Intellectual Theft

Did Dan Brown swipe a few ideas for "The DaVinci Code?" That is the question d'jour... seems that the authors of "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" think so; they are suing Random House for intellectual theft. They contend Brown took their research as the basis for his fictional novel that purported the Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and their bloodline continues into present day. It isn't an earth shattering contention; but after 30 million copies sold and a movie starring Tom Hanks, there is a lawsuit.

I don't want to diminish the seriousness of intellectual theft, but the DaVinci Code is fiction--and if Brown borrowed ideas from the research of someone else to make his fictional story (which clearly highlights the attributes of its main character and seems a little self-serving)... well, that is fiction folks. Now, I'm not sure, but I would make a guess that this is all a bit overblown--much like Brown's book itself. I enjoyed the book, but it doesn't deserve the hype. I think it is more a case of we have a good writer who told an interesting story and we are so starved a culture for something decent that doesn't require a PhD we will grasp onto the first thing that isn't Harry Potter.

That'd be it for the day. Bis spater...