Fagan
Shane Fagan
Joseph Cunningham
Engl2089
06-25-2013
From a Book to a Movie
There are people in this world that love to experience new things, while at the same time
there are people that are completely terrified of anything unfamiliar to them. Phrases that
exemplify the above statement have been thrown around for years. For example, the grass is
always greener on the other side. That is really saying that the current state can always be
improved. Then there is the phrase, If it’s not broken then don’t fix it. Now both of those do
make sense but they have opposite meanings. For all circumstances these statements can be
argued, but the real answer might be that change can impact its surroundings in more than one
way. In 2003, a man named Dan Brown wrote a novel called The Da Vinci Code. Three years
later in 2006, the book was brought to life in the shape of a movie. One of the greatest arguments
that occur revolves around whether books or movies are better. Different elements will be
considered to configure a more analytical comparison of the two. When Ron Howard recreated
The Da Vinci Code from text to film, particular aspects led to reinforcing some elements of
Logos while the Pathos was slowly diminished and the Ethos was virtually nonexistent.
To the people that have not read and or seen the story of The Da Vinci Code, you shall be
enlightened. To understand the plot, a brief recap of the story is all that is needed. The story is an
exploration of alternative religious history. It starts with a detective that is investigating a murder
in Paris to only discover a battle. The fight was between Priory of Sion and Opus Dei over whom
Jesus was married to (Brown 1). More into the story clues are gathered until they reach what
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they were looking for. It actually references the Holy Bible along with the Holy Grail (Brown 1).
When the book was finally published it started a lot of anger within the religions as Popes called
it, “An attack on the Roman Catholic Church.”
Before any in-depth analyzing can take place, first an overview of the story must be told
from the novel and film perspective. The novel that will be referred to is the first edition released
of The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. In both the book and movie the same main character,
Robert Langdon, is used throughout each (Espada 1). Also in both, when Langdon is asked why
he wants to be a detective he replies, “Everyone loves a conspiracy.” One of the first differences
is that Langdon starts his quest for different reasons in the book and film. In the book, he is
contacted as soon as he gets back to the hotel. In the movie, Langdon just finished speaking at a
university and when he
was autographing
books a picture of
Sauniere’s corpse was
dropped on his desk
(Espada 1). Since the
director of the film can
show and not only just
say what is going on
gives him more angles
to approach the story.
(A photograph of the Painting Mona Lisa)
Throughout the book
verbal messages were passed for the clues. Even the movie, most of the clues are shown rather
than said. For an example, Robert Langdon in one part of the movie was shaving his face until he
cut himself. A drop of blood leaked off his face and when it splattered it made a shape that
resembled the Greek letter Phi, which was the next clue (Espada 1). The advantage that books
have over movies is that objects and scenes can be more descriptive. Another instance in the
movie that differs from the original book shows this advantage. In the movie, Sophie found the
next hidden message near the Mona Lisa written on the bottom right of the painting (Espada 2).
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In the book the clue was written on an acrylic glass guard that was shielding the painting. The
reflection made it look like it was written directly over Mona Lisa’s face (Espada 2).
Some differences between the novel and film are more extensive. They affect more of the
story in an order point of view. Near the end of the film, the relationship of Sophie and Sauniere
is not known until Vernet holds Langdon and Sophie at gunpoint. In the book, Sophie tells
Vernet that she is Sauniere’s granddaughter when they are first in the bank (Espada 3). This goes
into multiple parts of the consideration process as it affects different areas. Another dramatic
event that is altered between the film and movie deals with Sophia’s siblings. In the book
Sophia’s parents and brother got into a crash and only her brother survived (Espada 3). Then her
grandparents split the two kids up until they were reunited later on. Sophia ran into her brother at
the Rosslyn Chapel, where he worked as a guide. The film takes a different approach as they
simply have him die in the crash and is never seen again (Espada 3). Not only did the film take
away a character, it lost the reuniting scene in the Rosslyn Chapel.
One other major distinction between the two is the roles the female and male characters
from the book to the movie. To begin Sophia is showed as the sidekick that is just with Langdon
when he moves through the obstacles. However in the book Sophia is said to be a skilled
cryptologist as she conquers riddles, anagrams and puzzles throughout the story (Espada 4).
