THE MATRIX - DECONSTRUCTING THE REAL, BUILDING FICTION

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DECONSTRUCTING THE REAL - building fiction

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DECONSTRUCTING THE REAL - building fiction

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session 6

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White rabbit

DECONSTRUCTING THE REAL

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White Rabbit, by Jefferson Aeroplane.

There are many references to Alice's adventures in Wonderland....

Names have an important place and symbolism in the movie.

Clothing & materials play an important symbolic role

Identify the clip that references this Duracel ad.

The influence of Kant's philosophy on The Matrix

KANT The philosophy of Immanuel Kant has also been claimed as another influence on the film, and in particular how individuals within the Matrix interact with one another and with the system. Kant states in his Critique of Pure Reason that people come to know and explore our world through synthetic means (language, etc.), and thus this makes it rather difficult to discern truth from falsely perceived views. This means people are their own agents of deceit, and so in order for them to know truth, they must choose to openly pursue truth. This idea can be examined in Agent Smith's monologue about the first version of the Matrix, which was designed as a human utopia, a perfect world without suffering and with total happiness. Agent Smith explains that, "it was a disaster. No one accepted the program. Entire crops [of people] were lost." The machines had to amend their choice of programming in order to make people subservient to them, and so they conceived the Matrix in the image of the world in 1999. The world in 1999 was far from a utopia, but still humans accepted this over the suffering-less utopia. According to William Irwin this is Kantian, because the machines wished to impose a perfect world on humans in an attempt to keep people content, so that they would remain completely submissive to the machines, both consciously and subconsciously, but humans were not easy to make content. From <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Matrix#Thematic_analysis>

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Listen to the song by Jefferson Airplane which is used extensively in the 4th film theatrical trailers, and is inferred to during the 1st film by a tattoo. Find 1 other reference to elements of the film in the song...

Watch the extract from the film Alice in Wonderland. What similarities are there between the two films?

TASK 3

1. Names: what could these other names be referring to?
   1. Trinity
   2. Neo
   3. 'Dozer (clue: bull)
   4. Tank
   5. Cypher

TASK 4 - CLOTHING Clothing plays an essential and symbolic role in the Matrix movies. Click on the image above and look at the images. Determine the meaning inferred by the following items:

• Cotton and woollen fabrics
• Leather
• Sunglasses
• Business suits
• Nakedness (no clothes!)

TASK 5 - BATTERIES Identify the reference to this advert you saw in the following clip:

TASK 6 - KANT Read this cartoon. What does Morpheus compare The Matrix to? What is the problem with Morpheus' logic?

Morpheus... The name Morpheus is that of the god of dreams in Greek mythology, which is consistent with the character's involvement with the "dreaming" of the Matrix. The mythical Morpheus and his family, including two brothers (Phobetor and Phantasos), lived in a dream world protected by the Gates of Morpheus with two monsters standing guard. Beyond the gates were the River of Forgetfulness, beside which Morpheus once carried his father to hide in a cave, and the River of Oblivion. This theme of duality carries over to Morpheus in The Matrix, who offers Neo either a blue pill (to forget about the Matrix and continue to live in the world of illusion) or a red pill (to enter the painful world of reality). (From <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morpheus_(The_Matrix))

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BUILDING FICTION

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There is also a reference to this fictional universe...

The film blurs the frontiers between these two notions

Colour is a language of its own in The Matrix...

This French philosopher also liked to contemplate the real and the imaginary

The directors were heavily inspired by kung-fu movies.

See the trailer for the new film.

Home

TASK 7 - THE WIZARD OF OZ & DORETHY Can you find the part of this extract that refers to the fictional universe of Oz? Which character in The Matrix makes the reference? What other similarities do the movies share? (HINT: The reference occurs very early in the extract)

TASK 8 - DYSTOPIA or UTOPIA? The Matrix blurs the frontiers between the notions of dystopia and utopia. Look at these pictures and then explain how or why:

TASK 9 - COLOUR Click on the image above and go to the website to learn more about the use of colour in the film. Explain the use of the following colours:

• Green
• Blue
• Red

Now that you have watched the video, what does this image mean?

