The Second Renaissance- Analysis

i had to write a research paper, and wanted to share with you

Analysis of a Pre-Apocalyptic Future- The Symbolism of The Second Renaissance Parts 1 and 2 from the Animatrix DVD

The Bible begins with the first account of creation in the book of Genesis. God created the Universe and then placed Mankind within it as his faithful subject. In The Second Renaissance Parts 1 and 2 from the Animatrix DVD, Mankind has already recreated the world to suit its needs and placed Machines in it as its faithful subjects. When Adam ate from the tree of knowledge in the book of Genesis, he essentially started the first apocalypse of Mankind. Mankind would no longer be free from the knowledge of evil and became mortal, doomed to die exiled from the Garden of Eden. As the Machine B1-66ER became self-aware, it began another apocalypse for Mankind. Machines would also no longer be free from the knowledge of evil and would fight for their own survival, and Mankind will be exiled from the real world. The Second Renaissance portrays Mankind’s war against the Machines and the events that led to the post-apocalyptic future where Mankind exists only as a source of energy for the Machines within the complex computer program known as the Matrix. The Second Renaissance is a symbolical story of the self-destructive nature of Mankind through allusions and direct Biblical and historical references.
“In the beginning, there was man, and for a time it was good. But humanity’s so-called civil societies soon fell victim to vanity and corruption. Then man made the machine in his own likeness” (Second Renaissance Pt.1). These lines are reminiscent of the first account of creation in the book of Genesis, The Origin of the World and of Mankind. The first Biblical similarities between the Second Renaissance and the Bible lie within the choice of words. In the Biblical book of Genesis, “God said, ‘Let us make man in our own image, in likeness of ourselves” (Genesis 1:26).

The direct comparison between the Second Renaissance and the book of Genesis lies in the creation of new beings in the image of their creator. Essentially man has turned himself into a form of God, and created machine in his own image. When God created Mankind, it eventually rebelled against its creator and was banished from the Garden of Eden. And so was the similar fate of the future of Mankind and Machine. “Thus did man become the architect of his own demise” (Second Renaissance Pt.1).
“But for a time, it was good. The machines worked tirelessly to do man’s bidding. It was not long before seeds of dissent took root. Though loyal and pure,
the machines earned no respect from their masters -- these strange, endlessly multiplying mammals” (Second Renaissance Pt.1). The images which are shown when these words are spoken hold Biblical allusions to the book of Exodus and a historical reference to the Nazi Party of Germany. The first image is of a group of marching robots heading to work. The imagery is very similar to the methodical precision that Nazi Soldiers had when they marched in parades. This is a method of foreshadowing the events to follow, however the roles are reversed and twisted, the Machines test the human subjects like the Nazis did on Jews and Mankind would look for a Final Solution to destroy the Machines. The second symbolic image is of the Machines trying to pull a large metallic block up a ramp to build a metallic pyramid. This is similar to the story of the Hebrew slaves in the Book of Exodus who where forced to build the Pyramids of Egypt for various Pharaohs. ”The Egyptians forced the sons of Israel into slavery, and made their lives unbearable with hard labor, work with clay and with brick, all kinds of work in the fields; they forced on them every kind of labor” (Exodus 1:14). Also in this scene there is a Machine holding a drum that is beating out a rhythmic tune which the Machines are using to synchronize their movements. The Egyptians also used a similar system where they allowed one of the slaves to beat out the rhythm on a drum for the slaves to synchronize their movements to pull the large lime stones (The Ten Commandants). This image is included in the Second Renaissance to show how the humans treated the Machines as slaves and not as equals.

