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robinturnerI've just finished the next section of Guns ... Lots of Guns. This one is about the marital arts theme in the Matrix films. I've also coined a new word, "matrix-fu" for the kind of physically impossible martial arts feats you see in films like this.
The Matrix is full of displays of martial arts, and this is continued in Reloaded. But of course, these are hyper-real martial arts. In our world, learning kung fu or jiu-jitsu takes years of hard training, but within the Matrix, Neo learns a variety of martial arts styles in under a minute; the first time he looks even slightly happy in the film is when he comes out of the training program saying "I know jiu-jitsu!" Apart from the practicalities of the story-line---it would disrupt the plot to have Neo go away for ten years to learn how to fight---this scene may well be a witty parody of martial arts films. In many such films, the hero needs to learn from a master in order to defeat his evil opponent, and the audience are treated to scenes of strenuous training as the hero masters his art. 1What the Wachowskis seem to be pointing out is that even this supposedly traditional martial arts training is still far too short: not even Jean-Claude Van Damme can learn a new martial art in a few weeks. Neo's instant kung fu is a clever parody of kung fu films.
An element of parody is also present in the scenes where Neo displays his martial skills, such as his lazy one-hand blocking (while looking in the other direction) at the end of the first film, or his fight with multiple Agent Smiths in the second. Martial arts films (particularly Chinese ones) have always used special effects to exaggerate the characters' abilities (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon being an extreme and rather tongue-in-cheek example). Since there are no physical constraints inside the Matrix there are no limits to Neo's martial abilities, but he still feels obliged to follow the forms of traditional martial arts.2
So is this film kung fu hyper-real? In some ways, the martial arts shown in films is hyper-real, in that to most people, this is what martial arts are all about. Actual martial artists teaching classes back in the desert of the real have to contend with the idea that the best way to defend yourself against a pair of muggers is to jump in the air and kick both of them simultaneously. On the other hand, the fight scenes of the Matrix films are not simulation, but clever parody, in much the same way that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon involves affectionate parody of the Chinese kung fu film tradition. It may take some experience of martial arts to see that the fights in a Bruce Lee or Van Damme film are hopelessly unrealistic, but no one at all could be fooled into thinking that matrix-fu is "real", even in a weird Baudrillardian sense.
Fiction traditionally depends on the "willing suspension of disbelief", but here we have the opposite; it is almost as though the Wachowskis are trying to say "Look, this kung fu isn't real, and neither is the rest of the kung fu you see in films." This encouragement to disbelieve is relevant to the violence of the scenes. Whatever matrix-fu is about, it is not about physical violence. Rather, it appeals to the mythology of martial arts: that training in a martial art is essentially mental training, and that in mastering your art, you will master yourself. You may not learn to dodge bullets, but you can do things that you thought were impossible, and that is the real appeal of matrix-fu.3
1. This, of course, is just another reworking of Joseph Campbell's "hero's journey" where the hero encounters his mentor, which may explain its persistence; after the first master-student scene of this type in a popular film (probably Enter the Dragon) it has gone through various permutations, from The Karate Kid, which is nearly all about this relationship, to Luke's training with Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back.
2. Keanu Reeves went through intensive martial arts training for the fight scenes, and later said this was one of the most enjoyable parts of the film.
3. In a hapkido class I attended, I had to practice breakfalls jumping over a sword, an unnerving experience even though the "sword" in question was made of wood. The teacher said "Forget the sword. The sword's not there." "Sure," I replied, "There is no spoon."
The Matrix is full of displays of martial arts, and this is continued in Reloaded. But of course, these are hyper-real martial arts. In our world, learning kung fu or jiu-jitsu takes years of hard training, but within the Matrix, Neo learns a variety of martial arts styles in under a minute; the first time he looks even slightly happy in the film is when he comes out of the training program saying "I know jiu-jitsu!" Apart from the practicalities of the story-line---it would disrupt the plot to have Neo go away for ten years to learn how to fight---this scene may well be a witty parody of martial arts films. In many such films, the hero needs to learn from a master in order to defeat his evil opponent, and the audience are treated to scenes of strenuous training as the hero masters his art. 1What the Wachowskis seem to be pointing out is that even this supposedly traditional martial arts training is still far too short: not even Jean-Claude Van Damme can learn a new martial art in a few weeks. Neo's instant kung fu is a clever parody of kung fu films.
An element of parody is also present in the scenes where Neo displays his martial skills, such as his lazy one-hand blocking (while looking in the other direction) at the end of the first film, or his fight with multiple Agent Smiths in the second. Martial arts films (particularly Chinese ones) have always used special effects to exaggerate the characters' abilities (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon being an extreme and rather tongue-in-cheek example). Since there are no physical constraints inside the Matrix there are no limits to Neo's martial abilities, but he still feels obliged to follow the forms of traditional martial arts.2
So is this film kung fu hyper-real? In some ways, the martial arts shown in films is hyper-real, in that to most people, this is what martial arts are all about. Actual martial artists teaching classes back in the desert of the real have to contend with the idea that the best way to defend yourself against a pair of muggers is to jump in the air and kick both of them simultaneously. On the other hand, the fight scenes of the Matrix films are not simulation, but clever parody, in much the same way that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon involves affectionate parody of the Chinese kung fu film tradition. It may take some experience of martial arts to see that the fights in a Bruce Lee or Van Damme film are hopelessly unrealistic, but no one at all could be fooled into thinking that matrix-fu is "real", even in a weird Baudrillardian sense.