Another sexist difference goes back to the Mona Lisa clue. In the film Robert Langdon figures
out the anagram, “So Dark The Con of Man.” In the novel, Sophia solved the anagram when
Langdon could not (Espada 1). Not sexist, but there is still discrimination in the next difference.
In the novel, Sophia has bright shiny red hair, and in the movie she is a brunet (Espada 3). There
are so many little differences between the two that only the major conflicting differences could
be listed.
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Ron Howard transformed this novel into a film causing a change within the rhetorical
triangle. The Greek terms Logos, Pathos and Ethos were created by Aristotle to gage the
effectiveness of arguments (Wheeler 1). First, when the book became a movie Logos were
reinforced with minor differences. The definition of Logos is an appeal to logic, and is a way of
persuading an audience by reason (Siemens 1). To go back to my argument, both the movie and
book showed strong Logos as the movie just reinforced that the story uses much logic and many
facts to complete their journey. When Robert Langdon first was the detective on the scene he
received a picture of Sauniere’s corpse. A picture
of a dead person makes for strong Logos as it
starts as proof that someone is dead. In the movie
he does not get proof, he just hears that she is
dead (Espada 1). That example along with the
character’s hair and eye colors are one of the only
instances that shows the Logos not being as
strong as in the book. The rest of the events
mostly coincide back and forth between the book
(Photo taken of the marble statue of Aristotle)
and movie dealing with Logos (Woznicki 2).
Yes, there are many differences among the book and film, but the facts remain the same. For
example, in the book Sophia decodes the anagram that was located on the acrylic glass. When
the movie took a shot at this particular scene, Langdon decoded the anagram that was not found
in the exact same location (Espada 2). The fact of the situation is that when both the movie and
book figured out the anagram, they each got, “So Dark The Con of Man”. The only really thing
that matters is what they got, and not how they got it. The fact is that each story came up with the
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actual answer. Throughout each story they solve each step of the problem by using logic. So an
argument through logic is shown when they overcome their problems (Aristotle’s Appeals). An
example that is repeated throughout each story is how Sophia and Robert use logic to find each
clue and move on to the next one.
When the logos remained consistent during the novel-to-book transfer, the Pathos began
to fade away. Pathos are the use of emotions to assist an argument such as humor, sadness and
terror. Each emotion can drive or start up an argument in their own ways (Wheeler 1). To help
understand this, an example argument can be given for each different emotion. For example,
Wheeler stated, “When dealing with the emotion of nervousness, a person can confront someone
if they don’t recognize them.” In this specific instance the first person was nervous causing them
to start an argument with another just based off his reaction. Pathos works like this for many if
not all emotions. When dealing with the emotion of anger, it can spark an argument faster than
any other emotion out there (Aristotle’s Appeals). When anger or frustration takes over the
thoughts of a human then even just the littlest things can send that person off. For example,
picture a girl that just got dumped by her boyfriend on her birthday. Later that day when she is
furious in her bedroom, her ex-boyfriend calls to talk to her to say sorry. The emotion of anger
would change her total tone of voice sending the conversion straight into an argument.
Now after understanding the term it’s time to focus on the Pathos in The Da Vinci Code.
One major issue in the novel comes towards the beginning of the story. Sophia’s parents along
with her brother get into a car accident which kills both parents only sparing the boy (Espada 2).
Sophia’s grandparents separated the children thinking that it was the best way to handle the
disaster. This is a huge event that would trigger many different emotions throughout the
remainder of the book. By going to this scene in the movie, it’s easy to notice the differences. To
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begin, in the film there was a car accident with the same characters in the vehicle. Instead of the
boy making it out ok, all three of the passengers had fatal injuries (Espada 2). Now these are
similar as they both contain strong Pathos from each event. The big difference does not come
into play until the end of the novel. Later on in the book, Sophia made a trip to the Rosslyn
Chapel to find out that her brother that she hadn’t seen in years worked there as a guide (Espada
3). Going back to the movie, Sophia still goes to the Rosslyn Chapel and runs into the guide. In
the film, the guide is portrayed as a random person since her brother died in the car crash. When
Sophia was reunited with her brother, it gave off many types of emotions since they both were
reminded of their parents when they saw each other. Also, the fact that she had not seen him in a
long time gave her the emotion of satisfactory (Wheeler 1). This difference shows how the
Pathos was decreased when The Da Vinci Code was transformed into a movie.
