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The Matrix films only seem to feel more and more terrifyingly relevant as time goes on! In this compilation video, we're jumping back into some of our Takes on the series where we unpack the...
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00:00:00The genius of The Matrix is it proved that movies can make us care
00:00:04about dry philosophical ideas.
00:00:07In the Wachowski's 1999 film about a programmer who realizes
00:00:11he's living in a computer simulation,
00:00:12the deepest intrigue doesn't lie in what happens,
00:00:15but in why it happens and what it means.
00:00:18All I'm offering is the truth, nothing more.
00:00:22At the heart of this story are questions like, what's real?
00:00:26Do we actually want the truth?
00:00:28And can human beings be free?
00:00:30Such abstract inquiries become tangible, personal, urgent,
00:00:35as Neo progresses from nihilism to enlightenment and becomes the One,
00:00:40the only person with the potential to free human beings
00:00:43from their machine overlords.
00:00:45This tightly structured hero's journey is the philosopher's journey,
00:00:50packaged as a gripping, action-packed Hollywood flick.
00:00:54Twenty years later, here's our take on the deep meaning of The Matrix,
00:00:58and why it's a guide to freeing your mind,
00:01:02which can help us uncode the modern Matrix of our times.
00:01:05The first Matrix movie has an age-old message,
00:01:19the truth shall set you free.
00:01:21It was he who freed the first of us,
00:01:26taught us the truth.
00:01:27Let's take a look at Neo's steps on the road to freeing the mind.
00:01:30On closer inspection, we can identify seven major phases.
00:01:34Dreaming, destruction, reconstruction,
00:01:37self-knowledge, doubt, belief, and love.
00:01:40Step 1. Dreaming of the Question.
00:01:43Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real?
00:01:49What if you were unable to wake from that dream?
00:01:51Neo's quest for truth begins in his dreams.
00:01:55When we first meet him, he's asleep,
00:01:57while his computer runs a search for a mysterious figure named Morpheus,
00:02:01fittingly named after the Greek god of dreams.
00:02:03Someone in Neo's computer, who we later learn is Trinity,
00:02:07tells him to wake up.
00:02:09Neo's not quite ready to do this yet,
00:02:11and the two sequences following this lead back to him waking up in bed,
00:02:16unsure if he's just had some strange nightmare.
00:02:19Neo complains of an inability to tell waking life from dreaming.
00:02:22You ever have that feeling where you're not sure if you're awake or still dreaming?
00:02:28And when he finally meets the god of dreams himself,
00:02:31Morpheus speaks to Neo's feeling of surreality.
00:02:34You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees
00:02:37because he is expecting to wake up.
00:02:41Ironically, this is not far from the truth.
00:02:43The twist is that it's Neo's so-called real life up until now
00:02:48that's been the dream world.
00:02:50You've been living in a dream world, Neo.
00:02:52Neo's mentor Morpheus represents intuition and faith in the unseen forces of the world,
00:02:58in direct opposition to the machine projections that use the eyes
00:03:01and rational arguments to enslave.
00:03:04His ship is called
00:03:05The Nebuchadnezzar.
00:03:06A nod to an ancient Babylonian king who, in the biblical book Daniel,
00:03:11gave the wise men of his kingdom the impossible task of not just interpreting his dream,
00:03:16but also telling him what the dream was.
00:03:18So The Matrix tells us that trusting our intuition and dreams
00:03:22is the beginning of the path toward truth and mind-freeing.
00:03:25You're here because you know something.
00:03:28What you know you can't explain, but you feel it.
00:03:32You've felt it your entire life.
00:03:34This mysterious inner compass points us in the right direction
00:03:37before our rational minds can catch up.
00:03:39Such shaping fantasies that apprehend more than cool reason ever comprehends.
00:03:44Neo's intuition and dreams lead him to form a question.
00:03:48Interestingly, we gather that Trinity and the Others
00:03:51began their journeys with the same question.
00:03:54You know the question, just as I did.
00:03:58What is The Matrix?
00:04:00So what starts all these rebels to be on the path to freedom
00:04:03is a growing awareness of this invisible thing that surrounds them,
00:04:07The Matrix.
00:04:08That there's something wrong with the world.
00:04:10You don't know what it is.
00:04:11But it's there, like a splinter in your mind.
00:04:15The Matrix.
00:04:16The ability to sense The Matrix,
00:04:18even though nothing about it can be perceived by the senses,
00:04:21A prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch.
00:04:24might remind us of the story about the fish,
00:04:27who don't know they're surrounded by water.
00:04:29How's the water?
00:04:30And the two young fish swim on for a bit,
00:04:32and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes,
00:04:35what the hell is water?
