Are you really that unfamiliar with clickbait?
Original post by Drewski
Are you really that unfamiliar with clickbait?
I don’t expect clickbait from the BBC.
Original post by Occitanie
I don’t expect clickbait from the BBC.
Why? It's a news site. It has to earn clicks to keep itself going. Especially that page, coming from BBC Global, a non-license fee section of the BBC.
Perhaps you just don't understand the internet as well as you think..?
"And they have plenty of other brothers. One is the unnamed narrator (Edward Norton) of Fight Club. The other is Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston), a disgruntled software programmer in Mike Judge’s cult comedy, Office Space. Both of those films came out in 1999, as The Matrix did. And as different as the three of them may appear, they all share a theme whose prevalence in 1990s pop culture culminated with the debut of the BBC2 sitcom The Office, in July 2001. The theme is that being a handsome, white, middle-class, thirtysomething professional is ultimately not very fulfilling. The Matrix may allude to Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz, to Jean Baudrillard and Jesus, but its central thesis is right there on the Office Space poster: “Work Sucks”."
The only thing worse than being exploited by capitalism is not being exploited by capitalism.
Work does suck though, even the well renumurated kind. We can't go back to the so called golden age of the 90s (which were still **** for a lot of poeple) and that is a good thing. The third way is not the pinacle of human society and Fight Club is correct about the alienation and deep disatisfaction capitalist work relations create. Personally these films make even more sense now as those kind of middle class office jobs are becoming more and more proletarian. Not only do you have the alienation of a consumer society you now have that compounded with **** working conditions and no money to actually engage properly with that consumer society. As someone who is of the post matrix generation whenever I watch the Matrix or Fight Club, these films make more sense to me not less now that I am an unemployed 20 something marxist...
The only thing worse than being exploited by capitalism is not being exploited by capitalism.
Work does suck though, even the well renumurated kind. We can't go back to the so called golden age of the 90s (which were still **** for a lot of poeple) and that is a good thing. The third way is not the pinacle of human society and Fight Club is correct about the alienation and deep disatisfaction capitalist work relations create. Personally these films make even more sense now as those kind of middle class office jobs are becoming more and more proletarian. Not only do you have the alienation of a consumer society you now have that compounded with **** working conditions and no money to actually engage properly with that consumer society. As someone who is of the post matrix generation whenever I watch the Matrix or Fight Club, these films make more sense to me not less now that I am an unemployed 20 something marxist...
(edited 5 years ago)
Agree the article is absolute tripe. Matrix still a great film and series..
its a pretty awful article. The matrix is dated now, as it should be for a film made 20 years ago... but back then, it was way ahead of its time in many many ways. It was actually very progressive when you compare it to what was coming out at the time.
A few key bits of nonsense:
" it’s embarrassing to see a white male saviour with two sidekicks - one black, one female"
Its not embarrassing, it was actually highly progressive. Yeah female/black sidekicks were common, but the norm in the 90s was to use them for comic effect.. the girl was helpless, the black guy was over the top stereotype etc. But in the matrix? The girl kicked ass, beat up guys, and was an allround baddass who didn't take any **** from anyone. The black guy? was as far from a racist steryotype as you could get.. he was the wise father figure, who also kicked ass, sacrificed himself, etc. Even the oracle, the wisest of all, was an old black woman. Most of the crew of the ship? black or mixed race etc.
In terms of race/sexism, it was really ahead of its time.
"arlier on, back when he was a computer programmer, Anderson was hardly the most obvious budding messiah, either. He wasn’t an eco-warrior or a political activist, but a loner whose only qualifications to be The One were his unspecified cyber-crimes and his niggling sense that his existence wasn’t everything it was cracked up to be"
Which is exactly the point - its an every-man story.. something that kids and teenagers and adults can daydream about, and think 'what if that happened to me' - Its also so that when he enters the real world, he witnesses things from the audiances perspective, without any knowledge or expertise.
"It’s this attitude which now seems so antiquated - so glaringly late-20th Century."
because it was made in the late 20th century.. Getting pissed about a movie for not holding values that wouldn't become mainstream for another 15 years, is hardly a valid critisism.
"The theme is that being a handsome, white, middle-class, thirtysomething professional is ultimately not very fulfilling."
its a good theme. The search for greater meaning, or the disapointment that there isn't any. It resonates with most of us.
