Okay i found this on USENET. It answers a whole lot of questions, but does leave you wanting more. All will be answered in the 3rd installment (Revolutions).
This is a VERY long post!!
Ok.... maybe not explained. Maybe just explored.
*****------ MASSIVE SPOILERS ALERT ------*****
This post is very long. Sorry.
I have just seen Matrix: Reloaded for the second time. This is just one
humble man's opinion of what is going on. I do not pretend to read the minds
of the Wachowski brothers, but this is my interpretation of the movie. I
look forward to responses to see what others think.
Let me state up front I really enjoyed this movie. The second viewing was even better than the first. I find this movie far deeper than the first movie, with more to think and ponder over, and definitely more mature in terms of plot, philosophy and character. The first movie had a great visceral kick to it. This movie has a better mental kick to it, exploring powerful notions of what it means to be human. But only if you let it.
*****------ MASSIVE SPOILERS ALERT ------*****
*****------ MASSIVE SPOILERS ALERT ------*****
*****------ MASSIVE SPOILERS ALERT ------*****
*****------ MASSIVE SPOILERS ALERT ------*****
A few points about Agent Smith and Bane:
Many people miss the fact that Agent Smith takes over Bane inside the Matrix. Early on in the movie, two rebels enter a room with a phone. One of them is Bane. Hard to make out in the dark room, but it is him. Bane hands an envelope to the other rebel who answers the phone and is gone. The envelope presumably holds the disk drive from the Oracle in it that must be delivered to Neo. Bane is then attacked by Agent Smith. At this point, Smith converts Bane into himself, then picks up the phone.
Inside the Matrix, the freed humans are not their true selves, but avatars of themselves. ("Snowcrash" anyone?) They can look and be anything they choose. So when Agent Smith attacks Bane and takes him over, he's really just taking over his avatar. When this duplicated version of Smith as a software virus answers the phone, the Smith virus is then uploaded into the real Bane in the real world.
One of the things William Gibson brought to the SF world (if I have my SF mythology correct) was the notion of "wetware." That is, software that can be uploaded into the human brain and in effect, re-wire the brain. A lot of people seem to think Agent Smith magically teleported into the real world in Reloaded. Might I suggest Smith simply uploaded himself into Bane and has now rewired Bane's brain. Bane is now in effect, the virus software that is Smith, but in a human shell.
For those who don't recognize who Bane is... he is the guy who cuts himself with the knife when he sees Neo, and attempts to attack Neo from behind before interrupted. I assume Smith in Bane form cuts his hand because he is feeling pain for the first time and it's something he does to test if he is in the real world. Bane also tries to convince another captain during the council meeting to "volunteer" to help Morpheus and Neo, where the captain says "Shut your hole Bane, or I'll put you in one." Bane is also the guy who presumably sabotaged the ships Lock sent out to fight the sentinels. Bane is rescued and is the guy seen on the table next to Neo at the very end of the movie.
What Bane will do in Revolutions should prove interesting, but Agent Smith didn't magically teleport outside the Matrix into the real world. He uploaded himself into Bane's brain.
Next: The Oracle
After the first time I saw the movie, I thought the Oracle was basically controlled by the Architect, and therefore complicit in the whole "prophecy" scam of the One.
I'm now not convinced of that anymore. If someone could post a transcript of her chat with Neo, it would help on a lot of front. At one point, however, she says something along the lines of "we're in this together." I take the "we" as we machines and humans. As in the Oracle may truly believe that humans and machines must learn to co-exist to survive.
The Oracle, in many ways, seems to be the machines counterpart to the Councilor. If you recall, the Councilor makes nods to things such humans rely on machines to live when he takes Neo down to the engineering level. There must be a sort of co-existence to survive. The Oracle, as a sentient program in the Matrix, seems to imply this as well. Maybe she leads the One to the Architect in the hope that at some point, the One will break the cycle? She says things about Neo that seems to suggest that she's impressed with him to the degree that he really might be the One that can accomplish this. I assume we will learn her true intention in the last movie, but I'm of the opinion she wants to see humans freed, and then see humans and machines co-existing.
The Big Stuff: The Architect
Let's read the big reveal of the movie. (Much props to William Hinson for this transcript he posted to usenet)
-----
The Architect - Hello, Neo.
Neo - Who are you?
