Monday, February 16, 2009
What if?: Matrix and postmodernism...?
Postmodernism is a philosophy that attempts describe our current world. The Matrix seems to be heavily influenced by postmodernism... it may even be an attempt to explain post modernism. However, from what I can tell, the Matrix is not an exact representation of postmodernism. The "system" in the Matrix was (directly) imposed upon human culture by machines, while the "system" in our world is supposed to have been imposed upon human culture by humans. (Although the world of the Matrix is implied to be our world in the future, and therefore we can assume that our "system" existed in the Matrix world as well, just 200 or so years earlier). In addition, the purposes of the systems are different. In the Matrix, the system is used to pacify humans while using them as a power source, while in our world the system was likely created gradually, without the outcome in mind at the start, and probably unknowingly to those who were creating it. What if it wasn't like that? What if somebody purposely imposed the system upon us with the "system effect" as the desired outcome, as in the Matrix? As it is right now, many of us accept the system, despite the fact that we know about the system. In the Matrix, we see that many of the people who know of the system reject the system. Is this a result of the system being forced upon them? If the system we're in right now was imposed upon us by a man interested in riches, and who profited from our actions, would we also reject the system?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Albert,
I really like this post. I think you've got a lot of interesting points, but I just wanted to comment on your last bit. I think that in a way a lot of people today are trying to rebel against the system, because they're realizing that it was put in place by rich people who want to make money. Obviously it isn't exactly like the matrix, where it evolved instead of being created all at once, but I think if you look at politics and economics a lot of people are fighting for and against the "system".
Albert,
You've got some cool points here, but I've got to disagree (with at least the way Eli spun it). I don't believe the claim can be supported that there is a postmodern system in the way the rich man "exploits" the poor, at least not a system that the rich man has created.
The conflicts people talk about with the poor rebelling against the opressive rich does not exhibit a group of people fighting against the system. Those rebelling are just as evil as the rich.
"If you can't win the game, change the rules". I think this quote largely applies to what we're talking about. The poor are not an example of people rebelling against the system in order to get out of it. The poor, exploitated, are people within the system, that maintain a framework according to the system and rebel against those doing better because they are mad that they are not on the top, within the system. When they claim that they want to deconstruct the system, they mean maintain the system, but place themselves in more favorable spot WITHIN it.
It is this framework, which obviously is a mark of evolution, and the desire to survive, that is the system itself. The rich are not the creators, they too are within it, they too suffer as they increasingly do not understand where they find value in life and how they relate to those people and things around them. Humanity upholds this ideal of understanding ourselves, but we cannot escape this endless cycle, we cannot escape this framework that kills our spirits and, ironically, has been key to our survival. In other words, there's no way to truly break out of the system. (At least this, rich-poor system, which is an example of a post-modern system)
This, of course builds up. We think we are different from animals. We are the same, we operate the same, we just confuse ourselves by creating meaning where there is none. Humans, animals, all life, the same goal, the same finish line, the same process, the way we view this process has merely become inflated with our infatuation with ourselves.
The Matrix is the ultimate manifestation of this system. We created ourselves to end this way. We allowed for the Matrix to enslave us. The Matrix is the finish line of the endless drive towards mediocrity and exploitation of ourselves for ourselves. We created the machines, they are merely a metaphor for what we will become, perhaps what we are already or always have been and always will be, machines that operate with a routine, with a goal, to sustain itself and further an existence that is neither meaningful nor fulfilling.
-Mitchell
PS- try to use paragraphs... its easier on the eyes XD
Post a Comment