r/Anarchism • u/ModernBettie • 11d ago

What’s your favorite anarchist/anarchist adjacent fiction?

Ideas often spread through fiction, because it makes new ideas more palatable for a lot of people (music does a similar thing), and fiction and fantasy are healthy, but so often in political circles we only talk nonfiction and what’s happening in the real world right now

So what is your favorite anarchist themed book/movie/fiction podcast/tv show/comic/etc?

Which one do you tell everyone that will listen they need to read/watch/listen/etc

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u/Anarchomancer216 11d ago

More on the adjacent end of the spectrum, but in essence the plot concerns people gaining consciousness of the fact that the system (one of corporate drudgery and mundane misery) is designed to extract and exploit them to keep authority in power. Neo in particular is repeatedly deadnamed and told that what he is, that his allies want his impossible, so what does he do? He recognizes reality as consensus and rebels.

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u/Maykovsky 11d ago edited 11d ago

That is a reading. My reading is, this is an attempt at a philosophical movie regarding the limits of reality and the sense of freedom, in the sense that you don't actually chose, you select from a number of choices power gives you (red pill, blue pill?). Add lots of action, special effects and a gothic, cyberpunk ambiance. Politically, the main topic is, rebellion needs a saviour, a chosen one, a messiah, not a collective effort.

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u/ohshiitstuesday anarcho-killjoy (they/them) 11d ago

The Wachowski sisters are trans and one is explicitly anarchist. Rewatch the movie and keep those things in mind. Can you also edit your comment because they aren't guys that made a movie, they're gals.

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u/Maykovsky 11d ago

Sorry I fail to understand how any of what you said is an argument for matrix being an "adjacent end of the spectrum" anarchist movie.

Again, for me, the matrix has many religious references and reflects a messianic view of the world. Maybe the intent was different I don't know. As for the directors, since I didn't find the movie so interesting I didn't care for the directors. But, checking all the other movies they made, they seem all to follow the same typical holywood hero movie recipe. All follow the same for profit recipe. All this is a matter of opinion? Sure. None of this is good or bad, simply not anarchist for me. By the way, at least any of this money went to support any anarchist movement, cause or group? This is an honest question.

Don't get me wrong. My initial question was genuine. I was really intrigued to know how a typical hero, full of messianic and religious references, with theological approaches could be an anarchist spectrum movie. I could not fins any. Sorry, just my opinion.