The Matrix Reloaded

I'll tell you something that a lot of people don't know... teachers make lesson plans around movies when they need an easy day. They keep them in their pocket when they feel a little sick, or when they were up all night watching the election returns or, you know, drinking and playing stupid games with the college roommates they still live with because they are single and having roommates is a little more fun. This is one of those movies that I sucked the joy out of and used to teach the philosophy of the Reformation... but, you know, I tried to be the cool teacher and throw in some wire-fu action between stripping all the joy out of it for them. We look at Calvinism and that philosophy... we watch the really cool car chase We examine the concepts of predestination in Christianity, we watch a shoot out. We talk about faith and free will... we watch a fight scene before moving on to the next scene. Because when you are hung over in a class full of people old enough to know you are hung over, and some of which are probably just as hung over, you want a little wire-fu at work. I don't know if they enjoyed it, but I know I did. And I know it's full of enough philosophical mumbo jumbo and long diatribes about religion to be able to use as a fun classroom tool. Plus, you know, stylized Kung-Fun and gun violence is fun to watch.