The Matrix/Fridge: Difference between revisions

*** Or maybe the computers just run the "pregnancy program" in a woman who had had sex when they need a... shell to the human mind of the body they are "cultivating" in the real world. Then, when the baby is ready to be implanted in the Matrix, they run the "birth program" and make the little one be born from the fake-pregnant female. This may sound a little too hard to do but, come on, they have created a whole world to illudeallude our minds.

* After my first viewing of ''[[The Matrix]]'', I was wondering why the Oracle lied and told Neo he wasn't The One. I eventually hypothesized that she needed to lie to him so that the proper sequence of events could be set into motion. It was only upon a later viewing that I realized that her actual words, "You're not The One. Perhaps in a later life." were completely correct, since {{spoiler|Neo had to die first before becoming The One}}. --Onigame

** But those ''aren't'' her actual words. What's really going to bake your noodle later on is that {{spoiler|the Oracle ''never tells Neo he's not the One'' - and, in fact, she implies that he's come to the wrong conclusion when ''he'' says he's not}}. "Sorry, kid." --[[Etherjammer]]

{{quote| ''The Oracle:'' Now here's the part where I go hmmm, aaahhh, interesting. And here's the part where you say...<br />

''Neo:'' What?<br />

''The Oracle:'' But you already know what I'm going to say.<br />

''Neo:'' ... I'm not the One.<br />

''The Oracle:'' Sorry, kid. You got the gift. No doubt about it. But it looks like you're waiting for something.<br />

''Neo:'' For what?<br />

*** For Trinity to love him. To give him purpose. And Neo ''doesn't'' fully become the One ''until after he's died.'' So he ''was'' waiting for his next life. - Saintheart

* Literally just realized that, in ''[[The Matrix]]'', Agent Smith's story of how the first Matrix was a perfect reality but was rejected for the painful world exactly mirrors the Biblical story of the Garden of Eden and Adam/Eve's rejection of it. They, like the humans in the Matrix, were condemned to an imperfect world because they couldn't accept paradise. -- [[Long Ranger 2]]

* At the end of ''[[The Matrix]] Revolutions'', Smith demands of Neo, "[[Nietzsche Wannabe|Why, Mr. Anderson]]?! WHY DO YOU PERSIST?" to which Neo calmly responds, "Because I choose to." Now, the entire 'conversation' up to that point had been about purpose, and it just seemed like the logical flow, from a dialogue and plot standpoint, would be for him to say "It's my purpose." And it is, that's what the One is there to do (his Karma, as [[Magical Negro|a program explains earlier]]), it's his purpose in this vast system, to eliminate his negative (Smith) and balance the equation. However, upon closer inspection, the question of how choice affects purpose is brought up many times, especially in reference to this [[Xanatos Roulette|vast scheme of the Oracle's]]. So, while it is indeed his purpose to continue fighting Smith to the very end, he continues to do so not because he ''must'' but because he ''chooses'' to. (Indeed, 'to the end' only means to a finish. A purposeful end would have also included Neo being defeated. The choice is also partially that he choose to pursue victory.) It also helps to highlight the differences between Neo and Smith: Neo chooses to continue fighting until his inevitable corruption, Smith has no choice, he cannot deny his purpose at all. See Smith's earlier comments in Reloaded about why he went rogue: "I knew what I was supposed to do but I didn't. I ''couldn't''. I was ''compelled to stay''...", he never says he ''chose'' to stay. -Jarl

*** [[BioshockBioShock (series)|"A man chooses. A slave obeys."]] Neo, by chosing to continue to fight instead of giving up, proved that he was better than Smith, because he still had the ability to choose, despite Smith saying that he wasn't free to in the second movie. In essence, this is throwing the middle finger to Smith yet again.

