Final Blog 24

The movie, the Matrix, combined with the concept of an alternative reality existing, is indisputably challenging, especially when posed with the question of whether or not you'd rather continue living in the matrix or be pulled out. "Danahay and Reider argue that the Matrix is not really about a revolution and that the directors use lots of tricks to actually make us want to be in the Matrix"(Smith). With that being said, i'd have to agree. There are several different elements used in the film to make the matrix look desirable and more appealing to the audience than the actual real world.
For starters, the matrix is exactly like life as we see it now, everyday people going about their business off to work and engaging in normal interaction with others. In contrast to that, the real world is extremely futuristic, taken over by machines, and what appears to be very dull looking, boring, and lonely. With that alone, the audience is fed the illusion that the matrix, despite being real or not, is more enticing simply because it is identical to the world we live in now. Danahay and Reider claim that "if the Matrix had been shot in black and white, and the "real" world in the Nebuchadnezzar had been in color, perhaps then the revolutionary future for which the humans were fighting would have looked as bright and colorful.."(24). They could not be any more accurate with that claim solely because that difference would blatantly change wanting to live in the real world in contrast to living in the matrix. I doubt that anyone would find a black and white world any more appealing than a real and colorful one.
Another trick that the movie uses in order to lead the audience into wanting to be in the Matrix is all the special effects. All of the main characters have been pulled out of the Matrix, but every time they do plug back in, they are bound to no physical limits. They have ridiculous fighting skills which they can simply "upload" and learn, they can run fast, jump from incredible heights, and Neo can even dodge bullets. With those possibilities, who wouldn't want to be in the Matrix and have the opportunity to seriously kick someone's ass and run across walls? Being in the Matrix lends off this feeling of strength and power and leads you to believe that that's what will be handed to you once you're in it. The movie fails to put emphasis on the control the machines have over you and that everything in the Matrix is essentially NOT real. Yea Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus can do all these incredible things and are not "slaves" to the machines, but only because they have been pulled out and have the choice of when to go back in.
The movie "Sleep Dealers" is in many ways very similar to The Matrix. They both encompass the concept of an alternate reality, but Sleep Dealer is more about a working mexican who just wants to be able to provide for his family. The theme of labor is a major one in Sleep Dealer because the dominant factory to enter the virtual world is the only way the Mexicans can look for work. Regardless of the advanced technology available, the people and companies still choose to gather workers to do the work for them. The obvious main difference between The Matrix and Sleep Dealers is that the people living in the matrix are oblivious to that fact, and the workers in Sleep Dealers consciously choose to enter the virtual world. The Mexicans are considered the "working" class, maybe even a lower class, and the movie has emphasized it enough by setting it in a time and place where the Mexicans are not even allowed in this country anymore but are still providing labor.
Technology is a big part of both movies, but in contrast to The Matrix, the characters in Sleep Dealers don't try to fight against it, they work with it instead. In spite of it being placed in the future where machines and technology can basically take care of everything for you, Sleep Dealers points out that people still need to and are required to somehow work.