#i was thinking of formating it like a parody of a flash or mobile game where the character is like FEED ME x =D but i cannot find like

[the-acid-pear]

today's prompts are spiders and self insert so i've been thinking of drawing nembone and a uh, bunger. but Im still thinking around the uh. ? i cant remember the word HELP the fucking COMPOSITION there.

[percentmagazine]

Matrix Pill 2020

The Matrix has you…

The cultural overview over "The Matrix Trilogy" and how it foresaw the social trends.

"The Matrix" trilogy by the Wachowski brothers is the most iconic and groundbreaking movie trilogies in cinema history. Terms like "The red pill", "Dessert of the real", "There is no spoon", "Follow the white rabbit", "Why, Mr. Anderson? Why?" and many other phrases from the film became the golden quotes of the new millennium, shaping the entire culture of the "generation Y"… also known as "the millennials". "The bullet time" effect with fancy acrobatic moves and bullet waves turned into the most quoted gimmick for decades in action films, parodies and video games. The slow motion has never been so cool and slick, as it was after "The Matrix", not to mention sunglasses at night and dark looks with fashionable black leather tailored coats.

Its been 21 years since the theatrical release of the first "The Matrix" film. It came out in November of 1999 (the most revolutionary year in cinema history, since it is the release year of such groundbreaking hit titles like "Star Wars: Episode I. The Phantom Menace" by George Lucas, "Fight Club" by David Fincher, and "The Matrix", of course, by the Wachowski brothers). Four years after the great success of the film, "The Matrix" was reloaded with two worthy sequels: "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Matrix Revolutions" — turning a movie franchise into a full-time trilogy. There was also "The Animatrix" — an anthology of animated short films set in "The Matrix Universe" directed by highly acclaimed Japanese animators, and a video-game "Enter the Matrix" which told a story that went parallel to the story of sequels, explaining some of the unanswered questions in the films. Thus "The Matrix" franchise has become one of the first inter-media franchises where all available storytelling formats told one epic story from different angles and points of view. And unlike other attempts of creating such inter-media franchise around movies (like it was with "Star Wars Expended Universe" or "The Terminator" franchise) it wasn't just pure merchandising and cash-grabbing schemes with questionable product quality having a famous brand logo on it… no, '"The Matrix" franchise was one well thought out project and story from the very beginning, created and curated by the Wachowski brothers. Nothing more or less.

In the year of 2020 "The Matrix" is being reloaded once again with its new instalment being in production. Internet is filled with shaky mobile phone behind the scenes footage of "The Matrix 4". We see Neo, played by actor Keanu Reeves and his stunt double, jumping of high buildings and riding fancy motorcycle with Trinity, played by Carrie Ann-Moss, while the streets of San-Francisco are being turned into a chaotic war zone with explosions, car chases, extras running all over the streets and helicopters flying.

Usually such big blockbuster film productions are being held in secret in order to prevent unnecessary leaks and story spoilers… most of the extras and crew members don't even know what movie they are filming up until the very end. During such big productions fake movie titles are made. But this time, as it seams, filmmakers don't really care about production secrecy, as actor Keanu Reeves and film director Lana Wachowski keep on hanging out with random people on a street during the filmmaking process. What is it? A new viral social media format of film advertising? Or the new way of entire filmmaking approach? Or maybe both?

Either way — Lana Wachowski is the visionary artist that is going to bring something fresh and unexpected into the cinema format and into the new "Generation Z" culture. The Wachowski brothers have foreseen the future with "The Matrix" film almost in every way possible… and I'm pretty sure they are going to do so again. They spoke of cyber-crimes, data privacy and internet control long before Edward Snowden incident, WikiLeaks, Anonymous group, social medias and etc. They showed aircraft controlled by so called "terrorists" hitting skyscrapers years before 9/11. "The Matrix" also tried to warn us about the dangers of virtual realities, and here we are 20 years later using VR systems and spending our lives in endless MMO RPG games (by the way, "The Matrix" franchise even had its own MMO RPG video game "The Matrix Online"). The virtual values have become much more valuable that the material ones. Bitcoins and Facebook likes are considered to be much more precious then real money and even gold by many. Instagram pages are viewed as the only true portraits of their users, however bright filters, happy faces, flattering camera lenses and photoshop have nothing to do with reality. It is merely a "Residual self-image", as it was named in the film, "A mental projection of your digital self". The person sees himself whom he wants him to be, not whom he really is.

