~~ obligatory matrix meta.
May. 16th, 2003 03:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reenkain random news, i've found ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
the_smooth_one, who apparently makes a practice of writing kinky bobby/st. john fic. which is all hot-- i meant good-- er, i mean porn (YOUNG BOBBY-WAN!! muwahahahah!!). but that's not my point (just had to mention it because-- well-- just because.)
anyway.
yah, i loved this movie. i went into it expecting (from the few spoilers) not to love it (too many action scenes, too confusing, not as good as the first one, etc). but no. it rocked hardcore, man. it was a -teeny- bit over the crystal-clear comprehensibility barrier with the architect, but i still knew what he meant. dude. it made me think. i like that in a movie. *laughs*
neo still v. hot. morpheus still v. awe-inspiring. trinity still does nothing for me, and i wish she'd kind of go away or something and snog someone else, 'cause neo & trinity have -negative- chemistry on-screen, seriously. i loved the oracle, the architect, the navigator & his wife (now -there's- some hotness right there baby), and man oh man, the guy who imprisoned the keymaker and his wife pushed my buttons too. heee. arrogant, jaded pricks. i must have a soft spot for them (apparently).
i thought the car-chase scene went on -waaaaay- too long, but that's my only real quibble. i really like neo's superpowers (especially the way he makes things ripple and the way he impresses -everybody-, heheheh). i don't even lust after him, i just like him (as long as he's not snogging trinity). though they won me over by the end, 'cause dude. bringing someone back to life? gets bonus points on the "entertaining movie-watching experience", right there.
had meta thoughts, as i said, jotted down in a haze right after the movie. don't blame me, blame the mind-altering drugs. i mean, film -.-
when you believe, reality changes. when you believe to the exclusion of other systems, you lose the ability to change yourself. truth is multiplicitous and includes room for mutation/evolution if you attain a sufficient level of complexity.
understanding why is the key but if you've become completely convinced you've found the key, you lose control of your choices.
choice represents hope and the potential capacity of all systems to change based on understanding coupled with feeling. choice is impotent if it excludes either feeling or causal understanding.
causality is more complex than at first apparent through linear understanding. it can be influenced by a transcendent level of control borne of intuitive mastery.
an "awakened" human would combine the meta awareness of himself with a strategic disregard for what he has previously believed and yet he'd be connected to the network of choices he's in the process of changing.
thus, a two-way understanding is possible.
i think neo's "apotheosis" at the end of the movie is key here. he becomes (i'm guessing), even more intricately linked to the machine, becomes a part of the mechanisms of control (as i'm guessing his ability to "feel them" is rooted in some sort of cross-wiring or partial overwriting). and neo is also part of the mechanism that dis-assembles the system, creating a new system from the ashes of the old.
i think that speech by the councillor about different levels of control (do we control the machines or do they control us? what -is- control? how do we know who has it), is vital here. control can never be torn away or -gained-, because one is always going to be controlled even as one controls. the trick is to understand the system, to gain knowledge. this is what the councillor was saying he could not do. his question to neo was-- can you understand the system before it's too late?
at the end, when neo is faced with a choice, he displays a fair understanding of the system but chooses something that seems causally "wrong", and implies that the architect is in fact wrong in believing that it is so completely. neo believes that he can save trinity, and that's all that matters in the end. he -has- to save trinity. "i can't lose you", he says earlier. he -can't- lose her. losing her is not an option, rather like the prophecy being wrong isn't really an option for morpheus. both have to face that belief being challenged. neo's answer seems to be to create his own causality by force of will-- ie, the way the bastard's wife betrayed him, and he asked her why and she said-- you know why. but he didn't. he didn't, and thus he couldn't intercept -or- understand or stop it. he wasn't willing to go outside his belief system, to consider hers. but there -was- a cause, even if the cause was her emotional state itself, just as neo's emotions are a cause for trinity living.
