Monday, January 21, 2008

The Matrix: Gospel of Remediation? Response to Class Discussion

Just the brief preview of Strange Days from January 14th’s class was quite enticing. However, this called to mind the topic of the outdated textbook once again. Since I covered the film aspect in our group’s presentation, I thought of what would have happened if the book was published a few years later with the Matrix trilogy being released shortly after this text was. I don’t think Strange Days would have been made mention of at all; the living, breathing VR world of Morpheus and Neo probably would have gripped these authors much more so than the other film.

Not only did the Matrix trilogy boast the latest and greatest special effects, it also delved into the possibility of artificial intelligence and the repercussions of rapid technological advancement, as well as providing an astounding metaphor/juxtaposition for our dependence on media and technology. The metaphor/juxtaposition of which I speak in the Matrix is that the machines harvest humans as form of energy and nourishment and we feed into a world they conceptualize for us in order for mankind to remain docile. I also found it interesting that Entertainment Weekly called The Matrix, “the best science fiction piece of media in the past 25 years.” (see link to wikipedia article below) This is a very bold statement considering media encompasses not just film, but video games, television, books, graphic novels, and everything else.

Writer/Director Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, Pi, The Fountain) whom I hold in high regard for being such a prolific director, also comments, “I walked out of The Matrix and I was thinking, ‘What kind of science fiction movie can people make now?’ The Wachowskis basically took all the great sci-fi ideas of the 20th century and rolled them into a delicious pop culture sandwich that everyone on the planet devoured.” (see wikipedia link) This is perhaps the greatest encapsulation of my thoughts on the trilogy. Many people see the trilogy as too sci-fi for them, but I believe it was a profound and important trilogy as well as a milestone of achievement in film. Aronofsky’s comment is dead on, but can be taken much further, the film is not really a ‘pop culture sandwich’, but more of a house of mirrors reflecting ideas of media phenomena upon one another, contrasting them and warping them. This film speaks much more to remediation, hypermediacy, and transparent immediacy than anything else I can possibly think of, it not only reflects science fiction but how far we have come as a society technologically, ideologically and spiritually.

Works Cited

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_matrix

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