Zizek's theories on reality and the real are the basis of key ideologies in various Hollywood movies, in particular, those pertaining to the science fiction genre. In the movie, The Matrix, these ideas are well played upon. Since I'm sure most of you have already seen the movie, to explain it in a nutshell, it is about an alternate reality, where machines have acquired an extremely high degree of artificial intelligence, and in doing so, have surpassed their human creators, who now they only see fit as a power source. To implement this 'innovative' power scheme of theirs, the machines plug a bunch of wires into the humans to drain their energy, and one special wire that is plugged directly into their brains that simulates a virtual reality (that is called the Matrix) that is meant to fool them into believing that everything is alright. A handful of human beings realize the situation they are in and form a resistance aimed at 'un-plugging' people from the matrix and fighting the machines.
Here, the play on the ideas of reality vs the real is clear. The Matrix represents reality, and the world that is dominated by the machines represents the real. The movie represents a constant struggle between these two aspects of life, much like the The Black Square painting by Kazimir Malevich.
(Watch video for explanation of post title)
No comments:
Post a Comment