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Science fiction stories have always mirrored their own eras. They’re a time capsule as much as they are a vision of the future, and few decades offer as rapid a change on screen as the sci-fi films of the 1990s.
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Science fiction stories have always mirrored their own eras. They’re a time capsule as much as they are a vision of the future, and few decades offer as rapid a change on screen as the sci-fi films of the 1990s.
Caution: This article contains plot points from Total Recall, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Universal Soldier, Alien 3, Demolition Man, Johnny Mnemonic, Independence Day, Men in Black, The Fifth Element, Starship Troopers, Alien Resurrection, Armageddon, Deep Impact, The Wild Wild West, and – phew – The Matrix, and in some cases reveals the ending.
Caution: This article contains plot points from Total Recall, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Universal Soldier, Alien 3, Demolition Man, Johnny Mnemonic, Independence Day, Men in Black, The Fifth Element, Starship Troopers, Alien Resurrection, Armageddon, Deep Impact, The Wild Wild West, and – phew – The Matrix, and in some cases reveals the ending.
Read by Rebecca Davis and written by Katherine McLaughlin. Theme song by Lofi Geek.
David Fincher’s Imagi-Movies interview: https://mossfilm.wordpress.com/2012/10/13/alien-3-fincher-talks/
Paul Verhoeven’s Interview Magazine interview:
https://www.jigsawlounge.co.uk/film/reviews/paul-verhoeven-interview/
Lily Wachoski’s Netflix Film Club interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adXm2sDzGkQ&feature=emb_title
The original article on The Companion: https://www.thecompanion.app/2020/09/18/changing-faces-of-90s-sci-fi-icons/
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You're listening to The
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I'm Rebecca Davis. In the early
days of The Companion, a promise
was made to put forth the effort
to cover 90s science fiction. As
a generation of science fiction,
film and television, and one
that happened to include the
member favourite Stargate
franchise, it just seemed like
the right place, or should I say
time to focus on the following
article epitomises that promise
covering the shift in the 90s
from muscle power to brain
power, from Arnold to Keanu. I
like to think of this article as
one of a 90s trilogy found in
our pilot season. For a personal
review of Total Recall, the film
mentioned in this article as the
starting point of this shift in
sci fi heroes take a listen to
Philip K Dick's wife Tessa B
Dick's review of the film. For
more in depth discussion of the
groundbreaking decade-capping
The Matrix, try Transgender
Allegory, Applicability and Me
by Ell Twine. Last Action Heroes
how 1990s blockbusters swapped
thugs for thinkers by Katherine
McLaughlin.
Caution, this article contains
plot points from Total Recall,
Terminator 2: Judgement Day,
Universal Soldier, Alien3,
Demolition Man, Johnny Mnemonic,
Independence Day, Men in Black
The Fifth Element, Starship
Troopers, Alien Resurrection,
Armageddon, Deep Impact, The
Wild Wild West and – phew – The
Matrix and in some cases reveals
the ending.
How do you measure such an
astonishing moment?
Many of them is the world wide
wide vainly it makes sense. But
what what's going on American
people
have voted to make a new
science fiction stories have
always mirrored their own eras
their societal or cultural fears
and anxieties, the potential of
technological advancement their
time capsule as much as they are
a vision of the future, and few
decades offer as rapid change on
screen as the 1990s. The
aftermath of the power shifts in
1989 sparked waves of revolution
across the globe, including the
fall of the Berlin Wall and the
end of the Cold War. Towards the
end of the 90s, the importance
of the US Military Industrial
Complex was overshadowed by the
Tech Computer industry as it
grew in power and scale. The
landscape was changing, and the
heroes changed with it. Anyone
with a keyboard and internet
connection could now change the
world. There was no need for big
muscles and biceps. As the
metaphysical took over. You
could arm yourself with
information while ordering a
pizza. That shift can clearly be
seen in Hollywood's blockbuster
heroes. They transformed in
appearance and their tech tapped
into the way people had started
to use the internet to challenge
the status quo. The rebellion
against the cold hard capitalism
of the Reagan-Bush
Administrations can be seen in
the anti establishment figures
presented in the 1990s heroes
were afforded the power to
question authority and enact
change through a combination of
brute force and selfless acts.
The need for a certain type of
machismo dwindled and was
satirised on numerous occasions,
and the cyber hero movie even
got the green light from a major
studio. The Internet offered a
place where reality could
literally be manipulated and
identity was anonymous or fluid.