00:04:36To have the initial capacity to free your mind,
00:04:39you have to question the obvious, what's right in front of your eyes.
00:04:43The point of the fish story is merely that the most obvious,
00:04:45important realities are often the ones that are hardest to see and talk about.
00:04:49You think that's air you're breathing now?
00:04:52The next phase of Neo's enlightenment is destructive truth.
00:04:56It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
00:05:01Shattering the illusions that blind and enslave us.
00:05:04You are a slave, Neo.
00:05:06What's untrue must die.
00:05:09This phase begins with the choice Morpheus offers Neo,
00:05:12to remain in his comfortable pre-enlightened state,
00:05:15The story ends,
00:05:17you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe.
00:05:20or to wake up.
00:05:22You stay in Wonderland,
00:05:25and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.
00:05:27Until this point, Morpheus' team and Neo are just meeting each other inside the Matrix,
00:05:32but the red pill allows Morpheus' team to locate where Neo's actual body is,
00:05:37in the field where machines grow living human beings to use them for energy.
00:05:42As Neo's false conceptions of reality are torn down,
00:05:45The disruption to his mind is so violent that he almost dies.
00:05:54He's going into a rest.
00:05:55This is the first death and rebirth Neo goes through in the film.
00:05:59Am I dead?
00:06:00Far from it.
00:06:01Like a baby, he must learn to use his own body.
00:06:05Your muscles have atrophied, you're rebuilding them.
00:06:07And to begin thinking for himself, as symbolized by seeing through his own eyes.
00:06:12Why am I certain you've never used them before?
00:06:16Morpheus offers an overview explanation,
00:06:18debunking the narrative of the Matrix.
00:06:21The Matrix is a computer-generated dream world,
00:06:25built to keep us under control,
00:06:29in order to change a human being into this.
00:06:34It's unspeakably difficult to accept,
00:06:36No, I don't believe it.
00:06:40But much harder to shake are the little unconscious beliefs
00:06:44the Matrix has conditioned into him.
00:06:46Neo's training is a process of unlearning.
00:06:49Morpheus tells Neo,
00:06:50Don't think you are.
00:06:53Know you are.
00:06:54Because the thinking that's holding him back
00:06:56is an obedience to the rules of the machines and their agents.
00:07:00Like gravity.
00:07:01What you must learn is that these rules are no different
00:07:03than the rules of a computer system.
00:07:05This is something we can all learn from,
00:07:08even if we're not yet ready to reject the laws of physics.
00:07:11Are we not also unnecessarily restricted
00:07:13by what we think we must do or can't do?
00:07:16What we deem possible?
00:07:18At the beginning of the movie,
00:07:20the power of the agents seems unbelievably giant.
00:07:23They are manifestations of the system itself.
00:07:26Yet their strength and their speed are still based in a world
00:07:30that is built on rules.
00:07:31Because of that,
00:07:32they will never be as strong or as fast as you can be.
00:07:36And the implication is that we too have unlocked power waiting for us
00:07:40if we unlearn our limitations.
00:07:42Once we start to unbelieve.
00:07:45Do you believe that my being stronger or faster
00:07:49has anything to do with my muscles in this place?
00:07:54After this period of destruction comes the third step,
00:07:57reconstructing a new reality from scratch.
00:08:00This is visualized in Neo's training sessions with Morpheus
00:08:04against a blank, white background,
00:08:06where they have the ability to summon anything they can think of.
00:08:09This is the construct.
00:08:12It's our loading program.
00:08:15We can load anything from clothing to equipment.
00:08:18For the first time, he is discovering agency.
00:08:21This phase has a lot in common with the philosophical stance of existentialism,
00:08:26which grapples with the idea that human beings really are free.
00:08:30At first, humans tend to despair when they realize their freedom,
00:08:34as they find themselves in a world without given meaning.
00:08:38But existentialists don't see this as depressing.
00:08:41They view freedom as an empowering value,
00:08:44because we get to create our own meaning.
00:08:47One of the fathers of existentialism, Friedrich Nietzsche,
00:08:50conceived of a grand hero he called the Ubermensch, or Overman,
00:08:54who would create new life-affirming values
00:08:57to give higher meaning to our human existence.
00:09:00Sound familiar?
00:09:01There was a man born inside,
00:09:04who had the ability to change whatever he wanted,
00:09:08to remake the Matrix as he saw fit.
00:09:10The Matrix is essentially about Neo becoming the Ubermensch, or The One.
00:09:15You are the one, Neo.
00:09:18This question of whether he's the one brings him to the fourth phase
00:09:22of his truth journey, self-knowledge.
00:09:25It's Latin, means know thyself.
00:09:29Morpheus brings Neo to visit the Oracle,
00:09:32whose name alludes to the Greek Oracle of Delphi.
