For a guy who likes big abstract ideas in his fiction, I don’t find a lot of ideas actually discussed in fiction all that interesting. My focus tends to be on hidden abstractions, underneath cause-and-effect that unify the action. The characters act one way, and that has consequences that play out. I prefer to extrapolate from data; most ideas that characters talk about tend to be fairly banal or simplistic, and indeed this often feels like a natural consequence of storytelling, where characters are more concerned with practical problems over philosophy. If I had to pick a most favourite ‘idea’ from a story, it would be the thoughts on meme theory and legacy in Metal Gear Solid 2, but if I picked a favourite one in film, it would be the true concept of The One in The Matrix Reloaded.
For those who don’t know – and I’m SPOILING the climax of the film here – Neo, in getting to the heart of the cyberprison humanity is trapped in, meets a man who calls himself the Architect; he designed The Matrix and all previous versions thereof. Up until now, Neo has been the hero of the human resistance against their machine oppressors – The One, who was prophesied by the Oracle to free humanity from The System. The Architect reveals that, in fact, The One is a structural error that has long been accounted for; he emerges naturally, and the Architect then uses him to refine and reboot the system to be more efficient, wiping out the resistance entirely and starting over.
The leftist politics of The Matrix films are mostly aesthetic and subtextual, which is appropriate for a film that’s fun and emotionally engaging even if it leads to the film being co-opted by people who, uh, missed that. But this reveal is the movie wearing its leftist politics on its sleeve for a change, because it happens to perfectly align with a specific criticism of capitalism. One of the major strengths of that particular economic system is its resilience; as people have frequently noted, capitalism is very effective at incorporating criticisms into itself, with a notable recent example being Squid Games, a Netflix series that criticized capitalist expectations in the form of a game, only to turn into a mega-franchise which includes reality television riffing on the concept that eventually burned out the creator.
In The Matrix Reloaded, the hero narrative is simply a small, almost ritualistic conflict used to strengthen the System’s stranglehold on humanity, finding and fixing smaller weaknesses and incorporating each ‘One’ back into the System. This is a stunning metaphor for the way capitalism can incorporate just about anything successful into itself; the greatest strength and greatest weakness of capitalism is its spiritual emptiness, allowing anything to be co-opted into it. Within my own lifetime, I’m watching the System incorporate acceptable and sanitized levels of queerness and disability into itself – watch the shift in corporate culture especially. Not to downplay the sheer amount of work it took to get ‘they/them’ pronouns and anxiety into the mainstream, but we’re not exactly gonna bring the (seemingly) violently borderline into the boardroom – not until we can make money off them.
Though it also interests me because it’s a broad abstraction that can be brought into daily life, and it reflects experiences and emotions I’ve personally gone through. Conflict is often treated as a purely external idea, giving one control over one’s environment, but in practice I notice it tends to weaken relationships if they aren’t completely sturdy to begin with. Rather, conflict tends to reinforce internal strength as you find weaknesses in your own structure and thinking (this is backed up by scientific observation).
Another way of putting this: I have found Nietzsche’s observations about fighting monsters and looking into abysses to be incredibly consistently true. The Matrix regularly engages in simple, relatively ambitious conflicts (i.e. wiping out the resistance) with the specific aim of picking up new ideas and techniques from the ‘enemy’, and this strengthens the System as a whole. I see resonance with, for example, arguments I’ve had online, where I’ve strengthened my own arguments by exposing them to people who disagree and allowing them to attack their weak points.
Not only are the essays I write an extension of this, so are most creative works I’ve done lately. Being vulnerable enough to share one’s work is one of the hardest parts of becoming a creator of any kind, but when you think of it as allowing someone to attack your work to find the vulnerabilities in it, it becomes significantly easier. It helps, of course, to know what your original goal was; it’s very easy to dismiss criticism out of hand when it’s asking for something you never intended to offer, though I often find even this tends to spark my imagination.
