Escape From the Matrix
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I enjoyed the review of The Matrix by Bill Stamets [April 16], and I’d like to add some comments about the movie’s divided neo-Marxist politics. The Matrix can be seen as an allegory of cinema: when Neo and the rest enter the Matrix, with their “ideal body projection” (no scars or acne) and really big guns, they become action-movie stars in a cinematic reality. The movie’s highly subversive vision of capitalist exploitation (we’re all essentially batteries for the machine) is offset by its excessive enjoyment of the technological means of ideological control (virtual or media reality). That is, while the movie condemns the insidious distraction of the movie culture we are all plugged into, it also celebrates the fantastic pleasure we derive from its computer-generated fantasies (especially violence). How to reconcile this? Cynical “zen” detachment: realize that the Matrix (the entertainment complex) is “not real” and you can enjoy it even more (and leave the real world for some infinitely receding sequel).
Chicago