neo is half-imprinted on one of the agents-- he's part of the system, free-floating. and now he can feel the machines attacking him. neo is in the process of understanding the system by merging with it, and thus, ultimately in the process of understanding himself. the issue of faulty understanding crops up throughout the movie, absolutely everywhere, and it is usually contrasted with belief.
the inhabitants of zion don't understand how the city works-- they just know that it works, they -believe- it works. morpheus rallies them by playing upon their ignorance-- they don't need to understand how they will win-- they just need to believe they -have- to win, because they've won before. this however, does nothing to save them. morpheus said they deserve the truth, but morpheus himself edits his truth in accordance with belief (but then, doesn't everyone?). the only possible difference would be the presence of understanding of that editing.
neo, now. neo doesn't believe and neo doesn't disbelieve. neo is open to possibilities (and admittedly, when none of them suit him, neo tends to try and -create- his own truth-- and in that case he believes, but what he believes in is himself). neo is The One if for no other reason than that-- neo questions, whether or not the questions are irrelevant. the point isn't the quality of the question, here, or the answer for that matter. the point is the act of questioning.
similarly, the navigator is given a cross by his wife, and he doesn't believe in it or understand how it works. but it doesn't matter-- it just works-- his wife believes in it, believes it could save him.
neo believes that a lack of information could save trinity-- but it can't. her choices are inevitable. the only thing that neo could've given her is an understanding of her choices (ahead of time).
belief can be useful-- it was useful for neo in saving trinity, certainly. belief can also afford one a measure of control. it is largely neo's belief that he can that gives him power within the matrix to do all the things he does (defy gravity, stop bullets, raise the dead, etc). control implies a level of understanding. understanding thus has a strange relationship to belief, seeming to -result- from it in at least some cases.
anyway. will stop babbling now.
i have to wonder at anyone who read this. eheheheh. you must've been rather bored >:D
the_smooth_one, who apparently makes a practice of writing kinky bobby/st. john fic. which is all hot-- i meant good-- er, i mean porn (YOUNG BOBBY-WAN!! muwahahahah!!). but that's not my point (just had to mention it because-- well-- just because.)anyway.
yah, i loved this movie. i went into it expecting (from the few spoilers) not to love it (too many action scenes, too confusing, not as good as the first one, etc). but no. it rocked hardcore, man. it was a -teeny- bit over the crystal-clear comprehensibility barrier with the architect, but i still knew what he meant. dude. it made me think. i like that in a movie. *laughs*
neo still v. hot. morpheus still v. awe-inspiring. trinity still does nothing for me, and i wish she'd kind of go away or something and snog someone else, 'cause neo & trinity have -negative- chemistry on-screen, seriously. i loved the oracle, the architect, the navigator & his wife (now -there's- some hotness right there baby), and man oh man, the guy who imprisoned the keymaker and his wife pushed my buttons too. heee. arrogant, jaded pricks. i must have a soft spot for them (apparently).
i thought the car-chase scene went on -waaaaay- too long, but that's my only real quibble. i really like neo's superpowers (especially the way he makes things ripple and the way he impresses -everybody-, heheheh). i don't even lust after him, i just like him (as long as he's not snogging trinity). though they won me over by the end, 'cause dude. bringing someone back to life? gets bonus points on the "entertaining movie-watching experience", right there.
had meta thoughts, as i said, jotted down in a haze right after the movie. don't blame me, blame the mind-altering drugs. i mean, film -.-
when you believe, reality changes. when you believe to the exclusion of other systems, you lose the ability to change yourself. truth is multiplicitous and includes room for mutation/evolution if you attain a sufficient level of complexity.
understanding why is the key but if you've become completely convinced you've found the key, you lose control of your choices.
choice represents hope and the potential capacity of all systems to change based on understanding coupled with feeling. choice is impotent if it excludes either feeling or causal understanding.
causality is more complex than at first apparent through linear understanding. it can be influenced by a transcendent level of control borne of intuitive mastery.
an "awakened" human would combine the meta awareness of himself with a strategic disregard for what he has previously believed and yet he'd be connected to the network of choices he's in the process of changing.