While the Logos and Pathos were altered throughout the process, there is a big question
of how strong the existing ethos would be in each genre. The two different types of genre would
be the novel along with the movie. Now Ethos deals with an argument that’s based off the
author’s credibility. Williams stated, “Now, many times when reading a novel with a historical
base, readers will assume the author has done his research and it reporting true facts in his book.”
The Ethos in the book would be based on if Dan Brown’s events were actually true and not just
added in for excitement (Williams 2). In the film, the Ethos would depend on how well they
matched the information in the book, and how credible the book is as well. Dan Brown used
historical references to help aid his book along the correct path (Williams 1). The real question is
how well Brown knows his history. When looking through the information it must be found
somewhere else to note it as creditable. During this process it is easy to see that Brown made
numerous but serious errors throughout the book (Williams 1). This shows that Brown is not that
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creditable and that the Ethos within the book are weak. Since the book’s Ethos were weak and
the Ethos in the movie are directly related, it causes the film’s Ethos to be even weaker. This is
because of the added flare the director uses to try get more people to pay attention.
The Rhetorical Triangle is a big part of the English curriculum today. Logos, Pathos and
Ethos all take part in allowing literature to be broken down even further to be analyzed. The
overall impact of these on The Da Vinci Code made for a weaker film. Not in even one of the
three categories does the film have a stronger impact then the novel. These do not have an effect
on which genre will be preferred. There was a survey taken that had The Da Vinci Code book
and movie available for rating on a five star scale. The novel received an average rating of three
stars where the movie had an average of four stars (Obscured Vixen). Simply those ratting were
taken from the view point of how much each one was liked, and not based off the Rhetorical
Triangle. When going from the book to the movie, the Logos seemed to be similar in each piece.
The Pathos in the movie were there, just not as strong as the ones in the book. Lastly, the ethos
were really weak in both but a tad weaker in the movie.
In 2003, Dan Brown tried to create a novel that would be based off of a slick detective
that uses logical thinking to surpass obstacles as well as finding clues. That detective’s name
would be Robert Langdon, the main character of the novel. In 2006, Ron Howard decided to cast
Brown’s book into something the audience could see. The novel, The Da Vinci Code was
transformed into a movie with most of the same concepts. The key word is “most” as it signifies
there are differences between the two. Using the terms that Aristotle came up with, each story of
The Da Vinci Code can be further interpreted. The three terms Logos, Pathos and Ethos each
make up a corner of the Rhetorical Triangle. Logos dealt with logic, Pathos resembled emotions,
and Ethos is based off the author’s creditability. All three are used to compare the book to the
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movie in different ways to understand which one is stronger. As each one was examined the
novel showed dominance as the Logos, Pathos and Ethos all were substantial.
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Works Cited
Brown, Dan. "The Greatest Conspiracy of the Past 2000Years Is About to Unravel." Dan Brown.
N.p., Sept. 2005. Web. 27 June 2013.
Brown, Daniel. "The Da Vinci Code Quotes." Good Reads Quotes. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 June
2013.
Espada, Juan. "The Da Vinci Code - Novel vs Movie." The Da Vinci Code - Novel vs Movie.
N.p., 31 Dec. 2006. Web. 27 June 2013.
Lysippus. Aristotle. Digital image. Wikipedia, 24 June 2011. Web. 27 June 2013.
Mona Lisa. Digital image. Mona Lisa's Eyes Uncovered. N.p., 13 Dec. 2010. Web. 27 June
2013.
"The Obscured Vixen." The Obscured Vixen. Book-vs-Movie, 17 Sept. 2011. Web. 27 June
2013.
O'Neill, Tim. "History vs The Da Vinci Code." History vs The Da Vinci Code. N.p., 2006. Web.
27 June 2013.
Wheeler, Kip L. "Pathos and Emotion." Pathos and Emotion. N.p., 8 Apr. 2013. Web. 27 June
2013.
Willams, Gary. "Truth About Da Vinci." Author Dan Brown. N.p., 2009. Web. 27 June 2013.
Woznicki, Don. "New Ethos." Da Vinci Code. N.p., 17 June 2008. Web. 27 June 2013.
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