Peter M Howard ::

La Matrice

Oct2004

This is a big one, probably destined to be ever-changing as my mind mulls over the contents of the movies (and more: there's The Animatrix, the comics, the video game, lots to digest really). But still, it's a study of Mythology. Not only is the Matrix (ie, the whole franchise) full of references to mythology (Gnosticism in particular), but it's also a mythology unto itself, refracting the myths of the (post)modern world.

Contents

Introduction

As I add sections and ideas to this, I'll outline them here in the Intro, and add to the Contents list. For now the Contents includes a number of areas of interest - but I haven't expanded on them yet...

First I should clarify a few things: when I talk about the Matrix, I am talking about the whole franchise - everything it encompasses. I'll make it clear when I only want to talk about The Matrix, ie, the first movie. I also should clear up my intentions: this project is basically an exploration of the aspects of the films that I'm interested in - and more often than not, will get off the topic of the actual films and into other mythologies. As such, I hope that it may help people see something more in the film, but if not, that's no big deal... If you didn't like the 2nd and 3rd films, you might as well leave this page - if anything you'll just get annoyed that I'm trying to make you like them. And importantly, I make no claims to the truth about the movies - I have no idea what the filmmakers intended - but I do know that they at least wanted to provoke discussion. And a warning: at times my own beliefs will shine through - so if you have a problem with them, it's not my problem - but if you want to discuss them (intelligently) then by all means do so.

Anyway, as it's all a little vague for me now, I'm going to outline the main areas. But some of these are very different - because some are ideas that lead onto other philosophies, some are symbols of other mythologies, and some are symbols from literature.

The main philosophical areas I've identified (for now) are: True Freedom, Images of Paradise/Hell, Humanity, Free Will vs Predestination. All are areas that philosophers have been discussing for centuries. On top of that are the mythologies referenced, mainly Gnostic and Cyberpunk/Science Fiction.

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Cyberpunk/Science Fiction

For the sake of convenience I've called the Matrix 'cyberpunk', although I'm guessing some cyberpunk fans would protest my use of the term. Basically I'm defining cyberpunk based on the writings of William Gibson - near future, gritty, and with much revolving around cyberspace. Applying the term liberally, I would even classify Gibson's newest work (Pattern Recognition) as cyberpunk. It's set in the present day, but still involves some of the mysteries of the net and is close enough for me. Keeping in mind that some of Gibson's work got into the much stranger realms of scifi - with alien AIs and voodoo gods in the net, I'm going to label Philip K Dick a precursor to the cyberpunk movement - because his is a particular kind of science fiction. Much of his work is near future and very gritty, and like Gibson, some of his later work became 'present day' scifi. And given that Dick, and more recently Neal Stephenson (see Snow Crash) got into Sumerian and Gnostic mythologies, I have no problems bundling them all together with the Matrix. Oh and drugs: a huge area to explore if I had the time, but suffice to say they play key roles in all this mythology.

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Gnostic Myth

While it wasn't particularly strong in the first movie, Gnostic mythology is key to understanding the story of the later films. Or at least, it makes _much_ more sense after understanding where they take the stories and characters from. I'm still digesting this one so I'll have to watch the movies again and get back to it...

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Paradise/Hell

There's an interesting article on the Matrix website about this one - discussing the ideas of simulation, and the issues raised by the creation of the 'original Matrix' - a Paradise. But though everything was perfect, the human captives wouldn't accept the programming. This also leads into different religious conceptions of Reality - I particularly like the idea that we (ie, physical creation) exist in the Mind of God - ie, as in a 'Matrix'.

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Free Will vs Predestination

Big one here. But my understanding of it comes down to one comment by the Oracle: "you didn't come here to make the choice; you've already made it. You're here to try to understand why you made it." In a nutshell, that's how it works for us in the real world. All of our time on this earth is but an Instant, whereas outside of this time is Eternity - where we make the choice - to love God, or to reject Him. This Instant we spend in the physical world is where we try to understand why.

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True Freedom

This question is raised in the first movie, carried on in the second - are those in Zion truly free? And what about Cypher and the "steak that's a hologram"/"ignorance is bliss"? Also the question of inter-dependence with the machines, which of course relates to modern life as well...

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Humanity

I'll get to this one later, but for now suffice with this: one of the biggest flaws in the philosophy of the free people of Zion is their conception of humanity. I'm not entirely sure whether it's because the filmmakers got it wrong or if they intended it but anyway... Basically it comes down to Mouse's line in the first movie: "to deny our own impulses is to deny the very thing that makes us human". There seems (to me) to be a definition of humanity based on our difference with the machines: ie, Flesh. Whereas the more traditional idea is to distinguish humans from Animals: ie, we share Flesh, but the difference is the spiritual Soul (Free Will and Intellect). More accurately, Humanity is both (ie, whereas Animals are Flesh and the Angels are Spirit).

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