426. Shooting Threes: The Matrix
Added 2021-10-08 13:00:08 +0000 UTC
We begin our new trilogy set with 1999’s The Matrix! Oh boy oh boy, let’s go down this rabbit hole, baby! Bridgett and Sarah discuss the legacy, themes, and gender critique of the Wachowski Sisters’ smash hit.
A lot of what we reference was specifically in regards to gender, and how the Wachowski’s coming out re-contextualized this film for many, many people. As a cis hosts, we want to make sure the trans authors of these works are credited and our listeners have access for additional reading:
- Why The Matrix Is a Trans Story According to Lilly Wachowski | Netflix Film Club
- “How The Matrix universalized a trans experience — and helped me accept my own” by Emily VanDerWerff | Vox
https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/3/30/18286436/the-matrix-wachowskis-trans-experience-redpill
- “What We Can Learn About Gender From The Matrix” By Andrea Long Chu | Vulture
https://www.vulture.com/2019/02/what-the-matrix-can-teach-us-about-gender.html
Features:
Sarah Griffith: https://twitter.com/sk_griffith
Bridgett Greenberg: https://twitter.com/BridgettTweets
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Comments
Second time listening, first time responding—to this episode—I really enjoyed it again. As for the infamous (more than famous?) shooting scene, I disagree with the criticism. Its style and tone was in keeping with the action scenes that followed and, indeed, set them up. I suppose Neo could have simply asked Tank for an attack helicopter instead of “guns, lots of guns” but I don’t think the whole sequence would have felt as satisfying. Now, for the IRL events, well as with Harris and Klebold, there was (and always has been) plenty of real life examples and inspirations for violent and despicable acts. Blaming fiction wholly, or even primarily, for atrocities or cultural decay for that matter, has been a tool of those in power for centuries. Novels were once declared to be corruptors of women’s minds and virtue. The threat of fiction tends to be its ability to permit the oppressed to dream of a better reality, often by metaphorically exposing the corruption of those in power in reality. What bothers me morally about the mass shooting in the lobby, from a diegetic perspective, is the claims of the “real humans” about the sanctity of human life. The action plays out like a video game (because it is) but we’ve been told and shown. that the deaths are real. Yes, they had to be killed quickly to prevent an agent possessing them, but the essential message was that only certain lives matter and the rest are expendable. I suppose that really isn’t surprising given the “savior” theology promoted by Morpheus. Religious believers (and much of extant religious beliefs) have consistently declared only certain people matter and the rest deserve to burn.
Scriptmonkeys
2024-04-13 20:53:35 +0000 UTCOkay so what if humans messed up the Earth so bad that they had to make sure everyone goes into a virtual reality so the Earth can do its thing and heal and to be custodians they created the robots to keep us inside and fed and all that but the only way to make sure that those robots were powered while there were no humans around to do it was by using ourselves as batteries. So the robots keep trying to trap us in The matrix because it's their job to keep us in there until the Earth is ready for us to come back out.
Cyclops giraffe
2023-04-08 01:21:10 +0000 UTCI hope you like the sequels! When I saw Reloaded as a kid, I think it was the first sci-fi action I'd seen with PoC in it that wasn't in Chinese. It'll probably always have a special place in my heart bc of that, and it bums me out when people think they're a slog to watch :/
pillowknife
2021-11-08 01:46:17 +0000 UTCSince you’re pulling in additional material, I thought that Wisecrack’s “Show Me The Meaning” podcast episodes on the two sequels did a good job discussing the philosophical ideas that underpin “Reloaded” and “Revolutions” and made me find them more interesting, if not “good.” (That said, the host who did most of that argument has made some overarching political comments I don’t agree with so take his thoughts with a grain of salt.)
Rich K
2021-10-19 00:55:18 +0000 UTCHey, thanks for the kind words. For what it's worth, at least BttF is still a trilogy and I don't see that changing soon.
Michael Vincent Bramley
2021-10-13 00:38:18 +0000 UTCBack in the late 90s I habitually wore an old black army greatcoat. Then this film came out and strangers started smirking at me and saying "Seen The Matrix then?" and I had to stop wearing it Which was just as well as that wasn't a look I could really pull off. Eventually I did see The Matrix and then spent the next year wishing I was Trinity. I was at least bright enough to know that I wasn't a skintight PVC person.
Slight Hiccup
2021-10-12 23:25:29 +0000 UTCI loved the episode. I can’t wait for the next two. I’m sorry to post this in the thread about the Matrix review, but Bridgett and Sarah briefly mentioned Columbine, and I always feel the need to dispel the myth that Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris were bullied outcasts, and that they were in “the Trenchcoat Mafia.” That was a group of kids who were seniors when they were juniors, and it was just a joke from the year before the shooting. For the most part, other students were afraid of Dylan because he was a psycho who talked about killing people a lot, and he was actually a bully to Eric, who he pressured into doing the shooting with him. I’ll link an article. If you Google Columbine myths, or listen to The Last Podcast on the Left series about it, it’s all very informative. The Columbine Massacre led to some of the worst journalism in history, and that has had a ripple effect in bad school administration for decades. To this day we’re still talking about violence in video games, dangerous music lyrics, and I was in middle school at the advent of “zero tolerance” school administration, and I cringe when I hear people still carrying on these myths that bullying led to the worst school, mass shooting in history. Thank you. I’m sorry if this isn’t the place for this post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/04/19/bullies-black-trench-coats-columbine-shootings-most-dangerous-myths/
Drew Mancini
2021-10-09 12:48:13 +0000 UTCMr Robot has one of the best depictions of hacking of all time. Just putting it out there, I love Mr Robot. Season 4 episode 7 is one of the best hours of television or all time.
Andrew Duck
2021-10-09 06:45:36 +0000 UTCThere's a really great and very detailed thread by Tilly Bridges about The Matrix Trans allegory https://twitter.com/TillyBridges/status/1404881655525826561?t=akfLEOk5H1Uudmh5E2OCpA&s=19
Oliver Allen
2021-10-08 19:25:13 +0000 UTCI thought the duh-duh at the beginning was drifting into Sanford and Son.
Searcher
2021-10-08 15:51:20 +0000 UTC
