The Matrix

 I really enjoyed watching The Matrix. Although this movie discusses the idea of living in a simulation which is a topic we have touched on in class, I think this movie really made me question a lot of things. There were some points during the movie where I was just sitting there thinking “What if this is our lives and we all are simply living in a world of ignorance like those who have taken the blue pill?”

I had so many questions throughout this movie. The ever changing settings and overall cinematography and character plot lines made it a relatively difficult film to follow along with, yet I think that adds a lot to the movie. Half of the time, Neo does not even understand what is going on, so it makes sense that the audience is just as confused and only comes to learn the truth once we realize everything we currently understand as “true” is a lie. 

As a psychology major, it is difficult for me to not focus on character development as we continue to analyze these films, and I believe Neo’s character development is one of the most interesting yet. Before Neo’s suspicions about The Matrix and Morpheus were confirmed, he was Mr. Anderson, an average, naive man working a normal job and living a seemingly normal life. Neo, at the time, was solely an alias he used online. However, Neo soon became the name he and most others called himself as he discovered he truly was “the one”. He was the savior that could break the Matrix and take back control for humans. Only Agent Smith and the other government officials called Neo “Mr. Anderson” because they did not want him to hold the same power as Neo. They wanted him to give them information about Zion and then kill him. However, once Neo realized his potential in realizing he was “the one”, he became more powerful than he ever thought possible. He was able to move with super strength and super speed, dodging bullets and literally being able to shatter people into pieces. Like the little boy said “There is no spoon…only try to realize the truth”. Once Neo allowed himself to truly believe his past life was a lie, he was finally able to reach his potential, defeat the machines, and break the simulation. 


The Matrix notes:

  • Trinity is running from the police

  • People are unknowingly living in a simulation 

  • Neo’s computer types to him that “The Matrix” has him 

  • Morpheus is helping Neo escape the people after him 

    • Neo gets arrested by the men in black suits

  • When Neo (Mr. Anderson) to help, they removed his mouth and put a metal bug into him (but then he woke up from the “dream”) it was NOT actually a dream

  • Morpheus calls Neo “the one” and says he has been looking for Neo his entire life

  • Trinity removes the bug from Neo

  • With the Blue Pill, Neo would choose to wake up again forgetting all of what he has learned exists (basically being completely naive to the entire simulation)

  • With the Red Pill, Neo will continue to learn about this “wonder land”, but will be aware of everything and not naive to anything

    • Neo took the red pill

  • Neo woke up from the simulation by taking the red pill to find millions of peoples’ bodies in capsules

    • He was brought to the real world by Trinity and Morpheus (taken out of the simulation)

  • There is a loading zone where anything can be made and constructed

    • They are in a computer program 

  • Morpheus tells Neo that he has been living in a dream world, but that the actual world is destroyed completely

    • The creation of A.I. led to the destruction of the Earth

    • Humans relied too much on machines

    • Human beings are grown in growing fields, not born, by these machines 

    • Humans are growth in these capsules that Neo woke up in

  • Neo does not believe what he is hearing and wants to escape

  • Zion is said to be the last human city

  • Neo was trained in fighting through a “sparing program”, where certain rules, such as gravity, can be altered

  • Morpheus tells Neo “the body cannot live without the mind”

  • Neo is here to save the world

  • Mr. Reagan says “ignorance is bliss” 

  • The boy tells Neo that bending the spoon is impossible, and to simply try to realize the truth that there is no spoon there is only self

  • The Oracle tells Neo that Morpheus believes in him so greatly that Morpheus is going to sacrifice his life for Neo’s

    • Neo has his life in one hand and Morpheus’s life in the other 

  • Then someone experiences deja vu, there is usually a glitch in the Matrix meaning they are changing a sequence for a trap. This happened when Neo saw two identical black cats and Mouse was killed

  • Morpheus is beat and captured by Agent Smith and the police

  • Mr. Reagan is bad and working undercover for the police by giving them information on Zion

    • He is killing his crew, all because he wants the blue pill instead of the red he was given. He wants to forget everything and be rich and famous

  • When Tank says killing Morpheus would be the best for him, Neo says he thinks he can save him and Trinity insists she come too 

  • Agent Smith tells Morpheus he hates the simulation and wants the codes to get inside Zion so he can be free

  • Things are only as real as people believe them are

  • Neo saved Morpheus

    • The Oracle told him he is not the one, but only said that because that is what he needed to hear to walk his own path

  • Neo and Agent Smith are fighting 

  • Agent Smith shoots Neo, supposedly killing him

  • Trinity confesses her love for Neo, seemingly bringing him back to life

  • Neo is so fast that he entered into Agent Smith, shattering him 

  • Neo broke and exposed the Matrix to all of the world

Comments

  1. Hannah HollandOctober 9, 2022 at 7:50 PM

    I also had so many questions running through my mind while watching this film. Are we living in a simulation? How did humans give artificial intelligence enough power to force all humans into a simulation? How did the first person exit the Matrix? I think the film intentionally only reveals what it needs to in order to allow the audience freedom to make their own conclusions and interpret the movie in their own way. I always enjoy reading your thoughts on character development because you always expose something that I didn't notice! I realized and noted in my post about how Neo had two names, and we both came to similar conclusions! The switch from Mr. Anderson to Neo the savior represents Neo's evolution to freeing his mind and realizing his true potential. Neo represents an all powerful being, not a normal Mr. Anderson living blindly in the Matrix.

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