Verity> Yes, there are indeed religious ASPECTS in the Matrix movies. But the theme as such is far from being religious. Or rather – it questions religion. Neo is the One – because the prophecy SAYS so. No, Neo can be proven to be the One, he has extraordinary powers.
But – it is JUST another system of control. Just as religion is “a” means of control.
“The One was never MEANT to end anything,” as Neo says in Reloaded.
Fate and prophecies restrict our free will.
Neo doesn’t end the war BECAUSE he’s The One. He does so, because he – Neo - chooses to do so.
Then there’s the theme of “reincarnation” from Hindi and Buddhist myths. But it is not Neo who’s been reborn over and over and over. It’s the anomaly which has been given a new shell – like a peculiar kind of virtual “soul”, that’s tried and tried six times now.
But to break the cycle of reincarnation you need to free yourself of the chains of what it means to be human. In Reloaded, however, it is one of those chains – love – that makes it possible for Neo (and the anomaly) to progress further than any other One has done before.
So to me – at least – following religious THEMES to interpret the end of Revolutions will just lead me astray. Is Neo a Messiah? With a soul (anomaly) created by God (The Arhitect), who goes to paradise (the first Matrix), when the shell (Neo) dies? Uh, I hope not?
Is Neo a boddhisatva (an enlightened individual) whose soul (the anomaly) has seen past the illusion of reality (The Matrix) and now transcends that? Doesn’t really fit either, does it?
Most religions see the “flesh” as “evil” or inherently “evil”, while the soul is pure. But frankly, I’d rather see the anomaly go somewhere, and Neo (the flesh) live. 🙂
And I think he did survive.
I think so too....
Whatever u wanna call it spirit, code, any term u want....the flesh itself is gone, and if I'd have to call it something, can I call it essence? That would be the only thing to me hangin' around of Neo. The machines have kept his flesh to do whatever they want with it....That was his compromise. That after he was done, the machines could have him.
i posted this somewhere in this forum but i'll post it again, what the heck...
at the end of revolutions, sati asked the oracle if they would see neo again... she said eventually or someday or something to that effect... which has led me to the conclusion that the peace between man and machine would indeed end... hence they (the machines) would need to reinsert the code/ program of the anomaly sooner or later... what happened with neo's body (or mind, brain) was that the machines used it as a disk... a mere vessel, a relic where the can keep the code and reinsert it when the need arises...
so neo's body could indeed be "dead", but the code he carries remains intact within his mind/ brain...