There's a decent and teachable article on capitalist dystopias by Thomas Byers in Alien Zone (A. Kuhn, ed.) but it references Blade Runner and Alien, and may not be relevant to the films you've chosen. If they're SMART first-year students, you can try to guide them through some Baudrillard for The Matrix -- maybe selections from The Precession of Simulacra. In general, the lack of articles in Film Studies that are both 1) intellectually substantive 2) accessible to undergrads in a gen ed class, is embarrasing and depressing. I don't pick articles for the films I want to show. I try to find worthwhile teachable articles and then show films connected to the essays. ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.ScreenSite.org