“Angels & Demons” has followed in the controversial tradition of Dan Brown’s first book to be turned into a film, “The Da Vinci Code.” Particularly, we’ve heard that it’s anti-Catholic rubbish. But is it also soft on Muslims terrorists?
I haven’t seen the film yet, but that didn’t stop Debbie Schlussel from condemning it. The anti-Islam crusader and self-styled movie critic claimed the film “has been ‘disinfected’ by Islamopanderers (Director Ron Howard) not wanting to upset our dear friends in the ‘Religion of Peace,’ who might do something ‘peaceful’ if the movie had stayed true to the book.”
What was Howard’s transgression? Well, it appeared to one of Schlussel’s readers that, based on the IMDB cast list, the Hassassin character from the book had been changed from a hashish-smoking Muslim assassin to a Danish hitman.
“And if you look at the credits,” Schlussel wrote, “the ‘Assassin’ character isn’t played by an Ahmed Baba Ganouche or a Mohammed Tabbouli. Nope. It’s played by some dude named Nicolaj Lie Kaas. Yup, just like reader Michelle said, a Scandinavian name. Because everyone knows that those blond Scandinavians are the original Middle Eastern assassins who introduced us to the marvels of hashish and khat.”
To which Patrick Goldstein, who writes the >Los Angeles Times’ Big Picture blog, responded:
This is just part of a prolonged Schlussel shame campaign, often based on the flimsiest of evidence, to belittle Hollywood for not treating Muslims as wild-eyed villains. In one of her classic posts, she attacked Marvel Comics for giving academic internships to Arab students from the United Arab Emirates, using that as evidence to support her outrageous claim that “Spider-Man and the Hulk are embracing the new Nazis.” She also recently ridiculed the Wall Street Journal for allowing one of its reporters (“with a Muslim-sounding first name”) to write admiringly about a Muslim author doing a DC comic book.
I don’t exactly have a direct line to Ron Howard to talk to him about his casting process. But here’s my suggestion: The next time Howard does a Dan Brown thriller, if there’s a good part for a terrorist, I think he oughta make sure Debbie Schlussel gets first crack at the job.
After seeing “Angels & Demons,” Schlussel gave the film “Two Reagans—(Would have been THREE, but One Reagan Deducted for Muslim Whitewashing in Script and Phony Anti-Science Extremism)”
(Hat tip: Holy Weblog!)
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.