"The Matrix" (The Movie) (Page 2 of 4)

Hi Tiospaye1,

What's interesting is that entire time period from 1998 - 2001 was a period of awakening for a lot of people out there.  I have heard from so many people that all started waking up around the same time, and the two most important events were The Matrix.........a Hollywood movie of all things!..................and 9/11.   I had my own personal awakening going down sandwiched between those two things.

And regarding the Wachowskis.........nothing about their official biographies, or the how's and why's surrounding the making of the trilogy adds up or is believable, so you're not the only one thinking "Ehhh...I don't think so!"   The whole thing is just so unbelievable, I know Tom (montalk) has commented about this before.

I suppose that the trigger for me was reading "A Scanner Darkly" 30 or 40 years ago (or maybe it was "Time Out Of Joint", also by Philip K. Dick). I was awakened to a perception of the world quite different from the one being presented. "Time..." is closer to the matrix concept, while "Scanner..." is closer to the Fight Club idea. The thing is, Dick was writing about this stuff back in the 60s and progressed continually from then to his death. In "Time..." (when are we going to get this movie?), the protagonist's reality begins to slowly dissolve around him as he sets out to discover what is really going on. Some of Dick's best symbology involving false realities occur in this book. Philip K. Dick was known as a "science fiction writer's science fiction writer", meaning that his concepts have been cherry-picked for decades now. Some of us are still trying to get the word "phildickian" into dictionaries. The world grows more phildickian every day.

lyra, here's a good PKD site:        http://philipkdick.com/                  I'll tell you that while Scanner is an excellent read, Time sort of falls apart halfway through. It's a great story, but I think that Dick was unable to really finish it right. I'll return with some other recommendations as I think of them.

I always found it strange that The Matrix affected so many people as it did. I remember when it first came out, my friends who'd seen it first were telling me how incredible and mind-blowing it was. Then I saw it and hated it, lol. I didn't understand what everyone thought was so great about it. Since then I've seen it as analagous to our situation, but I still think it's a pretty stupid movie. Hah, to each his own I guess. As some people mentioned above, Fight Club and Dark City had a bigger impact on my spiritual mindset. Fight Club instilled a great sense of empowerment and self-sovereignty, and Dark City made me question reality in ways the Matrix never did. As much as these movies affected me, they weren't the cause of my "awakening". That was mostly the (unexpected) result of psychedelic drug use. However, the point remains that these movies DO awaken some people, which is a good thing.

As for the Matrix trilogy itself, I've also noticed a strange divergence after the first movie. It could just be the sequel curse, where sequels are never better than the original. I think the biggest problem with the 2nd and 3rd movies is that the philosophy fell apart, and they ended up being just typical action movies where the hero saves the day (as if the original wasn't like this though?). It could be that the Wachowskis' fame made them realize that they'd make more money with action flicks than philosophy-based movies. There may have been an "outside" influence that made them change the storyline, too. However, I'm skeptical of that. I have a feeling that all along the Wachowski brothers were simply in it to make big money on an action movie that just happened to be about something out of the ordinary.

Alright, I usually avoid commenting on pop culture.. but let's do it.

Fight Club - For the sake of your own sanity, read the book. The movie version distorted the story into 'you're the one that's causing all this to happen, buddy!" Which to me is a cop-out to those who would clame we are all free but will turn that against you when they don't like what you're doing.

Dark City - Wonderful movie. I remember certain sceens from it but strangely enough I also have forgotten most of the details. (put's seeing it again on to-do list)

The Matrix Triology - Where to start.. I had originally heard, way back in the day when the first matrix was just released, even before that when HBO did a making of special, that the Wakasouski brothers had intended The Matrix to be an anime script. (i'd love to see if they would be willing to release the original script before WB gave them support)

The first movie was about personal revelation, and for those who are believers in personal developement, it was a huge eye opener. I remember walking out of the movie litterally buzzing. My friends and I didn't have high expectations of it, we were interested in the fact that this was perhaps the first movie in a long time, big budget, that was NOT going into serious detail about what the plot was about before it was released. That'll catch anyone's attention in this hype filled marketing world.

Neo was presented with his 'system' life which offered him no choices, only demands in the form of choices. Whereas when Morpheus showed up, he was offered a choice. (Blue pill, Red pill) Simple. Instead of taking a dive with the system choices, he took a choice (chance) and took the red pill. Life went on. He ended up 'swallowing the mirror'.

The matrix was done dark comic book style, I always felt. The first movie anyway. The progression from there in became more serious, as the revelations of the first movie became obviously more serious than kicking ass and taking names.

The second movie actually made me laugh hysterically at times. You have old characters who died in the first one. The viewer has come to realize that all the 'Matrix' based characters were somewhat illusions, in 'reality' they were not as big bright shiny bad asses. (They were, but not in a hollywood kinda way, more of a nitty gritty reality kind of way.) So for a second movie, keeping up the blow by blow 'war' mentality wouldn't cut it as far as intelectually speaking.

They wanted to get away from the 'computer' aspect of things as well. The whole matrix construct had been revealed. (Did anyone notice that when Morpheus was explaining the situation, he/the movie makers were using psychologically suggestive/imprintive images? The tv screen? The battery? It's all a well woven story, but not what you would call 'believable' in the most grounding sence. But as all who have gone through initiatory periods can say, that's kind of how it works wether you like it or not. To wake up sometimes you need to be presented with the fantastic as fact, even if it isn't.)

