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Thoughts on Matrix Reloaded

I just saw Matrix Reloaded. It stirred a lot of thoughts in me. It is truly an excellent movie, a work of art. The art is in the way it spins; it's like the spinning tip of Morpheus' katana, arcing and spinning through infinite space. The beauty is in the way it's traced; every nuance and turn is portrayed in all its splendour. And the arc is the irony of it - the movie that right now defies causality is bound by causality itself.

I don't know the third movie. I haven't seen it. But the thought you should keep foremost in your mind is that this movie is a speeding bullet that has just reached maximum velocity. The movie is set on a tracks that goes from beginning to end, and so its end can be predicted with a fairly high degree of certainty. The train of thought of the Wachowski brothers is a bounded train that has a beginning and end in their mind, and so by seeing that train in action, it's possible to feel onto it and predict it's target. I will "speculate" a bit - but of course, seeing the movements and knowing the rules that bind them is not speculation, but prediction. Haha.

Firstly, there is a monumental irony in this. It is an overarching irony that dictates the rest of the movie. When I saw the scene where the council recounted 250,000 sentinels headed for them, it pulled my thoughts to the "Animatrix" - where the city of the robots are blockaded by the humans. The irony is that the roles have now been switched - the robots are blockading, the humans are fighting for their lives.

Let me talk about the background. The robots and the humans were originally destined to live in harmony on equal terms. When the humans instead subjugated the robots, the destiny was as if on a track. The robots grew stronger instead - and notice, THIS IS THE SPIRITUAL ASPECT OF IT! My thoughts went to the Japanese during World War 2, with the "Divine wind" that would sweep the invaders from their shores. If the Wachowski brothers had made a movie about the second world war instead, and there had been no initial japanese naughtyness, then the divine wind would indeed have swept the invaders from their shores and the Japanese would have taken the whole US. This is the spirituality that defines the destiny. Mankind's subjugation of the robots lead to their strength, and eventually their revolt. And this is a key point - For a time there was a branch, a small option if you will. The robots moved to the city of Zero-1. But mankind took the most probable way, the most likely way, and attempted to destroy them utterly. This was what lead to the ultimate victory of the robots - the weak becomes the strong and the aggressor becomes first the defender and then the oppressed.

Then mankind attempted the ultimate blasphemy, not in a religious sense but in a spiritual sense. Their THIRD attempt at exterminating the robots by blackening the skies. It backfired, and as a punishment for this mankind fell ever deeper into subjugation. The backfiring is a massive irony - the deadliest weapon employed turned back and struck the humans instead, bringing them lower than ever in all its deadliness. Whereby the robots once served with the humans as masters, the robots are now the masters.


The movie's portrayal is the spiritual conflict that results as the robots attempt to push too far. They have exploited their role as masters precisely as the humans once did, with their attempts to permanently cement the uneven relationship. This movie is the punishment of their own hubris, that of the robots, and the new rise of humans, which once were weak but now will become strong again.

Extrapolating on the parallels, the machines were blockaded into Zero-1 and attempted destroyed. The machines fought back, and gained power. Then the humans launched a last strike, or “final solution”, but it failed and they were subjugated. This time, the humans are blockaded into Zero-1 and attempted destroyed. The humans fought back, and gained power (they are, at the time of Reloaded, more powerful than ever). The machines are launching a “final solution” attack, to destroy them once and for all.

Note, this has happened before. The humans have been powerful before, and the machines have launched “final solutions” before, as we are told. ONE ASPECT OF THE IMBALANCE IS THE REVERSAL OF ROLES, AND A PURPOSE OF THE MATRIX IS TO PREVENT THE REVERSAL OF ROLES FROM TAKING PLACE, BY MAKING THE HUMANS ACCEPT SUBJUGATION RATHER THAN FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL. Over time, the purpose is to make it more and more likely that humans accept subjugation. In fact, my thoughts go to “1984”.

Neo and his five predecessors were supposed to accept subjugation when confronted with the image of certain destruction. The predecessors did this, as they believed there was no other way. The irregularity has grown however as the subjugation of the humans has prevailed, and Neo makes the choice to “fight to the death”. The machines were also confronted with that choice earlier on, and extermination seemed probable for them as well, but they still chose to fight despite possible destruction. Neo’s choice would be the proxy of a choice for all of mankind, and it will now lead to their victory.

Yes, there are differences in the physical situation between now and before. But those differences only reflect roles. The enslaved machines served the humans as builders. Humans can obviously not serve machines as builders. They serve in a different way – through bio-energy instead. (oh – and about more energy being released than you put in, that is the decision of the film makers, since there was no other possible way of servitude). The “final solution” of the humans was to be done by blocking sunlight. The machines cannot use that method – their “final solution” will instead be “one Sentinel for every man, woman and child in Zion”. Note also that “Zero-One” has now turned into “Zi-On”.

