matrix : from representation to simulation and beyond
abstract
the issue of representation remains a key area of exploration for critical theory and
philosophy during the 20th century. broadly speaking, the project, in part, of post-structural
and postmodern theorists has been to explore representation and the way in
which our altered stance towards it has reconfigured the scope of our understanding of
the social, political, economic and artistic worlds. specifically, jean baudrillard and
gilles deleuze most radically investigate what exactly such a challenge to our
understanding of the world means through their concepts of simulation, which depart
from its source in plato’s theory of forms. this thesis employs the wachowskis’s
blockbuster films the matrix trilogy as examples through which to apply baudrillard’s
and deleuze’s concepts of simulation so as to probe the limits of the meaning of
representation as it applies to contemporary film and critical theory.
this thesis looks at both the genealogy as well as the contemporary uses of
simulation in the works of baudrillard and deleuze, while also expanding this analysis to
include other relevant concepts in both theorists’ vocabulary such as symbolic exchange,
territoriality, and becoming. the works of baudrillard and deleuze are contrasted at
various points throughout the thesis in their application to the matrix trilogy so as to
show not only the particularly relevant nuances of the concepts of both theorists, but also
in order to expand the analysis of the wachowskis’s films so as to interrogate the value of
each theory when put into practice in a contemporary, cultural film. the character
analysis of the matrix trilogy specifically focuses on neo and agent smith, both of
whom stand in a problematic relationship to the mechanics of representation; the former’s
identity is unstable as it operates within and from without the matrix program, while the
latter’s identity is, at best, indeterminate as it is self-propelled and chaotically multiplies through viral replication. neo is analyzed with regards to the key references made by
the matrix trilogy to baudrillard’s work in such scenes as the one in which simulacra
and simulation appears as a prop in neo’s apartment, as well as his discussion with
morpheus that makes direct reference to the borges fable. baudrillard’s own dismissal of
the film as accurately responding to his theories is also considered. this analysis is
developed further by contrasting baudrillard’s and deleuze’s versions of simulation
through brian massumi’s characterization of the latter’s privileged space of resistance.
here, baudrillard’s orders of simulation and symbolic exchange are juxtaposed with
deleuze’s simulation and becoming in an exploration of the figure of agent smith and
the extent to which either theory can provide resistance to hegemonic systems in post-representational
contexts.
collections
- retrospective theses [1604]