Intro Spring 2016 Paper 2 Special Identit
Cody Billet
Sociology 1000
Principles of Human Development
University of Missouri-Columbia
3 May, 2016
Intro Spring Paper
Recently, I found and analyzed a great movie in terms of sociological impact. After watching the film The Matrix, I researched the themes of the movie and learned all about the sociological presence being displayed for millions to see. I will be providing an introduction, recap, relation to sociology, and a conclusion regarding the sociological impact in the The Matrix. I am very interested in the research because it looks into the social difference and social inequality of a major film in our culture. This film explores all kinds of intriguing sociological perspectives. I am excited to research such an integral movie of my childhood, to understand the relevance of it in a sociological view. My focus will be to understand the complete sociological impact, and to introduce concepts and theories applying to them. I will investigate the important aspects of the movie, and provide a greater explanation in detail.
In the movie, I evaluated the protagonists and antagonists. I viewed the greater themes and explanations of the storyline. The movie is about the future of man named Leo will be “shadowed by the fruits of our intellect in the form of artificially intelligent machines”. Through the depiction of this conflict, the Wachowski brothers were able to introduce notions of social difference and social inequality. This man lives in fictional world where machines are trying to take over the human’s race. The machines, through their appearance, language, ideology and pervasive nature represent a monolithic core in a world that isn’t just occupied by the media, but rather, arguably is the media. In contrast, the humans represent a peripheral multiplicity of views, ethnicities and beliefs whose existence is constantly threatened by the monotheistic presence of the machines. There are agents which are portrayed as humans with robotic skills and intelligence. Ultimately, these themes of social difference and social inequality could be interpreted as encapsulated by the film series central and fundamental theoretical debate of free will versus determinism.
After evaluating the movies background and intent, I will look to include relations to sociology displayed by the film. Specifically, I will provide 5 sociological terms and provide examples of them during the movie. The core-periphery model suggests that the global economy is characterized by a structured relationship between economic centers by using military, political, and trade power to extract an economic surplus from the subordinate peripheral countries. The core is perceived as ‘natural’ or the way the world is supposed to be. In opposition the periphery can be perceived as cultures, traditions or beliefs which are seen to be foreign or ‘other’ whose existence is constantly made to feel insecure by the core. In the film series, the machines and their agents represent the core social and cultural group. The machines status as the core can be attributed to their dominance over the humans. The machines core status is a result that Neo accepts their ideology or their formulation of reality. The machines’ matrix program represents the viewer’s accepted reality ensuring the levels of indoctrination are multi-layered. In opposition, the ‘unplugged’ human society represents the peripheral group. Moving forward, I will discover another example. A bourgeoisie is one who owns the means of production. This includes land, raw materials, forests, factories, and machines. Due to the machine’s actual domination in the film, they can dominate the mental space of the subscribers to the matrix. This is an argument formulated by the Marxist school regarding the mental means of production and ownership over the media. Marxist’s argue that the bourgeoisie’s dominance is reliant on the fact that they control the means of mental production (Marx and Engels 1846). The movie reinforces this very purposefully through the authoritative and distinctly bourgeois appearance of the Agents. In opposition, humans that have been liberated from the matrix are of mixed race, gender and age. Looking ahead, I will provide the next clue. My next example includes 2 sociological terms. Social inequality the existence of unequal opportunities and rewards for different social positions or statuses within a group or society. Social differences are complex differences that include class, race, culture, age, ability, sex, etc. Social differences can create discrimination among the individuals on the basis of their social characteristics. The differences between the core and periphery groups’ language is also a telling feature of social difference and social inequality. Two aspects in particular of the machines' language reveals their monolithic and singular thinking presence. When the machine’s converse in the matrix program, they use as little language as possible and speak mainly in monosyllabic blocks. Additionally, they refer to elements of the matrix according to their program specific terms such as the exile to refer to deleted programs. This is eventually taken to its extreme and personified by the Architect (the father of the matrix program). The Architect’s language is extremely mechanical and often reflects the fact that he is the machine which designed the matrix and wrote the complex computer code. He uses extensive logical chains of reasoning and frequently introduces markers such as “ergo (therefore) and concordantly (agreeing)”, and his tone of voice remains constantly level. The set form of words structure is created by the machines’ singular method of ‘thought-sharing’. In this movie, it is apparent that machines in the matrix, particularly agents, can share each other’s thoughts. This reinforces the message that the machines, as the core group possess dominance over the ideological patterns of the matrix. They are able to share thoughts and react as if a single entity. Lastly, I will provide a fifth example. Ideology is a set of cultural beliefs, values, and attitudes that underlie and justify either the status quo or movements to change it. The culture of every social system has an ideology that serves to explain and justify its own existence as a way of life. The machines ideology is singular in nature. Throughout the film, the machines subscribe to a submissive devotion to belief in the language and ideology of the matrix programming. For the machines, there is but one belief and that is their dominance and their perception of the world according to their digital parameters. In the films plot, the humans have only one belief systems themselves.
After researching The Matrix, this says an incredible amount about this specific work and the world. It is an accurate and thought provoking representation of the media in contemporary society. The films’ characters and narrative symbolizes the social differences and inequalities regarding race, class and ideology experienced by core and periphery groups. It constantly challenges the audience to question the nature of their reality and the social differences and inequalities that are increasingly apparent in an over-mediated world. I think this form of culture explores all kinds of new meanings. It doesn’t just focus on a few sociological ideals, but rather institutes a multitude of sociological references. The movie deals with social inequality, social difference, and several other sociological meanings. This movie introduces all kinds of interesting fictional plots, as it does a tremendous job including them. My major findings from this study include learning various amounts of in depth knowledge from major social presences exhibited during the film. My 5 key terms and their examples have provided me with major takeaways in learning more about the movie. I think alienation would be very interesting to study if I completed the project again. This film introduces concepts of alienation and its presence throughout the entire plot. Overall, this movie was intriguing and fun to watch. Now that the research is finished, we understand the movie more than we could’ve imagined. Now you should be able to understand the complete sociological impact, as well as concepts and theories applying to them. The Matrix has a revolutionary amount of sociological impact and presence throughout.
References
"The Matrix and Sociology." BlogSpot & Culture. N.p., 12 Sept. 2012. Web.
"THE MATRIX Trilogy as Critical Theory of Alienation: Communicating a Message of Radical Transformation." THE MATRIX Trilogy as Critical Theory of (n.d.): n. pag. Web.
"Centre–periphery Model." Encyclopedia.com. HighBeam Research, 01 Jan. 1998. Web. 03 May 2016.