How is Neo's relationship both to Trinity and to the Matrix like a marriage with a mistress?
Trinity is a mistress to Neo's marriage to the Matrix in that she provides a link between Neo and his destiny to establish himself in the "real" world, not the pseudo-world. He is reborn in the "real" world and is guided by Trinity who teaches him new things and helps him to learn about "reality."
Neo's marriage to the Matrix is one of convince, not love. He was comfortable with his perception of life and is preoccupied with the notion of filling his empty void with Mr. Anderson. Mr. Anderson is easily seen as Neo's alter ego in that he lives a normal life, and to quote the movie," he pays his taxes". Also Mr. Anderson acts as his disguise for the Matrix world. As Neo, the "one", he lives in the real world and all that it encompasses. He is emotionally unfulfilled with his marriage to the Matrix, he feels incomplete as Mr. Anderson. This pseudo-identity satiates him until he meets Morpheus.
Morpheus is the Greek god of dreams and sleep. In The Matrix Morpheus brings Neo out of the Matrix and presents him with the infamous "red pill, blue pill" ultimatum. In order to remain in the Matrix Neo has the option of the "blue pill", but to enter the "real" world he must ingest the "red pill". Neo takes the "red pill" and is transformed as well as transported to his new world. While in the real word Neo learns techniques and skills through a socket in the back of his head, this socket revises NeoÕs thought processes, his logic, and his understanding of the world. Neo is now influenced by the dilemma of appearances versus reality, nothing is, as it really seems, everything is now an illusion, a state of mind, the pseudo-reality. Before Neo enters the "real" world he had difficulty perceiving the conscious state versus the dream state, now he is not sure of anything that is going on in his life.
Trinity is the liaison between Neo and the Matrix, the non-real world, and Morpheus, the "real" world. At first she works separately with Neo and Morpheus and teaches them skills they need for realizing the qualities in each other. Then she brings them together as a team, to understand life, the Matrix, each other, but most importantly to know themselves.
There are references to the archetypal images of light and dark in every culture. Two familiar examples are that of The Matrix and Plato's Republic.
Life and goodness are commonly represented by the archetype of light. Life is what Neo thought he knew, but in fact he was more lost than he ever imagined. His sunglasses were representational of his new belief. Light is also portrayed in Book VII of The Republic when the chained beings only see shadows of what they think is reality. The same goes for Neo as he lives in a shadowed world.
Darkness also represents evil and death. The agents that wear sunglasses in the Matrix are not enlightened; rather their glasses blind them. They begin to feel cut off from society. Likewise the chained beings in the cave are both disconnected and disassociated from reality. The cave creatures grow overwhelmingly sheltered and protective to the extent of killing an escapee who brings back the truth.
Truth is a necessary evil in both texts, neither one welcomes the truth. When the truth is introduced it is met with hostility and disbelief. There is hostility in The Republic when the cave dwellers kill the messenger that told them about the real world. Although the Oracle tells Neo he is not "the one" he experiences disbelief and is not willing to accept the truth. Which is ironic because he is adamant that he is not "the one," likewise when he does accept that he is "the one" he experiences a powerful revelation and receives his glasses. Ironically his glasses are a sign of revelation, not blindness. The truth is often difficult to take; the pain in the eyes is unbearable as well as painful. Such is the price for enlightenment; this may also be an alternative reason for wearing the sunglasses. By wearing these glasses they prevent their own enlightenment and keep their world closed and dark.
As his hands danced manically across the keys, his face flushed crimson. Russian-born pianist Mark Zeltser brought Apollonian and Dionysian culture alive with his renditions of carefully chosen piano pieces. From Bach to Tchaikovsky, his selections electrified the audience. Zeltzer's tranquil Scarlati and his excitable Rachminaoff made for a wonderful concert.
In true Dionysian flair, Zeltzer played selections by Rachmaninoff and List. Equally Dionysian, but not performed are Debussy and Tchaikovsky. Dionysian culture is exemplified by chaos, disorder, rash emotions, and instant gratification. Aspects of this culture are conveyed through the worship of the god Dionysus/ Bacchus, the god of wine and meriment.