00:09:34The Oracle seems to tell Neo that he's not the one.
00:09:38But you already know what I'm going to tell you.
00:09:43I'm not the one.
00:09:44Sorry, kid.
00:09:45In fact, though, what she really tells him
00:09:48is that the answers are within him.
00:09:50Being the one is just like being in love.
00:09:55No one can tell you you're in love, you just know it.
00:09:57We can't arrive at self-knowledge through others.
00:10:00Neo can't know he's the one because anyone else says so,
00:10:04and that's why the Oracle strategically shuts down
00:10:06the grand narrative others have been building
00:10:08around Neo's specialness.
00:10:10If you are, it's a very exciting time.
00:10:14No one's ever made the first jump.
00:10:16I know, I know.
00:10:18But what if he does?
00:10:19Instead, she prepares Neo for a choice he'll soon face.
00:10:22In the one hand, you'll have Morpheus' life.
00:10:27And in the other hand, you'll have your own.
00:10:30Her words might strike us as off-topic.
00:10:32Why is she focusing on this instead of talking more about what we all came for,
00:10:37a declaration of Neo's important identity?
00:10:39But the information the Oracle gives him isn't an answer at all.
00:10:43It's a test through which he can define himself.
00:10:46She told you exactly what you needed to hear.
00:10:50That's all.
00:10:51While it's tempting to know how things are going to turn out,
00:10:54we're not supposed to rationally comprehend the facts of our future
00:10:58before it comes to pass.
00:10:59Prophecy is only valuable insofar as it provides useful information we can draw on,
00:11:05as we form self-knowledge from within, through walking the walk.
00:11:08Neo, sooner or later you're going to realize, just as I did,
00:11:12there's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.
00:11:16In fact, we get a subtle hint that the Oracle does believe Neo will develop into the One.
00:11:21She alludes to Trinity's feelings for him.
00:11:24I can see why she likes you.
00:11:26Who?
00:11:27And we later learn that she predicted the man Trinity loved would be the One.
00:11:32The Oracle told me that I would fall in love and that that man,
00:11:37the man that I loved would be the One.
00:11:39It's pretty clear from early on that Neo is going to end up being the One.
00:11:43The real question is, why he is?
00:11:46Is this the story of Neo discovering he's the One?
00:11:49Or deciding that he is?
00:11:51Are we free to decide our own fates?
00:11:53Do you believe in fate, Neo?
00:11:56No.
00:11:57Why not?
00:11:59Because I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my life.
00:12:01When the Oracle anticipates Neo knocking over the vase,
00:12:04And don't worry about the vase.
00:12:06What vase?
00:12:10She raises this unknowable issue of whether the future is decided or chosen.
00:12:14What's really going to bake your noodle later on is,
00:12:18would you still have broken it if I hadn't said anything?
00:12:21The Oracle's role in this story isn't to resolve this duality, but to reframe it.
00:12:26She disproves our assumption that fate and freedom are an either-or.
00:12:30And she's never wrong.
00:12:34Try not to think of it in terms of right and wrong.
00:12:37She is a guide, Neo.
00:12:39She predicts patterns while leaving room for the randomness that stems from choice.
00:12:43Her vision of destiny, an ever-shifting inkblot test.
00:12:47Do you think you are the one?
00:12:48When she meets Neo, her inkblot test of him reflects that he doesn't believe in himself,
00:12:53so he's not there yet.
00:12:55The necessary elements are present, but Neo will also have to decide his destiny.
00:13:00You got the gift, but it looks like you're waiting for something.
00:13:06The fifth step of the philosopher's journey is overcoming doubt.
00:13:11You have to let it all go, Neo.
00:13:13Fear, doubt, and disbelief.
00:13:16Neo's doubt is symbolized by his fear of falling.
00:13:19This is seen already when he's still in the Matrix.
00:13:22There are two ways out of this building.
00:13:25One is that scaffold, the other is in their custody.
00:13:28And pre-liberated Neo caves to his fear.
00:13:31During his training, Neo faces another great height.
00:13:34This time he makes the choice to jump, but he doesn't make it.
00:13:37So the fall demonstrates that he doesn't truly believe in his own capabilities just yet.
00:13:42Everybody falls the first time.
00:13:44The problem of doubt is embodied in the character of Cypher,
00:13:47who whispers in the Resistance's ear,
00:13:49tempting them to submit to the inevitable victory of machines.
00:13:53I'm tired of this war, tired of fighting,
00:13:56I'm tired of this ship, being cold,
00:13:59of eating the same goddamn goop every day.
00:14:02Cypher rejects the truth,
00:14:04I know this state doesn't exist,
00:14:06choosing instead to descend back into hedonism and ignorance.
