1/ As anyone who follows me, you know I'm a big fan of the philosopher/enlightenment author Jed McKenna. For people who've read him, I thought a list of movies that particularly help illustrate his ideas and encourage more thought would be fun for your lockdown list, so:
2/ The Matrix. So much here that translates almost frame for frame with a lot of Jed's ideas
3/ The Matrix II dives deeper into the simulation and introduces the idea that a lot of our legends and horror stories are simply old/bad programs gone wrong also what you can achieve if you *realize* you're in the Matrix
4/ The Matrix III One reason only--The scene where Neo uses his power to stop machines in the "real" world. Nope. An indication that, what they *think* is the real world is, yep, still the Matrix. Just another level.
5/ "The Thirteenth Floor" More simulated humans who don't know they are simulated humans. Hilarity ensues. Not popular enough for good GIFs.
6/ "Vanilla Sky" How do you distinguish between a lucid dream and the real world? To leave the dream you must make a leap of faith and open your eyes.
7/ "Joe Versus the Volcano" I watched it somewhat reluctantly as RomCom is usually not my bag. But watching it *after* reading Jed's books you see why he loves it--Joe (Tom Hanks) leads a boring life until a mysterious man sends him on a journey that leads to enlightenment.
8/ "Fight Club" The first rule about "waking up" is people will be annoyed by you waking up and rudely pointing out that they are asleep. A classic, and you'll get it so much more after Jed's books.
9/ "About Schmidt" Stars Jack Nicholson as Schmidt, a man who realizes too late that his whole life has been wasted on the quotidian and decides too late to try to start actually living near the end of his life. Jed would say there's only one job in life: to wake up.
10/ "Inception" We're all in each other's dreamstates, or are we? What's real and what's a dream or maybe a dream within a dream? Maybe we just think we're awake, are we?
11/ "Hearts of Darkness: A filmmaker's Apocalypse" A documentary about the making of Apocalypse Now. Jed loves this movie and does a great dissertation on it. Francis Ford Coppola asked the universe for something without realizing it would nearly kill him to get it.
12/ "Harvey" Jimmy Stewart's best friend is Harvey, a six-foot-3.5 in. invisible rabbit. Harvey is actually a pooka, a benign but mischievous creature from Celtic mythology who can stop time, make things appear and disappear and cause general mayhem, so, a typical Irishman.
13/ "American Beauty" Kevin Spacey goes through a death/birth/reawakening, but regresses instead of advances. The real secret here is the kid next door, who's videos show a beauty behind things that you can only enjoy by going with the flow and not trying so hard. Wu Wei.
14/ "Blade Runner" Did the simulation start one second ago? Of course not, I remember all the experiences of my life, the highs, the lows, my memories prove it! But what if your "memories" are all implanted? what if indeed.
15/ "Cast Away" If you're alone on an island, how do you know what's real? Do you make a soccer ball your best friend and name him Wilson? What's left when every last thing is taken away from you. Just you, and lots of people are terrified of just that. Nice Zen ending too.
16/ "Harold and Maude" an oldie that I've always loved. "Vice, Virtue. It's best not to be too moral. You cheat yourself out of too much life. Aim above morality. If you apply that to life, then you’re bound to live life fully." Maude lives outside consensus reality.
17/ "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" Not nearly as Jed-like as the book, but nevertheless a good watch after reading Jed. Society does NOT like people who don't play by the game rules and it can be pretty ruthless in enforcing them.
18/ "Dark City" What if every aspect of your life was imprinted nightly and each day you woke up as a new person? Is there a real you? Many take this as a high tech retelling of Plato's "allegory of the cave' as no one realizes they're in prison, but, as with Plato, are they?
19/ So that's a start, there are many more that also can be reinterpreted after reading Jed, like "Star Wars" (The hero's journey); "Men in Black" (Aliens are. REAL, oh my) and seemingly innocent stuff like "Pleasantville," "The Truman Show" etc. but I will leave those for
20/ time. Oh, and, speaking of Jim Carrey, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" is also a movie you see differently after reading Jed. Are we our memories? What if those are erased? Is there a "there" there or nah? Enjoy!
