The Davinci Code (2006)

It’s been nearly twenty years since The Da Vinci Code hit theaters, even more since the book was published, and I’m under no illusion that this movie is still part of the cultural conversation. The dust has long settled. But I recently revisited it, and it struck me again just how much damage bad storytelling can do when it masquerades as history.

Let’s be clear: The Da Vinci Code is historical garbage. Not in the "they changed a few facts for dramatic effect" way, but in the "built on thoroughly discredited conspiracy theories" way. Dan Brown didn’t uncover secrets; he dusted off ideas that were already dismissed by serious historians decades, or even centuries, before he made them the engine of his plot.

The movie is a strange artifact. It simultaneously builds its story on these conspiracies while trying to distance itself from them. Characters raise objections, poke holes, acknowledge that the "evidence" is flimsy, and then… the story barrels forward anyway. It's as if acknowledging the absurdity of the claim somehow neutralizes its toxicity. It doesn’t. It just gives the illusion of credibility. Like a magician saying, “This is just a trick,” right before pulling a rabbit out of a hat.

What fascinates me is how many people still half-believe the myths this movie popularized. Not necessarily because they trust Dan Brown, but because the story feels true. It taps into a cultural impulse, one that’s suspicious of authority, institutions, and especially religious orthodoxy. And even when people know it’s not historically accurate, the idea that “maybe there’s some truth to it” lingers like a virus in the cultural bloodstream.

It’s not just bad history. It’s a kind of storytelling that leaves people more confused, more cynical, and somehow more certain that they’re being lied to. That’s a problem. Especially when the lies are this old, this tired, and this thoroughly debunked.

So no, The Da Vinci Code isn’t relevant anymore. But the mindset it represents? That’s still very much with us. And worth pushing back against.