Swastika in the Davinci Code 2006

Swastika's are intense symbols, like Yin and Yang on a global scale.  From the 'East' of the Hindu-Buddehic Path, it is an icon of peace and loving surrender to higher dimension of hope.  But from the 'West' of the Judeo-Christian Path it is as akin to hateful symbol of hopelessness.  The negative attachment to the Swastika was only recently added in the tragic wake of the Western Empires of WWI, due to egocentric leadership of the Western leaders, in their desire for revenge. 

In 2006 Tom Hanks played as Dr. Langdon, Robert, and he can be seen giving a lecture in the film The Divinci Code in front of a Nazi Flag.   Shocking as this may be for some, Dr. Langdon is provoking his audience to see the Swastika from an objective level.  Although it is not explained in the movie, it shows several Buddhist statues with Swastikas.  And if you have ever traveled to India, China, and Japan you would certainly see the adornment of Swastika's all over the temples, which were crated long before the birth of the modern German Nation State.
  

 The Swastika as used by Nazi's was slightly modified as it is seen in temples of the East.  Mr. Hitler rotated the device 45 degrees off its base.  Nonetheless a Swastika at any degree of rotation usually sets off a knee jerk reaction in the Western Mind as a projection of something evil.  Likewise the other religions beyond the Judeo-Christian fold are typically seen as evil manifestations from the Western mind, in private and the mainstream media.  In 2016 the film Silence put a spotlight on the 'evil' religions of the East.

Before WWII (The War of Endless Tears) the Swastika had many positive associations.  On the slide here, at the fictional lecture of our Harvard Professor, Dr. Langdon this divisive symbol in a positive view meant: Good Luck, Light, Love, and Life.  The added pictures help emphasize this with: a horseshoe for luck, two hearts for love, the Earth for life, and sunrise for light.  Oh how so different, most persons of the West currently see this symbol.

From the academic point of view, symbols are icons that must be learned to understand their meaning.  A person (the observer) through cultural learning, builds a base of knowledge that interprets a symbol as good or bad.  Eventually this learned information becomes a projection that gets deeply rooted into one's sub-conscious.  If a strong enough association is built up explicitly and subliminally, a person can not help feel anxious or at ease by a particular symbol or word.   This is why when someone curses at you in a foreign language it does not offend.  At least until the message is translated.