It’s also simply fascinating as a piece of worldbuilding. One canny part of it is that the evil cyberpunk prison is extremely cool, but only if you’re free; the rebels get the cool outfits, downloadable kung-fu abilities, and superpowers, the normal people just have our normal boring lives, and the bad guys are either miserable or complete voids of personality. But one can easily imagine the Architect puzzling over how to solve the problem of containing humanity; the first Matrix tried creating a perfect Eden, which failed to fool humanity because it was too obvious an illusion, and one can imagine the Architect meeting and conferencing with each One that came along, tinkering with his design.
(The Architect’s home is a very cool image too. I particularly enjoy the shot of Neo watching all his possible reactions before we move into one of the screens showing his actual reaction)
The scene concludes with Neo choosing to risk the complete destruction of humanity for the sake of saving Trinity; the implication is that loving and taking care of each other as individuals is the way to break the cycle of the System (a very leftist conclusion). This works with Neo as a character, too, who tends to care about his fellow individuals before his role as The One (remember that the climax of the first film is kicked off by him deciding to damn the prophecy and save Morpheus because he loved him). It’s as cool a middle finger to The System as the end of The Matrix.
About the writer
Tristan J. Nankervis
Tristan J Nankervis (aka Drunk Napoleon) has been a writer, pop culture critic, dishwasher, standup comedian, waiter, potato cake factory worker, gamer, TV worker, and various other things. You can find him in Hobart, Tasmania.
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"Obi-Wan never told you about your father."
"I love you." / "I know."
"I'm terribly sorry - no no, please don't get up--"
Department of
Conversation
What did we watch?
Yellow jackets
I was warned that the show loses some steam, and I can kind of see that – there has been basically no advancement on the mysteries and it’s trying just a bit too hard, ending up with Heavy Emotional Scene after Heavy Emotional Scene at points, but the basic concept and characters remains fun, Misty in particular revealing a capacity for murder in both timelines even beyond what seemed obvious.
Babylon 5 — more death! More destruction! And best of all, Bryan Cranston! So funny to see him show up in (visually) pure Tim Whatley mode, but his character is anti-Walter White, someone who is altruistic and deferential. So, uh, that isn’t great for him.
MST3K, Devil Fish — damn, the gang really goes after the lead woman for being too skinny, this is sort of true and generally visually based (about how she’s hard to see or whatever) but is still a bit uncomfortable. And it’s weird how there is a much, much funnier physical specimen, a deputy cop is just insanely jacked and Italian, Stromboli-ass dude, his appearance cracked me up every time, and the general Italian-bashing (filmed there, standing in for “Florida”) is a hoot.
THE CORE — recommended this to a friend who watched it and was texting amazed updates, so of course I had to throw it on. Still a joy, still a guarantee that the viewer will yell “THE TUCC” several dozen times. The science is of course ridiculous but the movie does a very good job of providing fig leaves for the viewer — “unobtanium” is ludicrous but it’s some kind of alloy; the ship has “MRI cameras” for viewing outside because the movie knows that a windshield would be too fucking much; the crew can go outside at one point because they’re in a geode, etc. The most unbelievable thing in the film is that there are zero Asian characters (but one French guy), this makes THE CORE’s Chinese counterpart The Wandering Earth that much funnier and more righteous in its total exclusion of Americans. Fair play!
I teach the “vaguely Italian” sketch from MST3K, Devil Fish episode in my theories of visual communication college classes when we look at the social construction of cultural stereotypes. I really like how the sketch uses the “better 1, better 2?” part of an eye exam to set up how representations of culture can go so, very wrong.
Oh man, what a great teaching aid.
Lots and lots of YouTube vids – Yesterday was the kind of day where I was frequently interrupted for errands and tasks. So that new Shane Black comedy based on the Parker novels (comedy?) must wait. Instead, started to catch up on a backlog of content, including an overview of Batman in 2000s, a history of Voyager that talked too much about UPN, and Rommel arriving in Africa. Still need to watch the future of Scoragami.