The way we lived, our lives was
changing and sci fi films
explored not only the
psychological impact of the
fabric of reality coming apart,
but the way the Internet can be
integral to acts of rebellion
against the status quo.
1000s and 1000s of West Germans
come to make the point that the
wall has suddenly become
irrelevant. Something as you can
see almost a party on how do you
measure such an astonishing
moment in history. The East
German government said tonight
they were going to make more
openings in the wall at least a
dozen more. Put bulldozers right
through the wall so that more
people could cross to the west
1990 to 1992 the last action
heroes.
Now let me see, basic Mars
package will run you 899
credits. Now that's for two full
weeks and memories complete in
every detail. If you want a
longer trip that will cost a
little more because it's a
deeper implant. What's in the
two week package? Well, first of
all, Doug, let me tell you when
you go recall, you get nothing
but first class memories.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was
undeniably the go to sci fi
action star in the early 90s.
And his five time Mr. Universe
winning frame was utilised by
two major directors in very
different ways at the start of
the decade, in the summer of
1990 Paul Verhoeven ultraviolent
adaptation of Philip K Dick's We
Can Remember It For You
Wholesale was released as Total
Recall, Arnie plays construction
worker Quaid, whose belief in
the structure of reality begins
to dissolve when his memory
suggests he has lived an
entirely different life. His
recurring nightmares place him
on Mars as a secret agent, and
when he enters into a VR
simulation that pleases him in
that very scenario, it leads him
to question his whole existence.
Verhoeven has always been ahead
of his time and total recalls
themes would dominate the
Hollywood sci fi action
blockbuster in the latter part
of the decade. In stark contrast
to the one-note early 80s
beefcakes. He was famous for
Arnie's bulging physique is
filled with confusion and
vulnerability. In reality, there
was a shift in his role choices
at this point due to his
preparation to enter the
political arena and his
affiliation with Republican
President George Bush.
Governor elect
Arnold Schwarzenegger is 50%
believe that he has a favourable
approval rating a defeat
completely for Ray Davis, but
certainly Mr. Schwarzenegger is
as of now, the projected winner
a heart condition
would dictate his workload and
role choices later in the
decade. But in J Hoberman is
1991 sight and sound feature
Nietzsche Man, Arnie was
described as a man's man, or
rather a man, Superman, or
perhaps the simulation of man's
Superman. The waiver havens
movie is constructed by
continually reconstructing
quaids perspective forces the
viewer to reevaluate what
they've just seen on screen. As
the filmmaker fits big ideas
into the Hollywood blockbuster
mould. A distorted reality is
presented about a construction
worker who sees beyond the news
headlines uncovers corruption,
and brings it all toppling down
to define a new world order. It
all feeds into the politics of
the previous decade. With
Verhoeven using Arnie's muscle
bound law abiding persona in an
ironic anti establishment
fashion. No, you don't have to
do that.
No, don't do it.
It has to end here.
Are you not to go? I already not
to go home
don't know why you cry. But it's
something I can never do.
Another director who was
mastering his craft in this era
was James Cameron, the man who
launched Arnie into the
mainstream in 1984 with
Terminator and who use the
sequel Terminator 2: Judgement
Day to advocate for world peace.
The villain is now a hero. I'll
be it's still a robotic killing
machine, who learns about
humanity and is taught empathy
from a young John Connor. It's a
film where everyone is searching
for their humanity, including an
incredibly buff Linda Hamilton
as Sarah Connor. Cameron
envisioned a softer, kinder male
sci fi action hero and in
juxtaposition, a wilder, more
aggressive female hero. Both
evolve over the course of the
film as they battle against a
common enemy in the form of
SkyNet's police-disguised
T-1000. Released in the summer
of 1991, following the end of
the Gulf War camera depicts a
world on the brink of a dusty
apocalypse. Universal Soldier
seemed content to continue on
where Terminator left off. With
AI controlled cryogenically
frozen Vietnam soldiers
reanimated in the present day.