Equally important are the Apollonians; true Apollonian culture is portrayed by the music of Bach, Scarlati, Schubert, Vivaldi, and Mozart. Apollonians also are recognizable by how they live life; life includes structure, order, form, and predictability. They are opposed to worship of Dionysus/ Bacchus for the very reason the Dionysians followed him.
Both the Apollonian and Dionysian cultures are unique, however each can be compared to each side of the human brain. Dionysian culture is more "right brained," thus the Apollonian culture is more "left brained." In human brains the corpus callosum connects the two hemispheres of the brain and allows convergence of thoughts to take place. Likewise, Zeltzer played pieces that included both cultures converging to form one powerful piece of music. His exceptional talent was clearly evidenced by his dedication, memorization, and care in his choice of musical compositions.
Why are the Apollonians agreeable to a pub on campus when Apollo is the god of order, structure and control?
First of all, moderate consumption of alcohol provides many health benefits including: good cardio-vascular health, it lowers the risk of certain types of cancer, lowers blood pressure, and it "makes you fell better." The Dionysians have created a stigma about alcohol consumption and we desire to destroy that image and replace it with a more positive outlook on consumption of alcohol. Secondly, exclusive privileges to those who are a part include many new friends, meeting those who share many of your ideas and beliefs, and those who will honored to be in your presence. Thirdly, we enjoy our beverages, but we do not let it overtake us and transforms us into something that would cause us to act irrationally. The Dionysians however, take their beverage intake to an extreme, they act irrationally and improperly, and they consume much above the moderate level for health benefits. So we, the Apollonians, have concluded with great intelligence and thought, the justification for a pub on campus.
I watched "The Young and the Restless" on Monday, September 24, 2001. There were countless similarities between this modern drama and Sophocles' ancient play Electra. These similarities include: a daughter being angry at her mother for some transgression that her mother has committed; there are two daughters, one reasonable and the other very dramatic and woeful; the father is absent or dead(not specified); a brother who dreams of revenge against some member of his family; generally pushy members of the family get their way, especially when they want something; the dramatic daughter gets angry and upset when she does not get her way; the mother is very possessive of her daughters especially when they seem to be able to deal with their problems in a mature fashion; the mother tries to keep her daughters calm, but when the daughters get upset she teases them; the daughters see their mother as the one that interfered with their master plan to do away with her; there are many quarrels between the family, especially among the mother and the dramatic daughter; while plotting revenge the family members often sneak behind each others back and spread vicious rumors; there are many, many manipulative people in that they each try to turn everyone on everyone else for nothing more than self-gratification; pain for various reasons is present among all family members; betrayal of trust and confidence is very prevalent among the mother and daughter; there was a great loss of love between the mother and daughter, between the sisters, and between the father and mother; the mother had an affair with her current lover before her husband was killed or left her, and there is a great deal of general chaos among the families. As can be observed Electra still influences drama many years later, be it television, live theatre, or life.
On September 25, 2001 Professor Giora Shoham spoke about Valhalla, Calvalry, and Auschwitz. He began by describing the Shoah (or the Hebrew term used by the Jewish people to define the Holocaust of WWII). He then began to speak rapidly about language and culture and how they are connected by myth. The myth serves as a link between the two catagories. There is another such myth, but it connects society, groups of people, culture, and transcendence. It is the same basic principle except it connects more aspects than the former. His view of Hitler as the Germanic pagan chieftain was well evidences by his claim of defining by contrast. There was no racial purity between Hitler and his followers; he simply made his followers feel superior. He did this by exculsion of the Jewish people and punished them by condemning their way of life and in the end he killed them as a point of final obliteration. His further explanations of how Hitler saw himself, as a German demi-god was also well in evidence by his claims. Shoham's eloquent explanation of how the ultimate Nazi symbol come into practice after being viewed as an Indian symbol was also very intriguing. He then moved to the 4th century describing the Pagan Greeks and the pious lands of Judacia. Christianity is a unique blend of Hellenic/Greek society and beliefs of Judaism. This sect of Judaism was started by a Jewish man, Jesus Christ, whom Christians today view as their savior. After this Shoham wrapped up his monologue and took a few questions from the audience. He closed with a myth, just as he began. He then excited quietly and as dignified as he had entered.