The Architect - I am the Architect. I created the matrix. I've been waiting for you. You have many questions, and although the process has altered your consciousness, you remain irrevocably human. Ergo, some of my answers you will understand, and some of them you will not. Concordantly, while your first question may be the most pertinent, you may or may not realize it is also irrelevant.
Neo - Why am I here?
The Architect - Your life is the sum of a remainder of an unbalanced equation inherent to the programming of the matrix. You are the eventuality of an anomaly, which despite my sincerest efforts I have been unable to eliminate from what is otherwise a harmony of mathematical precision. While it remains a burden to sedulously avoid it, it is not unexpected, and thus not beyond a measure of control. Which has led you, inexorably, here.
Neo - You haven't answered my question.
The Architect - Quite right. Interesting. That was quicker than the others.
*The responses of the other Ones appear on the monitors: Others? What others? How many? Answer me!'*
The Architect - The matrix is older than you know. I prefer counting from the emergence of one integral anomaly to the emergence of the next, in which case this is the sixth version.
*Again, the responses of the other Ones appear on the monitors: Five versions? Three? I've been lied too. This is bull****.*
Neo: There are only two possible explanations: either no one told me, or no one knows.
The Architect - Precisely. As you are undoubtedly gathering, the anomaly's systemic, creating fluctuations in even the most simplistic equations.
*Once again, the responses of the other Ones appear on the monitors: You can't control me! **** you! I'm going to kill you! You can't make me do anything!*
Neo - Choice. The problem is choice.
*The scene cuts to Trinity fighting an agent, and then back to the
Architects room*
The Architect - The first matrix I designed was quite naturally perfect, it was a work of art, flawless, sublime. A triumph equaled only by its monumental failure. The inevitability of its doom is as apparent to me now as a consequence of the imperfection inherent in every human being, thus I redesigned it based on your history to more accurately reflect the varying grotesqueries of your nature. However, I was again frustrated by failure. I have since come to understand that the answer eluded me because it required a lesser mind, or perhaps a mind less bound by the parameters of perfection. Thus, the answer was stumbled upon by another, an intuitive program, initially created to investigate certain aspects of the human psyche. If I am the father of the matrix, she would undoubtedly be its mother.
Neo - The Oracle.
The Architect - Please. As I was saying, she stumbled upon a solution whereby nearly 99.9% of all test subjects accepted the program, as long as they were given a choice, even if they were only aware of the choice at a near unconscious level. While this answer functioned, it was obviously fundamentally flawed, thus creating the otherwise contradictory systemic anomaly, that if left unchecked might threaten the system itself. Ergo, those that refused the program, while a minority, if unchecked, would constitute an escalating probability of disaster.
Neo - This is about Zion.
The Architect - You are here because Zion is about to be destroyed. Its every living inhabitant terminated, its entire existence eradicated.
Neo - Bull****.
*The responses of the other Ones appear on the monitors: Bull****!*
The Architect - Denial is the most predictable of all human responses. But, rest assured, this will be the sixth time we have destroyed it, and we have become exceedingly efficient at it.
*Scene cuts to Trinity fighting an agent, and then back to the Architects room.*
The Architect - The function of the One is now to return to the source, allowing a temporary dissemination of the code you carry, reinserting the prime program. After which you will be required to select from the matrix 23 individuals, 16 female, 7 male, to rebuild Zion. Failure to comply with this process will result in a cataclysmic system crash killing everyone connected to the matrix, which coupled with the extermination of Zion will ultimately
result in the extinction of the entire human race.
Neo - You won't let it happen, you can't. You need human beings to survive.
The Architect - There are levels of survival we are prepared to accept. However, the relevant issue is whether or not you are ready to accept the responsibility for the death of every human being in this world.
*The Architect presses a button on a pen that he is holding, and images of people from all over the matrix appear on the monitors*
The Architect - It is interesting reading your reactions. Your five predecessors were by design based on a similar predication, a contingent affirmation that was meant to create a profound attachment to the rest of your species, facilitating the function of the one. While the others experienced this in a very general way, your experience is far more specific. Vis-a-vis, love.
*Images of Trinity fighting the agent from Neos dream appear on the monitors*
Neo - Trinity.
The Architect - Apropos, she entered the matrix to save your life at the cost of her own.
Neo - No!