00:14:10Ignorance is bliss.
00:14:11Through Cypher, the Matrix challenges its own thesis that mankind truly wants liberation and enlightenment.
00:14:17I choose the Matrix.
00:14:19The character forces us to consider,
00:14:21which would we really choose?
00:14:23A difficult but free life?
00:14:25Or blissful subjugation?
00:14:27I know what you're thinking.
00:14:28Why oh why didn't I take the blue pill?
00:14:31Many of us secretly prefer the lie,
00:14:33and will even fight to preserve it,
00:14:35if that illusion maintains our materialist's comforts
00:14:38and protects us from suffering.
00:14:39Most of these people are not ready to be unplugged,
00:14:42and many of them are so inert, so hopelessly dependent on the system,
00:14:47that they will fight to protect it.
00:14:49The Matrix suggests that most of us already are choosing the blue pill.
00:14:53As we learn in the Matrix Reloaded,
00:14:55only 1% of people have minds that reject the Matrix.
00:14:5999% of all test subjects accepted the program as long as they were given a choice,
00:15:04even if they were only aware of the choice at a near unconscious level.
00:15:07Cypher wants badly for Neo to fail.
00:15:10You never did answer me before, if you bought into Morpheus' bullshit.
00:15:14We get the sense he may know to some degree about the Oracle's prophecy
00:15:18that Trinity would love the One,
00:15:20because he keeps asking her if she thinks Neo's the real deal.
00:15:23You don't, do you?
00:15:24All I want is a little yes or no.
00:15:26Even though he believes in nothing, he craves certainty in this belief.
00:15:30Morpheus was right, and there's no way I can fool this plot.
00:15:35I mean, if Neo's the One, then there'd have to be some kind of a miracle
00:15:40to stop me.
00:15:41In pursuit of this certainty, he murders his fellow rebels
00:15:44and nearly sabotages their whole operation before he's killed.
00:15:48Yet, Cypher's own death here is redundant.
00:15:50He was already about to essentially kill himself
00:15:53by erasing his agency and consciousness
00:15:55to become mindless fodder for a machine network.
00:15:58I go back to sleep, and when I wake up,
00:16:00I will remember a goddamn thing.
00:16:01Cypher's desperate need for proof that humankind's situation is truly hopeless
00:16:06stems from his knowledge deep down that what he's done is evil.
00:16:09Choosing ignorance is enabling oppression.
00:16:12Anyone who's plugged into the Matrix can be taken over by an agent at any moment,
00:16:16making them a tool for the system of slavery.
00:16:19The very minds of the people we are trying to save,
00:16:22but until we do, these people are still a part of that system,
00:16:25and that makes them our enemy.
00:16:28No amount of rational knowledge can overcome doubt.
00:16:31It can only be defeated by Neo's next stage, Belief.
00:16:35I know that's what it looks like, but it's not.
00:16:38I can't explain to you why it's not.
00:16:40The moment when Neo discovers Belief is the point
00:16:43when we feel the plot start to turn in his favor.
00:16:46That's why I have to go.
00:16:47Why?
00:16:48Because I believe in something.
00:16:49After Morpheus is captured and tortured for the access code to Zion,
00:16:53the one remaining free human city,
00:16:55the Resistance considers pulling Morpheus' plug.
00:16:58No one has ever beaten an agent,
00:17:00so they're certain it's impossible to do so.
00:17:02Neo then decides to do the impossible, save Morpheus.
00:17:07I believe I can bring him back.
00:17:08It's no accident that this is the choice the Oracle signposts for Neo.
00:17:12It's the crucible in which his true nature will be forged, determined, revealed.
00:17:18He still doubts he's the One.
00:17:19I'm not the One Trinity.
00:17:21Neo doesn't have the ego to abstractly believe he's the savior of all humankind,
00:17:25but when the mentor he loves and admires more than anything is in danger,
00:17:29he unconsciously and irrationally believes in his ability to save him,
00:17:34showing that he does know he has the One's power,
00:17:37he just doesn't know he knows yet.
00:17:39So what do you need, besides a miracle?
00:17:42Guns.
00:17:44Lots of guns.
00:17:46The three main characters,
00:17:47Morpheus, Trinity, and Neo, are all driven by beliefs.
00:17:51Morpheus believed something,
00:17:53and he was ready to give his life for what he believed.
00:17:55I understand that now.
00:17:56Meanwhile, Cypher's weakness comes from the fact that he lacks belief.
00:18:00The very last thing he says is,
00:18:03I don't believe it.
00:18:04As Stephen Fowler observes in Beyond the Matrix,
00:18:06just as Neo's name is an anagram for One,
00:18:09Cypher's name is an alternate spelling of Cypher, which means Zero.