I am in the rain, the voices and the sha-
dows, surround me. I call out to the emp-
ty starless night, I pray to nonexis-
tent g-ds above and no one hears me cry.
The rain cascades over my skin, coldness
overtakes me, my fear paralyzes
my mind. The rain falls quickly as I run out
into the darkness. It is now icy,
I am comforted by thoughts of warmth, and
I go inside to sleep warmly tonight.
This short sweet epic, though tragic means a lot. Over fall break I waged my own war: against my parents. When Henry began preparing for his war with France, he felt pressured to succeed in his war, his country expected do much of him, and he often questioned his validity as king. Likewise my own feelings of inferiority were displayed as my parents questioned my motives, my past actions, and my feelings. I felt that I had nowhere to hide; I could not escape. Henry must have felt helpless at times too, especially when he thought he had a great master-plan, and his advisors dashed his hopes. My parents actually did some variation of this: they fought on a wide spectrum of issues, never once taking into account my role and my feelings. With hopes and dreams partially dashed I anticipated my return to Shreveport, just as Henry desired to wage war against France. This concludes the epic of Henry and me.
I enjoyed Shenandoah Shakespeare Express's production of Henry V much more than I did the play itself. Even as a fan of Shakespeare, his histories bore me, so a live production was a nice change of pace. The longstanding tradition of playing popular music throughout the play was very interesting especially when they played "Heroes" by the Wallflowers. Also in keeping with the Shakespearian tradition was the cross-dressing of characters, this was very amazing since the acting troupe only had eleven players and many roles to fill. Also present was the amazing Shakespearian language, the meter and the flow of the words always adds to the beauty of any play written by Shakespeare. The simple costumes made it realistic in that there were no elaborate costumes to possibly become an anachronism. I did not notice any anachronisms in this production of Henry V. Overall I enjoyed the performance and I shall await next year's production as well.
On October 25, 2001, Pulitzer-Prize winning poet C.K. Williams received the Corrington Award. This award is given to honor noteworthy writers and is unique to Centenary.
C.K. Williams began by reading a poem entitled "The Dog." He explained "The Dog" was written in response to watching a dog die in a veterinarian's office. The dog which had been poisoned, had been brought in by its owner, an African-American woman. He explained the race relation issue and how present it is even in our modern, civilized society. First he spoke of the poisoned dog, eventually he spoke tenderly of the dog's pathetic attempts to relieve himself. He next described the woman as an ethnic beauty. The horrific images conveyed by the poem still make me cringe a full 24 hours later; the poem depresses me greatly.
After he finished reading the poem he explained the reason for writing it, his thoughts on the images conveyed, and his opinions on the issues presented such as race and low-income housing. His thoughtfulness and passion about these events is obvious insight into his psyche.
I think his poem was more about humanity and what we must deal with in order to be human. While he said what the poem meant to him, I think he was trying to show the fully actualized human at his very best, having the courage to put a pet to sleep rather than have it suffer; and it's very worst, being thought of as inferior because of skin color or ethnicity. Overall, C.K. Williams impressed me both as a poet and a human being with empathy and respect for everyone and everything.
Mary Shelley's classic horror tale Frankenstein been reinterpreted a myriad of ways. James Whale, the director of many of the very early Frankenstein films, has a very unique twist on the story. Whale's own film even reflects the horror represented by Shelley.