The Architect - Which brings us at last to the moment of truth, wherein the fundamental flaw is ultimately expressed, and the anomaly revealed as both beginning, and end. There are two doors. The door to your right leads to the source, and the salvation of Zion. The door to the left leads back to the matrix, to her, and to the end of your species. As you adequately put, the problem is choice. But we already know what you're going to do, don't we? Already I can see the chain reaction, the chemical precursors that signal the onset of emotion, designed specifically to overwhelm logic, and reason. An emotion that is already blinding you from the simple, and obvious truth: she is going to die, and there is nothing that you can do to stop it.
*Neo walks to the door on his left*
The Architect - Humph. Hope, it is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of your greatest strength, and your greatest weakness.
Neo - If I were you, I would hope that we don't meet again.
The Architect - We won't.
-----
The Architect is describing a lot of programming stuff and concepts. Cool. He sounds like a bunch of programmers I know.
Basically, to make the Matrix work, seems the Architect had to program "free will" for the humans inside the Matrix to trick them into believing the world around them. Part of being human is free will, right? At least many of us would like to believe that. (The Wachowski's are brilliant in creating these mind puzzles in the movie.) It's interesting to note the Architect hated having to program this piece in. When the Architect speaks of "grotesqueries" he speaks of the human flaw to use choice poorly, as exemplified in the images of war and gore in the video as he says these things. It seems the Architect truly does believe the code and logic of machines is on a higher order than the humans. The Oracle doesn't seem to share that perception or attitude.
For the most part, the simulation of the Matrix keeps everyone blissfully unaware they are living a lie. They trick themselves into thinking they have free will (which they do inside the conceptual world of the Matrix), and in doing so, allow the simulation to run such that they can be used as batteries. But in having to program that free will into the code of the Matrix, it results in .1% of the people in the simulation "waking up." When people wake up, they wake others up. And so on... and so on...
The whole thing reminds me of how a memory leak wrecks software. If software runs and a coding bug allows memory to leak out, at some point, the cumulative memory loss can cause the program, even the entire system, to crash.
As the Architect says. "Ergo, those that refused the program, while a minority, if unchecked, would constitute an escalating probability of disaster." In other words, when too many of these people wake up and wake others up, it reaches a critical point that cannot be left unchecked otherwise these people will destroy the Matrix, the lifeblood of the machines, and then destroy the machines.
I love the references to version 6.0 of the Matrix through noting the destruction of Zion may times over. Way cool. I also like the possibility that Neo as this version of the One may be on a higher order than those before him... It has the eastern mysticism bent to it where when one dies, they are reborn into the next higher level if they have achieved enlightenment, and do so until they reach perfection. Neo as this version of the One may be close to reaching the pinnacle of that cycle. More on that some other time. But I think as a concept it's way cool.
A very big point here... When Neo responds that the mother of the Matrix is "The Oracle," The Architect responds with a pithy "Please." As in "Give me a break." As in, no the Oracle is not the mother. That would be Persophone. Leading us to...
Who is Persephone?
Who knows for sure until November. But I'm positive she is the one the Architect is referring to as the mother of the Matrix. Why else would a software program (especially one as good looking Monica Bellucci) in the Matrix be concerned with her software husband getting "serviced" by a blonde bimbo? Why would she lead them to the Keymaker? Out of revenge? She's a software program! Do they feel vengeful? She's playing her role in moving the One along to the Architect. Tricking the rebels into thinking the
prophecy is playing itself out.
Also, why does she wants to feel the love Neo has for Trinity? Persephone wants understand it. To "investigate certain aspects of the human psyche" as the Architect puts it. That would explain the need for the kiss from Neo. I can only guess the Architect sensed the difference in Neo from the outset from the other Ones, and through Persephone, found yet another aspect of humans he didn't account for: Love. He and Persephone have to try and figure out how to deal with this thing in humans they are not familiar with. I also assume when the Architect seems to be okay with all of human kind being wiped out, he might be referring to some way of keeping a few humans alive, coding yet another incarnation of the Matrix, and maybe using this new knowledge about free will and love to design an even better system of farming humans
Maybe the Architect has no issues with nearly wiping out all of humanity to start over and try and achieve perfection? He and Persephone have all the time in the universe.
Some other issues:
The Architect refers to destroying Zion and rebuilding it. Wouldn't humans remember this? How many of us truly understand or know the history of our own countries, religions or origins? They become mostly myth. The Bible? How accurate is it really? The Koran? If Zion gets destroyed and has to be built from scratch by 23 people, over the course of time, things get jumbled.