Fiction traditionally depends on the "willing suspension of disbelief", but here we have the opposite; it is almost as though the Wachowskis are trying to say "Look, this kung fu isn't real, and neither is the rest of the kung fu you see in films." This encouragement to disbelieve is relevant to the violence of the scenes. Whatever matrix-fu is about, it is not about physical violence. Rather, it appeals to the mythology of martial arts: that training in a martial art is essentially mental training, and that in mastering your art, you will master yourself. You may not learn to dodge bullets, but you can do things that you thought were impossible, and that is the real appeal of matrix-fu.3
1. This, of course, is just another reworking of Joseph Campbell's "hero's journey" where the hero encounters his mentor, which may explain its persistence; after the first master-student scene of this type in a popular film (probably Enter the Dragon) it has gone through various permutations, from The Karate Kid, which is nearly all about this relationship, to Luke's training with Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back.
2. Keanu Reeves went through intensive martial arts training for the fight scenes, and later said this was one of the most enjoyable parts of the film.
3. In a hapkido class I attended, I had to practice breakfalls jumping over a sword, an unnerving experience even though the "sword" in question was made of wood. The teacher said "Forget the sword. The sword's not there." "Sure," I replied, "There is no spoon."
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no subject
Date: 2003-07-02 12:58 pm (UTC)Matrix studies. Whoa.
no subject
Date: 2003-07-02 01:29 pm (UTC)Incidentally, I have to confess that I have a paper-publishing fetish. When someone from Longman mailed me to ask permission to publish one of my online essays (http://neptune.spaceports.com/~words/malelogic.html), I was skipping round the room. I know it's pathetic, but I was brought up in that culture.
no subject
Date: 2003-07-02 01:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-02 01:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-02 02:21 pm (UTC)Do you think it's that, or do you think they're trying to say that nothing is real, and this is what you can do when you unbind yourself from 'reality'. I think the latter.
no subject
Date: 2003-07-02 02:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-03 11:00 am (UTC)i disagree not interesting at all. martial arts evolves like anything else. the idea that there is an ideal when it comes to martial arts cracks me up. in japan there isn't much that's not a martial art. it's kind of like do your best and all that so it stands to reason. the myth of musashi, jeet kun do, falun gong, hip hop mcing, capoeira (sp?), drinking alcohol, baseball...
i guess i am being vague and lazy but hopefully you get the gist of my point and don't think i am just giving you a hard time.
admittedly though if martial arts as a very broad and general label is only an intellectual interest then i guess it is interesting in that way. so yeah.
no subject
Date: 2003-07-03 11:29 am (UTC)I found it only interesting for the point of extrapolating the notion of kata into point-and-shoot firearms, which I haven't seen done before.
no subject
Date: 2003-07-03 11:56 am (UTC)--jeru the damaja - "come clean"
well yeah i suppose it did (didn't see it) , but that wasn't my point.
maybe it's because i have a quasi love-hate relationship with kata, but yeah it only makes sense to make a martial art of point-and-shoot weaponry. glorified bow and arrow, the ultimate zen weapon? kata are like the american university system, only useful to people who aren't really going for the optimal and pure death to those that are.
since i imagine you think me a rambling idiot at this point (and i wouldn't blam you at all) let me try to go ahead and clarify things. there is practice and there is the non-practice, where do you draw the line, does the line exist at all? give it a name, trying to be all you can be is all that martial arts is and the divergences are a colorful display of human diversity. there is no one true way and even that is challengeable. so thinking this way makes anything that is rolled into or proclaimed a martial art not interesting at all, it just is the way things are. but like i said from an intellectual view it is. why did i feel the need to say that to you? compulsion and an attempt to share information, that is all.
does any of that make any sense at all?
can i ask, is there _any_ martial art that you are actively pursuing excellence in?
no subject
Date: 2003-07-03 12:23 pm (UTC)I assume your question was for circumambalate, but just for the record ...
The main martial art I practice is t'ai chi, which I've been doing on and off since the mid 80s, but I'm happy to learn just about anything from anyone - in my time I've done aikido (three years when I was at university), wing chun, hapkido and a tiny amount of gumdo. I don't know about pursuing excellence, though. I do martial arts because I enjoy it and, who knows, I may need to kick some serious butt some day, but at least at the moment I don't really think of myself as a martial artist in the true sense of the word (though I sometimes refer to myself loosely as such). I'm just a guy who does martial arts, though there are times when I've felt differently, and things may change again in the future. A couple of years ago, I was training in hapkido three or four evenings a week (and two hours of largely one-on-one hapkido training is worth four hours of anything else - we're talking pain, fear and exhaustion here). I was also teaching a self defence course at a local high school. I felt like a martial artist who taught English in his spare time to wind down a little.
no subject
Date: 2003-07-03 12:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-03 02:21 pm (UTC)busted
Date: 2003-07-03 05:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-03 07:45 pm (UTC)In answer to your other question, I've some experience in fencing, bo, t'ai chi, and karate.