Hmmm.
We have a distinct excess of crisps.
For those of you who follow me, you probably realise that, skint as I am, this means myself and an old friend have been watching the third of the ‘Matrix’ movies, “Matrix Revolutions”.
Which is lighter on the philosophy and heavier on the action than the first two entries in the series.
Mind you, I wouldn’t mind one of those giant APU things. As Adrian put, it wouldn’t half make the shopping easier …
Wouldn’t it just?
I love to be in one if someone in front of me is paying by card when I’m in a rush, I know that!
But I digress.
So you know, I’ve put a link into the IMDb entry for
The Matrix Revolutions there, so you can look up the plot summary.
And there’s possible a point to get onto here, as well …
As I mentioned earlier,
The Matrix Revolutions is a bit lighter on the philosophy.
It was much more action based. Very different to the first two, in that sense.
But I think I can state the blindingly obvious, here, and point to the fact that this part of the trilogy has a strongly messianic feel to it – I’m assuming this link, a christian one that argues exactly that, will link to others – and simplifies the philosophical elements that attracted many people to the series in the first place.
Now, as I’ve always said, this isn’t too much of a problem, for me: beyond reaching for the dictionary, of course
One thing I have always felt is that whatever works for you, is fine by me, and so long as we both look at each other’s beliefs in the same way, we’ll rub along fine. I’m also thinking that the ol’ pop pagan idea – that, that doing your own thing is fine, so long as you harm no one – is a nice little ethic to go along by.
And, in this case, I felt the simplifying was helpful, in a way. It let the trilogy bounce along to an emotionally satisfying conclusion, without having to do a quick mental double check, to see if one’s caught all the references. Something I felt that maybe the first two films suffered with, although it did make for interesting discussion, afterwards.
But I do realise that many will disagree with me, here. After all, for many of us, part of the Matrix trilogies appeal will have been the floating of philosophical concepts that we wouldn’t have otherwise come across, and having a chance to investigate them further.
Which has been burried in science fiction for years, now, I think.
Certainly, a lot of political philosophy, if I’ve understood what I know of Karel Capek’s
R. U. R., the play that introduced the English speaking world to the word ‘ROBOT’.
It’s generally known that Gene Roddenberry always encouraged writers on the various incarnations of Star Trek
to tell an entertaining story first, but work in a nice point, where possible.
But messiahdom in sci-fi has cropped up, before …
Frank Herbert fans will know exactly what I mean.
One of my favourite novel’s was Frank Herbert’s Dune: a book that strikes me as being relevant, here.
Matrix Revolutions and Dune, while I find them both entertaining, both seem to take very different views. The Matrix trilogy, in the end, takes a traditional view of its central character: that Neo, ultimately is there to save the world.
Paul Muad-Dib, the central character in Dune, isn’t.
He’s a warning.
In the context of the novel, he’s a well educated, superbly bred, almost super heroic warning: messiahs fuck you up.
We only have to look at Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin and the likes of Osama bin Laden, to see that our religious feelings can be manipulated to another’s ends.
There’s also talk of how this can be argued about John F Kennedy, Barack Obama, and George W. Bush.
Let’s be frank, we all want a hero, to save us from ourselves.
That’s not a bad thing, not at all, but I also believe we forget that messiahs are human …
Don’t forget, Frank Herbert grew up during World War Two, and was in his late twenties during the Kennedy years; – Kennedy, Hitler, and Stalin can be seen as very human, and very culpable Messiahs
I can do no more than quote from the original novel.
“When religion and politics travel in the same cart, the riders believe nothing can stand in their way. Their movement becomes headlong - faster and faster and faster. They put aside all thoughts of obstacles and forget that a precipice does not show itself to the man in a blind rush until it's too late.”
Bene Gesserit proverb, Dune (Frank Herbert)
“When law and duty are one, united by religion, you never become fully conscious, fully aware of yourself. You are always a little less than an individual.”
‘ … from “Muad’Dib: The Ninety-Nine Wonders of the Universe” by the Princess Irulan’
I think I’ll quietly admit I’ll leave it there, for now, and blog more in the morning.
But I can’t help but still agree with that first quote. Considering the USA’s current and previous president can be seen as having overtones!
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