Posted 10:23 PM by Floyd

While reading the New York Press I happened upon this review by Armond White of The Matrix: Reloaded. White makes a lot of good points ("Reloaded could just as well be retitled PlayStation Forever!"). Unfortunately he squanders any appreciation I might have felt with his dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks musings on race:

The Matrix had held some modicum of fascination for its critique of social domination–an unexpectedly snazzy appropriation of Baudrillard’s social theories and human-rights revolts by people of color. (Neo was drafted by Morpheus to save his enslaved tribe.) Not even Tarantino was as sly as the Wachowskis when it comes to combining politics with genre. The Matrix’s mix of anti-slavery sentiment with sci-fi dazzle brought it the closest any Hollywood film has ever come to true, underground subversion. Defending subcultural living ("Free your mind") by validating alienation and teaching biracial Neo the holy benefits of political skepticism, The Matrix was the kind of hit Walter Hill might envy: universal human dilemma viewed through an ethnic template while at the same time distilling a genre to its essence.

I'm glad to see that the Matrix is taking the bold stand that it is opposed to slavery. (Sometimes you've got to stand up for what's right, no matter what the monetary cost.) But I wonder who constitutes the pro-slavery faction? I know little of Klansmen or the Turner Diaries crowd, but I don't think they are officially pro-slavery. Was the Matrix shipped clandestinely to the Sudan?

Imagine if White held analagous views with respect to, say, hygiene or ground transport. He would bask in his own self-regard as he propounded, no matter what the risk to his life and limb, that people should wash at least once a week, or that auto-mobiles should be allowed to drive at speeds exceeding five miles an hour.