MST3K, “Zombie Nightmare” – The one with Adam West and a young Tia Carrerra (and future director Shawn Levy). A fair number of good riffs – I mean, the Batman gags write themselves – but a painful movie that was apparently much harder to stomach in its original form (and Mary JO Pehl is on record as hating the production of this episode). Some rather unfortunate stereotyping in a sketch about the Mads using voodoo.
The Practice, “State of Mind” – The trial of the babysitter accused of killer a toddler ends, and the woman never stops insisting God will see her through. Kelley is trying to comment about religion but it never really registers. Meanwhile, Bobby reiterates that Jimmy will defend the firm in the slander trial. The most interesting moment was when Bobby asks Tony Danza, the lawyer suing them and also present in the courtroom for the babysitter trial, his take on the case. Even though they are on opposite sides in the suit, Bobby still respects the opinion of a fellow defense attorney. There’s also a rather uninteresting case where a friend of Rebecca’s sues a school for suspending her son for passing a lewd note, and some nonsense with Lucy kissing Bobby. Why on earth hasn’t anyone fired Lucy yet?
Frasier, “RDWRER”/”They’re Playing Our Song” – Familiar ground is covered from different angels. In the former the Crane boys end up on a road trip for the millennial New Year’s Eve, hearkening back to a season one episode. Some funny bits and the connection to the big change of the calendar differentiate this somewhat, but “Niles and Frasier in an RV” doesn’t get funnier. RDWRER, by the way, is the license plate on the Winnebago and should read “Road Warrior.” (This aired after New Year’s Eve, so it’s safe to have no mention of Y2K fears.) The latter has Frasier trying to create his own theme song, which naturally turns into an overblown production, not unlike his radio drama earlier in the series. But this time there’s a happy ending as Frasier manages to come through. Though the overblown theme, with orchestra and choir and Niles reading a poem, is pretty funny and witty. Plus in the bit behind the closing credits, we see Frasier conducting his stereo and Eddie. I love the occasional moments where Frasier and Eddie get along.
Live Music – matinee gigs on Saturday and Sunday, I don’t think I’d mind if all weekend gigs were in the afternoon to be honest. So nice being able to have a lazy morning and then go for a meal before OR after the gig (I did one of each). Local folktronica band (and my former bandmates) Haiku Salut made a comeback on Saturday and played an excellent set of twinkly electronic songs, good to have them back. Folky electric guitar and loop-based jazz pop in support, all great stuff. Local twin-drummer band (featuring my girlfriend) Rattle played their first local show since releasing a new album on Sunday, with a drony violin-and-drums duo in support. Crazy rhythms!
Seinfeld, Season 3 episodes – “The Red Dot” sees George sink to hilarious new lows after taking a new job at Elaine’s company, “The Subway” is an excellent high-concept episode with the four main characters all getting up to various antics on separate train journeys, “The Pez Dispenser” feels like a bunch of leftover plots thrown together (but in a good way) and “The Suicide” is mostly about Jerry dating a woman whose partner is in a coma but Elaine walks away with the episode after becoming delirious while fasting before an operation – also the first proper appearance by Newman. “The Subway” probably the most memorable of these, but they were all very funny.
How Are You? It’s Alan – just the first episode so far but this looks great, I haven’t been all-in on every Partridge project but this one had me laughing throughout and I’m excited to watch more. “I’ve forgotten what dill looks like” maybe my favourite line but there were a ton of good ones.
Woooo live music! Wooo crazy rhythms! Multiple drummers always rules.
Cannot associate Drake’s Coffee Cakes with anything else.
I remember watching The Subway when it was first on and just thinking it was the funniest thing I had ever seen.
A rare episode where Jerry’s plot is actually one of the funniest parts, his friendship with the large, naked man really made me laugh.
“Was that wrong?” is the quintessential George moment as far as I’m concerned.