thus, a two-way understanding is possible.
i think neo's "apotheosis" at the end of the movie is key here. he becomes (i'm guessing), even more intricately linked to the machine, becomes a part of the mechanisms of control (as i'm guessing his ability to "feel them" is rooted in some sort of cross-wiring or partial overwriting). and neo is also part of the mechanism that dis-assembles the system, creating a new system from the ashes of the old.
i think that speech by the councillor about different levels of control (do we control the machines or do they control us? what -is- control? how do we know who has it), is vital here. control can never be torn away or -gained-, because one is always going to be controlled even as one controls. the trick is to understand the system, to gain knowledge. this is what the councillor was saying he could not do. his question to neo was-- can you understand the system before it's too late?
at the end, when neo is faced with a choice, he displays a fair understanding of the system but chooses something that seems causally "wrong", and implies that the architect is in fact wrong in believing that it is so completely. neo believes that he can save trinity, and that's all that matters in the end. he -has- to save trinity. "i can't lose you", he says earlier. he -can't- lose her. losing her is not an option, rather like the prophecy being wrong isn't really an option for morpheus. both have to face that belief being challenged. neo's answer seems to be to create his own causality by force of will-- ie, the way the bastard's wife betrayed him, and he asked her why and she said-- you know why. but he didn't. he didn't, and thus he couldn't intercept -or- understand or stop it. he wasn't willing to go outside his belief system, to consider hers. but there -was- a cause, even if the cause was her emotional state itself, just as neo's emotions are a cause for trinity living.
neo is half-imprinted on one of the agents-- he's part of the system, free-floating. and now he can feel the machines attacking him. neo is in the process of understanding the system by merging with it, and thus, ultimately in the process of understanding himself. the issue of faulty understanding crops up throughout the movie, absolutely everywhere, and it is usually contrasted with belief.
the inhabitants of zion don't understand how the city works-- they just know that it works, they -believe- it works. morpheus rallies them by playing upon their ignorance-- they don't need to understand how they will win-- they just need to believe they -have- to win, because they've won before. this however, does nothing to save them. morpheus said they deserve the truth, but morpheus himself edits his truth in accordance with belief (but then, doesn't everyone?). the only possible difference would be the presence of understanding of that editing.
neo, now. neo doesn't believe and neo doesn't disbelieve. neo is open to possibilities (and admittedly, when none of them suit him, neo tends to try and -create- his own truth-- and in that case he believes, but what he believes in is himself). neo is The One if for no other reason than that-- neo questions, whether or not the questions are irrelevant. the point isn't the quality of the question, here, or the answer for that matter. the point is the act of questioning.
similarly, the navigator is given a cross by his wife, and he doesn't believe in it or understand how it works. but it doesn't matter-- it just works-- his wife believes in it, believes it could save him.
neo believes that a lack of information could save trinity-- but it can't. her choices are inevitable. the only thing that neo could've given her is an understanding of her choices (ahead of time).
belief can be useful-- it was useful for neo in saving trinity, certainly. belief can also afford one a measure of control. it is largely neo's belief that he can that gives him power within the matrix to do all the things he does (defy gravity, stop bullets, raise the dead, etc). control implies a level of understanding. understanding thus has a strange relationship to belief, seeming to -result- from it in at least some cases.
anyway. will stop babbling now.
i have to wonder at anyone who read this. eheheheh. you must've been rather bored >:D
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-05-17 01:33 pm (UTC)oh, and um, i didn't mean smith's a part of neo directly, i meant that neo is part of the system without having it be -smith- exactly. smith is part of the system-- and he's just one of the many ways that neo is secondarily and directly a part of it. it's like there are different layers of linkages here. plus, i'm guessing partly (think neo's being a hybrid of sorts will be addressed more in the next movie).
and it's like, i remember the movie so i get more resolution in it just by thinking about it again-- like i re-view it somewhat just by remembering it. but i mean to see it again too. hee. though even remembering little things, like, "causality is the only constant" gives me fuel to apply to the general ideas in it.
and thank you. i was all wibbly 'cause no one said anything and i of course began to get paranoid that this must've been even more silly than usual >
no subject
Date: 2003-05-18 12:01 am (UTC)That's interesting. I've been wondering if there's a supernatural element to it, though that seems a little un-subtle.