Now. You have to introduce new characters, most of the Neb's crew is dead, or injured, etc. Zion was talked about heavily in the first movie, now they need to flesh out what it is or else it'll be left as a cop out. So we have scenes there. We have new characters who are parables of old characters (related familiailly as well if you pay attention). Makes sense. We have Morpheus as a figure head for the non-matrix combatants that live Underground.(not everyone wants to fight wars with their own bodies/minds/lives on the line, this is part of how things are and have always been regaurldess of manipulation by entities) We have a rave style dance (which I remember people commenting about how idiotic that was. Whatever. The rave/techno counter culture is part of what made all this art possible as it is today.)

Now new Matrix entites make an appearance. Part of this was related to the animatrix (which was interesting, how often do you find big budget blockbusters allowing other artists with their own fame and following to collaborate on a big project? So many of them, all at he same time without marginalizing them or forcing them to be 'extras' rather than being inclusive to the overall story?)

These new entites consist of what I would call 'metaphysical beings' which exist alongside humanity in the matrix. You have spirits/wraiths (the twins), you have an allusion to were creatures (entities which didn't return to hte source when they were supposed to and lived on) (I consider them a representation of 'were' because of the silver bullet reference, though there are plenty of other things which are more effected by silver than base metal). You have new entities which pose more of a challenege than overbearing assholes in suits (agents). What we find here is other entities who work around/outside/alongside the system without actually being run by it, whom are offered as both allies and enemies at the same time, obstacles with a mind of thier own. Not necessarily keepers of order, but not necessarily bad guys either.

Then there's the Merovingian. *cackles* The mythos of that name relates to the bloodline of christ, the family he fathered that was kept out of the religous text in order to preserve the chastity docterine, as well as to avoid issues with name calling which were prevelent in the orignial bible, by keeping 'christ' as sacred as possible.

So what we find in the 'matrix' is this Merovingian as.. an eletist pig in the most secular sense of the word. Big talk, manipulative as hell (drugging one of the women in the restaurant where they met then taking advantage of it), never gets his own hands dirty. 'married' to a 'program' whom has the name of a diety, whom has become bitter with the Merovingian's lack of honesty and passion. (hense the whole kissing incident, which I think is a reminder that all things with a larger awareness enjoy passion, that is not something I would argue with easily.)

So basically you now have elites who are part of the problem and solution, who are not necessarily the keepers of the gate, only 'other players'. Welcome to reality, where it's never black and white or shades of gray.

We see some repetiton of 'memes' or 'rituals' in the second and third movie (the keymaster taking the morpheus chair). allusions to premonitions much more strong than the first movie, and in the second movie, the main character CHANGING THE PREDETERMINED DREAMED FATE. Very important I thought.

The third movie, the actions getting old and tired. This is a given. Did anyone else notice that  Agent Smith is the only one who actually ever openly stated hatred for humanity and consideration of them being a virus? So we have the antihero who's whole purpose becomes t o get revenge on the One who showed him up (egotistical much?) which has of course always been following Neo around through these adventures.

So now we have pseudo-reatily clashes going on. Neo's both in and outof the matrix at the same time (multidemensional?) he's had experiences of having power in both worlds. But now he's confused, as the original given premise of how to take care of hte problems are being questioned again. Revelations that some 'programs' are just trying to get on with lives in the human world too. (the little girl and her parents).

I think I've made enough points for now. I'd also like to mention that the thesis behind people in pods powering the machines is fallacious. machines that advanced would have no trouble clearing the sky, now would they 'require' humans to keep going.. unless the AIs themselves coould never recreate the spark of genious that humans provide (the power of imagination perhaps?).

I think it's noticable that even the Architect (cackle) seemed bored and tired when Neo showed up. He was playing his role too, whatever it was. (Stubborn old white man? Rebelious young white man questioning him? Father/son relationship stuff comes into the play, but let's skip psychology).

The whole series had much to offer, it's hard to recreate the hype of a 'totally new experience' when you've already spilled the biggest beans in the first movie, wouldn't you say?

I think overall the messege of this series is that what you decide, what actions you take, matter even if you don't accept the given definintion of what is and is not real and possible.

Also I think it's interesting to note that during the fight sceens in the first movie, the main characters ended up killing a lot of humans who were under control. Also something they didn't repeat in the future movies. (The sceen where the helecotper pilot falls over dead once the agent has left him comes to mind)

^_^

Peace, Freedom, and Life

I saw the last Matrix movie about a week ago, and I liked it much more than I thought I would. In fact, I really enjoyed it. It was very impressive. The first is key, yet despite the critisisms and their possible validity, I felt it added to the excitement of the whole project while being incredibly entertaining. I'm shocked!

but what do the Aliens use to control US NOWADAYS?
COMPUTERS/Matrix

Dark City is a GREAT MOVIE. MAtrix as well.

I dont know, but i liked Reloaded and Revolutions almost as much as the original Matrix. i dont know why people think so badly of them.
they all have different themes. the 1st one was to bring the open your mind concept, and it had a classical tint to it, making it really genuine.
the 2nd and 3rd were simply the rest of the story, meant to be action and war, respectively. of course its not gonna live up to the original matrix, hence they didnt even try to emulate it.
plus, the entire story was already written before the 1st movie.

aw, come on man. you know they were carpenters before this? and they created the entire matrix story b4 making the 1st movie. they truly made this trilogy to help open peoples minds, to question existance.