00:18:13It's fitting that these two opposite characters correspond to One and Zero,
00:18:17the two digits of the binary system which computers operate in.
00:18:21This suggests that ultimately what seems to be an array of choices
00:18:25boils down to just two.
00:18:27Believe in something, or believe in nothing.
00:18:30Believe it or not, you piece of shit, you're still gonna burn.
00:18:34The Matrix posits that faith is much stronger than mere knowledge.
00:18:38It's something no one can take from you.
00:18:40Let me tell you what I believe.
00:18:42I believe Morpheus means more to me than he does to you.
00:18:45I believe if you are really serious about saving him,
00:18:47you are going to need my help.
00:18:49That no one can argue you out of.
00:18:51If you don't like it, I believe you can go to hell.
00:18:54Steadfast belief in his mission makes Neo able to dodge bullets like an agent can.
00:18:58How did you do that?
00:19:00Do what?
00:19:00You moved like they do.
00:19:02Yet Neo's still hit by a bullet, symbolizing that his self-doubt lingers.
00:19:07I wasn't fast enough.
00:19:08Trinity comes to his rescue.
00:19:10Dodge this.
00:19:11Foreshadowing how she will provide the secret weapon
00:19:13to complete his philosophical journey soon after this.
00:19:16When Agent Smith takes over a homeless man's body in the subway tunnel,
00:19:19just after Trinity and Morpheus have exited,
00:19:22due to his growing faith, Neo does the unthinkable.
00:19:25He stands his ground against an agent.
00:19:28At this point, you might say that Neo's belief makes him an even match for Agent Smith,
00:19:33but he's not yet surpassed the agents.
00:19:36After all, they wholly believe, too.
00:19:38As software programs, they have this belief written into their code,
00:19:41the equivalent of their DNA.
00:19:43Smith keeps calling him
00:19:44Mr. Anderson?
00:19:46which pushes Neo to cast off his slave name and claim his true identity.
00:19:50My name is Neo.
00:19:54He is at last trusting in his individual power.
00:19:58What is he doing?
00:20:00He's beginning to believe.
00:20:01Even though Neo wins this fight,
00:20:03the agent can just stop the train and take over another body.
00:20:07Thus, Neo runs again.
00:20:08But just before he's about to exit the Matrix, he's taken by surprise.
00:20:12He flatlines.
00:20:14In this moment, the Oracle's prophecy
00:20:16that either Morpheus or he would die comes true.
00:20:19But we're about to find out her word's deeper meaning
00:20:21was obscured by technicalities.
00:20:23Neo wasn't yet the one,
00:20:25because he had to die in this current form
00:20:28and be reborn as someone new.
00:20:30In fact, his name, Neo, is a prefix meaning new.
00:20:34But it looks like you're waiting for something.
00:20:36What?
00:20:37Your next life, maybe.
00:20:39The last and most crucial step of Neo's transition into the One
00:20:43is love.
00:20:45You can't be dead.
00:20:49You can't be.
00:20:52Because I love you.
00:20:55Another fact that holds true until this point
00:20:57is that death in the Matrix kills a person in real life.
00:21:00The body cannot live without the mind.
00:21:02However, the physical sensations in the Matrix are an illusion,
00:21:05so Trinity's love in the real world,
00:21:07coupled with Neo's exceptional ability
00:21:09to separate his real mind from his Matrix body,
00:21:12leads to his resurrection.
00:21:14Now get up.
00:21:17Belief made him as powerful as an agent,
00:21:20but belief powered by love is what makes Neo unstoppable.
00:21:24No.
00:21:28Now he fulfills Morpheus' earlier prediction.
00:21:31That I can dodge bullets?
00:21:32I'm trying to tell you that when you're ready,
00:21:36you won't have to.
00:21:37Armed with agency's self-belief and love,
00:21:40Neo sees through the agent's illusory forms to the pure code they really are.
00:21:45This is a visualization of seeing the truth in full,
00:21:48seeing into the very essence of things.
00:21:51Now that he can glimpse this total truth,
00:21:53he can bend the code to his will.
00:21:55And after he goes inside an agent to destroy it from within,
00:21:59finally the agents run from him.
00:22:01During this sequence, we hear holy music,
00:22:08underlining that this infinite level of insight is godlike.
00:22:12How?
00:22:14He is the one.
00:22:15We've seen hints throughout that Neo's story can be interpreted as the Christ narrative.
00:22:20Jesus Christ, he's fast.
00:22:23He dies and is resurrected, thanks to the love of Trinity, or…
00:22:27THE Trinity?
00:22:28You can also associate the three central characters loosely with the three figures of the Trinity.
00:22:33The Father,
00:22:33Morpheus, you are more than a leader to us.
