The MatrixWhat if I were to tell you that the world you think is real is merely an illusion, like shadows on the wall, the wool draped over your eyes to hide the truth from you--to make you complacent, pliable, obedient. And to see the world for what it truly is, you must free your mind and reject the trappings of the material world as you know it to enter the next. These statements sound more like the tenets of Zen Buddhism--and the recipe for enlightenment--than the theme of a science fiction action movie; but--like "The Matrix" itself--it all comes down to perception...mind over matter.
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Timing is everything. When the end of the millennium was upon us in 1999, there was a lurking unease in people, and The Matrix exploded like a phenomenon. I believe it was in part due to the masterfully ambiguous trailer, which withheld so much--but held out its promise of enlightenment, like a little red pill; people were talking about it before knowing what it was about--but it was also the timing. The "Y2K" scare--believe it or not--had people running for the hills with stockpiles of water and gasoline, convinced that the worlds computers would all fail, and we would be plunged into another dark age; evidenced by this online article, that didn't happen. But with that co-mingled fear and dependence on technology showing its form in the zeitgeist, the stage was set for a film like The Matrix. Although The Matrix deals with themes familiar to sci-fi--evil robots taking over the world with a fragile resistance of humans fighting the good fight--this film approached the threat in an indirect way: we do not know of the dominion of the machines, because we have been "asleep", removed from our own species most terrible war, kept dormant in a giant living dream, a computer-generated simulated reality known colloquially as "The Matrix". And here is another computer-oriented medium growing stronger and more prevalent at the close of the century: video games. Long regarded as a child's hobby, video games had started to become a playground for adults, those same children weened on Nintendo now of voting age and with disposable income to fuel their pastime. In fact, video games would be the foundation and developmental testing ground for innovations in GUI-based operating systems, a source of feedback and input for clever programmers and software developers, and even in the growth and strengthening of military hardware and training simulations. If anything, The Matrix feels like a video game--which is apropos given its subject matter--a virtual world where the skilled and even the "cheaters" are endowed with superhuman abilities, and massive gunfights, colossal special effects, and martial arts are the language of the action. But "virtual reality" stoked a fear in the hearts of those unsure of the implications of such a concept; would people simply "plug in" and tune out from reality, steeped in the synthetic high of a virtual world? If one could exist in a virtual world, which could be anything you could fantasize, what would be the point of living in the real one? All of these concepts and questions made fertile soil for The Matrix to "jack in" and take control of the questions about technology, society, and existence prodding us all in the back of our minds--like an elaborate computer port waiting for a charge.
The Matrix draws its influences from a variety of philosophical sources--as science fiction has always done, really--but I think it especially recalls the parable of "Plato's Cave". This story tells of how people living in a cave see the world only through the shadows of the "real" objects unseen, flickering on the wall. When one individual goes out to see the world that has been ignored and tells his friends, they do not believe him, thinking that this is mere fantasy, since they cannot imagine such a thing could be. The Matrix goes a bit further to ask who it is who stands to prosper by stoking the flame. Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves), who goes by his "hacker" mantle of "Neo", fills his days like so many of us...scraping by to make some money, dealing with the daily grind at a boring job, feeling empty at living the life of a drone. Neo's talent is computers, a skill which is recognized by Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss)--herself a skilled hacker--who tries to bring him into the fold at the behest of her group's spiritual leader, Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne). Morpheus describes The Matrix to Neo in abstraction, in a way which could be open to interpretation; it is not so much that he is trying to deceive Neo himself, but that he understands that to bring Neo into the fold, he will need to change his world forever--because his world doesn't even exist. It is ironic to see the world envisioned by The Matrix in light of the widespread technological advances present in our own world, especially with regards to the ubiquitousness of cell phones...as well as the terrifying ease with which one can pinpoint a location with a common handheld device and the omnipresence of government monitoring. It's more terrifying imagining a future like The Matrix in a post-PRISM world. Characters like Neo and Morpheus are condemned in their virtual world as terrorists, primarily because of their destabilizing computer prowess, a moniker which also feels unnerving if you contrast them with other whistle blowers like Julian Assange and Edward Snowden. Our heroes are vilified by the "agents"--sentient computer programs which serve the machines to wipe out threats--because they disrupt the status quo, because they are rebels; and history has shown that rebels are hounded and struggle to endure in the face of a unified enemy without having support and cunning. Morpheus understands that The Matrix is a computer program, and that program must follow certain rules; any wise strategist will tell you that the key to victory is to capitalize on your opponent's weakness--in this case, the machines' inflexibility, which he tells Neo during their virtual martial arts sparring match. This scene casts Morpheus in the light of a wise sensei, espousing Zen wisdom; fitting, given the very thing they must contend with is the awareness of their own transcendence of their consciousness, an enlightenment from one reality into the next. Another concept popular in Eastern philosophy is the relinquishing of the material in favor of the spiritual; this is reflected in the machines themselves. The Matrix is a metaphorical condemnation of materialism, showcasing the perils of tools which--while created to serve man--have turned the tables, and are now the masters; we are the slaves, because we were unable to cope with the dangers of our possessions, our addiction to the material. The most active opponent of the resistance, Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), view humans not as mammals, but as a virus, convinced that his masters are doing right by keeping the populous in check within their virtual ark. He makes a comparison to humans as being like dinosaurs, which is apt, given that the machines use humans for fuel, just as we use the fossilized remains of dinosaurs for that same purpose. Neo's great conflict is not just that he is awakened to a new world, forced to fight the machines with a new found sense of justice, but that he understands that his destiny is still his own to make, not merely the prophesy of Morpheus or The Oracle (Gloria Foster)--and certainly not that of Agent Smith and the rest of his wardens in his virtual prison. He is "The One" because he chooses to be.