Haha it’s tough to beat
One Battle After Another
EDIT: I wrote up the other films first and then forgot to go back to this one! This was a blast: engaging and propulsive from beginning to end, so that I didn’t remotely feel its length. Its politics are explicit, but it also embeds them in its narrative approach, giving even the most minor characters a sense of personhood and letting them make meaningful choices. Everyone is specific and off-beat, even when they’re filling crushingly familiar roles, which helps make all this energizing rather than (or at least in addition to) grueling. Unbelievable performances, and is Benicio del Toro the coolest guy in the world in this or what? I think I’m in love.
The much-praised car chase has a structural trick to it that I don’t think I’ve ever noticed before: two cars chasing one car, and I’m desperately afraid one of them will catch it and desperately afraid the other one won’t, so there’s a huge build-up of tension from two conflicting sources, in two conflicting modes, at once.
The Man Who Fell to Earth
For Movie Club. A beautiful and despairing picture that led to excellent discussion. It’s fascinating to me how this uses the conventions, styles, and cinematic techniques of two often objective, outward-looking genres–science fiction and the Western–to create such an impressionistic film that captures the internal experience of being alien. Has anyone ever been more perfectly cast than David Bowie as Thomas Newton?
You’re Next
Rewatch. I remembered this as being a very well-made film that had no emotional impact on me whatsoever, and that’s still where we are. I’m not sure why. I have no actual criticisms. This is certainly much better than many horror films I love–it’s solid top-to-bottom and fairly clever in its plotting, and it has good scares. Good cast, with a lot of people horror fans like me are happy to see. I just never care about it.
Longlegs
Extremely weird–normal enough in subject matter but deliberately and intriguingly estranging in its execution–and tremendously creepy, with great use of Cage. Maika Monroe doesn’t quite work for me, in part because she’s playing most of it with a deadened affect that makes sense but keeps me at arm’s-length, but she grows more compelling towards the end. This visits similar territory to Prisoners, a movie I’ve always loathed, but it does it in a way that works for me, cracking the world open and finding so much bleakness and darkness there, growing like weeds underneath everything. It’s been there all along, and it’s there still.
This gives evil a visceral, corrupt kind of spirituality that makes it even scarier: Cage and his eventually-revealed-accomplice commit and transcend (and descend), and the movie plays their ecstasies in that straight rather than going for “it’s all a delusion/self-aggrandizement” or “it’s actually cool in a counterculture kind of way,” and it’s better and more potent because of it.
A New Leaf
Incredible. I considered picking a horror movie for last night, to stay on-theme, but I was stressed and craving something lighter, and I’m so glad I picked up this absolute wonder of an Elaine May movie instead. She and Matthau are terrific. (For that matter, so is George Rose.) I could watch this again right now.
A New Leaf is basically Always Sunny forty years ahead of schedule which kind of amazes me. That and Heartbreak Kid feel so modern.
Oooh, I really like that insight of the structural aspect of the car chase. This will likely make the FAR, but I really loved the car analysis here: https://maxread.substack.com/p/the-oscar-should-go-to-bob-fergusons
I’ve been trying to find it again, but Dave Cira’s discussion of the automobile’s metaphorical significance on his Letterboxed account last week was really good, as well as how the film overall responds, as is symptomatic of, the diminished presence of politics in auteur celebrity cinema.
Is this the one?:
https://letterboxd.com/markcira/film/one-battle-after-another/2/
Yes. It actually ties into the theme of the lead essay, which gave me a greater appreciation as to what Reloaded was up to as a metaphor for Hollywood and the co-optation of auteur filmmaking
Just read it. My mother-in-law drove a 2008 Toyota Yarus until she totaled it early last year.
