Is ignorance bliss? The
Matrix serves as a powerful
response to the question in terms of postmodernism. While watching The Matrix, I was enticed and
surprised at the level of depth that was put into this one question in just
over two hours of film. The movie has furthermore helped me—in a very powerful
way—explore the complex relationship between postmodernism and ignorance.
While discussing postmodernism and The Matrix in English class, I wondered how
the idea of "ignorance" fit into the puzzle of postmodernism. We
discussed how society has become so complex that it is impossible to obtain a
full understanding of it. Is this ignorance? Postmodernists would argue no. For
example, the people in the matrix were unaware of their
"predicament," yet they were not ignorant for they did not have
access to the truth or the big picture. In addition, not even Morpheus and the
others who were freed from the Matrix could grasp a complete understanding of
its workings.
Ignorance and postmodernism seem to be opposites in this sense;
while ignorance is the denial of truth, a postmodern society is simply too
complex to fully comprehend. This relationship of ideas intrigued me while
watching the movie, and led me to another question: what about the
"Beats?" They reminded me of Cypher from The Matrix. Cypher saw life outside the Matrix
as simply too difficult to bear, and instead he decided to knowingly disregard
the truth and return to the Matrix. Similarly, the Beat Generation recognized
that it was simply impossible to change the system, and instead admitted defeat
to it.
The Matrix also helped me understand the postmodern
“lack of historicity,” in which historical authenticity is impossible. In terms
of ignorance, this aspect of postmodernism in especially interesting, because
it is almost the opposite of what I discovered earlier. In a postmodern
society, we are almost knowingly ignorant
(as seen by Disney World Africa). We know that certain things are not
historically accurate, yet we still accept them as truth. The Matrix was also
not an accurate representation of the world, yet Cypher accepted it as truth.
In this way, ignorance and the lack of historicity in a postmodern
world overlap in many ways. This understanding helped me comprehend the intense
power of propaganda. Especially seen it Hitler’s Germany and Mao Zedong’s
China, propaganda has had the power to sway millions of people in one way or
another on an issue. When I was studying the Chinese Revolution, I saw that
many propaganda posters powerfully ignored and/or exaggerated certain things to
emphasize the positive facts. The “robots” did this to the Matrix as well and
even to Cypher when they promised him a wonderful life in exchange for
Morpheus.
Overall, The Matrix was
a wonderful film. Not only did it contain enticing themes that strengthened its
beauty, but it also helped me comprehend the incredibly complex relationship
between ignorance and postmodernism. So, returning to the question: is
ignorance bliss? I believe that we will never truly know according to
postmodernism. Although ignorance is often avoidable, it actually seems
inevitable in many cases, as portrayed so powerfully in The Matrix.
Hey Alex,
ReplyDeleteI love the parallels you draw! The Matrix’s toyings with ignorance and postmodernism present a lot of new opportunities for connections to daily society. An odd little parallel that I’d like to draw to what you describe is the Theater of the absurd we’ve been going over in class. My assumption is that, since the matrix shares close ties with Postmodernism, and the Thater of the absurd employs postmodern concepts, then the Matrix should be similar to the theater of the absurd.
Right?
You mention that the Matrix gives us little no historical backup as to when the events of the movie occur. This is a trait of the theater of the absurd, and is professionally demonstrated in Rosencrantz &Guildenstern are Dead.
You also discuss the “Beat” thinkers and their attitude, how they choose to be separate from society. I love the parallel you draw with Cypher, and think that Cypher’s decisions are different, yet almost more powerful that a Beat’s thinking. Since we cannot beat society, escaping it is futile and we might as well be mainstream. The desire of him to return to the matrix seems very human and reasonable, yet one itching keeps us from forgiving him. It’s tough to pinpoint what angers us about cypher, but the theater of the absurd offers some insight to that. “In order to be human, one must use the freedom to choose.” Cypher’s passive nature and refusal to commit, to choose, make him inhuman to us, and thus we choose the featureless landscape of the absurd.