The Matrix and Philosophy (Edited by William Irwin)
"Welcome to the Desert of the Real!"At times while reading this book I thought to myself that these people have way too much time on their hands. Several times the various authors refer to The Matrix as being "the most philisophical film ever made." I bet these people believed Paul was dead while they sat around playing the Beatles record backwards in their college days. And if they didn't because they were too young, they would have if they had known who the Beatles were. I really had to reminding myself that these were "professional philosophers."
Several of them seemed astounded by the similarities between the plot of the Matrix and the story of the cave in Plato's Republic. They would probably be stunned to learn of the similarities between Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story. These people really need to read more rather than sitting on their duffs in academia while pontificating to each other on the number of angels that can sit on the head of a needle.
Probably the worst chapter was that written by feminist Cynthia Freeland. It seems she really dislikes Keanu Reeves. She constantly compares the blockbuster The Matrix to a little known basicly cult film titled eXistenZ. Yes, there is a stronger female character in eXistenZ. I won't argue that at all. We're both in agreement. I've seen both films and found both interesting, but one made a lot more money than the other and I'll give you three guesses which one and the first two guesses don'tr count.
I'm pretty sure that it is not so much her comments and comparisons but rather the manner in which she presents it. Her constant feminist harping frankly just irked me and damaged that part of her message that was important. There's really no question about why one film outperformed the other. The film was written by young white males for young white males and their dates. Like it or not, these people have the money to go to the movie theater several times a month and sustain Hollywood. Most of them barely read. You want people to like films like eXistenZ more than The Matrix? Get more readers into the film industry, doesn't matter if they're male or female as long as they read.
My favorite chapters are probably the last two on postmodernism and marxism. Being somewhat of a postmodernist myself, I found the viewpoints in that chapter considerably in agreement with my own views on the film. Of course, as such, I had never thought about The Matrix from a Marxist perspective before and it was extremely enjoyable to read and enlightening.
Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to look at something such as this film from a varity of other viewpoints. Whether you agree with those viewpoints or not, being exposed to those viewpoints will make you a better person. Then again, most of you are just going to go to a movie.
posted by Paul @ 8:09 AM
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