Fighting the Agents:
Why on Earth does Neo need to fight Agents to get to the Source and the Architect? It seems to me it's all a test. The Architect has to be sure the "anomaly" has reached the critical point. And if the One can fight and survive the obstacles tossed at him to reach the room of the Source...well... Seems like a good indication its time to reload the Matrix and start the simulation over again to keep it all running smoothly. Must **** off the Architect to no end to have to do this every hundred to thousand years or so. Such a sloppy way to handle a software bug for something that thinks so highly of itself. 8^)
Neo as Superman:
People seems to think that because Neo can act like Superman in the Matrix, it means he's God. I just means he has power that gives him shortcuts in the simulation. Notice whenever he fights or does those extreme things in the Matrix, like after the Burly Brawl, he wakes up in the real world a bit tired and exhausted. It takes serious energy and concentration to pull all that off.
And why didn't Neo fly away at the onset of the Burly Brawl? He probably didn't think the Smith virus wasn't going to get as crazy as it did as fast. We all watched some six months ago the last worm program attack the entire Net recently and spread across the planet in lightening speed. I just assume the Smith virus caught Neo off guard in a similar fashion. He started to fight when he thought he could handle it, then bailed when it became too much.
It also was a good excuse to show off the power of a software virus and give us all a cool fight scene to watch. 8^)
Neo saves Trinity:
What happens to your avatar in the Matrix affects your real body in the real world. You die in the Matrix, you die for real. Neo basically reached into Trinity's avatar, and restarted her heart. In doing so, he restarted her heart in the real world and saved her. And in doing so the Wachowskis use the logic of geekdom and SF to portray Neo as the Christ-like figure he is turning out to be.
Free will:
The Architect and the other software programs basically play out the "prophecy" scam to "control" rebels who have woken up, it seems. The Architect isn't controlling the rebels per se. At least I don't think he is. Morpheus does have free will, as do all of them I think. But the Architect devised a clever plan to trick them all into playing out the prophecy scam. He creates the myth of the One and encourages the myth to pass along from human to human. The Architect plays into human desire to understand the question Neo poses at the very onset of his conversation in the room... "Why am I here?"
It's a basic human need. The Architect fiendishly manipulates them all to follow the path of the prophecy by playing into the desire to understand the question "Why am I here?" A question the Architect says is "irrelevant." Morpheus says they've been fighting for a hundred years. The Architect obviously must encourage that kind of storytelling to allow the One to find him at the critical point necessary.
However, the big question then is...
How the Hell did Neo stop the Sentinels?
No idea. I'll let that one go until Revolutions. Maybe Neo is really the One. A true Christ-like figure of the future. Maybe the Architect built the Matrix too well, allowed too much of the humans to play out the scam of the prophecy, and now he has a human who is so in tune with the code of the Matrix (evolution, maybe?) and the machines themselves, that maybe Neo will truly become the salvation for humanity. In playing into the weakness humans have to want to understand who they are, giving them free will, and not correctly estimating the power of human love, the Architect may have unwittingly created a Neo who will actually save them. Even save them in spite of the fact that the prophecy is supposed to be a scam. Morpheus will then be justified in his belief. Neo will save humanity.
Is the real world a Matrix within a Matrix? Didn't Neo stop the Sentinels because the real world is really just another Matrix?
I don't think so. I hope it's not! That's such a cheap plot device, and so much thought has gone into these movies that I hope the Wachowski's don't stoop to such a cheap exit strategy for this story. And I don't think they will.
I think they are giving us something much more. Neo and Trinity exemplify everything worth fighting for in being human. They have the capacity for true love. The whole Rave scene by the way was to demonstrate the beauty of human love, eroticism, passion. I mean... it's what most of us crave most of the time, isn't it? I'm not talking about sex... I'm talking about those moments of intimacy Neo and Trinity share. Connections. Loving each other. The Rave scene was that on a mass scale. The capacity for those moments is the stuff that keeps most of us alive, I think
To end the story as a dream within a dream would be cheap. Neo is the One. The Prophecy will become true.
So... that's it for now. I have more thoughts on the movie. But they'll have to come later. If you read this far, wow. I guess I'm glad you did. Now all I can hope is people respond and tell I'm full of it, agree and expand on these ideas, or point out even more things from the movie I might have missed.
The Matrix: Reloaded. This series may soon surpass Blade Runner for me as the pinnacle movie/story in the annals of SF. As long as Revolutions doesn't disappoint.
