Philosophy on Film: Baudrillard and The Matrix Trilogy

这个项目探讨了当哲学被搬上电影时会发生什么。从表面上看，这两个领域似乎非常不同。哲学被定义为根据理性逻辑对抽象概念的讨论，这主要是通过书面文字的媒介来表达的。相比之下，电影提供具体的图像，通常符合叙事逻辑，并通过视觉图像，配乐（包括对话）以及书面文字进行交流。虽然哲学和电影似乎是两个不同的世界，但一些电影制片人试图将哲学思想转移到电影中。最近的主流例子是《黑客帝国三部曲》，这是一部由沃卓斯基兄弟执导的系列科幻电影，它以电影形象探讨了法国后现代哲学家让·鲍德里亚的争议性思想。我的研究将描绘出一条走出僵局的道路，这种僵局限制了当前关于电影哲学的讨论，在这种讨论中，电影要么被称赞为对哲学的准确初学者指南，要么被斥责为对哲学原著的不准确歪曲。这种僵局是哲学被赋予很高的文化地位的结果，因为对电影的评价取决于它们被视为准确描绘的程度哲学思想。这些电影不可避免地被认为是有缺陷的，特别是如果它们是由主流好莱坞制作的，因为人们认为它们不能公正地对待哲学的复杂性。这与对经典小说电影的批评非常相似--即他们不可能希望达到文学原著的丰富性和复杂性。然而，一些电影改编实现了对文学原作的创造性重新诠释，使它们能够以自己的方式进行评判。同样，我的研究旨在改变我们对《黑客帝国》三部曲的看法：我不认为电影或多或少准确地再现了鲍德里亚的思想，而是建议用三部曲来分析哲学思想在被赋予新的表达形式时会发生什么。把《黑客帝国》三部曲看作是改编本，在一定程度上得益于鲍德里亚的写作风格。与传统哲学家不同的是，他不提供他的论点的阐述，更喜欢通过对重大世界事件的讨论以及对特定故事和神话的改写来发展他的关键思想。因此，鲍德里亚可以被视为利用特定的文学技巧，包括：意象，例如复杂的隐喻和明喻，以及使用不同形式的叙事。因此，他的作品可以被看作是扩大了哲学的参数，以及构成了一个丰富和可行的来源，小说电影。对鲍德里亚来说，后现代的标志性特征是现实和客观真理的丧失，他认为这是我们生活在一个图像饱和的文化中的结果。我们不再把电影看作是真实的的复制品，我们已经到了这样一个阶段，我们的生活被图像所支配，以至于现实对我们来说似乎是电影的复制品。这一点可以用到美国的海外游客的常见反应来概括，他高兴地观察到：“这就像电影一样！“这种电影般的真实的感觉据说会抹去现实，创造出超现实主义。鉴于电影在鲍德里亚对后现代的定义中的重要性，他的作品成为好莱坞电影的源泉并不奇怪。我的研究将集中在鲍德里亚的后现代概念的关键方面在《黑客帝国》三部曲中被采用和改变的方式。鲍德里亚用毁灭性和否定性的术语定义了超现实主义，它标志着现实和真理的终结。然而，我认为《黑客帝国》三部曲提供了一种不同的、积极的图像饱和的超现实主义视角，在这种视角中，某些真理和价值是可能的，从而创造了它自己的“本土后现代主义”视角。

This project examines what happens when philosophy is put on film. On the face of it these two areas appear to be very different. Philosophy is defined as the discussion of abstract ideas in accordance with rational logic, which is largely presented through the medium of the written word. By contrast, film offers concrete images, often in accordance with narrative logic and communicates through visual images, soundtracks (including dialogue) as well as the written word. While philosophy and film would appear to be worlds apart, a number of filmmakers have attempted to transfer philosophical ideas onto film. The most recent mainstream example is The Matrix Trilogy, a series of science fiction films directed by the Wachowski brothers, which explore in cinematic imagery the controversial ideas of the French postmodern philosopher, Jean Baudrillard. My research will delineate a way out of the impasse limiting current discussions of philosophy on film in which the films are either praised for being accurate beginner's guides to philosophy or berated for being an inaccurate misrepresentation of the philosophical original.This impasse is the result of the high cultural status accorded to philosophy in that the evaluation of the films rests on the extent to which they are seen to accurately portray philosophical ideas. The films are inevitably regarded as deficient, particularly if they are produced by mainstream Hollywood, because it is assumed that they cannot do justice to the complexities of philosophy. This is very similar to the criticisms levelled at films of classic novels- namely that they cannot hope to achieve the richness and complexity of the literary original. However, some film adaptations achieve the status of a creative reinterpretation of the literary original, enabling them to be judged in their own terms. In the same way, my research aims to shift our view of The Matrix Trilogy: rather than considering the films as a more or less accurate representation of Baudrillard's ideas, I propose to use the trilogy to analyse what happens to philosophical ideas when they are given a new expressive form.Thinking about The Matrix Trilogy as an adaptation is partly facilitated by Baudrillard's writing style. Unlike traditional philosophers, he does not provide an exposition of his arguments, preferring to develop his key ideas through the discussion of significant world events as well as reworking particular stories and myths. Baudrillard can therefore be seen to draw on particular literary techniques including: imagery, for example complex metaphors and similes, as well as using different forms of narrative. His work can therefore be seen to expand the parameters of philosophy, as well as constituting a rich and viable source for fiction films. For Baudrillard, the defining feature of the postmodern is the loss of reality and objective truth, which, he argues, is the result of our living in an image saturated culture. Instead of viewing film as a copy of the real, we have reached a stage where our lives are so dominated by images that reality appears to us to be a copy of a film. This is encapsulated by the stock response of the overseas visitor to the USA, who observes delightedly: "it's just like the movies!" This sense of the real as film-like is said to erase reality, creating the hyperrealism. It is unsurprising that Baudrillard's work should be a source for Hollywood films given the importance of film in his definition of the postmodern.My research will focus on the ways in which key aspects of Baudrillard's concept of the postmodern are taken up and changed in The Matrix Trilogy. Baudrillard defines the hyperrealism in destructive and negative terms - it marks the end of reality and truth. However, I will argue that The Matrix Trilogy offers a different, positive vision of an image-saturated hyperrealism in which certain kinds of truths and values are possible, thus creating its own vision of a 'vernacular postmodernism'.