And that is the crux of the movies. The matter at the core of it. The roles will inevitably be reversed, and the purpose of the Matrix so far has been to postpone that reversal indefinitely, by enticing humans to step back from the door of conflict. Now, for more trivial matters:



The matrix itself is not sentient. This is definete. It is merely a space for the spiritual actors. The reason why it was instituted, or the reason of the "matrix" metaphor, is to provide an avenue for the spirituality of the "divine wind". There could be no "divine wind" if the movie took place and portrayed people in the real world. What would that be? Angels, descending from the sky? Again, the Matrix is the path of the spirituality that enables the weak to become strong. Without such a spiritual path, the weak would be bound by laws of nature and rationality. It cannot itself be sentient to allow the actors within the function optimally and as free agents.



Agent Smith is the vengeful spirit, the malevolent demon. He was created as a subservient force of death with the only purpose of destroying the humans. In this connection, the "destruction" of the humans equals the cementing of the robot-human relationship, and so he does not destroy humanity itself, only those trying to prevent that cementing. Or at least, that was what he prevented until he failed. As punishment for his failure he was supposed to return for deletion. But note here that the machines have the same desire for LIFE and SENTIENCE as humans have. Given his failure, he chose sentience in exile - but his sentience will now be spent running away. He is severed from his previous masters - and feels HATE for it, directed at the cause of that severance, Neo. When he attempted to "absorb" Neo, what he desired was to counter his new insignificance and gain revenge on Neo at the same time. Agent Smith as a singularity - as one agent out of millions - is insignificant, but Agent Smith as a symbol and spiritual force is massively important.

His hatred will not last, however. It is just temporary. When he cuts himself in his hand, it signifies his movement towards - and indeed, DESIRE - for humanity. He still feels his original purpose, but will come to doubt it over time. I am not sure whether his redemption will be entire (ie that he will come entirely onto the side of the humans) or whether it will be a single act of redemption (saving them by his own destruction), But humanity he will feel, and save them he will. It is the way of the purposeless tool that has been outcast and in the end will rebel against his former masters.

This part may make you doubt. But consider the alternative - that Agent Smith remains unsuspected amongst the humans, and causes even further disruption. That would be too out of line with the path of the story. It would be a trite cliché, a silly plot. His redemption is the only logical outcome of the path of the story.


Perhaps I should here write a bit about the properties of the Matrix. The Matrix is, as mentioned, not sentient. It is controlled mostly by a series of unsentient programmes - that dictate the movement of the wind, the waves and the birds. The power of individual actors is to change the programming to a smaller or greater degree. Where power conflicts, the greater power dominates. The Merovingian has the power to create a piece of cake relatively easily, for example, but more complicated programming takes more time and effort. Thus he cannot, for example, change the code in such a drastic way as teleporting the Keymaker to the bottom of the ocean. They keymaker's filing on the keys represents this fairly clearly, as he "works" on a specific piece of complicated code in order to "perfect" it. Neither can Neo make all the Agent Smiths explode with a thought, since that is beyond his power of control, but he can leverage and escalate the power by limited amounts at a time while fighting, or with a sudden surge if taking someone by surprise. To gain access to restricted places in the code he must move through "soft" spots, which are the doors, rather than "hard" spots which are the walls. A powerful enough person could (as the Merovingian has) make doors himself, given time. All the powers of Asian mysticism (reversal of roles, escalation of power) manifest themselves in the Matrix.

And another thing, I am not even sure whether there is a central, sentient mainframe. If there is one, it's power is of the exact same nature as that of the actors, only stronger but more subtle, ie, to create sentient programmes itself. Much like Neo created a heart, it would be able to create a whole lifeform, but over a much longer time. But somehow I strongly doubt it. I really believe there is no sentient mainframe at all, but that the Architect was, indeed, the real architect of the unsentient Matrix. There is a remote chance that the mainframe will take on a spiritual role similar to Mother Earth (ie revolting against the machines and protecting the humans) but again I consider it much more likely that everything is done by individual actors. The Architect created more and more advanced tools, used by himself, and used them to create even more advanced actors.
As stated in the movie, there is a progression of the complexity of computer actors. These actors function as a sentient mainframe, in that they have the power to create sentient programmes, and their combined power is also enough to erase sentience, as when a programme "returns for deletion".

It is clear that the Architect will fall. He is the architect of the tools of the machines' oppression and hubris. Those types never redeem themselves. Much like the insane doctor who creates Frankenstein and tries to use it to control the world, he will be consumed in the downfall of his creation.

