DOCTOR STRANGE AND THE MATRIX: The Geometries of Space and Time

So far we have deployed the concept of chronotope to interpret space in several previous episodes of Critic.Reading.Writing, such as those on the airport, the railway station, the Afro-Brazilians of Accra, and on Urban Studies more generally. Those earlier episodes were grounded on two assumptions, namely, that space is a symptom and producer of social relations, and second, that it is inherently stable and thus readily knowable. These two assumptions are put under great pressure when we begin to consider examples of science fiction, where space is far from stable and indeed alters in dimension at various points, sometimes unpredictably. To illustrate these different aspects of space, we are going to be looking in this episode at the films Doctor Strange and The Matrix Reloaded in order to examine the interrelated concepts of portals and anamorphism, both of which have a major impact on how space is represented in science fiction films. We will also be referring to the movie Inception to provide a variation to the ways in which the two concepts appear in the two other films. Together, these films will help us to get a good working sense of the different geometries of space and time in science fiction.
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Suggested Readings
Christopher Grau, ed., Philosophers Explore The Matrix, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005).
Farah Mendleshon, Rhetorics of Fantasy, (Wesleyan University Press, 2014).
Edward James and Farah Mendleshon, The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012).
Edward James and Farah Mendleshon, The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003).
Amos Tutuola, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, (London: Faber and Faber, 1954).

[@sochiazuh]

A Wrinkle in Time by L'Engle also presents some compelling proposition around the subject. It's quite puzzling credible these theories are and often need to be to be pursued. Thanks for sharing.

[@CriticReadingWriting]

You are welcome, Sochi. And it's true that a Wrinkle in Time can also be added to the films that explore these issues of portals, space, and time. In fact, there is a whole list of them.

[@gladysagyeiwaadenkyi-manie38]

Thanks, a lot Prof Quayson.

[@CriticReadingWriting]

You are welcome, Ageiwaa.