WOW,
1. I've certainly learnt a lot of super-hero history from this page (re Luthor etc.)
and 2.
involving the religion gets into difficult territory, because those who follow it might just find the story inadequately representative of their beliefs. It can get ugly real fast, regardless how well written or well researched it is.
What is the responsibility of authors as they set off to write? Do they have any?
I guess that this was largely my point...
Dan Brown knew that he was going to offend billions of people with his books, and so I guess because such offence was intended 100%, this may be the reason he can sleep at night.... and also how many Hollywood people etc. can produce movies and books which are done in a way that portrays the church as a villainous/ scandalous institution who's sole prerogative is to
I have no problems in general with regards to religion and fiction, and I realise that writing fiction can be an ethically challenging experience as one ponders the likely reactions by the readers, but the important thing would be to acknowledge this before one starts to write so that the process of researching the material and your end result could be as accurate as possible in its portrayal of the lives of the religion
sorry for the spiel but in my ethics classes at uni I often am fronted by portrayals of the RCC as this
Naziesque dictatorship (with regards to abortion practises in the west) I HATE being called by my fellow students
on one hand a gullible maggot/sheep or on the other
a murderous fiend who actively tries to push down the plights of women forcing them into roles of insubordination, and placing guns to their heads if they don't have 10 babies each don't ask me which is worse within a philosophical debate I cannot tell
now I know that looks ridiculous, but that is how some of my ethics "debates" ended at a secular university... although this was not the opinion of the university itself, it was hard to come out of that evening without feeling upset (to say the least)
so in essence: no I do not think that authors should steer clear of controversy just because it may offend. And nor do I think that it is their duty to do everything they can in order to avoid offence
But I do think it is their Duty to ensure that any Religious facts (including opinions in light of the facts...) that they write about are accurate from the point of the Religion in question...
Where Dan Brown failed in his duty as an author was that he reported total lies about Opus Dei (in particular) and the Church in general as FACT, he was irresponsible when he went into the media and reportedly refuted his claims to be based on the truth (which he could not back up) and subsequently caused waves of hatred and prejudice to be instigated around the world...
there has been a culture (in Australia at least) for politicians to react to any hint of Opus Dei as if it were a secret sect who (I don't know, this next bit is made up) are high up in the scandals behind the cover-up of some unknown thing of terrible consequence (WHICH THEY ARE NOT)... so now a great many people within Opus Dei are in effect silenced from speaking out politically because every time Opus Dei is mentioned, Brown is in the next sentence, and the cycle goes on....
In reality these people who join Opus Dei are hard working, self-sacrificing people who give every ounce of their being into HELPING OTHERS.... spoken through personal experience, even though I am not a member, I have a lot of close friends who are...
