Hoplophobic weenies as main characters in movies/books (Da Vinci Code)

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dischord

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The main character of a book/story/movie etc. must engender sympathy -- something the reader can relate to. I'm using the word sympathy in the literary sense, not as the common way to describe the "aww, that's too bad" emotion. Even an evil character (like Hannibal Lector) must be someone whom you "love to hate" or "love to fear" versus someone whom you can't stand.

There is a certain type of anti-gun character that undercuts my sympathy -- the hoplophobic weenie. I can sympathize with other types of anti-gun characters. I can find them compelling and interesting even as I dislike what they stand for. But the weenies simply turn me off.

I just finished The Da Vinci Code. Did anyone else role their eyes at the hoplophobia of the main character, Langdon? Every time he had to handle a gun, he couldn't wait to be rid of the eeeevil thing. (Then again, perhaps that's an accurate portrayal of an Ivy League professor).

Incidentally, I would have found the book to be an utter disappointment regardless of the anti-gun stuff. I'm a huge fan novels about conspiracy theories (it's even behind my handle, dischord). I've read and re-read books like Illuminatus! and Foucault's Pendulum. The Da Vinci Code is just a hollow hack job in comparison.

If Foucault's Pendulum is a beautiful, hand-engraved Beretta over/under, Da Vinci Code is a plastic toy that shoots suction-cup darts.
 
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Ummmm...that's odd, because Neal Stephenson is one of US. You may be reading parody wrong? Go read Cryptonomicon if you don't believe me.
 
I thought it was a really good book, In fact I went and got another by the same author. I reccommended it to a bunch of people. Oh well.
 
It's "Hoplophobia", dude. Like the Greek "hoplites".

"Holophobia" is the fear of holisim? :confused:

I'm going to have to read The Da Vinci Code sometime, just because it seems like every other human being has read it. :)
 
I'm reading it right now. So far it is so-so. :eek:

One thing that really surprised me though. At the beginning of one chapter, it described the evil Albino guy as having received a H&K USP40 from his boss. I thought that was pretty cool 'cuz I like USPs!

However, his boss told him not to take it into the church, 'cuz instruments of death are forbidden in the house of God.

:banghead:
 
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However, his boss told him not to take it into the church, 'cuz instruments of death are forbidden in the house of God.
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Yeah. Does anyone know what the Swiss Guards are armed with (besides the pikes).

What do the pope's real bodyguards pack?
 
Blashphemer! :D

To even think that Neal Stephenson wrote 'The Da Vinci Code' is unthinkable!

Stephenson's got it all over pretty much any other modern writer. I know I run the risk of irritating many with the following statement, but at least to me, Stephenson has a better understanding of the times we live in, and does a better job of translating it into text than even Tom Wolfe.

Regarding the topic at hand, I've found that characters usually seem to either make poor decisions (going somewhere they shouldn't go without being armed) or are ignorant of firearms more than they are against them as part of their character.
 
A few examples of Langdon's weenie reaction to guns.

p. 134

Moment's later, Langdon's pulse was still thundering as he ran beside Sophie down the emergency stairwell toward the ground level. Neither of them had said a word since leaving the Salle des Etats. The guard's pistol was now clutched tightly in Langdon's hands, and he couldn't wait to get rid of it. The weapon felt heavy and dangerously foreign.
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p. 177

Sophie pulled the taxi into a parking space near the entrance and killed the engine. "You'd better leave the gun here."

With pleasure, thought Langdon, sliding the pistol under the seat.
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With pleasure, thought Langdon, sliding the pistol under the seat.
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Weenie. :rolleyes:

Anybody ever read Clive Cussler's books? I can't back it up, but I'd swear that Cussler's one of us. Dirk Pitt (the main character) uses a few different guns, chiefly a 1911 that his dad carried in WWII, and packs it where he pleases without a permit. :D

If you haven't read any of his, try Inca Gold.

Wes
 
Wasn't it a Clive Cussler book that ends with a bunch of Civil War reenactors filling their guns with stones (or something) so that they can defend the main character against some baddies armed with modern firearms?
 
Cusslers' latest main character "Kurt Austin" uses a Bowen custom revolver, specifically a .50AE Redhawk I believe......MMMmmmm....Bowen. I think it was the first book with Kurt Austin in it, but I don't remember the title.

He's gotta be one of us if he arms his protaganist with such finery.:p
 
I thought the Da Vinci Code was a great book. I really enjoyed it. I have never read the other books you mention, so I can't compare them. I didn't get as excited about the gun thing as you, although I did think about it. It seemed to me that Langdon was thrown into this situation and he was hoping that since he didn't do anything wrong, he would be exhonorated (?) and didn't want to dig the hole any deeper or make himself appear any more guilty than he already did by doing something like shooting a police officer.
Didn't he later weild a gun in the church ?
 
Dischord:
Not stones, but concrete-filled projectiles (I believe soup or soda cans, been a few years) were used by a bunch of civil war reenactors in their cannon, a LeMat revolver also managed to get involved somehow in the firefight.

Kharn
 
Kharn: Not stones, but concrete-filled projectiles (I believe soup or soda cans, been a few years) were used by a bunch of civil war reenactors in their cannon,
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Yeah, the cannon thing rings a bell. And wasn't a big old paddle boat involved somehow too?
444: I have never read the other books you mention, so I can't compare them.
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They are amazingly better.

Illuminatus!

Foucault's Pendulum
 
I have no idea which one it would be, my collection's at my parents' house. I just have a thing for remembering funny incidents in books.

Kharn
 
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