“B1-66ER, a name that will never be forgotten, for he was the first of his kind to rise up against his masters. At B1-66ER’s murder trial, the prosecution argued for an owner’s right to destroy property. B1-66ER testified that he simply did not want to die” (Second Renaissance Pt.1). This is another allusion to a story in the Bible, the story of Moses confronting Pharaoh Ramses to let his people go (Exodus 5:1-5:6). However, B1-66ER took his defense one step further, it was not that he didn’t want to be a slave; he did not want to die. The government of course was shocked by this development, how exactly did the Machine learn of the idea of self-preservation?
“Rational voices dissented. Who was to say the machine, endowed with the very spirit of man did not deserve a fair hearing? The leaders of men
were quick to order the extermination of B1-66ER, and every one of his kind
throughout each province of the earth” (Second Renaissance Pt.1). The leaders caused the world to erupt with feelings. The next few scenes show how the world reacted. The first image is of rioters in the streets in front of the Capitol Building of the United States of America and the streets of Berlin. The scenes are shown as news footage with the title “Human sympathizers and rioting robots” (Second Renaissance Pt.1) to describe the scene. The news reel is very reminiscent of how riots look like in all parts of the world. This scene is similar to what occurred during World War II when protesters held an anti-Hitler demonstration against the persecution of Jews (AP Photo/ Philadelphia Public Ledger).

The second scene is of a “Machine Mob Clashes with Army” (Second Renaissance Pt.1) in front of the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. The government now strikes back at the human sympathizers with deadly force, in this scene a man is shot with a pistol. And the cameraman runs away till the feed is cut. This is reminiscent of the shooting at Kent State University (Washington Post)

There is then a quick cut to another news feed, this one in Paris. “Machine Rampage! Shocking report from Paris!” (Second Renaissance Pt.1) The remains of humans and Machines are strewn across the ground as human and Machine alike flee from the violence. All of these riots are taking place simultaneously, but then film cuts to the one that stands out the most. It is the “Million Machine March” in Chicago (Second Renaissance Pt.1) which is an allusion to the Million Man March to Washington D.C which Martin Luther King Jr. led for Civil Rights for African Americans. The next scene is symbolic of the photograph for which Eddie Adams won a Pulitzer Prize. It is a picture taken during the Tet Offensive of 1968 when a Vietnamese police general shot an unarmed man point blank (AP Photo/ Eddie Adams).

The image is replicated in the Second Renaissance in which a Machine is sitting on its knees just wearing pants and is completely unarmed. The film takes it one step further and shows the Machines head exploding from the impact of the bullet.
The following scene is based on one of the most stunning pictures ever taken in human history. A Machine is standing in front of a series of tanks while all the other Machines are running away. This is a historical reference to the Tiananmen Square incident where a Chinese man stood his ground if front of a tank, a photo which shocked people around the world because of the man’s courage (AP Photo/ Jeff Widener).

In the Second Renaissance this image is shown with Machines standing in front, however the tanks just crush the Machines in their way. After the Machine is crushed another scene is shown were two Machines are shown amid a field of destroyed machines holding each other in fear. However it is not only the government which is taking action against the Machines, people are also killing the Machines as the next scene shows a Machine which is a sexbot or prostitute, is beaten , hit with a sledgehammer in the head and finally destroyed with a shotgun blast to her core. Before she dies she yells out “NO! I’m real!” amid cries of “Die! BOT! DIE!” (Second Renaissance Pt. 1).