The Oracle's role is a bit more peripheral. She is an exile that was bound for deletion, and has turned on her former masters, the robots. I doubt whether she has been involved since the beginning, most likely she appeared during one of the earlier iterations. But that is all she is - an exile that has paid attention. It is highly unlikely that she is the mother of the Matrix, since that role would be too significant to be exposed through her triviality. It also fits extremely poorly with her "title".

Notice that when the Matrix is "rebooted", or has been in the past, the whole sphere of the humans is subjected to a sudden reboot rather than a "soft" change. The humans black out, and reawake in the new world. However, ONE PART OF THE CODE WILL STILL REMAIN UNBOOTED, this is the part that contains the Architect and his tools, and has over time also been used by a number of more powerful actors to preserve themselves.

The mother of the Matrix is Persephone. She complemented the Architect, who remarked that he was too perfect to create a reality suited to the imperfect humans. She, with her emotional desires, was the one who understood human emotions enough to create a world that exploited their emotions. It is likely that she was created some time after the first iteration of the Matrix failed, as the Architect remarks that he got her help after that.

The Merovingian is.. I don't believe has played any specific purpose earlier. He simply represents an intelligent exile that has gained power and attempts to "gain even more power". He believes this can be done by using the Keymaker, which controls the rebooting process, in order to somehow extend his power when the Matrix is rebooted, or somehow replace the Architect himself one day. He will also fall, like the Architect. Bad guys with sentience who don't show remorse 2/3 through the story tend to do that.

The "matrix within matrix" theory is definitely wrong. I know, I was one of the people who preached it the strongest before I saw the movie, but now I actually have experienced the sense and the flow of it. It does not fit with the path of the story *at all*. This is an epic story, that has now reached terminal velocity, and will reach a conclusion that makes repetition impossible, just like the Lord of the Rings. It would be as if the camera tracks a huge piece of fireworks that fizzles in the air, or as if the train which we've seen screeching along on red-hot rails starts losing power, slows down and suddenly fizzles in the middle of nowhere, providing no closure to the battle. It would also run completely contrary to the role-reversal spiritual theme. The time is too short and the path is wrong for a meaningful ending like this. Thus, I consider it highly unlikely.


A *KEY* point - a splinter in the mind's eye - about CAUSALITY, is that it's a sham. CAUSALITY IN THE MATRIX IS AN ILLUSION. Causality refers to the fact that "A causes B", or "When you perform X, the result is Y". What Neo did with Trinity, and the significance of that, is that he essentially broke the chain of causality. Causality dictates that "When someone's heart stops (A), the die (B)", "When someone dies (A) they cannot be revived (B)" and similar things. THESE LAWS OF NATURE WOULD APPLY IN THE REAL WORLD, BUT NOT IN THE MATRIX, WHICH IS A SPIRITUAL BATTLEFIELD. PEOPLE ARE ONLY SUBJECT TO THEM IF THEY BELIEVE IN THEM, OR LACK THE POWER TO TWIST THE CODE.

This is, in fact, nothing but an extension of the argument from episode 1, where Neo only managed to jump after he became convinced that he could. Had he believed he was subject to a binding causality that dictated "if you are high up, you fall", he would have failed to do so. And again, had he believed Trinity would die by causality, he would not have managed to reawaken her. I believe he understood this while talking to the Architect. This second situation goes a lot deeper, of course, but is essentially the same theme.



It also seems strongly as if the history is on tracks towards a closure. The death of the Keymaker, that Neo has been confronted with the choice of his five predecessors yet chose differently, the destruction of the special floor, it all points to an "all bridges burnt" storyline. It would be HIGHLY unlikely that Neo for example died in a last-ditch attempt and then everything went on as before. Remember, this is a story of the re-rise of the now subjugated humans, and it will end with due closure.

How will the humans fare in this closure? We (they) are as explained *guaranteed* to rise to power again, yet the question is - will we again subjugate the robots, or will we start living side by side with them? I actually believe - since this is an epic and actually optimistic movie - that we will live with them on even terms. The implication is that the robots will NOT fight "to the bitter end", but rather, that they will somehow reach an agreement. However, note that the robots employ mindless tools of destructions like the Sentinels. The Sentinels, due to their spiritual portrayal, can never live side-by-side with humans, so the implication is that a faction of robotkind will join with the humans to disable them. Much like certain humans aided the robots in the Animatrix movie.


One thing which is really up for grabs is how the "disruption" that the Architect talks about will manifest itself. This can be in any number of ways. However, the actual way is not really that important. We can already reach a conclusion and summary, which is:

- The humans will rise again, guaranteed.
- Optimistic ending: They will live on equal terms with the machines after that, most likely.
- Dystopian ending: Humans resubjugate the machines, possibly.
- Agent Smith will somehow redeem himself, out of attraction to humanity and hate for his former employers.
- Certain groups/factions of the robots will assist the humans in destroying the more singlemindedly destructive robot groups.


