week 15: The Conclave no one is talking about

& an opportunity to talk about movies & Harry Styles

The recent loss of Pope Francis and the Conclave that followed once again proved that pop culture not only mirrors culture, but creates it, amplifies it, and often times predicts it.

NBC reported that in the 24 hours after Pope Francis died, Edward Berger's 2024 film “Conclave” had a 283% spike in streaming viewership.

In those 24 hours, we also saw an uptick in memes personifying J.D. Vance as the devil, for his untimely visit to the late Pope, and his satanic socio-political stances.

During the Conclave, we saw the intersection of pop culture and culture when Harry Styles graced the Vatican as a smoke peeper (this is a phrase I just made up- its similar to leaf peepers who pilgrimage to the northeast in the fall to see the changing colors of the leaves, but instead people who go to the Vatican to see the smoke).

D- Doing: Watching the Conclave no one is talking about

The Conclave that no one is talking about takes place in the second installment of one of my favorite trilogies, Angels and Demons, the follow-up movie to none other than The Da Vinci Code.

The movie begins with the death of a Pope who is regarded in the movie as being progressive, open-minded, and well-loved. (Keep in mind this movie was released in 2009, that is 4 years before Pope Francis took the Papal Office, and became known as Pope of all the same attributes. The similarities between the events of this past month and this movie begin and end here.)

From there, we are thrown into Illuminati conspiracy theories (although not too dissimilar to what we saw happen to J.D. Vance in the wake of Pope Francis’ death), and the subsequent kidnapping of the preferiti (the favored candidates to be elected pope).

I- Interested in: Movies where professors get to behave like detective, judge, and juror at the reluctant request of law enforcement

American symbologist Professor Robert Langdon, played by none other than Tom Hanks, is brought to the Vatican to work the case and save the kidnapped cardinals.

Many of my favorite movies rely on this trope of an American white, male professor being brought to a foreign country (usually), to solve a mystery that only his specialized knowledge would equip him to solve.

(Ex in case you aren’t following: The Da Vinci Code, Indiana Jones, & National Treasure)

When written so plainly, there is something deeply troubling about the crux on which this plot hangs. Especially the white savior plot that it relies on.

G- Getting: tired of scrolling through the “also suggested” movie sections of all the above-mentioned films, and not finding anything new

If the overnight and sustained success of Outerbanks taught us anything, it is that there is a market for treasure-hunting, mystery-solving stories. More importantly, stories that include a diverse cast of characters and do not rely solely on the wits of a white man.

We can use pop culture to our advantage and create movies and shows that showcase a more progressive reality, one that the masses of viewers have time to adjust to before they are put into action.

For example, maybe the next movie made on the Conclave can show the first Female Pope being elected. Did I go too far?

In an attempt to try and avoid sounding like I am not only condoning but encouraging Progressive Government propaganda in film, I am merely suggesting that SOME of our movies inch us forward in their depiction of our society and culture, so that reality can one day mirror those advancements.

S- Suggesting: more of these movies are made, but made better

The bare minimum of what we can do is create and cast movies with the same trope that makes Dan Brown’s series so popular with an inclusive approach to casting that includes all genders, races, and nationalities (other countries have symbologists too (I’m assuming, I don’t actually know because is that even a real thing?).

So this is my humble plea to the Illuminati of Hollywood (haha, just kidding) or female fiction authors searching for their next book trilogy idea. Please make more of these movies, but please make them better.