[-SPOILERS-] The Matrix Trilogy "explained"!

akpe

Δημοσ. 24 Νοεμβρίου 2003

Το βρήκα στο forum του Neowin κ είπα να το παραθέσω:

Wow ... where to start, where to end. Choice. Isn't that the problem? After all, every beginning does have an end, and this is it.

I saw the Matrix Revolutions today, when it came out, and must say I was in awe at the end ... everything clicked in my mind. Perhaps saying I will explain everything in this post is a bit ludicrous of a claim, but I will explain everything that makes sense.

Let's start with the beginning, appropriately so. The first movie is about birth, the second about love, the third about death and sacrifice. Let me explain and expand on those three points. The first movie was a stepping stone for the other two, in that it introduced a new world, and explained everything to us, the unsuspecting viewer. Frankly, at the END, the only important bits of the first Matrix movie are the following:

1) Neo is the one

2) When he is killed by Smith, he comes back.

These two things are what explains and launches the other two movie. Neo is the one, because he chose to be. He did that by taking the red pill, which in turn made him understand why he took it. Choices are what govern us all, including Neo. When Smith shoots Neo in the first movie, Neo is “born” in this new state of enlightenment, being “the One.” Keep this in mind while I explain the only important bit to the second movie in terms of this philosophical stream of thought. The second movie was a transition between Neo finding out his powers, and Neo experiencing love.

The really only important bits of the second movie are the following:

1) Neo is in love with Trinity

2) When Trinity dies, due to this Love, Neo is able to bring her back (reference – rebirth in the first movie)

Now, this may look like I am skipping a LOT, and yes, I am but bear with me. This will all make sense momentarily (I hope.) In the second movie, SINCE Neo loves Trinity, he chooses not to let her die. The second movie is all about love.

Now, the third movie. In that movie, which I just saw and so is fresh in my memory, the important bits to this stream of thought are that:

1) Trinity dies to save Neo (because of Love)

2) Neo dies to save Zion (because he is the One)

Now, the difference with the third movie is that they both die, and neither of them come back. Is it coincidence that Neo dies once, survives the first and dies the second, that Trinity dies twice, survives the first and dies the second? I’m sorry guys, but no it isn’t. The entire trilogy is supposed to balance itself, just like the Ying and Yang. For every death, there is a birth, for every person who comes back, there is a death. The fact that Trinity and Neo have similar paths is simply to emphasize the love that they share, the love they CHOSE to have between them two which essentially led to all the rest. Now that I made my broad point, I will go back in time and I will nitpick and explain how everything in the trilogy effectively cancel out to bring a mathematical perfection, a balanced equation.

Let’s be original, and take the second movie. When Neo and Trinity come out of the elevator the first time they come to Zion, Neo is welcomed with gifts by everyone. Trinity leaves, and Neo says “I need you,” to which Trinity replies “They need you.” Then, in the third movie, Trinity dies for Neo, and Neo dies for Zion. Coincidence? No siree! It’s all about the Ying and Yang, for every matter there is anti-matter. Neo and Smith are the same, and opposite. The Architect and the Oracle, are the same, but opposite. That just reminded me, I have a bit to say about the Architect which was left unclear in Reloaded and now is blinding obvious in Revolutions.

Who is the Architect? Fine, he created the Matrix. Perhaps the relevant question is what is his PURPOSE. Ah, now we’re talking. The Architect’s purpose, evidently, is to force Neo to make a choice. In Reloaded, he must choose between the door to the right and the one to the left. This choice is what then triggered everything else, and what the Architect said was “impossible” in fact happened. The only purpose to the Architect is to emphasize that everything begins, and ends, with choice. Now, in the third movie, the little girl. What is her purpose? To show the similarities between humans and machines, and to make neo more and more appealing, and smith less and less appealing, in equal but opposite ways. When neo first meets the little girl and her parents, he learns that machines CAN have feelings like love. When neo fights Smith, Smith says that love is an illusion. Neo beats Smith when Smith KNEW he beat Neo. Why? Because Smith made the CHOICE to see what he wanted to see, not what was going to happen. To quote, “we can never see past the choices we do not understand”.

The ending of Revolutions symbolises everything, because it creates a symbiotic relationship between humans and machines. It has a moral, not that war is useless, but that it’s a perpetual cycle between humans and machines. One day one side wins, the other day the other side. Then, one side wipes the other, the “anomaly” – or the one – comes, repopulates Zion and it starts over. Neo is the one who broke the cycle, because he CHOSE to. By doing this, he essentially made it that peace is the best option, and he BELIEVED in that so much that he was ready to sacrifice his life. The ending stroke me as quite ingenious, with the black cat walking by the little girl on the pavement, because in the first matrix, the black cat was a reference to “déjà vu – when they change something in the matrix”, and at the end we have a deja-vu with the cat. This brings back that in all his ignorance at the beginning, the state Neo was in was similar to the one at the end, stable. The only difference is at the end, he achieved peace, and that is how Neo broke the cycle, that’s how his choice affected the outcome.

A few other questions that bothered me. How can Neo still see when blind? How can Neo still be in the matrix when not plugged in? He can still see when blind because Neo was created by the machine world, and in the end helped the machines AND the humans EQUALLY. Since he was created by the machines as the “anomaly”, he is connected to the source at all times, and so he doesn’t need to see, the source can feedback to him. This is also why he can be and feel the matrix when he is not plugged in, because essentially Neo is part of the source. I particularly liked the bit where Neo meets the girl at the train station for the first time, because the father mentions Karmas which I think summarize the movie very well. Neo is at the right Karma to be the one after his “first” death, Trinity is prepared to risk her life and have the right Karma for that after her “first” death, and they end up living and dying together, a love so strong that no man or machine could do anything about.

And so, through birth, through love, and through death – the life cycle of your average human being, we see the connection between Neo, Trinity and Zion. I particularly liked the bit when he last shook his hand with Morpheus, really touched me seeing where the two came from and the mutual respect they have for them now, and that is why Neo won, because of that human touch combined with the machine Cartesian mind and resources. The outcome, in my mind, though predictable was perfect, and I loved the movie. The last bit where the Architect says “Of course I promise, I’m not human” or something close to that, I think is great because it means that those who CHOOSE to be freed, i.e. have the right Karma to be freed will be freed, and so it’s a compromise between humans and machines understanding and respecting each other, leading to this prominent peace.