00:22:35You are a father.
00:22:38The Son,
00:22:39Hallelujah!
00:22:40You're my savior, man.
00:22:42My own personal Jesus Christ.
00:22:44And the Holy Spirit.
00:22:47The nameplate of the Resistance's ship alludes to the Bible verse Mark 3 11,
00:22:52and whenever the unclean spirits saw him,
00:22:54they fell down before him and cried out,
00:22:57You are the Son of God.
00:22:59Neo is betrayed by a Judas figure,
00:23:01and most fundamentally, he's a radical who comes to spread a world-altering truth
00:23:06in the hearts of people.
00:23:07Neo's defeat of the agent signifies the triumph of human values,
00:23:11culminating in love, the most irrational value of all.
00:23:15At the very end, Rage Against the Machine plays.
00:23:17The significance of this isn't just fighting the machines in this story,
00:23:26it's telling us to rage against what seems certain, impossible, set in stone.
00:23:31And in the last shot, when Neo flies upwards,
00:23:34this imagery is reminiscent of the Buddha,
00:23:36who could ascend to heaven after reaching enlightenment.
00:23:39The image is a visualization of how accepting truth allows us to fly free.
00:23:44A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries.
00:23:48Neo is not, on the surface, the most exceptional person.
00:23:52Not too bright, though.
00:23:54So it might strike us as jarring that Morpheus and others
00:23:58are so immediately convinced of his special nature.
00:24:01Why this guy?
00:24:01Throw on your left!
00:24:02No, your other left!
00:24:05But there's hidden significance in the fact that Neo is an everyman.
00:24:09The point isn't that he's the only one, it's that we all have a one within.
00:24:15Transcendental poet Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote,
00:24:17God dwells in thee.
00:24:19Clouded and shrouded, there doth sit the infinite embosomed in a man.
00:24:23If we walk these steps towards enlightenment,
00:24:26we can begin to access the power of seeing infinite truth.
00:24:29Do not try and bend the spoon.
00:24:32Only try to realize the truth.
00:24:35And we can learn from Neo that thinking deeply is the secret to waking up
00:24:39and really being alive.
00:24:41There is no spoon?
00:24:43Then you'll see that it is not the spoon that bends,
00:24:46it is only yourself.
00:24:47God, truth, the one, whatever you call it,
00:24:51the Matrix sends this profound, deeply inspirational message.
00:24:54Within yourself is untold power, waiting to be unlocked.
00:24:59The Matrix Reloaded ends by, once again,
00:25:02undermining everything we thought we knew about the world.
00:25:05Neo is, we learn, not the one.
00:25:08This is the sixth version.
00:25:11He's merely one in a series of systemic anomalies,
00:25:15an eventuality the machines have already planned for.
00:25:18The prophecy was a lie.
00:25:20The one was never meant to end anything.
00:25:22It was all another system with control.
00:25:24This choice was, to put it lightly, controversial
00:25:28when The Matrix Reloaded was released in 2003.
00:25:30But fan disappointment was part of the project from the beginning.
00:25:34The Wachowski sisters made a conscious decision
00:25:36to subvert the message of their popular and acclaimed first installment.
00:25:40A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries.
00:25:44The second movie is deconstructionist,
00:25:48and it assaults all of the things that you thought to be true in the first movie.
00:25:52But what does that mean?
00:25:53And how does it explain the film's frenzied conclusion,
00:25:56with Zion on the brink of extinction and Neo in a coma?
00:25:59Let's dive into the architect, the problem of choice,
00:26:03and the ending of The Matrix Reloaded.
00:26:14For all its mind-blowing reveals and philosophical questioning,
00:26:18the first Matrix movie is ultimately a typical hero's journey.
00:26:22Thomas Anderson, a seemingly ordinary man,
00:26:24discovers that he is a long-prophesied hero who will free the human race.
00:26:29When The Matrix was first built, there was a man born inside,
00:26:33who had the ability to change whatever he wanted.
00:26:36But this isn't a story about just any hero.
00:26:39It's one about a mythical, even religious figure.
00:26:42The Oracle prophesied his return,
00:26:44and that his coming would hail the destruction of The Matrix,
00:26:49end the war, bring freedom to our people.
00:26:52Accordingly, The Matrix ends with Neo literally dying and coming back to life,
00:26:57imbued with the powers of the savior of humanity.
00:27:00He is the one.
00:27:01And when The Matrix ends, he can manipulate The Matrix at will,
00:27:04can stop bullets with his mind, rewrite code while jacked in,
00:27:08and force the once-unbeatable agents to run from him.
00:27:12He's a literal superhero.
00:27:14He's doing his Superman thing.
