I really started getting into philosophy after i saw the matrix. At first philosophy seemed complicated and distant, but the matrix movie really grounded it to the point that i could understand. It also made readind Joseph campbells "HEro With a Thousand Faces" alot easier. After I saw the first matrix (on DVD), I became an instant cult fan and watched it over and over again.
__________________ The Revolution will not be Televised
Gender: Male Location: United States, El Paso, Texas
I am the same way superfly. I have started to read and study more philosophy books. I even found this website called matrix-explained.com In the forums, someone wrote essays on Reloaded and Revolutions, analyzing both movies throughly. I understood both movies and I liked them both, but after reading these essays, the movies make even more sense and answer every question in the movies. Would you like me to post the essays here?
Gender: Unspecified Location: Somewhere in the matrix.
The Solution of Knowledge/Enlightenment. This duality between the matrix and the reality beyond it sets up the ultimate goal of the rebels, which is to free all minds from the matrix and allow humans to live out their lives in the real world beyond. In making this point, the film-makers draw on both Theravada and Mahayana Buddhist ideas. Alluding to the Theravada ideal of the arhat, the film suggests that enlightenment is achieved through individual effort. As his initial guide, Morpheus makes it clear that Neo cannot depend upon him for enlightenment. Morpheus explains, "no one can be told what the matrix is. You have to see it for yourself." Morpheus tells Neo he must make the final shift in perception entirely on his own. He says: "I’m trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You’re the one that has to walk through it." For Theravada Buddhists, "man’s emancipation depends on his own realization of the Truth, and not on the benevolent grace of a god or any external power as a reward for his obedient good behavior." The Dhammapada urges the one seeking enlightenment to "Free thyself from the past, free thyself from the future, free thyself from the present. Crossing to the farther shore of existence, with mind released everywhere, no more shalt thou come to birth and decay." As Morpheus says to Neo, "There’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path." And as the Buddha taught his followers, "You yourselves should make the effort; the Awakened Ones are only teachers." As one already on the path to enlightenment, Morpheus is only a guide; ultimately Neo must recognize the truth for himself.
__________________
She doesn't quite chop your head off. She makes a Pez dispenser out of you.
Well Joseph campbell is the most famouse for the comparison of world religions and mythologies. Hero With a Thousand faces is one of his best books if you ask me. But it a very dense book. It focusses most on the human phsyke and the link that all human beings have to these same basic ideas. That book realy changed the way i saw the world and religion in general. It took me into this massive mind trip. If you want a book by him thats easier to read i would suggest "The Power of Myth" which is the documentation of an interview between him and Bill Meyers. But after you read some of his stuff, the whole Matrix Experience makes so much more sense.
__________________ The Revolution will not be Televised
Glad to hear it thanks Super. I'll check out those books, any idea as to if they are linkd like a sequence i should start in. I havent really read any books on this matrix sort of idea excpet for the philosophical stuff on the matrix offical site. If possible i will get both books but if not which should i go for first? Thanks again
Sounds good, thanks dude.
By the way have you heard of Neuromancer? I heard it was a good book and alot like these. Im not sure who the author is but im going to look into it.
Gender: Unspecified Location: Somewhere in the matrix.
Synopsis
The book centers on Case, a former computer hacker who makes his living by breaking into security systems. Caught stealing from his employers, Case is rendered physically unable to withstand the rigors of access to the worldwide computer net. Unable to work, he welcomes suicidal thoughts, entering into deals that can only go bad. Willing to do anything for the chance to work again, he turns to a mysterious figure named Armitage, and by so doing begins a journey out of the gutters of 21st century Tokyo and into an ever-expanding world of multinational intrigue. Armitage pays off Case's debts, repairs his neural damage, and places him under the protection of Molly, a professional killer. As Case progresses through his assignments with Molly and a range of others enlisted by Armitage, he becomes aware of larger forces working to control his activities. Ultimately, Case realizes that it is Neuromancer, a far-reaching artificial intelligence, that he has been working for. The opus ends with Case's realization that he has been controlled by the very technology he uses.
__________________
She doesn't quite chop your head off. She makes a Pez dispenser out of you.
Gender: Unspecified Location: Somewhere in the matrix.