This is a VERY long post!!
Ok.... maybe not explained. Maybe just explored.
*****------ MASSIVE SPOILERS ALERT ------*****
This post is very long. Sorry.
I have just seen Matrix: Reloaded for the second time. This is just one
humble man's opinion of what is going on. I do not pretend to read the minds
of the Wachowski brothers, but this is my interpretation of the movie. I
look forward to responses to see what others think.
Let me state up front I really enjoyed this movie. The second viewing was even better than the first. I find this movie far deeper than the first movie, with more to think and ponder over, and definitely more mature in terms of plot, philosophy and character. The first movie had a great visceral kick to it. This movie has a better mental kick to it, exploring powerful notions of what it means to be human. But only if you let it.
*****------ MASSIVE SPOILERS ALERT ------*****
*****------ MASSIVE SPOILERS ALERT ------*****
*****------ MASSIVE SPOILERS ALERT ------*****
*****------ MASSIVE SPOILERS ALERT ------*****
A few points about Agent Smith and Bane:
Many people miss the fact that Agent Smith takes over Bane inside the Matrix. Early on in the movie, two rebels enter a room with a phone. One of them is Bane. Hard to make out in the dark room, but it is him. Bane hands an envelope to the other rebel who answers the phone and is gone. The envelope presumably holds the disk drive from the Oracle in it that must be delivered to Neo. Bane is then attacked by Agent Smith. At this point, Smith converts Bane into himself, then picks up the phone.
Inside the Matrix, the freed humans are not their true selves, but avatars of themselves. ("Snowcrash" anyone?) They can look and be anything they choose. So when Agent Smith attacks Bane and takes him over, he's really just taking over his avatar. When this duplicated version of Smith as a software virus answers the phone, the Smith virus is then uploaded into the real Bane in the real world.
One of the things William Gibson brought to the SF world (if I have my SF mythology correct) was the notion of "wetware." That is, software that can be uploaded into the human brain and in effect, re-wire the brain. A lot of people seem to think Agent Smith magically teleported into the real world in Reloaded. Might I suggest Smith simply uploaded himself into Bane and has now rewired Bane's brain. Bane is now in effect, the virus software that is Smith, but in a human shell.
For those who don't recognize who Bane is... he is the guy who cuts himself with the knife when he sees Neo, and attempts to attack Neo from behind before interrupted. I assume Smith in Bane form cuts his hand because he is feeling pain for the first time and it's something he does to test if he is in the real world. Bane also tries to convince another captain during the council meeting to "volunteer" to help Morpheus and Neo, where the captain says "Shut your hole Bane, or I'll put you in one." Bane is also the guy who presumably sabotaged the ships Lock sent out to fight the sentinels. Bane is rescued and is the guy seen on the table next to Neo at the very end of the movie.
What Bane will do in Revolutions should prove interesting, but Agent Smith didn't magically teleport outside the Matrix into the real world. He uploaded himself into Bane's brain.
Next: The Oracle
After the first time I saw the movie, I thought the Oracle was basically controlled by the Architect, and therefore complicit in the whole "prophecy" scam of the One.
I'm now not convinced of that anymore. If someone could post a transcript of her chat with Neo, it would help on a lot of front. At one point, however, she says something along the lines of "we're in this together." I take the "we" as we machines and humans. As in the Oracle may truly believe that humans and machines must learn to co-exist to survive.
The Oracle, in many ways, seems to be the machines counterpart to the Councilor. If you recall, the Councilor makes nods to things such humans rely on machines to live when he takes Neo down to the engineering level. There must be a sort of co-existence to survive. The Oracle, as a sentient program in the Matrix, seems to imply this as well. Maybe she leads the One to the Architect in the hope that at some point, the One will break the cycle? She says things about Neo that seems to suggest that she's impressed with him to the degree that he really might be the One that can accomplish this. I assume we will learn her true intention in the last movie, but I'm of the opinion she wants to see humans freed, and then see humans and machines co-existing.
The Big Stuff: The Architect
Let's read the big reveal of the movie. (Much props to William Hinson for this transcript he posted to usenet)
-----
The Architect - Hello, Neo.
Neo - Who are you?
The Architect - I am the Architect. I created the matrix. I've been waiting for you. You have many questions, and although the process has altered your consciousness, you remain irrevocably human. Ergo, some of my answers you will understand, and some of them you will not. Concordantly, while your first question may be the most pertinent, you may or may not realize it is also irrelevant.