00:27:16At the beginning of The Matrix Reloaded, the Wachowskis take pains to show us
00:27:19how powerful Neo has become in a fight against the previously invincible agents.
00:27:23Hmm. Upgrades.
00:27:25By the end of the fight, Neo is literally hovering above The Matrix.
00:27:29He is now seen as a higher being.
00:27:32You got me out. You saved me.
00:27:34For the humans of Zion, Neo is almost a god.
00:27:37Neo, please. I have a son, Jacob, aboard the Nexus.
00:27:42Please watch over him.
00:27:44Even skeptics like Link have come around.
00:27:47It's not to be on that ship, and seeing Neo do the things he can do,
00:27:50I gotta say, I'm starting to believe him too.
00:27:54Neo's abilities make creating stakes in The Matrix Reloaded difficult for the Wachowskis.
00:27:59After all, he can emerge victorious in practically any scenario.
00:28:02The movie's biggest action sequences have to aggressively sideline Neo,
00:28:06whether by putting him 500 miles away from the city,
00:28:09You're not gonna believe this, but you're all the way up in the mountains.
00:28:13Really?
00:28:13or by forcing the Resistance to complete several objectives simultaneously.
00:28:18Unlike Smith, Neo can't be in two places at once.
00:28:21Neo could take them both out easier than we could.
00:28:23There's no time.
00:28:24Still, for all that The Matrix tells us that The One is an unbeatable, invincible savior,
00:28:30the characters in The Matrix Reloaded spend a lot of time undercutting
00:28:33Neo's apparent omnipotence, reminding us that, when it comes down to it,
00:28:37Neo is still flesh and blood.
00:28:39First, the agents decide to fight him because, after all,
00:28:43they're not bound by being human.
00:28:45Do we proceed?
00:28:45Yes, he is still only human.
00:28:48When Neo fights the Merovingian's goons, he wins.
00:28:52But he bleeds.
00:28:53You see, he's just a man.
00:28:55And in the biggest single fight of the movie, Neo reaches his limits.
00:28:59Though he manages to fend off hundreds of copies of Smith in an epic brawl,
00:29:03he eventually gets worn down and tired,
00:29:05because that's what happens to human beings.
00:29:09Are you alright?
00:29:09Why does this matter?
00:29:14The Matrix Reloaded ends with Neo confronting a vision he's been having
00:29:17since the beginning of the movie, Trinity dying.
00:29:20Still can't sleep.
00:29:21As Zion leader Counselor Haman points out,
00:29:24Neo's difficulty sleeping is an indication that he's not become
00:29:28some kind of perfect deity or machine.
00:29:30It's a good sign of what?
00:29:33That you are in fact still human.
00:29:36Near the end of The Matrix Reloaded,
00:29:38the two sides of Neo, the invincible, unmovable hero,
00:29:42and the anxious, scared human, collide when he's forced to choose
00:29:45between his godlike duties as the One
00:29:47and his personal commitment to Trinity.
00:29:49There are two doors.
00:29:51The door to your right leads to the Source and the Salvation of Zion.
00:29:54The door to your left leads back to the Matrix,
00:29:57to her and to the end of your species.
00:30:05The Matrix Reloaded is about the problem of choice.
00:30:08The first Matrix already raised central questions about fate
00:30:12versus free will.
00:30:13And don't worry about the vase.
00:30:15What vase?
00:30:19Would you still have broken it if I hadn't said anything?
00:30:22In their first conversation together,
00:30:24Morpheus asks Neo how he feels about fate.
00:30:26Do you believe in fate, Neo?
00:30:30No.
00:30:31Why not?
00:30:32Because I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my life.
00:30:34The concept of choice in The Matrix Trilogy is most famously
00:30:37embodied by the red and blue pills,
00:30:39representations of two potential approaches to life
00:30:42that Neo, and all of us, can take.
00:30:45You take the blue pill, you wake up in your bed
00:30:47and believe whatever you want to believe.
00:30:50You take the red pill,
00:30:51and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.
00:30:54On one level, the red pill is a symbol for what The Matrix is all about,
00:30:57rejecting a reality where you're not in control,
00:31:01and deciding to free your mind.
00:31:03And even as Neo turns out to fulfill the prophecy of becoming the One,
00:31:07The Matrix emphasizes that he still has to choose his destiny.
00:31:11Being the One is just like being in love.
00:31:16No one can tell you you're in love,
00:31:17you just know it.
00:31:19By the beginning of The Matrix Reloaded though,
00:31:21the balance has shifted back toward the weightiness of fate.
00:31:25It is our destiny.
00:31:28Neo's fixed identity as The One has replaced
00:31:31Thomas Anderson's original identity as a slave of the system.
