The Matrix Reloaded/The Shape of Things

I know, not another quiz. But having seen The Matrix Reloaded yesterday afternoon, I thought it might be fun to take The Matrix persona quiz. Once again, not really surprised by the results. As for the movie, much has already been written about it, so I won’t spend anytime providing summary or a review. But let’s just say I was pleasantly surprised. Also, I got a kick out of seeing Harvard Divinity School Professor Cornel West in the film as a member of the council. So fitting for his personality. During my tenure at Michigan, he gave a lecture which I attended and ever since then, I’ve been a big fan.

You are Trinity, from “The Matrix.”
Strong, beautiful- you epitomize the ultimate
heroine.
What Matrix Persona Are You?
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Since I had another movie pass that was expiring yesterday, I also went to see The Shape of Things. The theme of this movie is that people in general are overly obsessed with looks. To illustrate point, girl meets geeky boy who she pretends to like through sexual enticement, while making subtle suggestions about ways to improve his looks. Specially, she coaxes him to go on diet where he looses 25 pounds, buys new clothes, gets a stylist haircut and even a nose job. I’m going to give spoiler and tell that the climax of movie occurs went she reveals that she manipulated and ultimately humiliated him as part of her thesis project. Yup, she did it for a grade. What a bitch! He did it for love. He had even proposed marriage with his grandmother’s wedding ring. I can’t say I enjoyed the movie as there was nothing really profound about the story and it was a little weird with just four characters talking back and forth to each other in various combinations. But in the end I walked away with the following line in my head: “I choose you.” No one has ever said that to me and really meant it. I wish someone would. Sad eh?
2 Comments
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June 1, 2003 at 7:14 pm
Ursula
No question about it, there cuteness didn’t hurt. But I think their attraction for one another goes beyond their physical beauty. She (the teenage poet) came from a broken home and was neglected. And so when her English teacher wants to help her with her poetry, she latched on to him. Who by-the-way, she thinks is currently writing his novel. He has different reasons for being so attentive. True she has potential as a writer, but he’s also in a miserable marriage and liked that someone is looking up to him. So both are seeking genuine love and affection but it’s impossible for them to really give it to one another in that they are not on a similar level. She’s not mature enough. He’s a creep for trying to take advantage of her situation at home.
In The Shape of Things, the two main characters were more on same level. My main problem with movie was that the girl was never really interested in the boy and she used sex to manipulate him. She had a point to prove and she used him to prove that point. In that what she did was just downright mean spirited (even if it helped his self esteem), I was completely turned off. People (even in the movies) just shouldn’t play with each others emotions that way.
June 1, 2003 at 3:35 pm
Leigh Hanlon
You raise good points — which got me to thinking about “Blue Car.” If the teen-age poet hadn’t been drop-dead gorgeous, and the English teacher your standard concept of Ivy League, tweed-patches, older semi-stud, would the film have had impact?
Is the tension and poignancy made all the more powerful because here’s this girl who could snag the varsity quarterback or any hot guy in school getting used by some middle-aged creep?
What if the girl had been grossly obese? What if the English teacher had looked like Norm from “Cheers”?
That’s sort of the theme of “Georgy Girl,” a 1966 film with Lynn Redgrave. A similar issue of looks and social interaction plays out well in the Bette Davis classic “Now, Voyager,” in which Davis goes from depressed spinster to self-assured extrovert. Ironically, about the only physical metamorphosis she undergoes is in hairstyle and self-confidence.