The Matrix is by far one of my favourite movies, but what has driven me to write on such a topic is the negative feedback fellow breakthrough movies and other forms of entertainment are getting from society in general. Yes it is true that two seemingly normal students shot and killed tweleve of their fellow classmates and one teacher at Columbine Highshcool, but what has this got to do with the media? These boys were obviously sick individuals. Certainly we were all exposed to the same movies, comics, and TV shows, but you don’t see me or any of my friends going around killing anyone.
Yes, Neo said “Guns, lots of guns”, but once again how does any of this relate to the situation at hand? What is more violent than traditional and modern Chinese and Japanese movies? Have you seen any anime lately? Look at their socities, wholesome as ever. Does this not say something? Quite frankly if your child has grown up thinking that just because he/she sees something bad on TV it’s ok to mimic it, that says something about his/her upbringing. It’s innate behaviour for children to mimic.
It’s how they learn to talk, walk and help themselves, but just like how their physical development needs to be supplemented by parents, their mental development needs to be nurtured too. THIS! is the difference between law-abiding people and criminals. THIS! is the root cause for violence and other such behaviour. THIS! is where the blame should be placed, NOT on The Matrix! Parents need to realize that they have the right to be involved in their kids lives. They have the right to say no.
All the arguements and silent treatments won’t go in vain if you just stick with them until they’re mature enough to handle their own lives. Another thing that absolutely disgusts me is the “women as sex objects” crap. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this, it refers to the portrayal of women (in laymans terms), as being nothing but pretty and sexual beings. Yes, Xena is scantily clad. Yes, Supergirl shows a lot of leg, but that doesn’t mean diddly squat. Women are always complaining about the world being male dominated, but the men don’t look at Xena solely in a sexual way.
The whole idea behind the show was to promote girl power and be a spin off of the hit series Hercules. She’s a heroine and a damn good one. Why can’t these women grasp the concept? It’s almost as if they want to have their cake and eat it too. They use sex to control men whether want to admit it or not and yet they don’t want to be portrayed that way. The fact is, the basis for the media is the way of life in our societies, so if they see an overwhelming demand for things such as Wonder Bras, breast enhancers, thong underwear etc… Then there’s no reason to be surprised about the way we’re portrayed.
