self

11/15/2000

      The films Being John Malkovich and The Matrix both offer the viewer a certain conception of individuals and the self. Being John Malkovich presents us with the ideas, among others, that our beings can be infiltrated by outsiders and that these infiltrators can in some cases take control of us. Some of the ideas that The Matrix expresses to the viewer are that what we experience in our lives may not necessarily be reality and that there are some things that are predetermined by destiny or some other force.
      These conceptions of self do not feel right. It is scary to think that our selves can be invaded or even stolen and it is beyond our level of comfort to think that all we experience is no more than a manufactured dream world. But, more than anything else, the idea that our actions and futures are beyond our control is belittling and offensive.
      In the history of the world there has always been some people who were stronger and more powerful than others. Often this imbalance of power has lead to the invasion or destruction of property, home, or life. As heinous as any of this is, it does not hold such negative possibilities as the violation of one's self or soul. We can build defenses against any of the rest. Locks, barriers, and weapons can all be used to protect one's property, home, and life. But, Being John Malkovich tells us that other beings can simply implant themselves into our bodies, minds, and, possibly, our souls - that they can steal or destroy our internal personality. Ignorance of this idea would be vulnerability to ultimate personal obliteration; fear of the it would be acknowledgment of our own defenselessness against the most intimate form of invasion.
      Our experiences are the aggregate of our senses. What we see, hear, feel, smell and taste make up all that is the world around us. It would be very unsettling to be confronted with the idea that all of our visions, sounds, feelings, smells, and tastes were created by some outside force. It is natural for us to believe that our experiences are the product of our world and that that world is reality. We were born into this belief and there has been no popular or widespread challenge to the idea. Trying to believe that this was all dream, not reality, would be as natural and comfortable for us to believe as it would be to believe that we were meant to live under water, not on land.
      People, in general, are naturally careful. We take care not to step in front of moving automobiles, trip down stairs, or otherwise fall victim to accidents. But, The Matrix's suggests that much of what happens to us is predetermined. The Oracle's prediction that Neo will break the vase in her kitchen tells us, as she hints at, that either that was predetermined to happen or that she caused it to happen by predicting it. In either case, Neo was not in control of his own actions and future. This could, in our society, take away people's motivation to do anything for themselves. Repeatedly in American history we have fought, both through war and diplomatic relations, for self-determinations for ourselves and other nations. This insistence on determining one's own government translates into a desire and insistence that our own lives and futures are not predetermined. We believe that looking both ways before crossing a street will avoid our being struck by a truck, and that our being careful, not lucky, will avoid similar tragedies.
      These ideas expressed by these movies feel wrong because the portray people as involuntarily vulnerable and helpless, delusional, and figuratively impotent. I do not think that I am rare in having an arrogance, either innate or developed, that tells me that my soul or internal personality is my most private property as well as my being, that I what I experience is reality, and that my own actions are the major determining factor in what happens to me. The conceptions of these movies deny this, creating an uneasy disagreement between the viewer's own experiences and the suggestions of the films.

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