Frankenstein was written in 1831 by Mary Shelley, wife of Percy Shelley, an English poet of the day. Her basic characters included, Victor, his fiancee Elizabeth, and of course the infamous monster. In his state of loneliness Victor created a monster that could act rationally as though it were human. However, Victor soon discovers that the monster is not inherently good, the monster kills innocent people out of revenge. The monster's motives are not clear as he literally destroys everything that is close to Victor including his wife of one day, Elizabeth. The possible reason behind the insane monster is that he is angry with Victor for not creating him a mate. Interestingly Victor does not seem to take adequate responsibility for his creation.
James Whale's approach to Shelley's tale of terror is not as sinister and compelling. His monster, created from dead humans, is one that terrorizes the town and does not harm as many people as Shelley's monster. He is also not as deviant in his motives of revenge versus Victor. Once again Victor does not take the necessary precautions to keep his monster under control. James Whale was the subject of "Gods and Monsters" which told the horrendous story of his late career as a director of horror films. Whale is depicted as an older man who has mixed emotions both about his present life as well as his early life. His instability within his mind causes him to alternate between feelings of delirium with flashbacks or extreme elation about an event at hand. In the end of the film he ends up dead as a result as one of his outbursts directed at his gardener, who ironically has no initial idea of his fame. Perhaps, Whale could be compared to Victor and the monster in that life is complicated enough, especially when there is no peace inside of the soul and man's struggle of acceptance both inside and outside of himself.
I saw the MLP production of Sophocles Electra on Thursday night. It differed greatly since the translation was from a different source. However, the use of the urn that supposedly held the ashes of Orestes was very intriguing in that it gave insight to the love that Electra felt for her brother. The urn itself was highly decorated and gave the impression of something that would have been used in Ancient Greece. The simple though effective use of this prop was amazing, it gave life to Electra's grief and strife through the apparent love of her brother. There was also some evidence that may have suggested that Electra was in love with her brother, I did not get that impression, I thought that she had become so disillusioned by the dead around her that she was going insane. I thought that she conveyed her feelings appropriately for someone who thinks that she has lost another member of her family and this was well conveyed by her infatuation with what she perceives to be Orestes' ashes in the urn. Her reaction is very realistic in terms of how she deals with her grief, but highly unrealistic in how she relates to her brother as though he is her lover. To me this seemed a bit odd, perhaps because I do not have any siblings to love in that way, but I still do not think that I would have acted as emotional as she did upon finding out that Orestes was still alive. Overall, I think that MLP did an excellent job with the play and I think that the actors all conveyed their characters exceptionally well. I enjoyed the performance. I think the props made the play much more effective and seemed to make the play flow better and made it easier to understand what was happening when.
On Thursday I went to the convocation given by Rose Van Thyn, a local survivor of the Shoah (a term used by the Hebrew and Jewish people to refer to the Holocaust). Before I begin my journal I would like to digress a bit first. The word "Shoah" is defined simply as, "an unfortunate accident". I think this three word phrase sums up the Holocaust of WWII.
Rose Van Thyn was born in 1921 in Amsterdam, Holland. She had one sister and her and her first husband and her brother-in-law lived with her parents. Her sister and her both lived with their parents, because that way they could always see their spouses. In the beginning, before the war, Rose said that life in Amsterdam was wonderful and everything seemed idyllic. Then in May of 1940 Holland was invaded by Hitler and the Nazis, life as Rose's family had ended. They lived in constant fear of being taken away to the concentration camps, as Rose described it, " you never knew when you would come home to someone being gone." She then spoke gingerly of the time she came home to find both her husband and father gone, the look of terror she had on her face was as terror-stricken as the day that it happened. Then on October 2, 1942 she was taken by the Nazis. She then began telling about the holding camps before being sent to Auschwitz. She told of the so called "death marches", the horror of the stock cars, arriving anxiously at Auschwitz thinking that they were going to have houses to live in, and then learning of the sadistic plans of the Nazis. I could not listen to her further describe the camp, because I was crying, so the next thing that I recall her speaking about was Louis. Louis is her second husband; her first husband died in 1944. She met Louis after the war in an apartment that she lived in as a survivor of the war. She spoke of the miracle that allowed her to have children and then her immigration to America, specifically Shreveport in 1953. As she closed she read a poem entitled "Looking Back", it was from her poetry collection that she calls "Dark Brown Poems". The convocation was very moving and I look forward to her speaking next year.