"It’s an exemplary male power fantasy"
The use of this as itself a critism is a fundimental flaw in their arguement. The existance of male power fantasies isn't a problem, and has never been one. The lack of female and minority driven fantasies was a problem, but that doesn't make the white-male fantasy bad, it just means you need to adress the balance a bit - which has been done nicely in the 20 years since the matrix.
"For the post-Matrix generation, being bored by well-paid regular employment has become the dream, not the nightmare."
Simply untrue, cubicalised office life is hated by melenials on mass.
"Anderson’s salaryman ennui seems piffling in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the many terrorist outrages that followed, the wars in the Middle East, the 2008 financial crisis, and the ongoing litany of environmental catastrophes."
Does it? Were there not equally awful things in the 20 years prior to 1999? I am pretty sure you could make a list to rival the list of things that have come since.
"he machines chose the late-1990s as the setting for their virtual reality simulation, explains Agent Smith, because that period was “the peak of your civilisation”. There’s not much chance that a sci-fi villain would say that about 2019."
That last bit is brilliant, because its a great example of what is wrong with the modern lefts thinking. Yes, in 1999, it was the peak of civilisation to that point. What would come after? who knows, better or worse, its a mystery. 1999 though is the best we can certainly know of. That is all true for 2019. (it also ignores why they chose 1999... because creating two new future worlds would have been far more expensive, and far less relatable then creating one)
----
A few key bits of nonsense:
" it’s embarrassing to see a white male saviour with two sidekicks - one black, one female"
Its not embarrassing, it was actually highly progressive. Yeah female/black sidekicks were common, but the norm in the 90s was to use them for comic effect.. the girl was helpless, the black guy was over the top stereotype etc. But in the matrix? The girl kicked ass, beat up guys, and was an allround baddass who didn't take any **** from anyone. The black guy? was as far from a racist steryotype as you could get.. he was the wise father figure, who also kicked ass, sacrificed himself, etc. Even the oracle, the wisest of all, was an old black woman. Most of the crew of the ship? black or mixed race etc.
In terms of race/sexism, it was really ahead of its time.
"arlier on, back when he was a computer programmer, Anderson was hardly the most obvious budding messiah, either. He wasn’t an eco-warrior or a political activist, but a loner whose only qualifications to be The One were his unspecified cyber-crimes and his niggling sense that his existence wasn’t everything it was cracked up to be"
Which is exactly the point - its an every-man story.. something that kids and teenagers and adults can daydream about, and think 'what if that happened to me' - Its also so that when he enters the real world, he witnesses things from the audiances perspective, without any knowledge or expertise.
"It’s this attitude which now seems so antiquated - so glaringly late-20th Century."
because it was made in the late 20th century.. Getting pissed about a movie for not holding values that wouldn't become mainstream for another 15 years, is hardly a valid critisism.
"The theme is that being a handsome, white, middle-class, thirtysomething professional is ultimately not very fulfilling."
its a good theme. The search for greater meaning, or the disapointment that there isn't any. It resonates with most of us.
"It’s an exemplary male power fantasy"
The use of this as itself a critism is a fundimental flaw in their arguement. The existance of male power fantasies isn't a problem, and has never been one. The lack of female and minority driven fantasies was a problem, but that doesn't make the white-male fantasy bad, it just means you need to adress the balance a bit - which has been done nicely in the 20 years since the matrix.
"For the post-Matrix generation, being bored by well-paid regular employment has become the dream, not the nightmare."
Simply untrue, cubicalised office life is hated by melenials on mass.
"Anderson’s salaryman ennui seems piffling in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the many terrorist outrages that followed, the wars in the Middle East, the 2008 financial crisis, and the ongoing litany of environmental catastrophes."
Does it? Were there not equally awful things in the 20 years prior to 1999? I am pretty sure you could make a list to rival the list of things that have come since.
"he machines chose the late-1990s as the setting for their virtual reality simulation, explains Agent Smith, because that period was “the peak of your civilisation”. There’s not much chance that a sci-fi villain would say that about 2019."
That last bit is brilliant, because its a great example of what is wrong with the modern lefts thinking. Yes, in 1999, it was the peak of civilisation to that point. What would come after? who knows, better or worse, its a mystery. 1999 though is the best we can certainly know of. That is all true for 2019. (it also ignores why they chose 1999... because creating two new future worlds would have been far more expensive, and far less relatable then creating one)
----
Original post by Drewski
Why? It's a news site. It has to earn clicks to keep itself going. Especially that page, coming from BBC Global, a non-license fee section of the BBC.
