Best of Week: The Matrix

The best idea(s) from class this week for me were the ones after viewing clips from The Matrix. We made many connections to postmodernism and modernism that I never would have seen independently. The system within the Matrix is one you can’t escape and must strategize within to find meaning. The world within the Matrix is corporate and questions your fundamental beliefs. It asks questions like: Can you escape the system? Do you want to escape it? One of the scenes we viewed included a rotary dial phone that defined what Pastiche is. It took an element from a different time and added it as an artistic complement to the film. It wasn’t performed in a taunting manner; what it emphasized was the blurriness of distinguishing between the past and present in the background setting. Furthermore, when Neo glanced into the mirror, he saw himself through multiplicity and fragmentation. These are just a few of the connections we made in the hundreds possible.

This makes me think about the complexity of meaning within a movie and within anything now that I ponder it. I’ve seen The Matrix before, but not one of the ideas we discussed in class raced through my mind as I viewed it previously. I was clueless to what “the system” was. I didn’t pay attention to the details either; all I really focused on was the action and overall seeing it with a one-dimensional view. Even after seeing the small amount of clips in class, it made me realize how much of the overall meaning I missed in my first viewing. Without having knowledge of modernism/postmodernism or the even an idea of the depth of the thoughts that occurred in the movie, it really restricted my overall experience. Only when you understand some of the meaning behind works of art will you appreciate its value.

This connects to my own knowledge and beliefs because I believe you shouldn’t impose a view without looking at it from various angles first. Without this 360-degre thinking, ignorance will always undermine one’s view. Similar this applies to my viewing of The Matrix. Previously, I wasn’t looking at this film from all angles. Therefore, ignorance in this case stole meaning from its plot.

I see myself using this when being a critic of various items- movies, art, songs, etc. On one note, I was surprised seeing the application of modernism and postmodernism within a familiar film. For this reason, I’m going to be on the lookout for other films/media incorporating these elements. On another note, I’ll be careful not to have a final verdict on items without attempting to find the full meaning by analyzing it from different perspectives. Even then that verdict isn’t final because I’ll probably still be missing a view.