Re: Art and Left Politics

["Johannes Schneider" <Johannes.Schneider@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Carrol Cox wrote:

> I want to raise as a hypothesis at least worth exploring that the
> political effect of a movie, a poem, a painting, a commerical, a musical
> performance depends *not* on the content or style of the work but on the
> political context in which it is received. That in periods of great
> leftist political activity even the most reactionary art will be
> interpreted by large sectors of the audience in progressive terms and
> have a progressive impact, while in periods of relative quiescence of
> the working class and progressive political activity even the most
> progressive/revolutionary art will be perceived as conservative and will
> tend to have a conservative influence. Within what sort of a framework
> did the bulk of the audience that saw The Matrix perceive that film?

I think Carrols perspective are the key to understand why listers differ so
much on The Matrix.

I agree that it is _possible_ to view The Matrix as some sort of left-wing
movie. But you need to have some sort of Marxist background to do so.

Most of my colleagues (computer programmers) watched The Matrix when it came
to the cinemas in Germany. Most of them were impressed by the visual effects
and the action plot. When we discussed about The Matrix all sort of
irrational rejections of reality were brought up. Beyond the pure action
plot the message The Matrix transported was more or less that was commonly
is regarded as reality is a _total_ fiction. IMHO this view completely
differs from a dialectical view that things are not what they look on the
surface of their appearance.

Morpheus group resembles more a small terrorist organisation than the
working class movement. Even more it is modelled after Christian icons,
paralleling Keanu Reeves with Jesus and Morpheus with John (the Baptist). So
a Christian could watch The Matrix as a sort of interpretation of the
Gospel.

Johannes