John Claude Van Damme plays the
hero, who begins to suffer
PTSD-induced flashbacks after a
malfunction, teaming up with
journalist Veronica Ali Walker
as a comedic sidekick to defeat
his sadistic government
sanctioned comrade Dolph
Lundgren. Again you can see the
vulnerability trickling out from
the beefcake outer shell with
the film's themes of trauma,
national shame and the ravages
of war told via the heroes
narrative. Yet still, the hero
walks around buck naked and
cocksure, showing off his
powerful physique and quite
literally flaunting his
virility. To save the day he
sleeps with a journalist and
engages in an elongated
kickboxing fight. It's pure sex
and violence for the most part
that offers its hero the sweet
denouement of a safe return
home. It's here you got Clemens.
Foolish woman Blackstein family
Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley
is a bonafide iconic hero, born
in the 1980s and resuscitated as
a martyr in David Fincher's
Alien3. Over the 90s, Ripley
appeared in two Alien films, and
each time she evolved and
mutated to tie in with
contemporary issues. This is the
one where Ripley shaves her head
is impregnated by the Alien and
dies at the end. Pointedly,
there are hardly any guns in
clear juxtaposition to Cameron's
Aliens, but there's still lots
of blood and guts flying about
two years old, is a deadly
disease and there is no known
cure In the year where Tom Hanks
won the Oscar for his
performance as a man who was
diagnosed with HIV and fights
for his rights as his body is
ravaged by the AIDS virus in
Philadelphia, the critics tied
Ripley's battle for survival to
the disease. Renowned critic
Philip Strick described this
incarnation of Ripley as a
psychotic at war with a poison
inside her in his S&S review.
Fellow S&S critic Amy Taubin
also acknowledged the AIDS
crisis and abortion rights as
integral to understanding the
heroine's eventual sacrifice,
stating by choosing to hurl
herself over the brink rather
than bend to the will of the
state, the hero guarantees her
transformation from woman to
myth. On reflection, Ripley is
reeling from grief from the
death of her crew while also
forming an alliance with a gay
character, illustrating the film
stance against homophobia. The
conservative male anxieties
about the nuclear family central
to the Alien films from the
previous decade, are swapped to
show Ripley's POV as she
attempts to navigate the
dangerous territory inhabited by
religious celibate male
prisoners convicted of rape and
murder. It's a startling
depiction of how the female body
is viewed and debated in society
and the political arena. In an
interview published in imagine
movies magazine, venture
explained his desire to depart
from the 1980s depiction of this
character. The idea was not to
make a whiz bang shoot 'em up.
But to deal with this character,
let's put a 40 year old woman in
outer space not an underwear
clad victim like in the first
Alien. He viewed the Alien
franchise as a reaction to the
yuppie ideal and capitalism, and
he depicted Ripley as a
progressive feminist hero for
the times. At the heart of the
character, he explained is her
martyrdom, sacrifice the idea
that sacrifice was a noble
capitalist alternative, we've
come full circle and realise
that selflessness is as
important as selfishness in
order to survive. That change
was reflected in the political
mood at the time
where high hopes and brave
hearts and massive numbers the
American people have voted to
make a new began.
1993 March this switch to a
democratic government and the
presidency of Bill Clinton,
which lasted into the new
millennium. It also marked the
end of Arnie seven year unbroken
reign as one of the top 10
highest grossing stars at the US
box office. 1993 To 1996 self
aware sunsets and signs of life.
I'm happy that you're happy, but
the place where you're supposed
to have the toilet paper, you
got this little shelf with three
seashells on it. He doesn't know
how to use the three seashells.
I can see how that could be
confusing all believer
ideals, tastes and politics were
changing and Hollywood
desperately rushed to keep up
with it
all. Fire after fire after fire
kept breaking out all over the
city primarily in businesses and
businesses, which probably will
not be able to reestablish
themselves once the riot is
over.
The media attention and debates
that unfolded after the verdict
from the Rodney King trial and
the LA 92 protests highlighted
racial discrimination and police
brutality. At the same time, the
major part that computer
technology was having on
everyday life, including
Microsoft launching Internet
Explorer, played into the way
the hero adapted and who they
teamed up with to save the day.
First up, there was some
unfinished business to handle
between three major stars of the
era. Sylvester Stallone, Sandra
Bullock, and Wesley Snipes all
appeared in Demolition Man, a
self reflexive comedy that
directly satirise the
fetishization of the archetypal
male heroes who played by their
own rules predominant in buddy
cop in action movies. To quote
the film these men are now
considered brutish fossils.
