(Orig posted 2003)

Weighing in on the Matrix

Everyone is blogging about “The Matrix: Reloaded” They hate it, they love it. It was great, it was terrible. Do I have anything new to add? Nope. But there were some things that gave me pause for thought, so I’m gonna write about ’em.

First, I liked “Reloaded”. I liked the way it made me think, and I like the way it is still making me think (except for the fact that I’m supposed to be thinking about school. That part isn’t so great.) I love the way that it references everything from mythology (which has always fascinated me) to religion (which also fascinates me) to philosophy (which is also interesting, but not as fascinating to me) and throws it all together.

Basically, I like things that it makes me think.

But there were some things that bothered me. Some are small and petty, others less so. First, they live underground. There is no more sun. Shouldn’t they be much paler than they are? I suppose that more pale would just have been creepy, but still. I suppose I should just be happy that pale is cool, and that perhaps it will catch on, and sunbeds will go out of business and skin cancer rates will plummet.

Right.

Anyway… Second, I wish that Trinity’s character dressed better when she’s in the Matrix. I’m sure that every guy whose seen the movie totally disagrees, but I think she is much more beautiful in the real world than she is in tighter than skin tight shiny black….whatever, with shoes that make my feet hurt just to look at them. Yikes!

So that’s two. The third isn’t a complaint as much as a curious question. How many people who watch the movie actually get the point? I read that you can buy Matrix sunglasses and all that, but isn’t that missing the point? When you buy the sunglasses and the clothes and the stuff, aren’t you buying into “the Matrix”, to the very ideas that the movie rails against? It’s all a complete facade, but people don’t seem to get it. Instead of getting the ideas behind the movie, they are just buying further into the system.

That’s not freedom, that’s the opposite of freedom. If you need sunglasses and leather to be “you”, because that is what is “in” following the wake of the movie, then you are possibly less free than the people plugged into the matrix, becuase you are voluntarily buying into the system, you are voluntarily plugging in and ignoring the message.

I read a copy of the script for “The Matrix”, and there was a line that was left out, that I liked. When Trinity and Neo are by the phone booth after sending back Morpheus, Neo says “I want to kiss you” to which Trinity replies, “Not here, I want it to be real” That’s not an exact quote, only my memory, but it gets the point across. The Matrix isn’t real, the facade of clothing and things isn’t real. What they feel for each other is real, and what they believe is real. Everything else is beside the point.