And I think that this topic is the most overlooked topic by critics and contemporary culture scholars.

Just think about it — the Wachowski brothers are the physical manifestation of their own concept of "Residual self-image", as both of them saw themselves as someone different. Both brothers were men, but they considered themselves to be women. Their physical reality didn't match with their mental projection of virtual self. Thus they had to do surgeries and go through sex change procedures. The Wachowski brothers are officially sisters. Nowadays in 2020 it is a common practice that can't surprise anyone, however in 1990s during the production of the first "The Matrix" film it was a big deal… so big that Wachowski brothers had to rewrite the screenplay. In the earlier drafts of the script there was a fully flashed out transgender character. She is still present in the final film, but her role and concept has been reduced. Character Switch — portrayed by Belinda McClory — was a transgender, and her name "Switch" meant too illustrate her constant transitions from one form into another, as she was a female in the real world, but in the Matrix her personal "Residual self-image" switched her into a masculine male. For Wachowski brothers it was a very important topic to explore, since both of them dedicated their lives to transgender worldview, but in 1990's the film studio and producers thought that such concepts would be too confusing for average film viewers and difficult to follow, thus it was all cut out during pre-production. Even their first film "Bound" that featured lesbian love story was met with numerous misunderstandings during pre-production, during its filming and, of course, during its release, since such themes were considered too risky… almost taboo, as they could easily put off many unprepared audiences.

But now… look how the world and culture has changed?! In 21 years everything is upside down. It is almost impossible to find a big blockbuster film or franchise or T.V. series or even a video-game that has no lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual, pansexual or any other "something"-sexual character. It is true for both "rated R" and "rated M" media and for media oriented for children. Disney's life adaptation of animated classic "Beauty and the Beast" is the prime example… not to mention more.

I must say that unorthodox sexual orientation of characters were always present in cinema, they were never the subject of prohibition and never will be, however before "Wachowski era" their orientation always played some sort of narrative purpose. No character was supposed to be gay or transexual just for that sake of being such. But nowadays we see LGBT characters all over visual media… and the fact of their orientation rarely enhance the story or add anything to it. For the most part it is just being there for no reason other then being there. No wonder we have so many poorly written stories today. "Chekhov's gun" is the key to good storytelling, isn't it? If you put something into a story, it must heave a purpose, because without purpose it's just a filler, a white noise… this means it shouldn't be there at all. And here I'd like to quote Agent Smith from "The Matrix" films:

"But, as you well know, appearances can be deceiving…" — even here Wachowski brothers point out the previous "Residual self-image" topic. "…which brings me back to the reason why we're here. We're not here because we're free. We're here because we're not free. There is no escaping reason; no denying purpose. Because as we both know, without purpose, we would not exist."

Curious… Wachowski brothers were pioneers in LGBT mass-media, yet even they were smart enough to exclude these themes from "The Matrix trilogy", even having a total creative freedom over the sequels, as they knew that it would serve no purpose in their story. Yet they used much more sophisticated tricks to pinpoint their agenda and worldview. Get ready for some hard drugs! Wachowski brothers urged the protagonist and film viewers to take "The red pill" and "Free our minds". They also urged us to fight against all rules and stereotypes, and young generation loved it. In the film it simply meant "rage against the machines", but in our world where this film was "The red pill" for young people, this fight against the established order had much deeper purpose.