Violence has been wiped out in
the future in this sci fi satire
set in the fictional San Angeles
clearly a standard for
Hollywood. But when dangerous
criminals Simon Phoenix Snipes,
is mysteriously reanimated from
cryogenic prison is up to old
school cop John Spartan Stallone
to take him down. Bulloch place
peaceful law enforcement officer
Lemina Huxley, who teamed up
with Spartan and places the old
school hero on something of a
pedestal with tongue in cheek
humour, continually misquoting
their one liners to Spartan's
amusement. It's a movie that's
predominantly focused on
commenting on the action hero in
movies, while idly throwing in
hot button topics. Hollywood was
beginning to move on from the
bulging beefcake sci fi hero,
and this group of expendables
was certainly aware of changing
tastes. So much so that even
Arnie's popularity and political
aspirations are parodied in the
film through the Arnold
Schwarzenegger presidential
library.
Well, what do you think about
when you're alone? I think I
want to get out of this rat
hole.
I want to get online I need a
computer. Next up, it was the
turn of a svelt and suited Keanu
Reeves in the somewhat
unsuccessful dawning of the
cyber hero in Johnny Mnemonic.
Much was made of Reeves wouldn't
performance at that time, he was
even like into a mannequin and
Kim Newman's S&S review. But to
be fair, he was playing a
literal hard drive. Pioneering
cyberpunk author William Gibson
adapted this major studio
release, which features a hero
who displayed brains over brawn
and teamed up with a
codebreaking dolphin to save the
day. Both Demolition Man and
Johnny Mnemonic seemed
fascinated with East Asian
culture, philosophy and attire.
It was early days but the
connected power of the internet
played a major role in how sci
fi cinema was being shaped.
global influences and innovative
leaps in technology impacted how
North American filmmakers
envision the future and the type
of heroes that would emerge.
Worldwide computer network
called the Internet has inspired
more movies than any big deal,
technological fads. And so the
TV radio boom of the 1970s
in 1995, dial up internet was
only used by a few professions,
but it would soon become a
broadband phenomenon used in
many households. The world was
expanding and it was all at the
laymen's fingertips to
experience and uncover. This was
also the year that would kowski
started touting the matrix
screenplay. The influence of
East Asian culture such as anime
and further technological
invention would also seep into
their film, but more on that
later. Welcome to Earth. In
1996, Will Smith became the
first black action hero in a
major blockbuster. Everyone is a
goddamn hero in Independence
Day, but Smith's ambitious pilot
Captain Steven Hiller fits the
typical action hero archetype,
fearlessly punching aliens in
the face and delivering
memorable one liners such as
what I call a close encounter.
It's interesting to see who he
teams up with in a film that
extols the virtue of coming
together to overcome a common
enemy. Inter Jeff Goldblum's
Jewish technology expert David
Levinson, who uploads a computer
virus to the mothership to help
save the day. You can see the
evolution of the computer expert
turning into something of a hero
through Levinson shift from
neurotic yet brave desk man to a
sexy cigar chomping pilot. At
the end of the film, he and
Hiller emerge victoriously from
their mission Top Gun style. As
the decade continued niche
interests, comic books and the
end of the world seem to dictate
the kind of heroes that would
appear in the Sci Fi studio
blockbuster. 9097 to 1999 new
attitudes for a new world.
On a more personal note,
Beatrice and you ran off with an
old girlfriend you gotta go stay
with your mom a couple of nights
you're gonna get over and decide
you're better off.
Well, yeah, you know could
because he never appreciated you
anyway. In fact, you know what?
You kicked him out. And now that
he's gone, you can go in town
you go to Bloomingdale's, buy
yourself some nice dresses, get
yourself some shoes, you know
find somewhere maybe you get a
facial and Oh, hire a decorator
to come in here quick because,
damn,
Will Smith continued his reign
as hero with another major
blockbuster in Men and Black
based on Lowell Cunningham's
comic book. His natural charisma
comedic ability and music career
made him a household name, and a
family friendly hero who ensured
bums on seats. First introduces
NYPD cop his worldview has
changed as he's granted a peek
behind the curtain at a secret
agency assigned to keep
intergalactic peace and monitor
aliens. To get the job done as
the agent James Will Smith must
first pass the test. Surrounded
by stocky rule abiding soldiers
in full army attire, James in
his casual clothes stands out
like a sore thumb. Ultimately,
it's his capability to think
outside of the box that lands
him the job. He's ushered in by
K, Tommy Lee Jones, an old pro
who is ready for retirement. You
can view their switches
acknowledgement that it's time
to pass the baton on in terms of
the hero. Smith certainly is a
physical departure from the army
type that dominated the box
office in the early 90s. Yet
there are similarities in what
the heroes in Total Recall and
Men and Black are presented with
in terms of how their perception
of reality changes. By the end
of Men in Black Smith's Agent J
has to make the decision to work
outside the system or give up
his newfound knowledge. His eyes
now open he decides he can't go
back.
