Think back to a time before 9/11 and before the Columbine shootings. Do you want to watch an action movie about a group of cool terrorists shooting up government buildings? Well, of course you do! Welcome to Trekabout Presents The Matrix.
Trekabout Presents The Matrix
Jonas
-Some thoughts about the sequels that might be interesting (if you haven’t recorded that yet).
1) Personally, I believe they are *vastly* underrated. While the original film is a lot of fun, these are smarter, more complex, more adult movies.
2) Since I can’t really write a detailed essay at the moment, I’ll just point out some things about the sequels that are worth noting.
3) The sequels do a lot to question the original premise of a “chosen one” who will save us by simply being stronger than the bad guys. They take the end of the original film – OK, you can fly and super-punch shit – and ask: now what? One man being able to defeat an agent isn’t a revolution.
4) Since you talked a bit about Occupy Wall St. and similar movements, I think what the sequels say about Zion actually being a way of stabilizing the system is incredibly relevant. “Outsiders” can be a useful pressure valve. That doesn’t mean change can never happen, but it’s not as simple as a small group of rebels overthrowing the system.
5) Something that helped me understand what the sequels were about (I bounced off Revolutions the first time): Agent Smith becomes an incarnation of Death. His dialogue about inevitability, his powers (forget the CGI, what matters is what is being depicted), everything points in that direction. He is no longer the character from the first film. He is Death, he is Nihilism, full of rage and despair at the seeming impossibility of finding meaning. Which is why his final confrontation with Neo isn’t about who is strongest. You can’t defeat death through force.
6) The rave scene which people incomprehensibly freaked out about is a beautiful celebration of human physicality and sensuality. The sequels are deeply concerned with mortality and how we fragile human beings experience life through our bodies. The scenes between Neo and Trinity are much more adult than anything in the original film. Love, passion, fear, determination – in the face of death.
7) The film’s depiction of machines and our relationship to them is far more interesting than the relatively simplistic “machines = oppression” of the original. It is also far more politically subversive, one might almost say Marxist.
8) If the original is about heroic individualistic rebels, the sequels are about love, community, solidarity – and not just between humans.
9) I think there is a scene that to me epitomizes how remarkable the sequels are, and that’s the scene where Neo finally reaches the “ruler” of the machines. Asked what he wants (what he will ultimately die for) by what should be the face of his enemy, the end boss, the big bad, he says… peace. The heartbreaking scene at the end in which Morpheus can barely believe his eyes isn’t about the machines dying, it’s about the war finally being over. The most important recognition is that it’s not about Us and Them, it’s not about killing some evil individual, but about uniting across boundaries to create a meaningful world.
Eric Brasure
-I wanted to wait until we recorded at least the second podcast before responding, but, surprisingly, we agree! I don’t think The Matrix Reloaded feels as fresh or new as The Matrix, but it’s definitely a more ambitious movie, brimming with ideas and willing to question the very premise of the first film.
And the rave scene is great. It really tells you all you need to know about the culture of Zion.
Jonas
-Oh, and another thing I should mention, which I think is truly remarkable: when we finally see the machines in their own terms, through Neo’s eyes… they are *beautiful*.
(Note the imagery at his “funeral” at the end, how what initially seems like horror imagery of a terrifying cityscape full of insectile creatures becomes an image of grace, of light.)