Friday, November 14, 2003

Ken Mondschein's Matrix Geekery

Ken Mondschein of Corporate Motherfucker wrote a great meditation on "Reloaded." and now his analysis of "Revolutions" is up. While his appraisal has certain similarities to mine (e.g., Chewbacca, LOTR), his analysis leans more heavily toward the Western end of the spectrum (and I do wonder about his translation of "Sati," which sounds awfully Christianized).

Some things to note:

1. Ken's sympathy toward Keanu the actor, who's "had enough sadness in his life."

2. The Matrix pic next to the section of his essay titled "Because I Choose To." What's wrong with this picture? I had a good chuckle.

3. Ken's focus on the issue of freedom/choice, which I largely glossed over, perhaps because I don't feel the movie takes a clear stance on this, especially if you reject the Armageddon paradigm in favor of the Hindu one.

Go read! Ken's essay has the virtue of being much shorter than mine, and probably more pithy. He sounds more definite than I do about the tropes he's highlighted, and I'm not too happy with his implied defense of Baudrillard, but Ken's a great writer. Give his essay a whirl.

UPDATE: Another Corporate Motherfucker link, not by Ken, is titled "Why I Will Never Be Jean Baudrillard: An Exercise in Abstract Thought." I read it as a kick in the pants of PoMo thinkers, but be warned: it's written as PoMo humor.
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