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Re: escapism (was re: JIN-ROH and LotR)
On Thu, 28 Mar 2002 Ysobelle at aol_com wrote:
> Symbolically, perhaps, Cypher is denying his own humanity by trying to
> get reinserted into the Matrix, but realistically, he is only trying to
> pander to his own senses. When we first realise what he's going to do,
> he is in a Matrix restaurant, waxing rhapsodic over a steak. I would
> argue that indeed, Mouse's statement IS carried through as a theme. Then
> again, it's broad enough to apply to almost any situation.
The film never quite says there is anything *wrong* with pandering to our
senses, though -- Neo and the others all get a kick out of their
virtual-reality martial-arts training simulators, and watching the film
itself is a highly sensory experience. I think the key problem in the
film is not one of reality/artificiality, but one of slavery/freedom, and
Cypher's downfall is not that he is willing to pander to his senses, but
that he is willing to give up his freedom in order to pander to them.
Then again, how "free" is Cypher on the Nebuchadnezzar, fleeing machines
all the time and eating snot-like goop and taking orders from Morpheus and
basically living the sort of existence that most of us would hate?
--- Peter T. Chattaway --------------------------- peter at chattaway_com ---
"I detected one misprint, but to torture you I will not tell you where."
Winston Churchill to T.E. Lawrence, re Seven Pillars of Wisdom
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