Ecks Thu Oct 28, 2010 3:19 am
The settlement in the outside world of the Matrix; the imaginative construction and literary exploration of Antigone. The perfect compliment to that which continued to develop within the Matrix itself. As the simulation was originally invented as resonance of the society and culture and direction of existence which came before it - an environment invented to accommodate those who could no longer inhabit the original version, so did this iteration of habitat come to reflect the conveyance of the personalities of those involved with the confederacy, and with the free-lance machinist operative, Ms.Yazin.
Initially introduced, not through length or breadth of description, but depth of conversation; immediately are we shown that the outpost constructed merely of reconnaissance ships and emergency supplies is deserving not only of thought and consideration, but of sentiment. A parallel investment already having been shown by those within the literature with whom we have already become familiar - this feeling encouraged to extend to the inhabitants of the outpost; reminded are we by the concern expressed in the disappearance of a relatively little number of supplies, when considered in comparison to the amount available to some of the larger hovercraft and fleets. In this sense of sparseness is it ingrained that the inhabitants' time within the outpost is focused, for the most part, upon survival. Survival not only of themselves, but of the outpost as a well-maintained structure; its populace as a coherent community - each as dependent on the other for sustainability - continuing the reflection of the relationship between the simulation and those who inhabit it.
Where the reflection differs, however, is that it exists entirely outwith the supervision or condoning - even the knowledge, no less acknowledgment of the designers and maintainers of its subject - of the machines. Within an absence of overt argument between the machines and each of the other organisations, did New Antigone come to be established and when the time came for those hostilities to resume their visibility, the outpost seemingly found itself without advocate, of patron, of protector. This seemingly inevitable consequence perhaps in itself a suggestion of the inherent drive for survival within that which exists; a supposition that while the most worthwhile of causes being to support those around us, so can it often be one which is most overlooked. In lieu of a source of external protection, the outpost found itself unable to rely upon the support and mutual concern and care of even its domestic inhabitant; even in regard to each other, as is evidenced by its eventual deconstruction and decomposition. An extension, still, of the analogy - a reflection of the methods of self-preservation instilled by some of those within the simulation, at the resuming of the organisational conflicts - so dissolutely forgotten were the alliances forged, cooperation undertaken and dialogues established between the overlapping boundaries of organisation and ideology all through the passage of peace-time and to an extent, between the crew of the Equinox themselves: "People tell you who they are, but we ignore it because we want them to be who we want them to be."
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Additionally, somewhere between the intersection of post no.25 and 29th and Maine, the story-telling found itself awake far too late into the evening; though still thoroughly engaged by the company of conversation, intrigue and irrigated caffeine, perfected to a froth of interlaced meaning and implication.
In other words, the marked change in the evolution of the writing toward and around the confederacy, the crew, the completely created memory of the old days, and the imagining of the influence they still might have within the simulation, and through extension, toward those within it. Namely, that just as the matrix could be interpreted as something of a subjectively substantiated reality - profoundly tangible to those responsible for its architecture and building, so too was another version of that enclave of existence put into praxis through thought from that moment forth.
This iteration, however, with a difference of emphasis upon intent and operation - encapsulating, this time, not only those conducive to its collective sustenance but also others, outwith. The exploration, from here, of how something completely of its own creation could express and exert consequence on the wider forum of artistic license.
In effect, a lens of sepia with which to look out toward the horizon, rather than through the simulation's inherently traditional sunglasses, shaded to a glare of green - maple syrup, delicious in the digestion of smiley face pancakes.