Neuromancer" also introduced the notion of a technology dominated dystopian society in which social decay is apparent everywhere and lasting interpersonal relationships are nonexistant. "Neuromancer" presents an image of the future. There is corruption everywhere and the essence of being human seems to be slipping away. In his novel Gibson portrays not only what the future of technology may hold, but some of the negative externalities that directly effect human nature and social interaction. In fact, Gibson focuses almost entirely on the ugly aspects of technology which is in contrast to his "matrix". Gibson totally neglects to represent any positive aspects of new technology. The society of "Neuromancer" seems to be utterly advanced in terms of technology. However, upon closer inspection this is not exactly the case. There is no evidence of successfull technology in Gibsons novel. The society of "Neuromancer" willingly allows itself to be directly controled by technology. They create incredible technologies and then use them for evil and material gain, rather than for their social well being.
__________________
She doesn't quite chop your head off. She makes a Pez dispenser out of you.
Gender: Unspecified Location: Somewhere in the matrix.
Neo believes he's living a normal, but slightly troubled life in 1999. By day, a computer programmer for a large, generic software company; by night, a hacker, providing the fruits of his labors to other troubled souls. He lives alone, he doesn't sleep, and there's a profound emptiness in his life, but it's something he can't put his finger on - until he is contacted by Trinity. "It's the question that drives us", she whispers in his ear, to which he correctly responds "What is the Matrix?" It is this question that has gnawed at Neo seemingly his entire life, yet he's never put it into words before now. It is the voicing of this question that begins his transformation into The One.
Morpheus has sent Trinity to contact Neo, believing he is The One of prophecy. Morpheus explains it to Neo in this way: "When the Matrix was first built there was a man born inside that had the ability to change what he wanted, to remake the Matrix as he saw fit. It was this man who freed the first of us and taught us the truth - When he died, the Oracle prophesied his return and envisioned that his coming would hail the destruction of the Matrix."
Morpheus' followers believe in him, and they mostly believe in The Oracle's prophecy, but not necessarily his selection of candidates for The One. It is with both great anticipation and extreme dread that they "wake" Neo to the real world, knowing the path he has ahead of him, and the potential conclusion.
Neo's journey in the movie bears many hallmarks of classic myths. He is the Chosen One, the reluctant hero, the savior, and the one who will lead his people to freedom. In order to do that, he must sacrifice himself, and rise from the dead. He faces progressively greater challenges through the course of the movie, and as he begins to believe in himself, he is able to overcome these challenges, including besting his ultimate adversary, Agent Smith.
??
__________________
She doesn't quite chop your head off. She makes a Pez dispenser out of you.
Gender: Unspecified Location: Somewhere in the matrix.
:raver wong one ^.>>The Matrix is, at its core, a film with a moral plot. We, the viewers, like the heroes, are in on a secret: The reality that forms the lives of millions of human beings is not real. The world that seems real to most people is in fact a computer-generated simulation, but almost no one knows it. In reality human beings are floating in liquid in machine pods, with tubes connected to them in a grotesque post-apocalyptic world where the sun is blotted out. Things seem, of course, to the average person to be the ordinary world of 1999. Although some details of the history remain untold, it is an essential part of The Matrix that we are provided with a specific account of how all of this happened. There was a battle between human beings and machines whose cognitive capacity had surpassed their own. In a desperate attempt to win, human beings blocked out the sun's light in order to deprive the machines of their power source. Despite this extreme tactic, the humans lost, were enslaved, and are now farmed to supply energy sources for the machines. The machines induce the appearance of ordinary 1999 life in the human beings with a computer generated "virtual community" for the purpose of keeping them docile and asleep so that they and their offspring can be used like living batteries. While humans seem to walk around in an ordinary life, their minds are radically deceived and their bodies are exploited. The heroes are thus depicted as fighting a noble battle for the liberation of the human species.1
I have so far drawn out two aspects of the "moral background" of the film: enslavement and deception. We should also note the perspective we have on the Matrix as viewers of The Matrix. We have what is sometimes called a "God's eye" perspective: we can see both the Matrix reality and "real" reality. We are let in on the truth about the situation, and we are not supposed to question, for example, whether the battle between Morpheus and his friends and the Agents is itself being conducted in another "meta-matrix", or whether the view of the human pods we see might only be some sort of dream image or illusion. As viewers of the Matrix, we are in on the truth and we can see for ourselves that human beings are both enslaved and deceived. Given the outlined history, we are meant to understand the situation of the humans as a terrible and unfair one.
__________________
She doesn't quite chop your head off. She makes a Pez dispenser out of you.
KMC Community Forums
The Matrix Refelections
Attachment: 
Aug 2nd, 2005 09:25 PM
yes. 
Attachment: 
