TABLE 1.

A classroom exercise to discuss and critique dualistic themes in the media.

Media	Dualistic theme	What might Heidegger say? What is the alternative philosophic/epistemological perspective?
Example: The Matrix (1999)	The mind is a separate entity from the body, and can’t trust its senses; it can control them! The “self” is ultimate, choosing its destiny and shaping its world.	The contextual “world” within the Matrix, within which Neo was raised, would actually make the “real” world completely different and incommensurable to him when he was eventually exposed to it. So, unlike the movie’s claims, the Matrix and the “real world” would actually have to be very similar for the mind’s ontological/epistemological perspectives of being to share and to make sense of both worlds, simultaneously. It’s clear the separation between mind/body or mind/world posited by the movie couldn’t be possible.
Ghost (1990) Being John Malkovich(1999) Other Movies: