What did Baudrillard think about The Matrix?

Some more good introductory videos on Baudrillard:

Texts on the relation between The Matrix and Baudrillard:

[lennyjay]

To completely avoid pronouncing Baudrillard's name I’d suggest referring to him exclusively as _Johnny B_

[BenjaminBattington]

Sweet video. I think that Baudrillard may have been a bit too dismissive, however. There is one particular moment in the first Matrix that has a nugget of tantalising Baudrillardarity.

It is the "Tasty Wheat" scene. The crew are eating some real world slush and a young crew member begins discussing how he misses Tasty Wheat. But as they realise, the experience they were missing was itself simulated and may have been wrong. In fact, the humans have no way of knowing if the world they lost is being accurately presented by the Matrix, as they may have made mistakes. Perhaps chicken didn't actually taste like that.

To take this further, if the humans succeed and begin to rebuild their society- what will they be rebuilding? What will their ideas of prosperity and freedom be based on? How will they design Tasty Wheat? It will be based on the Matrix- it will be a simulation of a simulation, with no original.

[coincident]

"The Matrix is surely the kind of of film about the matrix that the matrix would have been able to produce." - Baudrillard
What a great quote! Not sure I agree with it, but still is a great quote :)

[jim_hawkins_blues]

I was hoping you'd get to the sequels, because to me they seem like a genuine attempt to address these problems. The line between the matrix and the real world becomes blurred as Neo finds out that his rebellion is part of an illusionary binary created by the system itself to make it seem like he has a choice between two worlds, when in reality both are constructed by the same code, aka the matrix, to sustain itself. Neo even starts to have powers in the real word upon having this realization.

[johanstridsman]

“..from here on I’ll make things easier and refer to him by his first name, Jean”
Two minutes later:
“Baaåååuuiidrilllard”

[Colethecon]

Mulholland Drive is an excellent flick and deserves its own video

[TheFatPunisher]

I always love how at the end of the third movie Morpheus says he is unsure if this is even real. Which opens them to the possibility of still being in the matrix. At that point the simulation is simulating itself.

Maybe is Johnny B stuck through and watched the third movie he might have enjoyed that bit.

[benedictifye]

10:48 Borges' idea of the map: It reminds me of the movie "Synedoche, New York" by Charlie Kaufman, where a theatrical production emulating people's lives expands so much that it consumes the city, so the theater takes over everything, and everyone's acting their lives as a part in a play.

[hurahman]

Señor Cuck: I couldn’t tell you how many ‘Intro to... philosophy/theory’ books I have read over the years but remaining utterly perplexed.

Your ability to translate these complex theories into graspable and useful education is truely amazing.

[BeethovenIsGrumpyCat]

20:23 Last time I checked, Matrix Reloaded subverted the idea of the red-pill-blue-pill choice. The One and the Resistance are controlled opposition created by the machines to keep the Matrix working. The Architect explained to Neo how, in essence, choosing between the red pill and the blue pill was like choosing between Pepsi and Coke all along.

[JordanSullivanadventures]

With his quote, "The Matrix is surely the kind of film about the matrix that the matrix would be able to produce, " Baudrillard seems to imply that one could distinguish between the real and simulated worlds by the level of complexity and nuance with which a popular film explored his own work on their indistinguishability.

[Nikkyeshiva]

I got the impression that he was really just trying to promote his writing by saying they missed the point. It worked on me. I absolutely fell for it.

[Redem]

Seriously, I have a hard time imagining Baudrillard processing anything with enthusiasm.

[jamesinifiniz]

wow subbed just for that flawless pronunciation

[agnel]

In a post modern world, reality is just the marketplace for the dreamworld.

[timothycook]

So they were originally going to quote Baudrillard, reference him directly AND have him be a consultant in the movie. Now I'm trying to imagine an alternative version of the Matrix which just turns into a hyper-real version of the "Jean Baudrillard show".

[AliSenshi]

Okay man... I am in the middle of a terrible insomnia and suddenly the youtube notification pops up, you uploaded a new video! What a delight! I love feeding your videos to my mind !

[rsntr]

The movie eXistenZ (1999) comes to mind when he mentions the border of the simulation and reality becoming blurred.

[aaronglusica]

This is a great representation!

“The fool’s standpoint is that all social institutions are games. He sees the whole world as game playing. That’s why, when people take their games seriously and take on stern and pious expressions, the fool gets the giggles because he knows that it is all a game.”

-Alan Watts

[Memekki]

The captions literally spell both names Jean and Baudrillard differently each time he pronounces them: Shaun, Zhang, Sean, Jon etc.