REVIEW BY ALEX BAINBRIDGE
Matrix Reloaded
Written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski
With Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne
At cinemas every-bloody-where
Zanny Begg's review of the first Matrix movie (Green Left Weekly #364, June 9, 1999) argued that the film "lends itself to a Marxist reading". The main thesis of the review was that "The Matrix is about the fight against ruling-class ideas which trick people into believing they have something to gain from capitalism".
Nick Fredman's review of Matrix Reloaded (GLW #539, May 28, 2003) argues that "one possible reading sees the Matrix as a metaphor for the bourgeois ideology that binds people to the system, and the rebels who must both battle the state and free people from their illusions as anti-capitalist revolutionaries".
One may read the Matrix movies in such a way if one likes, but it is a contrived reading — based more on wishful thinking than analysis. Such a reading does not help explain those ways in which the Matrix movies reinforce rather than challenge capitalist ideology.
Far from being a metaphor for the real-life struggle against the false consciousness of capitalist ideology, the films heavily promote capitalist individualism, fatalism and Christian symbolism. They even put forward the morbid notion that most humans (trapped in the Matrix) can only be content in despair, giving comfort to the idea that the horrors of modern capitalism are somehow a product of human nature.
The films are not without their redeeming features. Both films, especially Reloaded, include relatively significant roles for African Americans and women, well above Hollywood's usual (very low) average. Both are entertaining films and contain impressive special effects.
Further, the Matrix movies are set apart from standard Hollywood action flicks by the interesting concept of the Matrix — a machine that has enslaved humans by giving them a false consciousness — and, more significantly, by the fact that the films at some level explore the philosophical question of choice, particularly "free will" versus determinism. This theme was evident in The Matrix, but is much more pronounced in Matrix Reloaded.
Early in the first film, we learn of the prophecy that Neo (played by Keanu Reaves) would be "the One" who would liberate people from the machines. The plot centres on Neo's journey to discover if this prophecy is true. Neo has cause to doubt the prophecy, but the faith of Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) is rewarded by the film's end with the apparent evidence that Neo is indeed fated to be the One.
Despite its severe contradictions (the fact that it finished strongly reinforcing individualism and fatalism), the first Matrix film had a progressive aspect because the question of choice centred on whether or not to fight against a dominant power and expose the false consciousness it imposed on people. This was symbolised by the "red pill, blue pill" choice and was reflected in Neo's decision to go back into the Matrix to save Morpheus.
Matrix Reloaded is set some time after the first movie ends, when the time approaches that Neo is expected to do his trick and save us all — but it doesn't develop the progressive aspect of the first film. Throughout Reloaded, Morpheus's blind faith in the prophecy (not political leadership) is portrayed as heroic while sceptics are not portrayed positively. This dovetails with the message, repeatedly reinforced, that we have no real power over the choices that we make: our choices are pre-determined.
The best that can be said about this question of choice in the second film is that, on occasion (such as in the restaurant scene), the limits to our choices are explained as being imposed by the powerful against the weak. This aspect of the question has much relevance in the real world. One small example is the standard discipline technique of school teachers ("You can either do your work now or you can stay in and do it at lunchtime"). These kinds of false choices are the only kind (on important issues) allowed by the capitalist powers that be.
Nevertheless, any exploration of this theme in Matrix Reloaded is shallow. Certainly it is drawing a long bow to argue that the film is a disguised anti-capitalist critique.
The macro-choice that Neo is forced to make (determined by his "predictable emotion") is no longer framed around whether or not to fight against the Matrix. The choice is now framed around saving the female lead Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss).
This choice leads to a cliff-hanger ending to be resolved in the forthcoming Matrix Revolutions. Despite the fact that the ending again casts doubt on the truth of the original prophecy, the (ultimately reactionary) notion that our destiny is laid out before us is strongly advanced by both films.
(I personally will be surprised if the final film doesn't end with Neo leading the humans to victory, but only by exercising in some way his own free will — a confirmation of the prophesy by breaking with destiny. Cute, but shallow, and with limited relevance to the real world struggle against capitalism.)
Fredman argues that The Matrix was designed to tap into "real world discontent" and "radical moods in the populace". Undoubtedly this is true, but the same can be said about numerous recent films (corporate and government villains are now standard fare). This is not the same as saying that the film has a "critical political meaning" — certainly not one that would make it sensible to draw comparisons between Morpheus in Matrix Reloaded and Lenin at the Finland Station!
The review argues that "the Matrix's vision of liberation may be contradictory, mysterious ... and perhaps elitist but that doesn't mean we can't exploit those representations in popular culture that can have a progressive meaning".
Of course activists can — and should — take advantage of images and concepts from The Matrix to further our campaigns. The US anti-war leaflet calling on people to "take the red pill, join the resistance" is a good example.
But again, The Matrix is hardly unique in this regard. Numerous student rallies have been built with images drawn from a wide range of popular movies. The allegedly progressive message of the Matrix movies hasn't hindered the Engineering Society at the University of Tasmania from using Matrix images as well — to build their latest booze-up.
From Green Left Weekly, June 11, 2003.
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