Movie Review: The Matrix - Essay Example

? Movie Review: The Matrix Thesis ment This paper aims at exploring in depth spectacle blur boundaries between man and machines. The movie contravenes vital movie genre such as cybernetics, biotechnology, ecological apocalypse and virtual consumptions. Introduction According to O?zyer (2013), The Matrix is a factious movie which deploys the use of kinetic excitement. The setting of the movie takes place towards the end of 1999 before 21st Century. Matrix is perceived as the advent of technology and computer enigma. The movie starts with numerous images of numbers in a computer machine which certainly spreads all over the screen which later results to crushing of machine system. This movie employs a wide range of automatic weapons without leap of imaginations for the audience. The Matrix setting is based on future where it is believed man made artificial intelligence will take control of the earth hence take over the robotic army. Men are breed in vast nurseries and spend their entire live in vats where they are supplied food through tubes besides passing of waste products. Their brains are connected to neuro-interactive simulation called ‘matrix. The robots collect electricity to generate their bodies to keep human being under neuro-interactive docile. Some of the elements employed in the film include audio visual style such as camera works, editing, sound and music to accompany the scenes. Formal Perspective: Visual Style According to Buckland (2009), visual style in The Matrix is drawn on the creator’s love for comic book and Japanese traditional animation besides reflecting resemblance with video culture games. Stylistic devices employed in this movie include form of framing and lighting to bring about emphasis of the violence. The organizers invested mostly on the choreography fight sequences with a clear bulk in the films and budget. As the movie plays on, fighting takes place on a speedy eighteen-wheeler truck, empty warehouses and subway stations and above the tall town buildings as Agent Smith and Neo fly. This movie has a variety of religious and philosophies with reference of dizzying varieties this kind of work conveys scientific fiction and action with large questions directed t human conditions with pure fantastic spectacles of entertainment. The technique of bullet time in the movie which makes this movie famous gives a vicarious visual thrill of omniscience to the audience thus enabling a stop time and see an event several points of view at once. The technique offers a deep feeling of power in the temporal world in the film industry as well as characters. From one point of view, the audience experience luxury of viewing phenomenal happenings in slow motion. The audience desire of watching this movie is developed through characters represented as fast and powerful fantastically rather than blinding audience with speed and feeling of control thus making them feel superpower on the other hand. Throughout trilogy, a sense of metaphor is displayed on the physical environment of the whole film. This is evident in repetitive insipidness of grid in Thomas Anderson‘s plain corporate office which symbolizes Matrix stifling control which visually shows Matrix latitudinal web like codes. This contributes to Neo’s end of matrix (Smith 1993). Communal nature of the city has been emphasized by the cylindrical Zion the dark sweep of machines in the movie depicts massive and strange removal of anything unexpected in the world currently. Nebuchadnezzar and strewn decks of the cold hall emphasized ragtag, crew undergo nature in building the ship besides repairing while on the move. The scenes at the movie, changes at a fainting pace hence making the movie seem as a world of shortcuts. Swooping of the camera is seen at all directions for example from the ground to the sky, through planes of glass and wall. This gives a clear capture and shooting of the movie in all dimensions. Through computer keystroke, audiences are able to see many guns at an instant. This is more of exaggerations in that there is no instant in real world where a person can shoot many guns at ago but in the factious world of Matrix is possible. Skills are amazingly downloaded instead of them being learned for sometimes while philosophical ideas are referenced and suggested but under developed fully throughout the movie. At every level of The Matrix trilogy, philosophical production matches the quick bite size transient comical spirits emphasized series and multiple setting lines to gain depth and overtime breadth hence gives a whim on the comic book for start of new episodes (King 2000). Industrial Perspective: Blockbuster and Stardom Hodiak and Henley (2002) assert that as a product of New Hollywood, stardom is highly manifested in Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Morpheus the leader of agents against The Matrix. Trinity a beautiful petite brunette is also one of Morpheus’s agents and she is instrumental in recruiting Neo into their team. Morpheus strongest weapon is knowledge of the real. This entails seeing the world via the lens of reality. According to Morpheus, mankind