Know Thy Self

Even though it become the trendy thing to hate the Matrix in the wake of its two sequels, I am one of the few who stand by it as one of the best film trilogies of all time. Yes, the action is, most of the time, very cool. Yes, it is flashy and new and high tech. These are none of the reason why I love the world of the Matrix. It raises so many of the philosophical and moral questions that I have lost countless hours of sleep on in my own life. It is the only movie that really makes me not only ponder meaning within the diagetic world of the film but my own existence.

Neo is a character who has found himself to be a god. Having spent his entire life with this nagging feeling that something was wrong with the world, it is exciting to finally see everything unravel. What would you do if you discovered you had unlimited power? I believe that the films do a fantastic job of showing a realistic answer to this question. He doesn't let it control his life but instead uses it as a tool. I would love to think that I would be capable of the same compassion if I were to find myself with such power, but, truth be told, I have a suspicion that I would end up doing some rather terrible things along with the good.

So why is the Matrix such a bad thing? Look, Morpheus, I totally get that you don't want to be a slave. That's cool... but the Machines, as far as I could tell, really don't have any intention on destroying you. They NEED you, and, yes, you NEED them. This is a fantastic moral dilemma. Would I rather be living in a dream world where I still get to live my life in any way that I please... or would I rather know the truth about my existence and live with the consequences of that knowledge? Ideally, I'd like to know that I was only living in a dream world but still be allowed to do so. Look, I want to know the truth as much as anyone else, but the real world fucking blows. I don't want electrical sockets all over my body or the inability to eat and enjoy food with taste. As Morpheus so rightly states, real is just electrical impulses interpreted by my brain. Cool. Life in the Matrix sure sounds good to me.

Even if the humans did win this supposed war, what then? Then they seriously have nowhere to go. That will end mankind. The world doesn't look savable. Their best bet is to form a truce with the machines... which, of course, they do at the end of Revolutions. I'm just saying, if I was awoken to that Desert of the Real, I'd be plugged back in about as quick as I could find a jack. I feel bad for the poor saps who were born outside of the Matrix. They don't get to live the full human experience. The machines were KIND enough to grant us that, at least.

One scene that I have spent a lot of time pondering is the infamous lobby shootout. Surely it is an epic and wickedly entertaining piece. but you really have to think about the fact that Neo and Trinity are seriously slaughtering innocent people who are doing their jobs. Yes, I get that every human can also be an Agent and, therefore, must be taken as an enemy... but damn. For some people this ruins the movie because Neo is no longer a justifiable protagonist. I LOVE the film for doing this. I think the film really wants you to question whether or not we should be rooting for the humans. The machines generally don't go around just shooting up random people for no damn reason, now do they?

Well... then again, there is Agent Smith... but what a fantastic character! He is the Negative One... Neo's true foil. Just as Neo is rebelling, so too is Smith. He is the one machine who doesn't see a purpose of the humans. Ah... kinda sounds like we have come full circle to Colossus! Humans dying out and being replaced by machines... Smith has it exactly. Humans are dangerous VIRUSES. Honestly, I sure cannot disagree with his logic. If they could figure out a way to no longer require the human/battery system, I'd totally understand as they systematically unplugged us all.

Okay, I could write a book on the Matrix... but it is late and I am tired.