One Battle After Another – Even a very loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon might be trying to do too much! This is the rare recent longer blockbuster that feels less empty than overstuffed, and not in a bad way at all. Anderson is engaging with so much here, including fatherhood, leftist action, white supremacy, (as always with him) family, empowerment, and what the next generation can and will do, and if it feels unwieldy, it’s a good time and comes to an almost perfect stopping point. Maybe not surprising that PTA can do his own (weird, revolutionary) take on the blockbuster, given his instinct for entertainment and jokes, but the car chases here are a pleasant surprise, reaching Bullitt and French Connection territory with their pacing and use of California’s winding hills. My friend’s biggest critique was namely that the Black female characters are overly sexualized and don’t have enough depth and this feels like part of the (bad) cost of such a big, epic production. Still chewing on this but I’d drink a Modelo with Sensei anytime. VIVA LA REVOLUCION!
What I found to be particularly fascinating about the role of Perfidia is that the sexualization of that character isn’t just a fetish, but is instrumental in destabilizing the structural conflict between the political factions. Like the poetic Marxist melodramas of the 70s European political cinema (which ONE BATTLE cites, alongside American 70s archetypes), the movie fuses a psychoanalytic catalyst that explains and delimits the materialist core of the social conflict–politics is as much about the personal desire to meld power and pleasure as it is about justice. Without the eroticization of black revolutionary women, the consequences through which the rest of the story derives from wouldn’t exist, and it’s the major internal issue that Willa has to understand once she gets out of her immediate predicament. As I mentioned in my own comments, I kind of wish the picture worked through this theme more consistently by having, as in the book. Perfidia maintain an active role in the chaos she invokes.
I did feel a certain relief that my audience laughed real hard at Lockjaws’ rationalization of his encounter with Perfidia, as if collectively confirming this white supremacist shit sounds as silly as ever. “She wanted my power!”
It reminded me of Ripper’s confession to Mandrake on how he came to realize the danger of fluoride in DR. STRANGELOVE.
Futurama, second hulu revival season.
Some really solid episodes here, but no all timers. But also no real
stinkers. The finale, white hole, looked like it was going to be one but it did not have the final little bit to get it over the edge. The global warming episode had a funny very unsubtle riff at the end.
Bob’s burgers: “smells like grease and fear” is a banger of a song.
What did we play?
Hollow Knight: Silksong – fairly deep into Act 2 (I think), bouncing between several infuriating boss encounters that I want to wrap up before I put the pieces together to end the next major quest. Recently fought a guy called Trobbio who was a lot of fun, while the boss fights frequently make me curse the developers I cannot deny they have a ton of personality.
More DOOM on Switch. The level design is still brilliant. And some Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with the niece. She won nearly half of our matches, and I don’t think it’s just because I wasn’t putting my whole effort. She’s really that good now.
I refereed a match of Dos for my family on Sunday. Most of them had never even heard of it before, but it went rather well. Granted, we’re still not using all the rules and playing it pretty close to Uno, but it was different enough to have everyone engage, and close enough that no one got seriously lost. It also went by far quicker than most Uno games.
Year of the Month update!
Here’s a primer on some of the movies, albums, books and TV we’ll be covering for 1973 in October!
TBD: Patrick Mio Llaguno – The Long Goodbye
Oct. 14th: Bridgett Taylor: Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road
Oct. 15th: Lauren James: Working
Oct. 16th: John Bruni: Shotgun Willie/Sweet Revenge
Oct. 22nd: Lauren James: The Wicker Man
Oct. 20th: Sam Scott: János Vitéz
Oct. 29th: Lauren James: Don’t Look Now
And this November, you can write about any of these movies, albums, books, et al from 2018!
Nov. 10th: Bridgett Taylor: Aquaman
Nov. 24th: Sam Scott: Ice Cream Man
Interesting thesis. Since I see the message of The Matrix franchise as “see, the status quo isn’t that bad, actually,” then I have to reject this as a critique of capitalism. It is in fact a defense of the way capitalism is a positive engine for social change because it rejects bigotry, prejudice, and classism as inefficient gunk in the system. And it’s hard to come to a different conclusion when the message under analysis was in fact crafted by two Midwestern house painters with $400 million of other people’s money.