Perhaps you just don't understand the internet as well as you think..?
Perhaps you just don't understand the internet as well as you think..?
Perhaps not.
No need to be condescending.
"The Matrix was more interested in how dull it could be to sit comfortably in front of a computer all day. And that’s why, for all of its stylistic and technical innovations, it now comes across as a monument to Generation X self-pity."
This is also a very warped view of the 90s and gen X. First it is western focused, for example South Africa in the 90s was a ****ing **** show. Then even when you go white and whestern focused there was loads of sexism and a lot of 90s culture was feminist, think the riot grrl scene. Grunge was also a kind of working class reaction against hair metal. Kurt Cobain was living in his car when Smells Like Teen Spirit came out ffs. He was poor, addicted to drugs, had no secure home, came from a broken family and was less educated than his bakini kill peers with thier university degrees. There was a lot to feel **** about.
These articles alway read like they were wrtiten by poeple who come from a privlidged part of the 90s where the things they say about it being cushy and full of money were actually true. As a young child in the 90s from a lower middle class home owning family, my memories of primary school are full of feeling bad about not having fashionable clothes and we were hardly the poorest.
The fact the 90s are seen as this wonderful time just says how *****y things are now. Yes well done, you actually funded the NHS to some degree so it didn't start to fall apart. That should be the bare minimum, not some masssive accomplishment.
This is also a very warped view of the 90s and gen X. First it is western focused, for example South Africa in the 90s was a ****ing **** show. Then even when you go white and whestern focused there was loads of sexism and a lot of 90s culture was feminist, think the riot grrl scene. Grunge was also a kind of working class reaction against hair metal. Kurt Cobain was living in his car when Smells Like Teen Spirit came out ffs. He was poor, addicted to drugs, had no secure home, came from a broken family and was less educated than his bakini kill peers with thier university degrees. There was a lot to feel **** about.
These articles alway read like they were wrtiten by poeple who come from a privlidged part of the 90s where the things they say about it being cushy and full of money were actually true. As a young child in the 90s from a lower middle class home owning family, my memories of primary school are full of feeling bad about not having fashionable clothes and we were hardly the poorest.
The fact the 90s are seen as this wonderful time just says how *****y things are now. Yes well done, you actually funded the NHS to some degree so it didn't start to fall apart. That should be the bare minimum, not some masssive accomplishment.
(edited 5 years ago)
It is a **** opinion piece, most media outlets have them.
Original post by Drewski
Why? It's a news site. It has to earn clicks to keep itself going. Especially that page, coming from BBC Global, a non-license fee section of the BBC.
Perhaps you just don't understand the internet as well as you think..?
Perhaps you just don't understand the internet as well as you think..?
'But it's the internet, (once reputable) news organisations like the BBC need to produce crappy clickbait to make money.'
What a sad state of affairs you're justifying there.
Original post by Dandaman1
'But it's the internet, (once reputable) news organisations like the BBC need to produce crappy clickbait to make money.'
What a sad state of affairs you're justifying there.
What a sad state of affairs you're justifying there.
What makes you think the BBC isn't reputable?
You've also confused them describing a state of affairs with them justifying it.
Original post by SHallowvale
What makes you think the BBC isn't reputable?
You've also confused them describing a state of affairs with them justifying it.
You've also confused them describing a state of affairs with them justifying it.
Exhibit A, for a start.
Drewski's description comes across as a retort making an excuse for the article. Occitanie called the article tripe, Drewski basically responds with "Well it's the internet it's expected", as though that makes it OK and Occitanie unreasonable.
Original post by Dandaman1
Exhibit A, for a start.
Drewski's description comes across as a retort making an excuse for the article. Occitanie called the article tripe, Drewski basically responds with "Well it's the internet it's expected", as though that makes it OK and Occitanie unreasonable.
Drewski's description comes across as a retort making an excuse for the article. Occitanie called the article tripe, Drewski basically responds with "Well it's the internet it's expected", as though that makes it OK and Occitanie unreasonable.
Anything else? Look at the BBC as a whole, not just articles which you think are trash.
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