has no free will and is under the control of The Matrix. These three stars greatly boost the movie’s appeal as their performance is superb. New Hollywood productions are made to attract as many people to the cinema hall. Stars are known to increase the rating of a movie and directors strive to cast stars in their productions as their presence will greatly increase the rating and draw many people to the cinema. Industry and commercial value is a crucial aspect of productions made by New Hollywood. Stars shape the way films are experienced by the audience. The main stars are not ordinary actors or actresses but important figures with a large following. This has created to the phenomenon of fandom. A film is likely to draw crowds to the cinema if the cast comprises of stars. In the cause of casting for actors who would take the lead role of Neo, the directors of the film, The Wachowski Brothers sought several ‘stars’ like Nicholas Cage, Brad Pitt and Will Smith. These actors are renowned actors but they turned down the role as they had other obligations. The stars have been recognized and received awards for their exceptional performance and would have greatly increased the rating of the film. Keanu Reeves also has an impressive portfolio as an actor. He has played lead role in other movies such as Point Break and Speed (Huang 2012). New Hollywood seeks to have stars who have amassed critical acclaim. In fact in the film marketing process, reference is made to the main stars such as directors, actors or actresses. Stardom is indeed a defining characteristic of films produced by New Hollywood. Stars not only play a crucial part in the film but take an integral role in marketing the film. The relationship between audiences and cinema is largely influenced by the status of stars. They have been identified as a major reason for audience attendance. The drive by directors to incorporate stars is fuelled by the desire of the audience to have more of a production that they had previously liked and enjoyed. The film industry is highly commercial and it seeks to increase profitability by satiating the audience’s demand for star experiences. Stardom has greatly impacted on the industrialization of film production. Therefore, new Hollywood will continue to cast stars in order to attract and retain a large audience. For instance Hollywood casts stereotypes and persons of diverse ethnicities in order to appeal to a large audience. In The Matrix, Morpheus is an African American hero who leads a rebellion. This is quite idealistic and comparison can be made to the average African Americans who were fighting for affirmative action for minority groups. A character like Morpheus would increase the film’s appeal among African Americans and this increases profitability (Stone 1986). They would embrace his role as a strong leader as well as passion in fighting for a just cause. There is an increasing tendency of New Hollywood to team up white and black co-stars in film. Simply put, the casting of Lawrence Fishburne as Morpheus was well played. From another perspective, the casting of a black man in a racist image of a threatening male (black buck) is another stereotype propagated by New Hollywood. Unfortunately, the films have influenced personal ideas, opinions, and racial attitudes of African Americans males. Due to their common violent portrayal, most people hold misconstrued opinions of African American males as they are perceived as hardcore, violent and rebellious to authority. Most films cast African Americans as violent characters who engage in crimes such as drug peddling, armed robbery, assault and selling illicit arms and weapons. Morpheus is the head of a rebellion against the government and he is well trained in combat. He is stable and mature in handling weapons and has excelled in mastering the mind. According to his fantastic belief, blood is a fabrication of the mind and he contends that one’s mind can prevent bleeding. This has granted him success in combat as he controls his mind to de-register pain and to foretell the moves of his opponent. This has made him invisible during combat and before the training duel with Neo, he has been undefeated. With respect to masculinity, Morpheus also emerges as the more sensitive ‘new man’. Far from being an old fashioned macho man, he is an intellectual and has a philosophical understanding of reality. He informs Neo that The Matrix is a computer generated dream to keep humans under control. In addition, he convinces Neo on the need to transform human beings in a quest to liberate them. Purse (2011) urges that industrialization of film making has led to the depiction of key stereotypes in the society in cinema. For instance, Trinity is a free minded liberated woman who is portrayed in a positive light. She successfully engages in combat as she flees from The Matrix agents. Trinity is agile as is evident with the high flying moves and she cleverly plans and executes all combats with the enemy. Moreover, she singles out Neo as the gifted one who should lead the rebellion against The Matrix. Neo is confused but Trinity successfully recruits him into Morpheus’s