Upon the quick view on the lives of the Wachowski brothers over these two decades we can tell that their "red pill" they were giving us, was simply a androgyne hormone for transgenders and their main "Matrix" they were fighting against, was the sexual orientation stereotypes. They succeeded in their revolution, as LGBT themes are no longer taboo in mass-media. But there were also other important cultural topics Wachowski brothers presented with their trilogy: multiculturalism, racial diversity, feminism and even "toxic masculinity" and war against white men and patriarchy… long before these themes became mainstream in pop-culture.

"The Matrix" franchise had always a diverse cast, didn't it? It also has strong and independent female characters right from the start. And it wasn't just a copycat trend to appeal some social minorities, as it happens today. It was the personal philosophy of the authors. However, despite all their diversity and equality, one social group was shown deliberately one-sided. Just think about it. All evil characters in all three films were male and white. Agents are white middle aged men, Cypher — white middle aged man, Merovingian — white middle aged man, Architect — white man, Bane — white middle aged man, etc. Some can argue on this topic, since white men where also on the side of good guys. True, "but, as you well know, appearances can be deceiving…" says Smith. All white men on the good side of the story are… well, questionable. Whom can we name? Councillor Hamann — played by Anthony Zerbe — is a white man… a father figure in Zion, however he is shown to be an irrational and rhetorical weak old man. Comparing him to other leaders of Zion we can easily see his incompetence. Even Neo makes fun of him, pointing out on a fact that Hamann's solid age doesn't make him wiser (and it is the only time in the whole trilogy when the main protagonist ever trolls anyone). Then there is the Kid — played by Clayton Watson — another white man good guy, but he is just an immature naive boy… in "The Animatrix" he in the moment of danger finds no better way out then a suicide… a very questionable role model, don't you think? Who's next? Mouse — portrayed by Matt Doran — once again a young teenager full of sexual hormones and nothing more. There is also Captain Roland — played by David Roberts — and his ship crew, but a single black woman Niobe — played by Jada Pinkett Smith — turns out to be wiser and much more competent then any of them. Meanwhile all non-white and non-male characters are shown in the positive light. Wait… but what about Neo — the one himself — played by Keanu Reeves — he is a white man — the hero of the trilogy. True. However originally "The Matrix" creators wanted to cast Will Smith for the role of Neo, but Will Smith declined the role and chose to act in "Wild Wild West".

In other words Wachowski brothers brought up anti-white men SJW themes in their films long before such topics became mainstream and part of pop-culture. Thus they weren't even noticed by the time of film release. But it is worth mentioning that Wachowski brothers were depicting anti-white men subplots not because they were following some kind of fashion or social agenda like mass-media does today, but because brothers WERE white and men, and they wanted to do something about it. And they did. For real.

However next generation of filmmakers and artists took the Wachowski brothers' personal issues and turned it into a viral trend, changing the culture forever. It can be even said that the modern SJW and LGBT hysteria is the Matrix, created by Wachowski brothers. I wonder, will their new "The Matrix" film change the world once again?.. and how?

Text: Jurii Kirnev

Omnifinery Editorial: Article 003

[rashmig3p18]

Week 10

Ah the online world! It’s a wild wild place where honestly anything can happen. One of the first viral video that I remember watching the ‘Charlie bit my finger’ video that I think most of us know – if you haven’t seen it where have you been???

But before the online world came to be its hard to imagine a platform where one video can be viewed and shared by millions of strangers all across the world. The advancements in technology and the digital age has lead to a point in time where movies, tv series, music, books are all blending into one another and are now compatible with each other, this process is called convergence, it allows for the media content to be viewed on multiple different devices and has allowed the reproduction of content (Sullivan, 2013, p216). A really good example of media convergence is comic books – there are multiple comic books that has been reproduced into movies, tv shows, video games. Like Spider Man who first made his first comic book debut in 1962 but since then has been converged into movies, animations, video games etc.