What kind of hybrid do you mean? It seems as though he couldn't be some sort of man/machine hybrid or they would have noted that by now.
I've been thinking about the whole "free your mind" thing. It's control over his mind and his beliefs that gives him his ability to change the Matrix in the first place.
Then, in the first movie, when he comes back to life after flatlining in RL, it's like he's extended that the other way. If your mind can make you believe you're dead, it can also make you believe you're alive.
But how does he bring Trinity back to life? She's *dead*, dead in the Matrix and dead in RL. It doesn't seem like it's really his control over the Matrix that could do it. It's just out-and-out miraculous to me.
So, I'm back to the supernatural.
I watched The Matrix tonight and I hope to get back to Reloaded tomorrow or Monday, after which I should hopefully have some intelligent things to say about it. I often need two viewings for something like this to really stick with me.
no subject
Date: 2003-05-18 08:55 am (UTC)trinity seems rather complicated.... but, i don't think anything would be purely miraculous unless it's a case of bad writing. i guess i have several theories. a) is that the visual of his hand reaching into her is meant to be him restarting her heart, the way he took out her bullet-- like he gave her a form of cpr; b) is that by reaching his hand into her he was merging with her a little, giving a bit of his life essence or something ala smith, so that trinity is now a part of him and vice versa; c) if he could resuscitate her in the matrix, if her body believed it was restarted there, perhaps it would naturally carry over into the real world.
the corollary here seems to be that there isn't such a huge gap between the real world and the matrix as all that, especially for people plugged into the matrix.
there is the weird case of the smith-possessed person who's walking/talking in the "real world". if humans weren't programmable, what happened?
also, i see a pattern with neo resurrecting first himself, then trinity. this can only continue with him somehow resurrecting humanity in general in the third movie, which i'm pretty sure -will- be rather supernatural (ie, i wouldn't be surprised if everything blew up and the last scene was neo saying "let there be light").
but it's not that it's inherently supernatural so much as that after a point function (in the matrix) becomes form. where one attains god-like power anywhere, and functions as a god, one basically becomes a god for all intents and purposes. you know, take the architect (most obvious example) and the oracle. the matrix itself is a case of form and function becoming (very nearly) equivalent, a case of the lie being nearly equivalent to the truth.
basically, the matrix -is- the world. it is just the world translated. everything is basically perfect and yet flawed-- just like in the real world. the equivalencies continue-- life and death flowing betewen them and the machines controlling and being controlled. neo is the only really aware part of both worlds, but in a big way he's such a function of the matrix, really-- he was programmed into the system-- he was supposed to happen.
it's not like the matrix is vr. it has a soul, for lack of a better term. it evolves. it breaks its own rules. it has achieved reality. its connections to the "real world" are pretty strong, really, by now. so yah. have you heard that quote by arthur c clarke? "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." ~:)
no subject
Date: 2003-05-18 08:30 pm (UTC)I think the only thing I'm still having trouble with are the resurrections. But the more I think about it, the more I see them both as Neo affecting the real world mentally.
The first time, he comes back to life through sheer force of will -- he won't let himself die. The second time is the same, only it's Trinity. I don't think that massaging her virtual heart could actually affect her RL body once the carrier had dropped, *but* since Neo thinks it will help, it does, because he's affecting her real body and real mind.
I'm not seeing this as quite so supernatural as before. A little paranormal, maybe, but not miraculous.
So Neo is just as much a construct of the system as any Agent. Only he's not quite behaving as they expect him to. Hmm.
I've posted some blather in my own LJ here:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/prillalar/22911.html