Reality and Hyperreality in Cinema A Case Study of Matrix

Certain Cinematic Tendencies in the 1990s The Matrix (1999) Written and Directed by Andy and Larry Wachowski

Certain Cinematic Tendencies in the 1990s A short synopsis Computer hacker Thomas Anderson has lived a relatively ordinary life until he is contacted by the enigmatic person called Morpheus who leads him into the REAL world.

Certain Cinematic Tendencies in the 1990s Morpheus makes Anderson realize that the world around him is a computer simulation, a false version of twentieth-century life (exactly speaking 1999), named the ‘matrix’ and the REAL world (of 2199) has been laid waste and taken over by advanced artificial intelligence machines.

Certain Cinematic Tendencies in the 1990s The computers have created the Matrix to keep the human slaves satisfied, while the AI machines draw power from the humans.

Certain Cinematic Tendencies in the 1990s Morpheus and other rebel warriors are constantly pursued by the police or “Agents” (computers who take on human form and infiltrate the Matrix), while struggling to overthrow the Matrix.

Certain Cinematic Tendencies in the 1990s The Truman Show (1998) written by Andrew Nichol and directed by Peter Weir The hero’s [Truman’s] home town and the surrounding area is the world’s largest soundstage (television stage).

Certain Cinematic Tendencies in the 1990s Truman was born and grew up in the simulated town and is the only person who does not know he is filmed for 24 hours a day and broadcast for over twenty years as reality TV programme.

Certain Cinematic Tendencies in the 1990s Dark City (1998) written and directed by Alex Proyas The decrepit urban labyrinth is eventually revealed to have been simulated by aliens for observing human behaviour. Dark City

Certain Cinematic Tendencies in the 1990s The Thirteenth Floor (1999) written and directed by Josef Rusnak One of the scientists perfecting a sim-city realizes slowly that he himself and everything he knows exist merely as part of a simulated city, another sim. 13th

Certain Cinematic Tendencies in the 1990s SimCity is a city-building simulation game, first released in 1989 and designed by Will Wright. SimCity

The 1990s SFs as an Allegory Allegory The war between machine and man (old cinema concept in a newer form) (The possibility that) Reality is a hoax and simulation. Our anxiety about how our relationship to the real should be, or how our relationship to the fake should be.

Simulation and Simulacra A key to understand allegorical meanings of The Matrix A brief shot of a book, Jean Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation

Simulation and Simulacra To dissimulate – to feign (or pretend) not to have what one has. To simulate – to feign (or pretend) to have what one doesn’t have (there is nothing) “To simulate is not simply to feign … dissimulation leaves the reality intact … whereas simulation threatens the difference between ‘true’ and ‘false’ and between ‘real’ and ‘imaginary’” (Jean Baudrillard)

Simulation and Simulacra Simulacrum = what is simulated; a copy of reality which has already lost its original presence, immanence and meaning Simulacrum = an empty sign which refers to only itself and does not stand for something else Our reality itself is made of simulacra There is nothing which is not simulated in our reality - postmodern reality.

Simulation and Simulacra Art as simulacra - it no longer pretends that it is a copy of reality. Creating a work of art means simulating. What is simulated does not refer to what represents but itself. The portrait of Monroe and Presley don’t stand for the superstars but only works

Simulation and Simulacra Diego Velazquez Portrait of Pope Innocent X (1650) A copy of real Pope Innocent X, but the copy can even be considered more real than real.

Simulation and Simulacra Warhol’s Mao can hardly be considered as his portrait as it is empty and void. Portrait without its sitter or subject. Its value does not come as a portrait but simply as an art work.

Simulation and Simulacra Present-day simulators make simulacra coincide with the real and replace it. We are surrounded by images - films, TV, games, holograms, computer graphics, etc. Copies, replicas, models

Computer simulation

Computer simulation

Holograph

Computer graphics

Computer Graphics

Simulation and Simulacra “Disneyland is presented as imaginary in order to make us believe that the rest is real, when in fact Los Angeles and the America surrounding it are no longer real, but of the order of the hyper-real and of simulation”(Jean Baudrillard).

Simulation and Simulacra “We not only enjoy a perfect imitation, we also enjoy the conviction that imitation has reached its apex and afterwards reality will always be inferior to it.’ Umberto Eco

Simulation and Simulacra Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park (1993) is about an attempt to create a theme park of cloned dinosaurs. Theme parks, clones and computer graphics – all that are simulated and simulacra now make up our reality Jurassic Park

Simulation and Simulacra We are surrounded by simulacra ‘in the age of mechanical reproduction’ (Walter Benjamin)

Visual Images as Simulacra What The Matrix shows us is the reality like ours, but more perfect one, which consists entirely of simulated and mediated people and objects – hyper-real objects. The Matrix presents a simulated reality.

Visual Images as Simulacra Morpheus gives Neo a chance to choose – to stay on in the simulated world or return to the ‘real’ reality lost a long time ago. How is the simulated reality shown in The Matrix?

Visual Images as Simulacra Digital image surroundings Videogames: The Matrix deploys digital effects and images resonant for gamers Whether one played on a PC or a platform like PlayStation or X-box, videogame images are all digitally coded.

Visual Images as Simulacra We are surrounded by digitally created images: video game and computer game Wire fighting effects example

Visual Images as Simulacra Immersion effects (effects which make you completely absorbed in the film) You leave your reality for a moment and are absorbed in another reality. Made possible by digital effects: digital effects Wire-fighting choreographed by legendary Hong Kong choreographer/director Yuen Wo Ping (Yuen Cheun-Yan)

Visual Images as Simulacra Jackie Chen films The Matrix Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon (2000) Kill Bill (2003)

Visual Images as Simulacra Wire fighting, which had been made popular through Kung Fu films and video games, appeared also in The Matrix example

Visual Images as Simulacra Bullet time = a computer enhanced, extreme slow-motion effects It is thrilling, and filled with visual pleasure, and designed to surround one’s consciousness utterly. Matrix, helipad scene