Also due to the advancements in technology there is the trend of audience fragmentation, this is the idea that audiences are being divided into smaller groups because of the increasing amounts of media channels or streaming services that are able (Sullivan, 2013, p217). Sullivan argues that audience fragmentation is threatening audience measurements since audiences are spread across so many different platforms it’s hard to get an accurate sample of the viewers of one specific platform. 

This is also what Adrian Athique writes in his article where he mentions that new data techniques need to be looked at in relation to the gap between audience data and the audience themselves (Athique, 2018, 60). Through his research he’s found that the new audience formations over multiple platforms over the internet means that researchers are increasingly studying data on audiences rather than the audiences themselves (Athique, 2018, p71-72). 

Another key trend due to digitalization is audience autonomy which basically means that the characteristics of typical media settings like its mobility, to the ease of access, to the ability for user generated content all enhance the audience experience within a specific media consumption (Sullivan, 2013, 217). Because of an increased control given to audience members with streaming services like Netflix, we are becoming more independent and start to stray away from traditional forms of media. Fans of the DC Universe have shows like The Flash, Arrow, Supergirl that run on the CW but also regularly updated on Netflix too. Which means that even if they don’t have cable or access to the CWs channel there are still able to watch the shows with ease. 

User-generated content is a huge part of why audience members love the digital media world and it is an essential part of so many superhero movies and shows, it can include a variety viral content, parodies, fan fiction, fan videos, comic con and so many other types of fan content. Sullivan writes user-generated content as “media that corporations are providing consumers the means to create, store, and distribute content that are designed by users themselves” (Sullivan, 2013, p217). This allows audiences’ to not only watch narratives but to also participate and create their own narrative content; the superhero industry like Marvel or DC are big players in user-generated content as well as participatory culture. YouTube is a big platform for user-generated content – fan accounts are able to post content about Marvel like reactions, fan trailers, theories etc. on the one platform 

Participatory culture similar to user-generated content is “where fans and other consumers are invited to actively participate in the creation and circulation of new content” (Sullivan, 2013, p219). All Marvel movies are part of comic con and that in itself is one of the biggest forms of participatory culture/user-generated content that there is today. Comic-con allows fans to engage with the content that they watch or enjoy in such a real way – you aren’t simply just posting a video to YouTube or putting up a blog post, it’s dressing up in character, meeting the casts of the shows that you love, interacting with other audience members.

 Here’s a video for  ‘Best Marvel Cosplay’ contest from the 2019 comic-con [it’s 34 minutes long so if you have 34 minutes to spare feel free to watch the whole thing! but all in all these fans have put in so much time and effort into creating these cosplays] One of the biggest success of user-generated content is the increase in audience interactions with the brand itself, industries like Marvel with its convergence of comic books, movies, TV shows, video games etc. creates a bond between the brand and the audience. 

However, Professor Good brought up whether the creation of YouTube means an end to the ‘audience’ as there is flexibility between who are the producers and consumers because on YouTube everyone can be both! (Professor Good, week 10, Nov 14th) and because sites like YouTube or Tumblr reply on having audiences to actually post for it to run effectively it makes the audience an essential part of the media production process (Sullivan, 2013, p232). If fans and audiences are such a huge part of production it brings the question posed in class by Professor Good about who really has the power in this new digital age is it the audiences or the larger industries? – Marvel and other big companies count on fan participation for things like comic-con so is this simply the commodification of fan culture or do they have these in order to create more interactive fan experience?

I would like to think that the audiences hold the power in most media consumption because events like comic-con only run because thousands of fans show up every year which means the big industry is obviously doing something right. The audience holds the power because if you don’t want to consume that media event, you don’t have to go. That’s putting it pretty simply though! Clearly there are ways in which the large companies have the majority power where the production of media never really ends whether its targeted ads or releasing Disney + when you already have Netflix and are a struggling student who wants both [its me, I’m the student].