[lbo-talk] West and the Wachowski's

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

At 2:40 PM -0700 5/20/03, Ian Murray wrote:
>http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/cl-et-smith20may20.story
>MOVIES
>The intellectual and 'The Matrix'
>Princeton scholar Cornel West, featured in both of the sequels, talks
>about the films' deeper meaning.
>By Lynn Smith
>Times Staff Writer
>
>May 20 2003
<snip>
>The most fundamental parallel, however, between his work and the 
>"Matrix" movies, West said, is found in the films' multiracial 
>casting. In the city of Zion, most citizens are people of color and 
>many of the movie's leading actors are black (Laurence Fishburne, 
>Jada Pinkett Smith, Nona Gaye, Harry Lennix, Harold Perrineau Jr. 
>and the late Gloria Foster.)
>
>People of color outnumber whites in the world's population, he 
>noted. "It's not just the representation in numbers but the humanity 
>displayed," said West, whose writings urge cross-cultural tolerance 
>and a recognition of the power of diversity. "The acknowledgment of 
>the full-fledged and complex humanity of black people is a new idea 
>in Hollywood, given all the stereotypes and distortions," he said.

Everyone in Zion speaks American English, though.  Apparently, all 
other languages are extinct....

What is more, one of the "bad guys" (played by a French actor Lambert 
Wilson) in the movie -- named Merovingian (!) -- speaks English with 
a French accent, says that he relishes cursing in French, and 
displays his love of womanizing.

Is this a "freedom" flick or what?
-- 
Yoshie

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