The Matrix

     I really enjoyed watching the Matrix, I have never seen anything similar to the concepts and the cinematography presented in this movie. I had so many questions about what was truly going on in the movie and as the plot unfolded I could have never guessed what was truly going on with The Matrix. Overall I think this is a very interesting story that takes a new form of movie exhibiting artificial intelligence taking over the human world as we know it.

    The concept of humans creating artificial intelligence which end up being their demise is perfectly ironic to me. I believe that the end of the human race will be self-inflicted because humans will always believe that they are superior. This motivates humans to do incredibly stupid things, like continually damaging and putting hard things into the environment. It is terrifying to think about how much potential power humans granted artificial intelligence because now they have humans in a completely controlled environment that they are completely unaware of. 

    I think it was a very interesting choice to depict the robots in control as government agents. This symbolizes just how much power the government has on a body of people. This is extremely prevalent today especially now when the men in ur government are stripping away women's rights to their bodies. These agents are all powerful and control the simulation from the inside, and no one can defeat them. I noted that it was interesting that everyone called Neo by the name except for there government agents. They referred to him as "Mr. Anderson," Neo's real name. I believe Neo having two different names means more than just him having a a real name and a different alias as an online hacker. Throughout the film we witness ordinary Thomas Anderson transform into Neo, "The One." He begins as an ordinary human, unaware of the simulation he is forced to live in, with many question. As he is "awoken" after taking the red pill and begins training, you see Neo start to become more confident in his actions and rebellious. When he visits the Oracle, he has begun his training, but does not believe he can be "The One" and any belief he had was crushed when she told him he was not "The One." This shows the Neo still had not completely freed his mind and abandoned his society's constraints on what the mind can truly accomplish in the Matrix. He doesn't realize his full potential and truly free his mind until his final battle with the agent. He can finally match and overcome their seemingly unbeatable superhuman strength and speed, and shows them that he is now in control. He fully becomes Neo the savior after he frees his mind and accept the fact that he is capable of much more than he ever believed. 

    One of the main themes I picked up on is the question: Do we actually want to know the truth? If Neo took the blue pill and continued to be unaware of the controlled simulation he was living in he would have had a much easier life. Many people would prefer having that life over joining the resistance and currently having to struggle for you life and have the fate of humanity in your hands. Even Neo regretted taking the red pill and learning the truth after he was transported to the real world. "Ignorance is bliss" is really prevalent in this situation because knowing your entire life is predetermined is terrifying, but being completely unaware and living out a normal life in the simulation does not sound too bad. Sometimes the truth can be very destructive. Even though the future of humanity is at risk of being trapped in a simulation for eternity, Morpheus addresses how many people living in the simulation are not ready to know the truth and probably will never be ready to know the truth. This exposes the audience to understanding that sometimes the truth will not be desired and can do more harm than good. 

    I thought the ending was slightly confusing. Neo defeats the agents and says he is going to show everyone the truth, but they are still in the simulation and many people are still going about their lives in the simulation. I'm unsure if he revealed the truth to anyone, or just a select group of people? It is definitely implied that the simulation continues, and that Neo remains apart of the simulation in order to control the agents. I just don't understand the goal of the resistance if they allow the simulation to continue. It may be because most of the Earth is uninhabitable for all of humankind since it has been destroyed, but how will they save mankind from the simulation if they can't get them all out? 

    Overall, I enjoyed watching the Matrix because it made me think about life as we know it and what I would do if I had the choice to take the blue pill or the red pill. It is terrifying to think that eventually we might get to a point where artificial intelligence may be powerful enough to overturn our entire race. I thought the cinematography in the movie was like no there and loved watching the action scenes throughout the film. It makes me wonder how they did the 360 slow motion shots dodging the bullets in the late 90s. The punk fashion exhibited throughout the movie was also very cool to watch as well. The Matrix has been my favorite movie we have watched by far. 

Comments

  1. Paige TangOctober 9, 2022 at 5:07 PM

    I also noticed Agent Smith and the officers being the only ones to refer to Neo as Mr. Anderson. I think his name was a symbol of his awareness and escape from the simulation. Even Mr. Anderson is a relatively basic name that represents his normality in the trap that is the simulation, while Neo is a unique, almost futuristic name that even means "New" in Greek, symbolizing his new role as "The One". I appreciate your fifth paragraph as well. I'm also confused with the ending because he said he exposed the simulation and even flew into the sky in front of everyone, which implies an end, but it can't be if there are more Matrix movies! I did enjoy this film though so maybe I'll watch the others to see.

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