I attended the college orchestra on Monday, November 12, 2001. This was the final concert of the fall semester. When I arrived the orchestra was warming up and tuning their instruments. Little did I know that this was only a brief display of their talents. One unique feature was the fact that the next concert will only involve the string instruments and not the wind instruments; then the following orchestra will involve only the wind instruments. This interesting fact was shared with me by a fellow student.
The performance began with a humorous introduction by conductor, Eric McIntyre. The orchestra began playing The Mikado by Arthur Sullivan, this piece was comprised of three sections with each one growing in intensity and fervor. Then the orchestra performed Concerto for Horns and Strings which was composed by Gordon Jacob. The most noteworthy portion of this piece was the intense performance by Thomas Hundemer's horn playing. Mr. Hundemer plays in the Shreveport City Orchestra as well. His magnificent playing gave the music a wonderful and lively flair. The last piece before intermission was Pietro Mascagni's Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana . I think that this was the most beautiful of all the pieces. There was a short intermission followed by Engelbert Humperdinck's Hansel und Getel. The orchestra performed excerpts from this famous children's tale, including Prelude, The Witch's Ride, and Pantomime. The performance brought indescribable images to my mind and I cannot wait until the next performance.
On November 15, 2001, Dr. Bryan Alexander, professor of English, enlightened his audience with very unusual observations. The title of his presentation was Haunted Spaces: Monters, Madness, and Sex in Cyberculture. This presentation was not what I was expecting to say the least. He began with stories that related to the uncanny elements of the modern society in terms of how our culture deals with the issue of pornography. He emphasized its place in cyberculture, which is fascinating because for a short time the amount of child pornography had decresed. Since the arrival of cyberculture, child pornography via telephone wires has skyrocketed. Noteworthy magazines such as Time and Newsweek have covered this issue. Other forms of Gothic undertones have been portrayed in visual media such as the Wachowski Brothers' The Matrix and TV shows such as The X Files and Wild Palms. Authors are obsessed with Gothic themes, such authors include Ratcliffe, Gaskell, and Stoker, and this theme is present in books such as Cryptonomicon.
The interest in Gothic culture has transcended time, society and cultural images. It has evolved from the telegraph to the phonograph to the radio to the TV to multimedia, and finally to hypertext. This evolution proves that Gothic thought and ideas surpass time and place.
Over the past semester many things have happened; some good, some tragic, some just happened. My semester started with the nervous anticipation of meeting my professors. My FYE professor was a mystery; all I knew was the name: Strange. I had conjured up ideas of an older man with the initials I.M. or U.R. Thankfully none were true, and my professor, Jennifer Strange, is very enthusiastic and informative. Onto more serious things about the past semester, I have been able to express myself more freely than I did in high school. Our readings of Electra, Henry V, Maus, the Bacchae, Frankenstein, The Republic and selected specific poems by C.K. Williams enticed me as well as made me scream. They were interesting to say the least. Electra made me scream in insanity and Henry made me sleepy and lethargic.
The events were different- from Dr. Shoam's presentation, to C.K Williams reading and finally to Rose Van Thyn's survivor account I was enthralled every moment. One major highlight was one event or meeting that was not even assigned. Via my friend Stephanie, I learned of Marsha Recknagel, an author who wrote If Nights Could Talk; this memoir touched both my heart and soul. I met Ms. Recknagel twice, each time her beautiful and vibrant personality and her self-proclaimed apocalyptic optimism impressed me.
In closing my semester has been full of gratitude, understanding, guidance, and instruction. The class discussions allow me to come to terms with my introverted nature and to become the self-actualized person that I will be soon.