. Dan Brown. 2003. Secrets
of the Code.
Dan Burstein 2004. Truth
and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code : A Historian Reveals What We Really Know
about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Constantine. Bart D. Ehrman Chrétien de Troyes. Perceval Some online texts or short films may be
assigned. We will also view some films: Excalibur, Monty Python and the Holy Grail Excalibur.
Dir.
John Boorman. 1981. Da
Vinci Code.
Dir. Ron Howard (if released by then). 2006 The
Norman Rockwell Code. Dir. Alfred Thomas Catalfo. 2006 |
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Dates |
Topics |
Readings & Assignments |
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M |
1-08 |
Introduction to the course |
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W |
1-10 |
Begin the novel |
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M |
1-15 |
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W |
1-17 |
Finish novel |
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M |
1-22 |
Secrets of the Code – Books II and III |
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W |
1-24 |
Secrets of the Code – Books II and III |
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M |
1-29 |
Secret Societies – chapter 6 |
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W |
1-31 |
Truth
and Fiction
– |
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M |
2-5 |
Truth
and Fiction
– chapters 3-4 |
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W |
2-7 |
Judas
Gospel –
Our focus here will be on the short gospel itself; read as much as you can
and we will finish on the second day. |
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M |
2-12 |
Judas
Gospel |
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W |
2-14 |
Truth
and Fiction
– Women in the Church – chapters 5-6 |
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M |
2-19 |
Truth
and Fiction
– Women in the Church – Chapters 7-8 |
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W |
2-21 |
No class due to Administrative Conference |
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M |
2-26 |
Review for exam |
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W |
2-28 |
Mid-Term
Exam |
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M |
3-5 |
“The
Lost Gospels” – Chapter 3 in Secrets of
the Code (pages 107-139 in the paperback version) |
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W |
3-7 |
Holy Grail introduction – Start reading
Chrétien’s Perceval |
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M |
3-12 |
Continue Chrétien Perceval http://www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/medieval/medieval-1443.0-none.html Grail Image |
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W |
3-14 |
Finish Chrétien Perceval |
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M |
3-19 |
Spring Break |
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W |
3-21 |
Spring Break |
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M |
3-26 |
Excalibur |
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W |
3-28 |
Excalibur |
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M |
4-2 |
Templar Knights |
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W |
4-4 |
Templar Knights |
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M |
4-9 |
Leonardo: Symbols – Part III, Chapters 7,8,
and 9 in the Hardback and chapters 6 and 7 of Secrets of the Code – read about half. |
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W |
4-11 |
Leonardo: Codes – finish the assignment. |
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M |
4-16 |
Modern Grail Quests |
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W |
4-18 |
Monty
Python and the Holy Grail |
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M |
4-23 |
Monty
Python and the Holy Grail |
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W |
4-25 |
Last day of classes |
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M |
4-30 |
Exam 5:30-7:30 |
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