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Saturday
21Mar2009

The Pope Might Issue 'Angels & Demons' Boycott

DateSaturday, March 21, 2009 at 8:10PM
Perhaps there is no better, more effective form of advertising and buzz-building than a good ol' fashioned protest. I can't think of any product or service, actor or athlete who became less well known following a public ignoring session.

Not surprisingly, the Vatican might call for a worldwide boycott of Angels & Demons, because, you know, it worked so well with The Da Vinci Code. According to published reports this weekend, Avvenire the official Vatican newspaper, noted that the Church "cannot approve" of Ron Howard's adaptation of the incendiary Dan Brown novel, while the Italian paper La Stampa indicated that the boycott would occur soon.

However, La Stampa also quoted Archbishop Velasio De Paolis, who rightly believes that addressing the film in such a manner would actually raise more curiosity about the film, the kind of curiosity that would make people buy tickets to see how controversial the movie is.

The Vatican has not made an official statement about the film, although the "cannot approve" thing seems to be the right temperature. Perhaps a more effective way to address it is for the Vatican to merely acknowledge that the Robert Langdon adventures are purely works of fiction and point out that both Da Vinci and Angels & Demons are only meant to entertain.

However, something tells me if the Church takes an official position, that won't be it.

AuthorColin Boyd | | in , , | Print ArticlePrint Article | | CommentPost a Comment |

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