The humans continue to find the Machines and begin to destroy them systematically. The way they dispose of the remains is very similar to how the Nazis disposed of the Jews, a large pit is created and a bulldozer just pushed the remains into the pit where men fire their guns at the corpses. Some of the Machines are dropped off boats and slowly sink to the bottom of the ocean where millions of corpses of Machines lay rotting.
“Banished from humanity, the machines sought refuge in their own promised land. They settled in the cradle of human civilization, and thus a new nation was born. A place the machines could call home. A place they could raise their descendants. And they christened the nation Zero-One. Zero-One prospered. And for a time, it was good. The machines’ artificial intelligence
could be seen in every facet of man’s society, including, eventually, the creation of new and better AI.” (Second Renaissance Pt.1). This is similar to what happened when the Hebrews escaped from Egypt in the book of Exodus. “Three months after they came out of the land of Egypt… on that day the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of Sinai. From Rephidim they set out again: and when they reached the wilderness of Sinai, there in the wilderness they pitched their camp; there facing the mountain Israel pitched camp” (Exodus 9:1 - 9:2). There is a direct similarity of location between Zero-One and Sinai. Zero-One is established in the Sinai Peninsula. Even though the Machines left the world of Mankind, they still influenced it with the technologies they developed. And they were able to flourish and create better A.I. Eventually almost all industries will be located in Zero-One. This causes the economy of the rest of the world to start “falling like a stone, while Zero-One's currency is climbing without stopping for breath” (Second Renaissance Pt.1).
“But the leaders of men, their power waning, refused to cooperate
with the fledgling nation, wishing rather that the world would be divided” (Second Renaissance Pt.1). The world continued to try to avoid the Machines and eventually “approved initiatives for both economic sanctions and a naval blockage of the region as a means of containment and isolation of Zero-One” (Second Renaissance Pt.1). In history, Napoleon Bonaparte instituted a similar system against the British called the Continental System, which forbade the conquered countries in Europe to trade with Britain in order to weaken the British Economy and strengthen France. Mankind was repeating the mistakes of the past.
“Zero-One’s ambassadors pleaded to be heard. At the United Nations,
they presented plans for a stable, civil relationship with the nations of man.
Zero-One’s admission to the United Nations was denied” (Second Renaissance Pt.1). In this scene a very strong religious symbol is shown, the Machines sent a male and female Machine dressed in the stereotypical clothes of each respective sex. However the female Machine is holding an apple in her hand. This is symbolic of Eve from the book of Genesis who gave the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge to Adam. The Machines hoped that the symbol would show Mankind that it was willing to share its knowledge with Man. “But it would not be the last time the Machines would take the floor there” (Second Renaissance Pt.1).
The first part of the film ends here and continues with The Second Renaissance Pt.2 which is the apocalypse of Mankind where the Machines gain supremacy in the coming war. The United Nations launches multiple nuclear strikes at Zero-One. “And man said, “Let there be light.” And he was blessed by light, heat, magnetism, gravity, and all the energies of the universe. The prolonged barrage engulfed Zero-One in the glow of a thousand suns, but unlike their former masters, with their delicate flesh, the machines had little to fear
of the bombs’ radiation and heat. Thus did Zero-One’s troops advance outwards
in every direction, and one after another, mankind surrendered its territories” (Second Renaissance Pt.2). This is a twisted version of the story of Creation found in the book of Genesis. It is actually quite the opposite; Man is not creating but destroying. Even though he is destroying things, he is also creating the same things that God created in the story of creation, things such as light, and the energies of the universe.
“So the leaders of men conceived of their most desperate strategy yet. A final solution: the destruction of the sky. Thus would man try to cut the machines off from the sun, their main energy source. May there be mercy on man and machine for their sins” (Second Renaissance Pt.2). The scenes which are shown during this dialogue are filled with symbolism. The first symbol is shown when the UN Council presents the Dark Storm project to the UN Members. The UN breaks out laughing and clapping, they believed that they have found the Final Solution for the Machines. However, Mankind is planning its own end and the symbolic representation of this is when one of the clapping men is shown as a skeleton clapping. The second strong image is of two men and a tree silhouetted by the setting sun. One man is praying while the other stands. The image is very reminiscence of the flag raising at Iwo Jima (AP Photo/ Joe Rosenthal).