army. Trinity is instrumental in the operations of the rebellion and emerges as an embodiment of female power, oomph, determination and zeal. There is some aspect of sexuality in the character of Trinity. She falls in love with Neo and takes it upon herself to shield him from harm. She is nurturing and caring and is instrumental in guiding Neo to his destiny as liberator from The Matrix. At the end she feels rewarded when Neo (her prince charming) triumphs over The Matrix’s agents. Additionally, the film would also appeal to women and thereby add to its commercial value. In Visible Fictions, John Ellis equates the role of stars “to that of genre in that for producers’ stars are definable quantities which can be repeated in a relatively formulaic manner in order to encourage the attendance of an audience.  It is a term used to describe the mask donned by performers in the ancient Greek theatre “in order to arrive at a definition where ‘actors develop a persona or portrait of themselves out of the personalities of various characters they have played over the course of their careers and out of elements of their personal lives that have become public knowledge. Socio-Cultural/Historical Perspective: Gender and Dystopia & Human Verses Machine The Matrix in socio-cultural perspective plays a major role both in gender and dystopia perspectives in contrast to machine. Human are viewed as world building creatures as a mythology. Human beings are depicted as fashions of the past and present elements of literature in sociological and religious epics this is because myths are forms of narratives which are not fixed to a certain perspective and hence can be encompassed to recent cultural world of reality and context. History of myths evolved from traditional oral literature thus making them more elastic in themes and mythological concepts. This is because The Matrix is a clear example of cultural diffusion and contact since it is a future prediction of human life when robots will be in rule of the universe as depicted by the directors of the movie Andy and Larry Wachowski (Wasko 1994). Christians view this piece of work metaphorically compared to other religious sect which fight against its through involvement of other schools of consciousness such as the Buddhism. This creates a parallel depiction of this genre to the society in that the Buddhist believe it future myth making since its existence and symbolic is provocative to their belief of God’s intention with the world in future. They also believe it gives female gender a major role in the society while in their society women should be submissive to male gender in matters pertaining authorities. The Matrix was intended to be a world’s view of the future depiction and hence not a reflection of any religious belief towards mythological process of the universe. But be a destination of all myths human beings are yet to understand in line with their religious beliefs of creation and world transformation. Just as classical long verses of The Wizard of Oz or Star Wars was a temporary and subtly to thousand young adults during its reign in Hollywood, is the same intention the directors had during production of the movie to their audience. Grainge (2008) explains that even though there are many arguments of The Matrix being a mythical genre in the contemporary society, it has not qualified to be with acceptable mythological genre in its production. A Finnish folklorist defined myths in different forms in respect to how human perceive it: It is defined as a sacred narrative, conditional existence of cultural origin as in terms of its content which is cosmogony, while for the function it plays in the society it is referred to as human activity modality, lastly the folklorist defined myth in reference to the context as sacred ideological form of behavior. This according to the folklorist, The Matrix qualified to be called a mythical narrative in all respect. This is because it falls in between all the definition of myth. The Matrix’s use of literature elements such as language, meanings, and symbols is a clear depiction of inevitable tie to context and origin for the world point of view and understanding. Furthermore, this movie genre met all the legitimate functional use of myths and serves several religious, social, ideology and political issues. Apart from The Matrix, movies such as Blade Runner, 2001: A Space Odyssey and the Star War are good examples of mythical movies present in the movie business. This movie genre begs human understanding of how we are programmed to perform daily functions and besides ask aspects of human reality in constructed conceptual of liberation with technology. Many questions are raised in the society as to whether this movie imprisons human beings with capitalism. Thus from pedagogical understanding, students get motivation in understanding modern myths in relevance to reality with their immediate societal life. Matrix is violence glorification and dominance of patriarchy which diverges from traditional core values. Female gender is depicted to be more masculine than male gender which also raises eyebrows to the society. The movie graphical