Today’s post is a casual post. Not so serious.
I want to write a story. A work of fiction. Like a novel, or perhaps simply a short story. I want it to be entertaining and engaging, while at the same time present a fundamental idea that I often tackle. But I just cannot come up with anything solid. Sometimes I think I have something, but the something often sifts through my fingers as I hold onto it, like trying to carry sand in one’s hands.
The Matrix films and story, among all the things that they are, are ultimately a re-imagining of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. The Wachowskis were clearly influenced by many source materials, but seemed to have started with Plato as their foundation. They seemed to have modernized the story, to fit with our modern technologies and modern cultures. Of course, they didn’t stop with that, and introduced many, many other elements. So much so that we ended up with several very entertaining and engaging films. I would like to do something like that.
To be clear, I don’t want to make another Matrix story. I don’t want to use Plato’s allegory as my foundation. And I certainly do not want to end up with a story that sounds like it is in any way related. However, one of the problems I face is that many of my ideas end up orbiting the Matrix story. Perhaps because it clearly has had a great influence on me. Perhaps because the Matrix story delves into so many ideas that it might be inevitable that my ideas will in some way overlap eventually. It almost seems like a fools errand. But I continue to try.
Marilyn Frye, in “To Be And Be Seen: The Politics Of Reality,” uses the analogy of actors and stagehands performing a “dramatic production on a stage” (like a play perhaps) to help her describe the situation of men and women. I think her analogy is spot on, and I’ve even felt that the analogy makes sense in many other situations. I often make my income in the Information Technology (IT) sector, and I feel like a stagehand in those situations, where if I am doing my job properly, no one knows I was ever there. The good IT professional is invisible. If you ever do see the IT professional, or notice what they are doing, then something has gone horribly wrong.
I wouldn’t need to modernize her analogy, nor would I want to diminish its commentary regarding gender inequity. Would it be possible for me to take this as a foundation and build it up into an entertaining and engaging work of fiction to subtly convey this very important idea across to many, many people? I’m not so sure, but I would certainly like to try.
The Matrix story is not the only story of its kind. It is not the first time someone took an older story and built it up into something else. And in many of those cases, the newer story was entertaining and engaging and many people enjoyed the new story, often never knowing the original source(s). There are still many people who are unfamiliar with Plato’s Allegory of The Cave, and yet are intimately familiar with The Matrix. One of the hopeful things about the situation is that the point Plato seemed to be trying to convey is captured (for the most part) by The Matrix. In this way, I consider it to be quite successful.
I guess I just need to keep plugging away at it. Perhaps I simply need to hold my hands a bit tighter, so the sand doesn’t slip through so much. But perhaps more importantly, I need to keep grabbing more sand, to replenish that which has slipped away. I think I just need to keep writing and talking and thinking, and eventually it will come together. I need to not give up.