Recommended for: Fans of a fast-paced action film filled with martial arts, gunfights, explosions, and more. Simultaneously, the movie scratches the other itch for fans of a philosophical, science fiction film, challenging the nature of reality and the idea of predetermination and our own perceptions of who and what we are.
The Matrix draws its influences from a variety of philosophical sources--as science fiction has always done, really--but I think it especially recalls the parable of "Plato's Cave". This story tells of how people living in a cave see the world only through the shadows of the "real" objects unseen, flickering on the wall. When one individual goes out to see the world that has been ignored and tells his friends, they do not believe him, thinking that this is mere fantasy, since they cannot imagine such a thing could be. The Matrix goes a bit further to ask who it is who stands to prosper by stoking the flame. Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves), who goes by his "hacker" mantle of "Neo", fills his days like so many of us...scraping by to make some money, dealing with the daily grind at a boring job, feeling empty at living the life of a drone. Neo's talent is computers, a skill which is recognized by Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss)--herself a skilled hacker--who tries to bring him into the fold at the behest of her group's spiritual leader, Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne). Morpheus describes The Matrix to Neo in abstraction, in a way which could be open to interpretation; it is not so much that he is trying to deceive Neo himself, but that he understands that to bring Neo into the fold, he will need to change his world forever--because his world doesn't even exist. It is ironic to see the world envisioned by The Matrix in light of the widespread technological advances present in our own world, especially with regards to the ubiquitousness of cell phones...as well as the terrifying ease with which one can pinpoint a location with a common handheld device and the omnipresence of government monitoring. It's more terrifying imagining a future like The Matrix in a post-PRISM world. Characters like Neo and Morpheus are condemned in their virtual world as terrorists, primarily because of their destabilizing computer prowess, a moniker which also feels unnerving if you contrast them with other whistle blowers like Julian Assange and Edward Snowden. Our heroes are vilified by the "agents"--sentient computer programs which serve the machines to wipe out threats--because they disrupt the status quo, because they are rebels; and history has shown that rebels are hounded and struggle to endure in the face of a unified enemy without having support and cunning. Morpheus understands that The Matrix is a computer program, and that program must follow certain rules; any wise strategist will tell you that the key to victory is to capitalize on your opponent's weakness--in this case, the machines' inflexibility, which he tells Neo during their virtual martial arts sparring match. This scene casts Morpheus in the light of a wise sensei, espousing Zen wisdom; fitting, given the very thing they must contend with is the awareness of their own transcendence of their consciousness, an enlightenment from one reality into the next. Another concept popular in Eastern philosophy is the relinquishing of the material in favor of the spiritual; this is reflected in the machines themselves. The Matrix is a metaphorical condemnation of materialism, showcasing the perils of tools which--while created to serve man--have turned the tables, and are now the masters; we are the slaves, because we were unable to cope with the dangers of our possessions, our addiction to the material. The most active opponent of the resistance, Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), view humans not as mammals, but as a virus, convinced that his masters are doing right by keeping the populous in check within their virtual ark. He makes a comparison to humans as being like dinosaurs, which is apt, given that the machines use humans for fuel, just as we use the fossilized remains of dinosaurs for that same purpose. Neo's great conflict is not just that he is awakened to a new world, forced to fight the machines with a new found sense of justice, but that he understands that his destiny is still his own to make, not merely the prophesy of Morpheus or The Oracle (Gloria Foster)--and certainly not that of Agent Smith and the rest of his wardens in his virtual prison. He is "The One" because he chooses to be.
Recommended for: Fans of a fast-paced action film filled with martial arts, gunfights, explosions, and more. Simultaneously, the movie scratches the other itch for fans of a philosophical, science fiction film, challenging the nature of reality and the idea of predetermination and our own perceptions of who and what we are.