Neo - Why am I here?
The Architect - Your life is the sum of a remainder of an unbalanced equation inherent to the programming of the matrix. You are the eventuality of an anomaly, which despite my sincerest efforts I have been unable to eliminate from what is otherwise a harmony of mathematical precision. While it remains a burden to sedulously avoid it, it is not unexpected, and thus not beyond a measure of control. Which has led you, inexorably, here.
Neo - You haven't answered my question.
The Architect - Quite right. Interesting. That was quicker than the others.
*The responses of the other Ones appear on the monitors: Others? What others? How many? Answer me!'*
The Architect - The matrix is older than you know. I prefer counting from the emergence of one integral anomaly to the emergence of the next, in which case this is the sixth version.
*Again, the responses of the other Ones appear on the monitors: Five versions? Three? I've been lied too. This is bull****.*
Neo: There are only two possible explanations: either no one told me, or no one knows.
The Architect - Precisely. As you are undoubtedly gathering, the anomaly's systemic, creating fluctuations in even the most simplistic equations.
*Once again, the responses of the other Ones appear on the monitors: You can't control me! **** you! I'm going to kill you! You can't make me do anything!*
Neo - Choice. The problem is choice.
*The scene cuts to Trinity fighting an agent, and then back to the
Architects room*
The Architect - The first matrix I designed was quite naturally perfect, it was a work of art, flawless, sublime. A triumph equaled only by its monumental failure. The inevitability of its doom is as apparent to me now as a consequence of the imperfection inherent in every human being, thus I redesigned it based on your history to more accurately reflect the varying grotesqueries of your nature. However, I was again frustrated by failure. I have since come to understand that the answer eluded me because it required a lesser mind, or perhaps a mind less bound by the parameters of perfection. Thus, the answer was stumbled upon by another, an intuitive program, initially created to investigate certain aspects of the human psyche. If I am the father of the matrix, she would undoubtedly be its mother.
Neo - The Oracle.
The Architect - Please. As I was saying, she stumbled upon a solution whereby nearly 99.9% of all test subjects accepted the program, as long as they were given a choice, even if they were only aware of the choice at a near unconscious level. While this answer functioned, it was obviously fundamentally flawed, thus creating the otherwise contradictory systemic anomaly, that if left unchecked might threaten the system itself. Ergo, those that refused the program, while a minority, if unchecked, would constitute an escalating probability of disaster.
Neo - This is about Zion.
The Architect - You are here because Zion is about to be destroyed. Its every living inhabitant terminated, its entire existence eradicated.
Neo - Bull****.
*The responses of the other Ones appear on the monitors: Bull****!*
The Architect - Denial is the most predictable of all human responses. But, rest assured, this will be the sixth time we have destroyed it, and we have become exceedingly efficient at it.
*Scene cuts to Trinity fighting an agent, and then back to the Architects room.*
The Architect - The function of the One is now to return to the source, allowing a temporary dissemination of the code you carry, reinserting the prime program. After which you will be required to select from the matrix 23 individuals, 16 female, 7 male, to rebuild Zion. Failure to comply with this process will result in a cataclysmic system crash killing everyone connected to the matrix, which coupled with the extermination of Zion will ultimately
result in the extinction of the entire human race.
Neo - You won't let it happen, you can't. You need human beings to survive.
The Architect - There are levels of survival we are prepared to accept. However, the relevant issue is whether or not you are ready to accept the responsibility for the death of every human being in this world.
*The Architect presses a button on a pen that he is holding, and images of people from all over the matrix appear on the monitors*
The Architect - It is interesting reading your reactions. Your five predecessors were by design based on a similar predication, a contingent affirmation that was meant to create a profound attachment to the rest of your species, facilitating the function of the one. While the others experienced this in a very general way, your experience is far more specific. Vis-a-vis, love.
*Images of Trinity fighting the agent from Neos dream appear on the monitors*
Neo - Trinity.
The Architect - Apropos, she entered the matrix to save your life at the cost of her own.
Neo - No!