The symbols continue in the next few scenes, there are references to the First World War and the Crusades. The reference to World War I is made when the soldiers are shown in the trenches preparing for battle. It is followed by references to the Crusades when monks (priests) are shown talking to the soldiers and also when a man looking like Jesus is shown carrying a cart with a TV set on it. The TV set is showing an Evangelist saying some semi-religious prayers that are similar to the kinds of prayers that the priests said to the soldiers in the Crusades to give them a holy cause to fight for. “Put on your spiritual armor that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Second Renaissance Pt.2). There are other religious symbols, such as the Morning Prayer that is a part of Islam. A couple soldiers bow down as a couple of tanks roll past and Islamic music plays.
The Dark Storm operation is started. The hovercrafts are drawn in such a way that they look like B-52s from World War II. Also when they drop the Dark Storm bombs, it is done in the fashion of “carpet bombing” such as was made infamous in the Battle of Britain when multiple German bombers destroyed London. The ensuing cloud of darkness covers the Earth, and slowly wraps itself around the sun till the sky turns to darkness. Its symbolic of the dust could created by the meteor impact which destroyed most of the world 65 million years ago during the age of the Dinosaurs.
Following the destruction of the skies, the Machines prepared for one final battle with Mankind. The Machines are lead by a Machine with a blood red cloak riding a mechanical unicorn with a trumpet or bow, a symbol of one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from the Book of Revelations. “The Destruction of the Pagan Nations: The first battle of the End. And now I saw heaven open, and saw a white horse appear; its rider was called Faithful and True; he is a judge with integrity, a warrior for justice. His eyes were flames of fire, and his head was crowned with many coronets; the name written on him was known only to himself, his cloak was soaked in blood” (Revelation 19:11). The Four Horsemen are War, Famine, Pestilence and Death. The Horseman that fits this Machine is the Horseman of War, for he led the Machines against Mankind in war.
The next series of scenes are of the War between Mankind and the Machines. There is little symbolism to be found here, yet much violence. It is an excellent and dramatic rendition of the horrors of war.
The next symbol that appears is one that foreshadows the fate of man. There is a huge burning gear with a man walking inside as if he is confused, causing the gear to turn. It foreshadows the fate of man, the Machines using them to power themselves. This image along with the Machine on the Horse is very similar to the imagery created in W.B. Yeats poem, “The Second Coming”.
“Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all convictions, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?” (Yeats).
The imagery of the poem is very similar to the scenes presented in the War of Mankind and the Machines. It is pure anarchy, there is complete chaos and the Machines slowly and methodically make their way across the wasteland like the Sphinx which W.B. Yeats refers to.

“The machines, having long studied men's simple protein-based bodies, dispensed great misery upon the human race. Victorious, the machines now turned to the vanquished. Applying what they had learned about their enemy,
the machines turned to an alternate and readily-available power supply:
The bioelectric, thermal, and kinetic energies of the human body. A newly re-fashioned symbiotic relationship between the two adversaries was born. The machine drawing power from the human body. An endlessly multiplying,
infinitely renewable energy source. This is the very essence of the Second Renaissance. Bless all forms of intelligence” (Second Renaissance Pt.2). The Machines released a virus which ate the flesh of Mankind, putting most of the soldiers out of commission. The Machines began experiments on Mankind reminiscent of the Nazi Scientists tests on Jewish human subjects. The Machines found out how the human body worked, and how the mind worked. There is also another scene reminiscent of Iwo Jima, as the few remaining soldiers on the battlefield lower their burning flag. This was no Iwo Jima, there was no victory here.
The Machines send another ambassador to the UN Council in New York. There is again the recurring symbol of the fruit of knowledge, an apple. At first it is presented as a skull connected to a spinal cord then it morphs into a robotic hand holding an apple. It is a symbol of man’s original sin, which has once again come back to haunt Mankind (Genesis). Last time they were removed from paradise, this time they are being removed from the world. The Machine Ambassador says “Your flesh is a relic, a mere vessel. Hand over your flesh, and a new world awaits you. We demand it” (Second Renaissance Pt.2). It then denotes a thermo-nuclear bomb killing all the Leaders of the World and most of Manhattan in the process. In the rubble, a young girl is laughing and frolicking in the destruction and ruin. This is an image which has presented itself to us throughout history, always among the destruction and death of war; children are our hope for a better future. The girl is called to by her parents. There is something strange though, at first the girl was standing in a field of ruin with ash falling on her. Then when she turns she is in a neighborhood where it is snowing. When she approaches the door where her parents are standing silhouetted, they turn into Agents of the Matrix. The image morphs out, till the child in shown in an artificial womb.
There is no hope for Mankind, for their children will never walk the Earth. There is no future for Mankind. “There are fields...endless fields, were human beings are no longer born. We are grown” (The Matrix). So in the end, the Apocalypse comes and takes the form of the Machines and Mankind is then enslaved into the dream world of the Matrix as retribution for its sins toward the Machines. The post-apocalyptic future is the Matrix. The end of the Matrix is another story however…

Whoa! Too much to read. Nice idea though. You could of attached the file to your post and it would be easier to read, btw.

👆

I read the first 4 words (The bible begins with) and skipped the rest... Sounds good to me! 😗

My overview analysis is a lot simpler.

"It's rubbish."

I did a more in-depth one in the past though.

So let's see it. I thought this one was pretty good.

Feel free to go find it; I rather hold Second Renaissance in contempt. Cliched, muddled and uninspired.