Parallels between Star Wars & Matrix
Right Jedi, it's high noon and i'm calling you out. I know you're in there, I can see ya.
No but seriously you've asked me to do this and I figure now's as good a time as any. All are welcome. Do both Universes intersect with each other any where, if so how? And are there common trains of thought regarding the mythology behind them?
Intersecting Universes? Errrrrr, no, not even vaguely possible...
Mythology behind them? Not really, except they both follow heroic plotlines, destiny, and Ones (chosen or otherwise), but frankly, that only puts them level with several hundred other stories.
Similarities in style, however... there you can make more parallels. Several times when the sentinels attack it is done in Star Wars style (in both fly-by and turret shots); the relationship between Morpheus and Neo is comparable to Obi-Wan and Luke... and so forth.
I found a lot of random parallels between Star Wars and the Matrix...but I'm also one of those people who overthinks everything 😂 I also found lots of parallels between the Matrix and Dune, and even the Matrix and Harry Potter. Yeah, I'm really crazy, but they're there and if anyone wants to hear what I found I'll post them.
i think that there are some similarities as well.
in star wars anakin skywalker is *makes quotation marks in the air with fingers* the one. he's supposed to bring the force into balance and stop evil (or whatever) and bring peace to de galaxy.
in de matrix neo is de 1 he is supposed to stop the war between man and machine and bring peace to de world.
same old same old. if i had more time to go into this i would but thats the genereal gist of it.
Originally posted by Shape Shifter
i think that there are some similarities as well.in star wars anakin skywalker is *makes quotation marks in the air with fingers* the one. he's supposed to bring the force into balance and stop evil (or whatever) and bring peace to de galaxy.
in de matrix neo is de 1 he is supposed to stop the war between man and machine and bring peace to de world.
same old same old. if i had more time to go into this i would but thats the genereal gist of it.
everyone (and im talking in the movies) analyzes that prophecy wrong. If 'the one' is supposed to bring the Force into balance, and there are MILLIONS of Jedi and a few Sith, what does one think that means? oh, wait, exactly what happens in Ep. 3...the eradication of most Jedi. He was meant to be evil from the beginning.
So, going back to the topic at hand...seeing into the future and pulling things to oneself. Well, throughout history every 'legendary hero' has been portrayed as larger than life, somehow able to bend the rules. As time progresses, the story of a simple man becomes the legend of this superhuman who fought 100 men by himself and won the heart of his true love, yadda yadda yadda...usually, he is also gifted with some magical power, whether it be the ability to see into the future or control men, etc. These characteristics are thematic now, as they are used throughout folk lore and fairy tales alike. As i was saying before, these elements are used in some of the best literature known to man, whether the 'one' is King arthur or Beowulf, Anakin, Neo or Paul-Muad'Dib.
Originally posted by JediHDM
everyone (and im talking in the movies) analyzes that prophecy wrong. If 'the one' is supposed to bring the Force into balance, and there are MILLIONS of Jedi and a few Sith, what does one think that means? oh, wait, exactly what happens in Ep. 3...the eradication of most Jedi. He was meant to be evil from the beginning.
thank you the anomaly...been awhile since i used that word...not an everyday word, doncha know...
Numo> yes, balance does mean equilibrium. And if you think about it, Anakin did bring equilibrium. He did it when he killed off most Jedi, leaving only sparse remnants. He did it when he brought Luke and Leia into the world, the hope after the darkness. And he did it in a final act of good, saving his son and sacrificing himself to kill the Emperor. In that final act, He killed off the two Sith living (and i mean living as in in a body, since there are other ways for Sith to be living...) and left neither trained Sith nor trained jedi alive (Luke wasnt really a Jedi, he was trained, but not as he shoulda been). This indeed brought balance to the Force. ofcourse, you will probably argue with me, but ive gotten used to that as a matter of course.
Ok, first of all, talking Star Wars, you guys are wrong. We get this a lot. Balance is not equilibrium between Light and Dark. That is a very basic, and totally incorrect, way of looking at it. Wiping out the Jedi did not bring any balance. George Lucas has explained how this works.
The Light Side BRING BALANCE. It is the balancing power in the Galaxy. The Dark Side DESTROYS BALANCE. It is the thing that removes Balance from the Galaxy. Balance is living in a Galaxy where things live in hamrony. As GL also explains, the Light Side is symbiotic- things live in balance with each other. The Dark Side is, by contrast, parasitic- things destroy each other. Only the Light Side can bring this symbiotic universe. Note that The Phantom Menance is full of such symbiotic references as GL hammers the point home.
It is the Sith that unbalance the Galaxy. The way to re-balance it is simply to destroy the Sith.
The Jedi keep things balanced, The Sith destroy it. When Anakin destroyed the Jedi he was abandoning his destiny- but Luke managed to get him back ontrack again. After the films, the Jedi Order will be re-founded, with no more Sith, in a now balanced Galaxy.
You must totally purge the idea of Sith and Jedi having to have equal numbers, or trying to use both sides of the Force, as balance. That is nonsense. I am afraid what JediHDM says is utterly wrong. The Chosen One was not meant to be evil- he was meant to destroy the Sith, that is all. Also, Luke is very clearly a true Jedi after ROTJ- that is the point of the film! Yoda says it very precisely- Luke will be a Jedi, a true Jedi, once he has faced Vader again. You cannot just ignore that.
George Lucas says, after explaining that the Prophecy states that things will become unbalanced, but then can be re-balanced in future:
"The Phantom Menace refers to the force of the dark side of the Universe. Anakin will be taken over by dark forces which in turn destroy the balance of the Galaxy, but the individual who kills Emperor is Darth Vader - also Anakin... the tale meanders and both the prediction, and Qui-Gon are correct."
It is the Dark Forces that do the unbalancing. If Anakin had stayed true to his path, he could have destroyed the Sith and brought balance without the Jedi order being oblitterated, and all would have been much better (though the story would have been much more dull).
So in this case, there is a huge DIS-parallel between Star Wars and Matrix. Star Wars morality is very simple- the Dark Side is evil and utterly without virtue and it MUST be destroyed. There can be no other view on it that is correct.
Matrix mixes it up somewhat, of course.
BTW, George Lucas also said, rather more plainly, of Anakin, that:
"He brings balance to the Force by doing away with the Sith and getting rid of evil in the universe."
Simple as that, see? So forget any idea you ever had about equaliisng Jedi and Sith numbers, or using both sides of the Force, or trying to weigh up good/evil or light/dark on some set of cosmic scales. All hogwash.