representation reveals how human demonic mind and hatred are symbolically manifested. Parents argue that graphical presentation of bullet speed and actions in the movie is a primary target to the young hence is a more form of literal violence cultivated by technology in a more mesmerized manner which is a disconnect between sacred life and societal ethical practices. Culture according to sociologists was created and not inherited by the worldview. In that all human beings have a purpose of being in the universes thus there is no any relationship as to why people should be in the world (Gledhill 1991). This best describe modern fundamental of the post modernism insight as constructed cultural nature. It is created in three major steps namely; outpouring of the initial externalization of conceptual world. According to The Matrix, language is a historical structure of social race which privileges the inheritance illustration of individual’s mind. Another step is objecting externalization reality. This is where concepts of externalizations become aims of reality. For example forms of governance which is viewed as being monarchical courses. This best define racial class inferiority which is obviously seen in most of the countries all over the world. The last step defined is internalization of aims. Example in reference to the movie, religion and culture are phenomenon of dielectric human productions and it acts according to producers’ intention and motive to make it a success. This can be facilitated in the modern world through education, socialization in the community. The directors: Andy and Larry stated that the movie was intended to be mythological after analysis which showed that The Matrix was a self conscious modern example of mythological movie in the making as quoted in The Times Magazine of the United States. They admitted that their main interest was mathematics, theology and mythology as seen in the movie. They admitted that this would help human being solve life questions and that’s why they addressed such mythological issues. Audiences are believed to understand all the important aspects in the movie and not the illusions since most people take time in understanding such hidden aspects. The Matrix is one movie which aims at engaging people’s mind to think beyond reality. This is by mixing contemporary issues with metaphors from Christianity, cyber technology, Buddhism and mythology from Greek to give its depth analysis. The Matrix produces a dialectic worldview via myths since it a kind of genre which appropriates Christian messianic myths structure from Buddhist form of idealism hence transforms it human understanding radically (Davies 2013). The Matrix is a twenty first century movie which can be compared with The Iliad Odyssey a mythological epic setting play since they both depict importance of stressing mythical foundation of culture. This movie has a greater influence over the young adults and children in general in the society other than the religious sects. The Matrix is believed by many sociologists to become influential in Hollywood industry since its longevity is determined by its sequel. This movie not only aimed at addressing mythological issues but also to illustrate its nature in line with issues concerned with gender, entertainment besides violence as a medium of building the cinema industry. In conclusion, The Matrix is a mind gym to human since it makes an individual think beyond reality thus being on the present situation. Besides being educative, The Matrix is a social movie which attracts many people to know what it is all about. It is a challenge to Hollywood to emulate such kinds of movies other than some movies which are to know what it is all about from the first scene. It is therefore advisable to all the youths and the whole society to see what is ahead of them as they continue inventing and embracing technology. References Buckland, W. 2009, Film theory and contemporary Hollywood movies, New York: Routledge. Davies, P. 2013, eBusiness (2nd ed.), Hound mills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Gledhill, C. 1991, Stardom: industry of desire, London: Routledge. Grainge, P. 2008, Brand Hollywood: selling entertainment in a global media age, London: Routledge. Hodiak, D. L., & Henley, M. J. 2002, Fund raising & marketing in the one-person shop: achieving success with limited resources (4th ed.), Seattle, WA: Development Resource Center. Huang, T. 2012, Neural information processing 19th International Conference, ICONIP 2012, Doha, Qatar, November 12-15, 2012, Proceedings, Berlin: Springer. King, G. 2000, Spectacular narratives Hollywood in the age of the blockbuster, London: I.B. Tauris Publishers. O?zyer, T. 2013, the influence of technology on social network analysis and mining, Vienna: Springer. Purse, L. 2011, Contemporary action cinema, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Smith, P. 1993, Clint Eastwood: a cultural production. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Stone, R. 1986, Children of light, New York: Knopf. Wasko, J. 1994, Hollywood in the information age: beyond the silver screen, Cambridge: Polity. Read More