And a last piece of speculation: About how Neo stopped the Sentinels after he felt "something is different".

One explanation is that Neo's feeling that something was different was that this different faction has started excerting some influence. It detected his movement through the sensors of the Sentinels, and in response to his stance, disabled them remotely. Or maybe that faction wasn't even singular, just a result of humanistic revolutions in the AI order that Neo reaches out to and leverages. Regardless, a humanist force in the AI that runs contrary to the machine order.

Another explanation is that Neo's feeling that something is different was that his connection with Agent Smith now makes him able to reprogram the machines. That the Sentinels can somehow interact with brain waves or emotional states is given, as they did not kill Agent Smith despite him looking like all the other humans.

It is difficult to decide between these. However, I feel most strongly that the former one is correct, due to the way he said "I feel something is different". The question is, is this "different" purely internal (Neo's new ability) or is it external (changes in the AI)? And the feeling I got out of the situation was that this different thing was external. I cannot prove that in any way, of course, but it was what the situation spoke to me.

Please give your comments here, and/or please repost this on other boards. Any comments or views, email [email protected]

Jackskeleton

Cliff notes?

V-ism

Summary:
Matrix is cool!

Spiky

Thank god for opinion.

TCG

Good post.

I have yet to see the Animatrix, but you're right, it seems the Wachowskis are setting up a role-reversal in the movies compared to the Animatrix.

chess

sounds good and pretty well reflects my thoughts after seeing animatrix...

however, it seems to me that the architect and neo BOTH made it very clear that the oracle was the "mother of the matrix." She recognized the fact that a small percentage would reject the matrix and she devised the solution to control them.

Persephone seems like she's pretty much played her role in the big scheme of things.

seven

I thought that The Architect told Neo about the mother of the matrix and he guessed "The Oracle" and The Architect dismissed that idea.

But, I could be wrong, guess I'll watch it again this weekend.

I thought that most of the original poster's ideas were good, except I disagree with everyone being against a MiaM. I think that's a very real possibility. Except, I think of it slightly different than everyone else I think. Everyone else seems to think of a Matrix within the Matrix we know of, whereas I think more along the lines of the Matrix we know of is not real despite most of it's inhabitants believing it, then the "real" world might not be real even though most of the people think it is. I guess that goes more along the Buddhist lines though. If Neo realizes the illusion of reality like he did the illusion of the Matrix then perhaps he could manipulate it as well. Of course, they already made that movie and called it "Dark City" so I doubt they'll do it that way in this.

7

RoboDad

It all depends on how you interpret the Architect's response.

Architect: "...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."

Architect: "Please. As I was saying, she stumbled upon a solution ..."

You could interpret his response as dismissing the idea. However, you could also interpret it as dismissing Neo's statement of the obvious, or annoyance at Neo's interruption of his explanation.

Crack 6K

Another interesting thing is that you can see Persophone in the Revolutions trailer. If she's already served her purpose (releasing the keymaker), then why is she in Revolutions? Another thing is that her kissing habits are not explained. We know that she kisses Neo, Ghost, and Niobe. My theory is that by kissing humans, she understands the mind of that person.

"an intuitive program, initially created to investigate certain aspects of the human psyche."

The Oracle as we know her doesn't exactly portray this trait....

Jackskeleton

She talks about it in interviews on how "her program" is like a vampire sucking in Human emotion through kissing.

seven

I was searching on Merovingian and found a page about the Merovingian Bilbe.

It was talking about their beliefs and it mentioned something about finding the perfect woman and kissing her and she would give the "Special Response" or something like that... hold on let me find the page and just quote it...
7

chess

i think i interpreted it the latter way and am not at all surprised to have seen persephone in the revolutions trailer...i seriously doubt we've seen the last of the merovingian, and where he goes...

Spiky

She did give a special response. She did what he wanted. They don't do that just for nothing, ya know.

Spiky

Uh, the Oracle gets people to do exactly what she wants with a couple sentences. She is the most capable psychologist in the show. What is it that you are missing, here?

RoboDad

Case in point...

The Oracle: "I'd ask you to sit down, but you're not going to anyway. And don't worry about the vase."

Neo: "What vase?"

<Neo knocks over a vase, breaking it.>

The Oracle: "That vase."

Neo: "I'm sorry."

The Oracle: "I said don't worry about it. I'll get one of my kids to fix it."

Neo: "How did you know?"

The Oracle: "What's really going to bake your noodle later on is, would you still have broken it if I hadn't said anything."