<nettime> digest 05.17: the matrix: reviewed [navas, wood, orwell]

["nettime's_three_tumbs" <nettime@bbs.thing.net>]

Re: <nettime> The Matrix Reloaded
     "Eduardo Navas" <eduardo@navasse.net>
     "D F J Wood" <D.F.J.Wood@newcastle.ac.uk>
     Phill Orwell <aquios@roystonvasey.co.uk>

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From: "Eduardo Navas" <eduardo@navasse.net>
Subject: Re: <nettime> The Matrix Reloaded
Date: Sat, 17 May 2003 02:41:10 -0600

----- Original Message -----
from: "Ana Viseu" <ana.viseu@utoronto.ca>
to: <nettime-l@bbs.thing.net>
sent: Friday, May 16, 2003 10:14 PM
subject: <nettime> The Matrix Reloaded

> Having just gone to see the movie made cult, 'the matrix reloaded', on the
> day of its opening (here in Canada) I feel I should write something about
> it. Not because I loved it, but because I was very impressed by the
> story-telling devices and aesthetics the directors-- Larry and Andy
> Wachowski--chose to use.

<--snip-->

> 'The Matrix Reloaded' is one of the best examples I've seen of the
> application of a 'new medium' narrative style to a 'traditional' medium.  In
> that sense it is the perfect counter-example to Marshall McLuhan's 'the
> content of a new medium is an old medium'.
>
> best. ana

<--snip-->

---------------------------

My response:

I saw The Matrix Reloaded today -- Friday night...  The film is running on
empty, recycling the same appropriated ideologies that made the first one
entertaining -- that at best.  I will not comment  more on this, as I think
"this horse has been overly beaten" in the last Matrix thread.  The film, as
it is expected of any sequel, is terrible.  Mainly because it is relying on
ideas that at one point were innovative and by now have become naturalized
by the media.

Beyond that, The Matrix Reloaded is all about surface.  I like the video
game analogy.  As to McLuhan's "the content of the 'new medium is an old
medium," the key to understanding his comment comes with a good
understanding of how ideologies are able to jump from one form to another,
and how both content and form can be seen as inseperable.   There are only
so many ideas, but forms, ahhh, that is another matter. to uphold a
scientific, religious, and philosophical cliché: we still do not know why we
are here.  Sounds corny already does it not? yet, all of our most respected
philosophers - even the overcited late Deleuze have tackled this question
with polemical statements overcoated with impressive Marxist prose.  This
question of "being" -- why, why, why? is an overtired question that even Neo
asked at a crucial point in the movie, and the truth is we do not know why
we are here.  So, the questions are the same, these become interesting when
they are reinterpreted through a new form.  And of course the new form does
not have to be an actual object, but rather a new take on the idea itself
(an opinion -- hence why deconstruction and differance seem extreme at
times -- Derrida overcoats it quite well with his own intricate spices), but
in the end, it is still the same basic idea of being... hence the new medium
is really an old medium, only with better dressing, this time we have video
game language disguised as a film.


Peace,

Eduardo Navas
http://navasse.net
http://netartreview.net

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Subject: RE: <nettime> The Matrix Reloaded
Date: Sat, 17 May 2003 10:45:11 +0100
From: "D F J Wood" <D.F.J.Wood@newcastle.ac.uk>

Thanks for the review, Anna - very interesting, however one paragraph
stood out and made me yawn and think 'oh no, not again':

> It is also much more faithful to the sci-fi > genre than 
> the previous one. We see plenty of spaceships, monsters endangering the 
> human species, and self-replicating aliens. While the first 'The Matrix' 
> seemed more like a pun (or reflection) on a large conspiracy theory and the 
> 'nature' of reality, this one is overtly about a far away galaxy in a very 
> distant future.

How many times do SF critics and writers need to tell people that SF as
a genre is not defined by aliens and spaceships? So SF is not usually
about the nature of reality or conspiracy? Have you read Philip K. Dick,
John Brunner, Samuel Delaney, Thomas Disch, J.G.Ballard, Joanna Russ,
William Gibson - need I go on? The orginal 'Matrix' draws on many of
these literary SF sources quite overtly. The original 'Matrix' is SF as
is the sequel. The sequel however is more pulp-SF, more the kind of SF
that people who don't know what SF is, think is SF. More commerical,
more 'Hollywood SF', if you like. But, as usual Hollywood=America=the
World(=the Universe) turns out to be a rather parochial equation...  

Best,

David.

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Date: Sat, 17 May 2003 05:03:50 -0700 (PDT)
From: Phill Orwell <aquios@roystonvasey.co.uk>
Subject: Re: <nettime> The Matrix Reloaded

I tend to agree. The only real misgiving i've had about the matrix reloaded is
that complicated sections of the dialogue (those containing large volumes of
philosophy) were not broken up enough. Also their were too many unnecessary
characters in the story. Perhapse if their were less time constraints on the
making of hollywood movies the script would have been developed to its full
potential. Other than that a fine effort. 4/5 stars.

--- Ana Viseu <ana.viseu@utoronto.ca> wrote:

>Having just gone to see the movie made cult, 'the matrix reloaded', on the 
>day of its opening (here in Canada) I feel I should write something about 
>it. Not because I loved it, but because I was very impressed by the 
>story-telling devices and aesthetics the directors-- Larry and Andy 
>Wachowski--chose to use.
 <...>


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