TASK 11 - KUNG-FU & BULLETS The action scenes of The Matrix were also strongly influenced by live-action films such as those of director John Woo. The martial arts sequences were inspired by Fist of Legend, a critically acclaimed 1995 martial arts film starring Jet Li. The fight scenes in Fist of Legend led to the hiring of Yuen as fight choreographer. The film is known for popularizing a visual effect. known as "bullet time", which allows a shot to progress in slow-motion while the camera appears to move through the scene at normal speed. Bullet time has been described as "a visual analogy for privileged moments of consciousness within the Matrix", and throughout the film, the effect is used to illustrate characters' exertion of control over time and space. The Matrix - Wikipedia Watch the famous Morpheus/Neo Fightscene clip in the image above and identify some of these influences.

TASK 12 - Simulacra and Simulation - Jean Baudrillard "It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes, to blind you from the truth…" Simulacra and Simulation is most known for its discussion of symbols, signs, and how they relate to contemporaneity (simultaneous existences). Baudrillard claims that our current society has replaced all reality and meaning with symbols and signs, and that human experience is a simulation of reality. Moreover, these simulacra are not merely mediations of reality, nor even deceptive mediations of reality; they are not based in a reality nor do they hide a reality, they simply hide that nothing like reality is relevant to our current understanding of our lives. [...] Baudrillard believed that society had become so saturated with these simulacra and our lives so saturated with the constructs of society that all meaning was becoming meaningless by being infinitely mutable; he called this phenomenon the "precession of simulacra. From <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulacra_and_Simulation Watch the clip in the image above. What similarities can you identify between this scene and the philosophical ideas of Baudrillard?

TASK 10 - DESCARTES' DEMON Watch the video below and learn how Descrates' philosophical ideas influenced the film. It's diabolical!

Watch this clip.... Identify "bullet time" and Kung-fu influences:

How to Write a Movie Review: 5 Tips for Writing Movie Reviews

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Written by the MasterClass staff Last updated: Jun 24, 2021 • 4 min read Whether it’s for pleasure or a job assignment, writing a good movie review can be a useful exercise that allows you to explore your personal connection to a film. If you’ve recently watched a film and want to share your opinions about it, there are a few best practices that can help you compose a balanced, thoughtful, and entertaining movie review.Click on the buttons to the left to discover these tips.

Source: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-write-a-movie-review#what-is-a-movie-review

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An eye-catcting title, or headline, and maybe a supporting byline providing extra clarity, are essential for attracting the attention of potential readers. The next crucial element is the introduction, or lead. Include a strong hook in the introductory paragraph of your review to retain your reader’s attention. This hook can focus on a unique angle that sets you apart from other reviewers, a controversial opinion, or a fact or insight about the film or the attached talent. TASK Compare the Guardian and WIRED articles. Locate the introductory paragraphs and hooks in each. Are they effective?

SUMMARY Include a general summary. When writing a film review, provide a brief plot summary to give the reader a general overview of the story and its main characters. Include the director’s name, the release date, the main actors’ names, and any other relevant logistical information about the film for your readers’ reference. TASK Locate the Summaries in the Guardian and WIRED articles. Read them rapidly. Are they effective in situating the movie?

Establish your opinion. Film reviewers should have enticing, well-informed opinions about the movies they tackle. Use evidence from the film, like characterization or scene descriptions, to support and substantiate your claims of good filmmaking or plot holes. To round out your review, compare the film to others in the genre with similar themes or events. If the filmmaker primarily makes films from the same genre, draw comparisons between the movie you’re reviewing and their other works.

EVALUATE Evaluate the film. After establishing the facts and analyses, include an overall evaluation of the material in your review. Share whether you thought the movie successfully presented its intended theme and storyline and if you would recommend it to other viewers. TASK Where in the articles can you locate the authors' evaluations of the film?

THE WRAP Wrap it up. Include a conclusion that wraps up your central idea and ties together your film analysis in a constructive and cohesive manner. Some reviewers opt to give the movie a letter grade, passing grade, or percentage score at the end of the review. TASK Highlight the conclusions in both articles. Which do you prefer? Why?

DECONSTRUCTING THE REAL - building fiction

dear colleagues...

Thanks for visiting this genialy. I built if for use in a project aimed at high school students. I used it this year with 1ère "tronc commun" students, but it would work with Terminale or LLCER. You are more than welcome to use this genialy and any of the other resources constructed for the project. Simply follow Alice down the rabbit hole by clicking on the image opposite. The PowerPoint entitled MATRIX is the key to how I implemented the project.

It will take you to a One Cloud drive to which you will automatically have Read rights. Please feel free to copy / transform the materials as you see fit. I only ask you, if you see (and make) improvements, or have other uses or additions that could be made, to drop me a line and share your insights. I'll share your suggestions at a later date on a specific page on this genialy.Many thanksLee

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