The Architect - Which brings us at last to the moment of truth, wherein the fundamental flaw is ultimately expressed, and the anomaly revealed as both beginning, and end. There are two doors. The door to your right leads to the source, and the salvation of Zion. The door to the left leads back to the matrix, to her, and to the end of your species. As you adequately put, the problem is choice. But we already know what you're going to do, don't we? Already I can see the chain reaction, the chemical precursors that signal the onset of emotion, designed specifically to overwhelm logic, and reason. An emotion that is already blinding you from the simple, and obvious truth: she is going to die, and there is nothing that you can do to stop it.
*Neo walks to the door on his left*
The Architect - Humph. Hope, it is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of your greatest strength, and your greatest weakness.
Neo - If I were you, I would hope that we don't meet again.
The Architect - We won't.
-----
The Architect is describing a lot of programming stuff and concepts. Cool. He sounds like a bunch of programmers I know.
Basically, to make the Matrix work, seems the Architect had to program "free will" for the humans inside the Matrix to trick them into believing the world around them. Part of being human is free will, right? At least many of us would like to believe that. (The Wachowski's are brilliant in creating these mind puzzles in the movie.) It's interesting to note the Architect hated having to program this piece in. When the Architect speaks of "grotesqueries" he speaks of the human flaw to use choice poorly, as exemplified in the images of war and gore in the video as he says these things. It seems the Architect truly does believe the code and logic of machines is on a higher order than the humans. The Oracle doesn't seem to share that perception or attitude.
For the most part, the simulation of the Matrix keeps everyone blissfully unaware they are living a lie. They trick themselves into thinking they have free will (which they do inside the conceptual world of the Matrix), and in doing so, allow the simulation to run such that they can be used as batteries. But in having to program that free will into the code of the Matrix, it results in .1% of the people in the simulation "waking up." When people wake up, they wake others up. And so on... and so on...
The whole thing reminds me of how a memory leak wrecks software. If software runs and a coding bug allows memory to leak out, at some point, the cumulative memory loss can cause the program, even the entire system, to crash.
As the Architect says. "Ergo, those that refused the program, while a minority, if unchecked, would constitute an escalating probability of disaster." In other words, when too many of these people wake up and wake others up, it reaches a critical point that cannot be left unchecked otherwise these people will destroy the Matrix, the lifeblood of the machines, and then destroy the machines.
I love the references to version 6.0 of the Matrix through noting the destruction of Zion may times over. Way cool. I also like the possibility that Neo as this version of the One may be on a higher order than those before him... It has the eastern mysticism bent to it where when one dies, they are reborn into the next higher level if they have achieved enlightenment, and do so until they reach perfection. Neo as this version of the One may be close to reaching the pinnacle of that cycle. More on that some other time. But I think as a concept it's way cool.
A very big point here... When Neo responds that the mother of the Matrix is "The Oracle," The Architect responds with a pithy "Please." As in "Give me a break." As in, no the Oracle is not the mother. That would be Persophone. Leading us to...
Who is Persephone?
Who knows for sure until November. But I'm positive she is the one the Architect is referring to as the mother of the Matrix. Why else would a software program (especially one as good looking Monica Bellucci) in the Matrix be concerned with her software husband getting "serviced" by a blonde bimbo? Why would she lead them to the Keymaker? Out of revenge? She's a software program! Do they feel vengeful? She's playing her role in moving the One along to the Architect. Tricking the rebels into thinking the
prophecy is playing itself out.
Also, why does she wants to feel the love Neo has for Trinity? Persephone wants understand it. To "investigate certain aspects of the human psyche" as the Architect puts it. That would explain the need for the kiss from Neo. I can only guess the Architect sensed the difference in Neo from the outset from the other Ones, and through Persephone, found yet another aspect of humans he didn't account for: Love. He and Persephone have to try and figure out how to deal with this thing in humans they are not familiar with. I also assume when the Architect seems to be okay with all of human kind being wiped out, he might be referring to some way of keeping a few humans alive, coding yet another incarnation of the Matrix, and maybe using this new knowledge about free will and love to design an even better system of farming humans
Maybe the Architect has no issues with nearly wiping out all of humanity to start over and try and achieve perfection? He and Persephone have all the time in the universe.
Some other issues:
The Architect refers to destroying Zion and rebuilding it. Wouldn't humans remember this? How many of us truly understand or know the history of our own countries, religions or origins? They become mostly myth. The Bible? How accurate is it really? The Koran? If Zion gets destroyed and has to be built from scratch by 23 people, over the course of time, things get jumbled.