Says here the internet is the
future of business we have to be
on the internet. Why doesn't say
the world was changing. Mobile
phones were becoming a major
part of daily life. Google was
just about to launch and
communication and the way
information was shared would
change forever.
We right you're right, you're
right. But there are there are
some things that are nice things
worth saving some beautiful
things and things
Yes love. That's good. That's
good. That's a good example like
Love Love is worth saving. I
don't know
that was built to protect not to
love. You're wrong, you're
wrong, you're
wrong. I need you. I need you
very much. To understand who the
true hero of Luc Besson's the
Fifth Element is, you first have
to look at the villain. Gary
Oldman plays a merciless arms
trader intent on world
domination and destruction.
Technology has evolved but
whether it's used for good or
bad is in the hands of those
with money and power. Enter
Milla Jovovich's naive alien out
of water Leeloo, who is
disgusted at the violence she
witnesses in her quest to save
humanity. Bruce Willis may roll
around with guns and catch
Leeloo when she falls, but he is
something of an unwitting
sidekick. Leeloo means business
and the fate of the world is
ultimately in her hands. An ex
military man turned cabdriver
has taught a lesson about how
love not war can save the day.
Speaking to entertainment
magazine on the film's 20th
anniversary besom reflected on
his decisions to shake up the
Sci Fi action flick saying when
I started this film, I knew I
had a 50% chance that after this
I will not be in the movie
business. You cannot write a sci
fi that is funny, first of all,
made in France with Jean-Paul
Gaultier and the hero is a
woman. If Demolition Man was
playfully poking fun at the
Hollywood hero, then Paul
Verhoeven Starship Troopers tore
it apart from the inside and
played with its innards for a while.
Young people from all over the
globe are joining up to fight
for the future.
I'm doing my part. I'm doing my
part. I'm doing my part. I'm
doing my part to
they're doing their part are you
join the mobile infantry and
save the world service
guarantees citizenship.
Who are what we view as a hero
is satirised in this adaptation
of Robert A Heinlein in 1950 and
a novel that itself paints a
picture of a fascist utopia and
a population blind to his
machinations. It is left up to
the audience whether to cheer or
boo at the unfolding wars and
destruction much as it is in
reality. In Interview magazine,
Verhoeven explained his approach
saying, Starship Troopers is
more to do with foreign
politics. It's about propaganda
and the function of propaganda
versus reality, and how it spins
reality. As seen in T two and
alien three, the female sci fi
hero took a different course
over this decade. They embrace
their power and use their
physical prowess to kick the
crap out of the system. Even
Leeloo in the Fifth Element
takes out some guards by combat,
but she never hurts an innocent
bystander. In Alien
Resurrection, Ripley is revived
as a clone whose bodily autonomy
has been removed. Unbeknownst to
her, her body is being harvested
to make alien hybrids, and in
the process she has fused with
the monster to become something
new.
The first explosion about 930
this morning blew out windows at
the North Atlanta family
planning clinic, where were you
in the building and where was
the explosion. This second
explosion about an hour later
injured a television
photographer and ATF agent and
at least for
the issue of women's
reproduction rights presented an
alien three is given new meaning
in the fourth film of the
franchise. In 1993, the shooting
of Dr. David Gunn became the
first known murder of an
abortion doctor in the US. And
as the decade continued further
attacks on abortion clinics
resulted in multiple murders.
Women's bodies were once again
piling up dead and their
autonomy up for debate. Ripley
spends this entire film smashing
up the patriarchy and literally
hitting aggressive men in the
balls. The Alien films have
always been anti corporation but
this time, Ripley, in a
screenplay written by Joss
Whedon bears all the same traits
as his other feminist heroines,
including Buffy as she
ruthlessly takes the power back.
y2k was fast approaching, and we
were told that due to an error
the Millennium Bug would bring
computer systems crashing down
and cause businesses and perhaps
the entire capitalist model
itself to topple. Sci Fi
entertainment began filming the
beginning of the end via to
disaster movies where comments
are said to collide with her
spike during the fight job to
take care of my little girl now.
