From J.VANAKEN@chello.nl Sun May 25 04:10:52 2003 Received: from mxu7.u.washington.edu (mxu7.u.washington.edu [140.142.32.165]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.12.1+UW03.04/8.12.1+UW03.02) with ESMTP id h4PBAp1M054478 for ; Sun, 25 May 2003 04:10:51 -0700 Received: from amsfep11-int.chello.nl (amsfep11-int.chello.nl [213.46.243.20]) by mxu7.u.washington.edu (8.12.1+UW03.04/8.12.1+UW03.02) with ESMTP id h4PBAlf7008761 for ; Sun, 25 May 2003 04:10:47 -0700 Received: from ADA ([24.132.243.29]) by amsfep11-int.chello.nl (InterMail vM.5.01.05.17 201-253-122-126-117-20021021) with SMTP id <20030525111045.TXAN7516.amsfep11-int.chello.nl@ADA> for ; Sun, 25 May 2003 13:10:45 +0200 Reply-To: From: "J VAN AKEN" To: Subject: RE: Matrix Reloaded and Myth: A Teaser Date: Sun, 25 May 2003 13:10:48 +0200 Message-ID: <001201c322ae$4bbd7ff0$0600a8c0@ADA> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook CWS, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2910.0) X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 In-Reply-To: <3EC9511B.4090800@methymna.com> X-Uwash-Spam: Gauge=XIII, Probability=13%, Report="MANY_USER_AGENTS, __EVITE_CTYPE, __HAS_MIMEOLE, __HAS_MSMAIL_PRI, __HAS_OUTLOOK_IN_MAILER, __HAS_X_MAILER, __HAS_X_PRIORITY, __IN_REP_TO, __MANY_USER_AGENTS, __USER_AGENT_OUTLOOK" I just saw this movie. My expectations were high, because of this discussion, and because I really liked the first Matrix. I am a movie lover; I see almost everything that is available, and I never walk out of a movie, because I know some movies that had horrible beginnings, but great intrigues and endings. I was stunned by the ML; in a film industry that has so many excellent scriptwriters, like P. Schrader, BB Thornton, M Night Shyamalan; Scorsesse, Coppola, or even skilled and experienced writers/directors for the large audiences like Lucas of Spielberg, one would expect a movie that is, if not an intellectual challenge, at least entertaining, amusing. But unfortunately it was none of this. ML is a very boring movie, it has a complete lack of original ideas, the dialogues are continuous repetitions of horrible cliché's, and I can't see how the (apparently randomly chosen) names from mythology (and history) have any other function, then to create a pseudo-depth in an endless stream of fights and violent outbursts with no real 'energeia' or verisimilitude. I have no objections to fights in movies, but these scenes are completely unbelievable. I find movies like 'Apocalypse now', or 'Jacob's ladder' a million times more interesting for students (I do not teach mythology but creative writing, with a strong emphasis on mythologic structure) This ML is an insult for anybody's intelligence and a complete waste of time. I am sure there have been worse movies in the last years, but I just can't come up with a name. For a course in CW it is only interesting in the sense of: 'Learn from the bad.' I don't know what 'R' rating means, but ML reminds me strongly of other pseudo-mythologic garbage that my children used to watch, or still watch, like 'transformers' or 'Pokemon'. The nonsensical story and the unrealistic violence gave me the impression that it was meant for 6-12 year olds. The mythology seems to be only in the names, and I don't see how it can have any function in the narrative. Of course, names like Zion and Nebukadnezzar do have a meaning, in a very obvious, explicit way. The Architect, yes, that is a gnostic/masonnic word, but it is also the ICT word for anybody that builds giant networks, or systems. If anybody has a different idea, an interesting analysis, please, enlighten me. jan -----Oorspronkelijk bericht----- Van: CLASSICS-owner@u.washington.edu [mailto:CLASSICS-owner@u.washington.edu]Namens P. T. Rourke Verzonden: maandag 19 mei 2003 23:48 Aan: classics@u.washington.edu Onderwerp: Matrix Reloaded and Myth: A Teaser If you're teaching a mythology class, you might want to warn your students to be on the lookout for what Neo does when the Merovingian offers him something to eat in "The Matrix Reloaded." Hint: the Merovingian's wife is named Persephone. I suspect that there might be a faint strain of influence from Telemachus' visit to Sparta in the scene, too, but only a very faint one - this Persephone is a lot less loyal than Helen (yes, I said that), and this Merovingian is a lot less admirable than Menelaus (yes, I said that, too). But if you see the whole film and think about the implications of the ending, you might understand why I thought that. Most of the "mythological" apparatus in the film is Gnostic - there's a Yaldaboath character, the Architect, and a Sophia character, whose identity I won't reveal. There's a good deal more that suggests that someone read the Hypostasis of the Archons at an impressionable age, or at least late Phillip K. Dick; the creators have said (through one of their mouthpieces) that they reread the Odyssey several times while writing the movie. Maybe we'll see more of that in film 3. It's not Homer, Dante, or Shakespeare, and rather violent for my tastes, but it's an accessible way of explaning to your students how mythology works in literature and pseudo-literature. PTR .