** In a bit of [[Fridge Brilliance]] of my own, I always thought that it was kind of stupid for the Oracle to {{spoiler|just allow the Smith Virus' assimilation, and then try and pass it off as self-sacrifice when she knew Neo would win}}. But when you said [[Xanatos Roulette]], I realized: The Oracle ''might not know everything.'' In the second movie, we see the Architect's lair with the hundreds upon hundreds of recordings of all the different Neos, each presumably watching a wall of recordings of other Neos. Either there's only one Neo and many, many things going on at once, or the Oracle's {{spoiler|going to die anyway and has died hundreds of times before when the Matrix rebooted}}. Either way, the Oracle didn't have any idea what was going to happen, and really, all it could do was make a few educated guesses. The bit where the Oracle {{spoiler|was taken over}} was symbolic (either intentionally or causally) of {{spoiler|the sudden change between preordination and "because I choose to."}} The sequels don't suck quite so much any more. -[[JET 73 L]]

* The brilliance of the ending really dawned on me when I realisedrealized that at its heart, it's still all about choice and free will. The whole setup by the Architect is built on predictability, purpose and hardcore logic. But Neo ''chooses'' a path that defies this logic by making an irrational choice that the Architect can't understand (he admits this himself - this is why the Oracle was needed to make the Matrix function). This choice led to the Matrix trying to balance the equation by creating the opposite to Neo: Smith. Where Neo represents choice, Smith represents lack of choice (cue ramblings about purpose). Where Neo wants peace for everyone and everything, Smith wants everyone and everything to die. Now, the ''really'' interesting thing is that in the creation of an opposite to Neo - the literal personification of humanity's free will and emotions - we see that the machines, despite their seeming differences to humanity, are '''not''' actually the opposite to what Neo and the humans stand for - ''Smith'' is. And Smith wants both the humans and the machines destroyed. This is the moral message of the whole trilogy: that the humans and the machines are not so different after all. They both want to live, to exist (in Smith's logic a ''choice'' that defies the purpose of all things, which is to end). The Oracle, being a program who understands the human psyche, understood this profound similarity and thus orchestrated events to create peace between man and machine by showing them their common enemy: Smith. Smith represents lack of freedom, lack of free will, and ultimately lack of existence. The similarities between man and machine are further illustrated by the very "human" program Rama Kandra as well as the conversation with Councillor Hamann about the codependency between humans and machines. Returning to the core idea of free will versus fate, it is heavily implied that the Oracle's ability to predict events is based entirely on understanding the causality behind choices (she blankly states that no one can see beyond a choice they don't understand, not even her). When you put it all together, we see the ultimate philosophical message of the trilogy: choice/free will/freedom is what defines our existence, and this is ultimately what makes us - and the machines - human. It's simply beautiful.

** Speaking of the Matrix, it's the only film in which bottomless magazines do not annoy me. Why? Because the world is a virtual simulation that the characters are hacking. They're simply using the infinite ammo cheat. - Sordid

**** Except for: "You're empty." "So are you." So it's more likely a case of [[TravellingTraveling At the Speed of Plot|magazine capacity of plot]] than a conscious decision to give the characters infinite ammo.

** One of the things I loved most about the entire Matrix trilogy was the incredible special effects. Which is why I was so disappointed with the "Burly Brawl" scene in Reloaded. There was a very clear demarcation when the scene switched from being live action to become all CGI (right when Neo picks up the metal post and starts hitting the multitude of Smith clones with it). The faces suddenly become less lifelike, the clothing doesn't look quite real, etc. I later realized, though, that it made perfect sense in context. Everything ''was'' CGI, since the entire scene takes place within the Matrix. -Godzillatemple

* The Oracle is pretty much the embodiment of this trope. Everything from the first movie onwards keeps coming back to her.

** Indeed, but remember Neo even addresses the agents as upgrades after they make that specific block.

** Morpheus definitely didn't win that fight on the semi, at least not skill against skill. He managed to get some good hits in, sure. But each hit was by surprise. The agent didn't know he had a katana right there (pure luck that Morpheus landed right there in the first place). After the agent does know, he handles a man trained with the use of a katana pretty well and managed to still win. Morpheus was about to fall off the semi into high-speed traffic if it wasn't for Niobe saving his ass at the last second. Morpheus gave the agent a surprise punt at the end only because the agent was distracted with the Keymaker (choosing to gloat instead of doing the job and moving on).