That's your job. Again, the idea
of self sacrifice and martyrdom
makes an appearance. The male
heroes who represent old
fashioned American values blow
themselves up to save the day.
It microbe Is Armageddon. Bruce
Willis's oil rig boss turned
astronaut becomes a better
father and father figure as he
self sacrifices to save the
world and his daughter's fiance.
In Mimi letters Deep Impact an
experienced ageing astronaut
played by Robert Duvall makes
the call to end his own life in
order to save the world.
Although it's in the hands of a
young science was in a
journalist to sound the alarm.
Meteors aside in the final year
of the 1990s Will Smith and
Keanu Reeves were now cast as
the heroes representing a huge
departure from the start of the
decade. The role that would
prove iconic took major real
life innovations in technology
into account with pression ideas
and style despair. The other not
so much. Still, Smith was
offered the role of Neo and that
we call skis modern sci fi
classic the matrix and turned it
down. He instead opted to
partner up again with MIB
director Barry Sonnenfeld for a
steampunk adventure that
involved him battling against a
racist inventor who wishes to
rewrite the outcome of the civil
war with a giant mechanical
spider. In Wild Wild West meet
Professor
Thaddeus Morton, kidnapped from
MIT six months ago, expert in
the field of metallurgy,
discovered in the field of
alfalfa. That's a man's head.
It's no Django Unchained, but
Smith is a gun toting cowboy was
the prime candidate for
revisionist Western. It's
obvious to see why he chose the
role of a blockbuster action
adventure where a black man
battled a racist, but
unfortunately, it just didn't
work with critics. And it barely
scraped a profit from the box
office audiences.
The matrix is a system Neo, that
system is our enemy. When you're
inside, you look around what do
you see businessmen, teachers,
lawyers, carpenters.
The very the role of Neo was
also turned down by Brad Pitt,
Leonardo DiCaprio and Sandra
Bullock, but eventually landed
with Reeves who engaged with the
philosophical ideas at the heart
of the film. Lily Ilana with
housekeys The Matrix was a true
event movie and became the fifth
highest grossing film of 1999.
It fully engaged with the power
of the internet and push the
limits of the action movie with
its Bullet Time special effects.
Almost everyone is preparing for
the worst potential y2k computer
crashes topped the list. In
Jersey City. 400 bankers will be
ready to take calls from
investors.
No one could predict how the
Internet file sharing sites like
Napster and early social media
like six degrees.com and
arguably Neopets would change
the world. But the wick
housekeys knew the World Wide
Web offered a new reality where
the possibilities were endless.
They played with the mistrust of
the mainstream metaphysical
solipsism and offered a new type
of hero, a disillusioned company
man and underground computer
hacker. In line with the female
sci fi hero's journey over this
decade, Trinity, Carrie Anne
moss gets some kickass
sequences, but ultimately
becomes the love interest to
Neo. The webcal skis envisioned
a capitalist dystopia where
humans were literal cogs in the
machine doing nothing more than
powering the system. The general
population lived in a simulated
distorted world where the truth
was hidden. It was up to an
optimistic hacker to save the
day. Through information
uploaded directly into his
brain, Neo taught himself new
skills such as Kung Fu, gaining
the knowledge and abilities
necessary to challenge the
capitalist system through
technology. In a recent Netflix
interview, Willie wood kowski
who transitioned in 2016,
although her sister Lana dito,
around a decade earlier, spoke
about the trans allegory in the
film, explaining that the matrix
was all about the desire for
transformation. But it was all
coming from a closeted point of
view. The progressive
nonconformist ideas at the
centre of the matrix may not
always match up with the hero's
actions. But there is a clear
shift away from what the movie
going audience was presented
with at the start of the decade.
The unattainable physiques of
the muscleman that dominated the
genre were replaced by the
average Joe who could slip
through the system unnoticed.
Rather than hit the reset button
that would kowski worked within
the Hollywood blockbuster frame
to imagine an enlightened kind
of sci fi action hero who could
eventually break the mould. And
the genre ended the decade by
taking a dazzling step forward.
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