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July 10, 2005
What Is The Matrix?
What is the Matrix?
The Matrix (Wachowski Brothers, 1999)
The Matrix Reloaded (Wachowski Brothers, 2003)
The Matrix Revolutions (Wachowski Brothers, 2003)
The Animatrix (Watanabe, et al., 2003)
Overview: Since discussion around this series has been beaten to death long long ago (I think they even stopped beating this dead horse in Hades by now), I decided to do something different here. I'm guessing by now you've already long ago made up your mind on whether you liked or hated these movies, and truly, whatever you decided is fine with me. As you probably know, yes I love them and think they're great. And NO, I'm not really interested in having a Matrix Sucks/No You just don't get it discussion. Please start a new thread if you're interested in that very fine and fertile ground.
However, since I have the floor so to speak, I did want to spend a paragraph or two discussing what I find most interesting about these movies - the Matrix trilogy from a cybernetic perspective! Feel free to pass this section by if you like, but my purpose here is to attempt to explain how story truly makes sense from a cybernetics perspective. Forget about the philosophical and metaphysical stuff for a second - forget even the dialogue and acting issues you might have. Instead, I want you to look at the trilogy purely as a science fiction movie - a cyberpunk movie if you will. While we're at it, I'm going to use the rest of the pictures in this post on the Detective Story - BY FAR my favorite short in the Animatrix. Its a film noir short - truly appropriate for a cyberpunk list I think.
Specifically I want to discuss Neo NOT as a messianic figure but as a Cyborg - a symbiotic combination of a sentient program and human being. Again - we just talking scifi here - this is a perspective rarely focused on but is a fully intended one.
Every aspect of the machine city's society (what little we know about it) is all about wireless communications. The leader sentinels (the ones with the mini-satellite dishes) are in close to constant communication with the source, which then communicate to the drone sentinels. This is how the sentinals see, and hence, the reason that the humans shut down all power so that the sentinals cannot see them. Both the Animatrix and the first Matrix movie makes clear that the former battery-people (those people stuck in the Matrix Pods from birth but who now live in Zion) are REPLEAT with electronic parts. Their entire nervous system is wired from head to foot. They have HUGE amounts of electronics in their brain that allow a virtual reality simulation to completely take over all sensory and perceptual elements. Its also clear that Sentinels can "see" battery people when they run so their cyborg stuff obviously uses off some kind of energy as well (obviously this is one of the two the primary purposes of the implants - transforming human energy to electricity).
Now lets get to Neo - in the Sci-fi interpretation, we find that Neo actually had special stuff implanted in his head at birth different from the other battery people (re: the architect's conversation) that includes both a sentient program (that is a part of him and learns over time) and a method to communicate with the source. Neo the "person" is actually not just a person or even a normal "battery" person, but is a symbiotic combination of man and learning sentient program. The sentient program in a very real sense is "part" of Neo. The sentient program's communications package, which provides rationale for his "external" powers relates to his eventual planned destiny (as part of a control loop) to return to the source and let the human part of him die and freely communicate the sentient AI part of him back to the source to reboot the matrix (the sentient portion may eventually return to the matrix similar to how the sentient portion of Seraph has).
So Neo has the ability to communicate with the Source and has "admin-like" machine city powers in a computer sense necessary to reboot the matrix - these two provide that rationale for his ability to communicate/affect/destroy other machines and programs from the source. Its also clear that Neo has the ability to see energy similar to the sentinels - this is different from a broadcast signal. Basically, Neo was given the same capabilities for sensory perception as the machines. So even though the sentinels can "see" humans, the only human that has the capability to send and receive is NEO.
With this basis, the scene where the sentinel goes through him also makes sense. Neo has been attacking the sentinels and other machines wirelessly for some time. The sentinel going through him is merely a return wireless attack by a sentinel where energy from the sentinel is sent back at Neo. And in fact its successful - it momentarily knocks out the sentient program portion of Neo, so only the human part is conscious. At this point, Neo cannot see the machines and cannot fight back, so he tells Trinity to go up.
Again, I'm clearly separating out the scifi view from the metaphysical/religious view here. If one takes the metaphysical view, Neo becomes self-realized, and this has nothing to do with sentient programs or all the rest - but then the "belief" in his powers has to do with more metaphysical/religious connotations. He becomes the "one" in the same way Buddha or Jesus did - through his path to self realization. This is significantly different from the parallel storyline that is of a purely scifi nature. Again - the matrix trilogy is fully allegorical in the sense that the entire trilogy was INTENDED to be viewed from separate and distinct story lines. This is why so many scenes are specifically vague - this was actually purposeful action on the part of the wachowskis.
And again, all battery-people are FULLY embedded with cyborg components that can completely take over full perceptual control - this was made abundantly clear in the first movie. The components run completely throughout their nervous system - only the outside pieces are removed. If you view the trilogy with these points in mind, here are some actual plot points to reconsider:
* The sentient program first "turns on" and temporarily "takes over" the body "Neo" when the human portion of him dies in M1
* This explains why the agents want to kill Neo in M1, even though he's the key to the architect's control system. The sentient program portion has to fully engage and this only happens in death. The Oracle knew this, which is why she "predicted" this.
* The integration proceeds throughout M2 - this is how he "sees" the matrix green and now "yellow" energy of the machine city code. Some say the cookies and candy helped with the symbiosis process.
* The architect states that Neo needs to freely provide this code back to the machine city (which works on wireless communications) in order to reboot the matrix. This explains both the wireless capability and the need for the sentient program, which is a product from the machine city, to have the same sensory perception as other things from the machine city.
* The purpose of the sentient program is to fully understand current human though process and the nature of their perception so that it can reboot the Matrix effectively to return the negative feedback control system (that's a cybernetic term, not meaning "bad" feedback") back to its initial state. This explains the rationale for the sys-admin-like powers.
* Combining the wireless capability and machine city sysadmin-like powers, the sentient program portion of Neo now has the ability to "attack" machines outside of the matrix.
* The CLEAR sign of this was near the end of Revolutions, when the machine "ghost" launched an attack back at Neo as he approached the Machine city. The wireless portion of Neo was knocked out, so Neo, now dazed, was no longer able to either see or hurt the machines - in a reverse from his death in M1, now on the human portion of Neo was operating.
* Seraph again provides clear indication that this is so. He is a former "One". The sentient program portion of him is all that exists now, and came back from machine city through the train station - which is why he was an indentured servant for the Merv.
In any event - no religious conversations necessary here - just some points for you to consider. Feel free to reject them or call me a loon. But if you find yourself re-watching these movies, try this viewpoint on and see how it fits.
Posted by astor at July 10, 2005 09:40 AM
Comments
You put picks from my favorite short film from The Animatrix.
Great.
Posted by: zachbraff fan at July 10, 2005 04:03 PM