The Matrix
I am going to analyse the 1999 film The Matrix and, more closely, the Construct scene (1) where the character Morpheus (played by Laurence Fishburne) is describing what the Matrix of the title is to the main protagonist Neo (Keanu Reeves). To do this I am going to use the two post modern concepts of High vs Low Culture and Hyperreality.
The Matrix is explicitly a science fiction action adventure. It is fair to say that a mindless popcorn special effects laden film such as this would not generally be considered high culture (intellectually challenging, elitist). The Matrix succeeds in its post modern attitude towards the high vs low culture debate by effectively merging the two. For the average (low culture) cinema goer their needs will be satisfied by the visual spectacle and exciting action set pieces but for the more intellectually inclined it has many underlying themes in relation to various types of philosophical and religious ideas. As an example of how this was achieved members of the cast were asked to read Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulation before production started (Rothstein).
The Matrix or dreamworld that Neo has been living in corresponds strongly with Baudrillard’s concept of Hyperreality. Baudrillard posits that in modern culture we are bombarded with images and information so much that a kind of hyper reality is created. This hyper reality is made up of the information and images a modern subject is surrounded by and creates a kind of artificial simulation of that world. This simulation is so real that subjects are no longer able to distinguish the simulation from reality. In the film Morpheus describes how when Neo is in the Matrix (Hyperreality) his look is defined by his “residual self image” and that it is the “mental projection of [his] digital self”. Instead of what Neo really looks like we see a projection from Neo’s mind of what he believes he should look like. Neo’s mind has created a simulation of his image as a result of being plugged into a complete sensory overload of images and information from the Matrix.
What is interesting about our current situation as a race is that the potential occurrence of discourse has been infinitely increased via the creation of the internet and more specifically social media. It is possible to relate Morpheus's mental projection line with how we present ourselves on social media. If you reverse the wording so that it reads 'the digital projection of your mental self' then we have an accurate description of most peoples' social media expression. Now that the gatekeepers of mass publishing have been removed via the invention of the internet we can no longer say that it is an other who is creating our Hyperreality either. We are now unwittingly creating this dreamworld for ourselves.
Just before the above moment, Neo touches an artificially created chair in the Construct and asks: “This isn’t real?” Morpheus responds with another question: “What is real?” Here the language games of post modernism come to mind. If our reality is nothing more than a construct of language then will a now self created Hyperreality (achieved through social media) further increase the occurrence of human subjects being unable to distinguish between simulation and reality?
Bibliography
The Matrix is explicitly a science fiction action adventure. It is fair to say that a mindless popcorn special effects laden film such as this would not generally be considered high culture (intellectually challenging, elitist). The Matrix succeeds in its post modern attitude towards the high vs low culture debate by effectively merging the two. For the average (low culture) cinema goer their needs will be satisfied by the visual spectacle and exciting action set pieces but for the more intellectually inclined it has many underlying themes in relation to various types of philosophical and religious ideas. As an example of how this was achieved members of the cast were asked to read Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulation before production started (Rothstein).
The Matrix or dreamworld that Neo has been living in corresponds strongly with Baudrillard’s concept of Hyperreality. Baudrillard posits that in modern culture we are bombarded with images and information so much that a kind of hyper reality is created. This hyper reality is made up of the information and images a modern subject is surrounded by and creates a kind of artificial simulation of that world. This simulation is so real that subjects are no longer able to distinguish the simulation from reality. In the film Morpheus describes how when Neo is in the Matrix (Hyperreality) his look is defined by his “residual self image” and that it is the “mental projection of [his] digital self”. Instead of what Neo really looks like we see a projection from Neo’s mind of what he believes he should look like. Neo’s mind has created a simulation of his image as a result of being plugged into a complete sensory overload of images and information from the Matrix.
What is interesting about our current situation as a race is that the potential occurrence of discourse has been infinitely increased via the creation of the internet and more specifically social media. It is possible to relate Morpheus's mental projection line with how we present ourselves on social media. If you reverse the wording so that it reads 'the digital projection of your mental self' then we have an accurate description of most peoples' social media expression. Now that the gatekeepers of mass publishing have been removed via the invention of the internet we can no longer say that it is an other who is creating our Hyperreality either. We are now unwittingly creating this dreamworld for ourselves.
Just before the above moment, Neo touches an artificially created chair in the Construct and asks: “This isn’t real?” Morpheus responds with another question: “What is real?” Here the language games of post modernism come to mind. If our reality is nothing more than a construct of language then will a now self created Hyperreality (achieved through social media) further increase the occurrence of human subjects being unable to distinguish between simulation and reality?
Bibliography
- (1) https://youtu.be/VVro5wxqh4U
- Rothstein, Edward (May 24, 2003). "Philosophers Draw on a Film Drawing on Philosophers". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved December 5, 2012.
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