New communication technology has taken the world by storm from email to instant messaging and telephones to mobile phones. The question is how we perceive all this new technology and how it is represented in today’s society especially through film. Films play a gigantic part in how new communication technology is represented. This can be shown in films such as The Matrix, where computer technology is tested beyond what is possible to even imagine and Alphaville, a film where a man is against a computer.
Matrix was filmed in 1999 and was written directed by Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski.("Matrix," 2008) It is about a man living a double life, one as a computer programmer ‘Thomas Anderson’ and the other as a computer hacker ‘Neo’. Anderson is shown by a man named Morpheus and a women Trinity that the world he is living is make believe and there are many machine- like humans. Therefore their job is to save all the humans from the fake world known as Matrix. The Matrix was set in the genre of science fiction and cyber punk.
Alphaville was made in 1965 and directed by Jean Luc Godard.("Alphaville," 2008) Jean-Luc Godard was considered the most "intellectual" of filmmakers comprising the French New Wave of the late 1950s and early 1960s. (Bonnie Lenore, 2008). Alphaville was set in black and white with English subtitles. The movie was set in the future. Alphaville follows a man named Lemmy Caution who goes to a planet called Alphaville where he deals with a computer Alpha 60 which is used to enforce orders on the residents living in Alphaville. The picture's originality is not to be found in the clichéd opposition between emotion and science.("Alphaville,") Alphaville was set in the genre of French new wave. French new wave was an artistic movement which became popular in the late 1950’s till the mid 1960’s.
Nowadays a computer taking over the world is not as crazy, as the internet and computers do control a lot in everyone’s lives. In comparison to that is what we perceive as impossible now, ideas that appear in The Matrix such as robots and imaginary worlds. But in 1965, computers were considered robots and a fantasy. So can the representations of science fiction and the unknown reality be proven in these movies? It’s asking what we can believe is real. Morpheus quoted in the film Matrix, “If real is what you can feel, smell, taste and see, then 'real' is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain.”("Matrix," 2008)
Both films take it beyond those electrical signals, both focusing on the future. With new communication, new special effects have risen, to take viewers even further into the future. With so many special effects do the films lose its story line? While the fight scenes and car chases are highly entertaining, it is the films' awareness of the complex interdependence of the humans and the machines that made the film reflect on the natural world.(Matthew, 2004) In the Matrix bodies fly through the air, there is both a suspension of the camera-eye and a separation of the event's deictic "here and now" so that time is both attenuated and dilated in the same moment.(Tom, 2003) James Morris a senior editor quoted in one of his articles, “Why, are Special Effects such a guilty pleasure? When movies were new, a century ago, the mere motion of people and objects was special effect enough. Now we want whole new worlds to turn and tumble. And they do, ingeniously, interchangeably.”(James, 2005) People are never satisfied, and if people can produce new exciting technology, there is no harm in watching it.
Where do these ideas come from? Kristen Whissel stated, following the release of The Matrix, that “Drawing from cultural sources ranging from comic books and fantasy novels to the visual logics of video games and virtual reality there are a range of digital special effects to create composite films. “(Kristen, 2006) Things that have become more apparent in today’s society such as comic book characters are now appearing in films rather than in comic books. This is affecting the way science fiction and special effects are represented in film in a positive way as it allows the films to be original and creative. Such as in The Matrix in order to create the elaborate visual style of the film, hundreds of illustrations were created. Comic book artists Steve Skroce and Geof Darrow spent three months working closely with Larry and Andy Wachowski, the directors, to map out the film. ("Matrix Trilogy," 2008). This shows as culture changes, the development of film also changes.
Through the films Alphaville and Matrix representations have changed dramatically over thirty four years. This is shown through the settings and characters of each film. In Alphaville there was a budget too small to create a future metropolis, Godard simply filmed the Paris of 1965, "anatomizing” a future already latent in the present"(Mark, 2006) The Matrix was shot in studios; in America and Australia. The special effects made it possible for the futuristic setting and popular landmarks were not filmed, to sustain the setting of a common American city in the city scenes. Both films are similar with one main male character, Lemmy Caution and Neo. While Lemmy Caution is a detective, Neo is a complicated character as he is freed from the Matrix by Morpheus and his crew to be the saviour of mankind.("Matrix 101," 2008)
Overall the representations of Alphaville and The Matrix are very contrasting. This is shown through how people perceive reality, special effects and the cultural developments of 1965 till 2008. Elements such as setting and characters also play a huge role in the differences between the two films. Alphaville and Matrix will always be well known for their new found communication technology in both generations.
Reference List
Alphaville. Retrieved 14 May, 2008, from http://www.csie.ntu.edu.tw/~ntucs82/PEOPLE/b2506017/sf/j.html
Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution. (2008). Retrieved 14 May 2008, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058898/
Bonnie Lenore, K. (2008). "Totally, Tenderly, Tragically": Godard's Contempt and the Composition Qu'il y Aurait (that Might Have Been). Composition Studies, 36(1), 39.
James, M. M. (2005). SPECIAL EFFECTS: An Oral History. The Wilson Quarterly, 29(3), 116.
Kristen, W. (2006). Tales of Upward Mobility: The New Verticality and Digital Special Effects. Film Quarterly, 59(4), 23.
Mark, B. (2006). Alphaville. Extrapolation, 47(2), 332.
Matrix. (2008). Retrieved 14 May 2008, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/
Matrix 101. (2008). Retrieved 28 May, 2008, from http://www.thematrix101.com/matrix/characters.php
Matrix Trilogy. (2008). Retrieved 13 May, 2008, from http://whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com/
Matthew, L. A. (2004). Danger in Wonderland. Science, 303(5661), 1141.
Tom, Z. (2003). The Matrix Reload. Film Comment, 39(4), 74.
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