Fighting the Agents:
Why on Earth does Neo need to fight Agents to get to the Source and the Architect? It seems to me it's all a test. The Architect has to be sure the "anomaly" has reached the critical point. And if the One can fight and survive the obstacles tossed at him to reach the room of the Source...well... Seems like a good indication its time to reload the Matrix and start the simulation over again to keep it all running smoothly. Must **** off the Architect to no end to have to do this every hundred to thousand years or so. Such a sloppy way to handle a software bug for something that thinks so highly of itself. 8^)
Neo as Superman:
People seems to think that because Neo can act like Superman in the Matrix, it means he's God. I just means he has power that gives him shortcuts in the simulation. Notice whenever he fights or does those extreme things in the Matrix, like after the Burly Brawl, he wakes up in the real world a bit tired and exhausted. It takes serious energy and concentration to pull all that off.
And why didn't Neo fly away at the onset of the Burly Brawl? He probably didn't think the Smith virus wasn't going to get as crazy as it did as fast. We all watched some six months ago the last worm program attack the entire Net recently and spread across the planet in lightening speed. I just assume the Smith virus caught Neo off guard in a similar fashion. He started to fight when he thought he could handle it, then bailed when it became too much.
It also was a good excuse to show off the power of a software virus and give us all a cool fight scene to watch. 8^)
Neo saves Trinity:
What happens to your avatar in the Matrix affects your real body in the real world. You die in the Matrix, you die for real. Neo basically reached into Trinity's avatar, and restarted her heart. In doing so, he restarted her heart in the real world and saved her. And in doing so the Wachowskis use the logic of geekdom and SF to portray Neo as the Christ-like figure he is turning out to be.
Free will:
The Architect and the other software programs basically play out the "prophecy" scam to "control" rebels who have woken up, it seems. The Architect isn't controlling the rebels per se. At least I don't think he is. Morpheus does have free will, as do all of them I think. But the Architect devised a clever plan to trick them all into playing out the prophecy scam. He creates the myth of the One and encourages the myth to pass along from human to human. The Architect plays into human desire to understand the question Neo poses at the very onset of his conversation in the room... "Why am I here?"
It's a basic human need. The Architect fiendishly manipulates them all to follow the path of the prophecy by playing into the desire to understand the question "Why am I here?" A question the Architect says is "irrelevant." Morpheus says they've been fighting for a hundred years. The Architect obviously must encourage that kind of storytelling to allow the One to find him at the critical point necessary.
However, the big question then is...
How the Hell did Neo stop the Sentinels?
No idea. I'll let that one go until Revolutions. Maybe Neo is really the One. A true Christ-like figure of the future. Maybe the Architect built the Matrix too well, allowed too much of the humans to play out the scam of the prophecy, and now he has a human who is so in tune with the code of the Matrix (evolution, maybe?) and the machines themselves, that maybe Neo will truly become the salvation for humanity. In playing into the weakness humans have to want to understand who they are, giving them free will, and not correctly estimating the power of human love, the Architect may have unwittingly created a Neo who will actually save them. Even save them in spite of the fact that the prophecy is supposed to be a scam. Morpheus will then be justified in his belief. Neo will save humanity.
Is the real world a Matrix within a Matrix? Didn't Neo stop the Sentinels because the real world is really just another Matrix?
I don't think so. I hope it's not! That's such a cheap plot device, and so much thought has gone into these movies that I hope the Wachowski's don't stoop to such a cheap exit strategy for this story. And I don't think they will.
I think they are giving us something much more. Neo and Trinity exemplify everything worth fighting for in being human. They have the capacity for true love. The whole Rave scene by the way was to demonstrate the beauty of human love, eroticism, passion. I mean... it's what most of us crave most of the time, isn't it? I'm not talking about sex... I'm talking about those moments of intimacy Neo and Trinity share. Connections. Loving each other. The Rave scene was that on a mass scale. The capacity for those moments is the stuff that keeps most of us alive, I think
To end the story as a dream within a dream would be cheap. Neo is the One. The Prophecy will become true.
So... that's it for now. I have more thoughts on the movie. But they'll have to come later. If you read this far, wow. I guess I'm glad you did. Now all I can hope is people respond and tell I'm full of it, agree and expand on these ideas, or point out even more things from the movie I might have missed.
The Matrix: Reloaded. This series may soon surpass Blade Runner for me as the pinnacle movie/story in the annals of SF. As long as Revolutions doesn't disappoint.
