Essay on Baudrillard and the Matrix - 1177 Words

In 1999 Larry and Andy Wachowski wrote and directed an American science fiction action film called The Matrix. The movie depicted a future where many humans might perceive is real, is actually a simulated reality. The Wachowski brothers made many explicit references in their film based on the work of French sociologist Jean Baudrillard. In Jean Baudrillard’s essay entitled â€Å"Simulacra and Simulations† he mentions in his essay how society has replaced all reality and meaning with representation of symbols and signs. Baudrillard starts off with an example of Borges tale, â€Å"cartographers of the Empire draw up a map so detailed that it ends up exactly covering the territory (but where, with the decline of the Empire this map becomes frayed†¦show more content†¦He tells Neo â€Å"Welcome to the desert of the real,† â€Å"desert of the real† is a quote from Baudrillard’s essay that explains after the simulation has been taken away, we ar e left with our real reality, the reality that is decaying, leaving us with not much left. â€Å"The reality itself erodes to the point that it becomes a desert† (Sparknotes). In this scene they are in a simulated reality with nothing but a blank, white room, with a sofa, and a television set. Morpheus has New York, as they perceive it, in the year of 1999 displayed on the television. It is shown as a busy, bright, a vibrant city. Then he switches the channel to how the world really is today, the year closer to 2199. How the world really is in the year 2199 is nothing but a depressing, broken down, â€Å"apocalyptic wasteland† (The Film Journal). It would seem that the Wachowski brother’s aim to illustrate Baudrillard’s concept in The Matrix was well put together. They made it very clear that their portayal of The Matrix is a â€Å"simulation† that derived from a â€Å"real reality† that is no longer rational. In otherwords, now that Neo has awoken to the truth, he could no longer go back to what he thought is real and see it the s ame as before. â€Å"Someone who feigns an illness can simply go to bed and pretend he is ill. Someone who simulates an illness produces in himself some of the symptoms (Littre). Thus, feigning or dissimulating leaves the reality principle intact: the differenceShow MoreRelatedSimulacrum And Simulations And Simulacra And Science Fiction1598 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"Simulacra and Science Fiction†, author and sociologist Jean Baudrillard explains this phenomenon by exploring the concept of simulacrum and simulations. Baudrillard argues that we live in a simulation that is more real than reality, and thus no longer even bears a resemblance to reality. In other words, the reality we think we know is really just an illusion. One movie with an exceptional amount of parallels to Baudrillard’s ideologies is The Matrix, directed by the Wachowskis. Many people believe thatRead MoreTrue Reality In Platos Allegory And The Matrix873 Words   |  4 Pagesand feelings. Both the Allegory and the Matrix have some similarities with the same metaphysical question of what is real, how do you know your reality is a real reality. Neo is the main character of ‘’The Matrix† and is captive in a false reality created by the Matrix which have taken over the world. In Plato’s Allegory, the prisoner can understand reality experienced in the cave and the real reality outside of the cave. Some similarities that The Matrix and the Allegory have is the is the acceptanceRead MoreEnders Game and the Matrix - Comparative Essay Practise Essay Scaffold - Science Fiction1597 Words   |  7 Pagesthat texts are connected through their similar themes and ideas displayed in their textual forms. Texts are allegories of human existence which simultaneously examining contextual ideas. This is seen the two texts, the Wachowski brothers’ film The Matrix (1999) and Orson Scott Card’s novel Ender’s game (1985), through their mutual form of the science-ficti on genre. These two texts allow the responder to gain new understanding of the values of the contextual times in which the text was composed. Read MoreSocial Change and then Post Modernity1090 Words   |  4 Pagestraditional politics in the sence of world issues, and instead take on personal perspectives, for example: feminism, pacifism, environmentalism or fundamentalism. Post modern theorist, Baudrillard believes that: The secret of theory is that truth doesnt exist. You cant confront it in any way.’ (Baudrillard, 1993). Baudrillard is one main theorists of this time. He, along with other theorists such as Lyotard believes that science doesn’t give all the answers. They don’t try to be scientific in theirRead MoreConsumerism And Consumerism1481 Words   |  6 Pages- as contingent beings, we must consume resources to survive. The problem is not consuming to live, but rather living to consume. We find ourselves in a culture that defines our relationships and actions primarily through a matrix of consumption. As the philosopher Baudrillard explains, Consumption is a system of meaning. We assign value to ourselves and others based on the goods we purchase. Ones identity is now constructed by the clothes you wear, the vehicle you drive, and the music on yourRead MoreThe Philosophy of Film1177 Words   |  5 Pagestheory of film - and addresses about the philosophical substance of films — films as philosophy. Thomas E. Wartenberg (Professor of philosophy at Mount Holyoke College) did a great job in showing when a film illustrates a philosophic claim and how â€Å"The Matrix† make contribution to philosophy. In this paper, I will look at another film, â€Å"Blade Runner†, to see the connection between philosophy and film, then discuss the question: Are the Replicants human? Wartenberg addressed the question: â€Å"Can philosophyRead MoreThe Matrix, By The Wachowski Brothers2370 Words   |  10 Pageswithin the genres of science fiction and fantasy. A classic example of such a film is ‘The Matrix’ a science fiction masterpiece directed by The Wachowski Brothers. Released in 1999, the film has an extreme amount of depth not only in its storyline, but in its innovative use of visual effects and camerawork. Therefore in this essay I have decided to critically examine the underlying thematic content of ‘The Matrix’, and the way in which the use of visual effects and cinematography contributed to theRead MoreThe Simulation Of Reality, By Cameron Stewart2555 Words   |  11 Pagessimulate reality—he has this realization. In this way, the simulacrum took precedence over the reality. This recurring theme of the precession of simulacra points to questions about the original: What is an original? Does the original even exist? Baudrillard answers this question with his theory: Abstraction today is no longer that of the map, the double, the mirror or the concept. Simulation is no longer that of a territory, a referential being or a substance. It is the generation by models of a realRead More The Characters in The Matrix Essay3889 Words   |  16 PagesThe Characters in The Matrix The Matrix (Wachowski Wachowski 1999) is a battery powering an unending chatter of thought, images, productions, and discourse. In the film, a stabbing needle penetrates the black plug mounted on the back of a human skull, and the mind is overwhelmed by the matrix, an extensive simulacral world that, to its unknowing inhabitants, is in every way the same as reality, and to those merely passing through, is a sinister, green-tinted prison. The film sets, by dialogueRead MoreThe Myth Of Dante s Divine Comedy By Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire2197 Words   |  9 Pagesleaving strict use of rhyme and stanza structure. This relates to Beck’s map because like a map with strict paths and guidelines, a sonnet has specific patterns that it must follow in order to be a sonnet poem. Humans are fed virtual reality in The Matrix. 1) Relate this fact to the discussion of the imaginary stations that surround Los Angeles in Simulacra and Simulation and explain. 2) Relate the descriptions of those Imaginary stations to Baudrillard’s commentaries regarding Disneyworld. ( /2)