00:31:34Accordingly, that idea of himself overrides his own judgment.
00:31:38He's sitting around, waiting for the Oracle to call and tell him what to do.
00:31:43I just wish, I wish I knew what I'm supposed to do.
00:31:46When that does happen and he meets with the Oracle,
00:31:49Neo seems to be given the next step of his destiny,
00:31:52going to the Source.
00:31:53The machine mainframe.
00:31:55Yes.
00:31:57Where you must go.
00:32:00Where the path of the One ends.
00:32:02For much of The Matrix Reloaded,
00:32:03we might expect that this is the natural arc of the film.
00:32:06Neo will make it to the Source,
00:32:08and in doing so, he'll somehow gain the power
00:32:10to end the war between man and machine.
00:32:12And if this were how the movie went,
00:32:14that would pretty much deliver the same uplifting,
00:32:17emotional journey of the first film.
00:32:19That's where I have to go.
00:32:20Why?
00:32:21Because I believe in something.
00:32:23Many, if not most of the other characters in The Matrix Reloaded,
00:32:26see their fate as being somehow tied to Neo's quest for the Source,
00:32:30and to the destiny they believe he has.
00:32:32It is my purpose.
00:32:35It is the reason I'm here.
00:32:37The same reason we're all here.
00:32:40In the first Matrix, leader Morpheus is driven by faith in the One
00:32:43and the Oracle's prophecy.
00:32:45But in The Matrix Reloaded,
00:32:46we and the other characters double down on his fundamentalism.
00:32:50I believe this night holds for each and every one of us
00:32:55the very meaning of our lives.
00:32:58Even the Oracle, who has set Neo on his path,
00:33:01seems to have placed her faith in him to a greater degree than she already did.
00:33:05You've made a believer out of me.
00:33:08But in committing themselves to their sense of fate, destiny, and purpose,
00:33:12they also commit themselves to seeing the world the same way the movie's villains do.
00:33:16She is going to die and there is nothing you can do to stop it.
00:33:21Take Smith, whose crusade of trying to homogenize and overtake the entire Matrix,
00:33:26comes from his desperate obsession with purpose.
00:33:29There's no escaping reason, no denying purpose,
00:33:33because as we both know, without purpose, we would not exist.
00:33:38Or the Merovingian, who dismisses the possibility of making any choice,
00:33:43Choice is an illusion created between those with power and those without.
00:33:49and believes all things are determined solely by cause and effect.
00:33:53Causality. There is no escape from it. We are forever slaves to it.
00:33:58So the human characters are, we might say, thinking like programs.
00:34:02But that blind faith in destiny, which unites the humans and their computerized counterparts,
00:34:08crumbles when the Architect confronts Neo with his true purpose.
00:34:12You are here because Zion is about to be destroyed.
00:34:15The Architect embodies a traditional idea of God.
00:34:19He is an old white man with a beard who built the world,
00:34:22and he spends most of his time watching humans from a distance.
00:34:26His comprehensive, algorithmic knowledge of humanity
00:34:29allows him predictive power that approaches the supernatural.
00:34:32You can't make me do anything, white Chris!
00:34:34So it's fitting that this godly figure here serves as a representation of external meaning,
00:34:40of the way that people seek purpose from something or someone outside of themselves,
00:34:44something they don't have to choose.
00:34:46Failure to comply with this process will ultimately result in the extinction of the entire human race.
00:34:53In the first Matrix, Neo originally expected to be told if he was the One or not.
00:34:58Then, throughout the Matrix Reloaded, Neo waits for someone to tell him his purpose.
00:35:03But when that happens, his purpose turns out to be letting thousands of people die,
00:35:07including Trinity, something the Architect explains in dispassionate, obtuse language.
00:35:13This will be the sixth time we have destroyed it.
00:35:16The function of the One is now to return to the Source,
00:35:19allowing a temporary dissemination of the code you carry,
00:35:22reinserting the Prime program.
00:35:24The supposed end of the war the prophecy foretells is, in fact, a reboot.
00:35:29A way of simply going through the cycle again.
00:35:32After which you will be required to select from the Matrix,
00:35:3523 individuals, 16 females, 7 males to rebuild Zion.
00:35:39Yet something gets in the way of the machine's business-as-usual restart,
00:35:43and their mechanism for controlling the One.
00:35:45The unexpected twist of Neo's love for Trinity.
00:35:48Your five predecessors were by design based on a similar predication.
00:35:52While the others experienced this in a very general way,
00:35:55your experience is far more specific vis-Ã -vis love.
00:36:01Trinity.
00:36:02Even facing the impending destruction of Zion,
00:36:04and the likely extinction of his species,
00:36:06Neo renounces the supposedly rational decision,
00:36:10his love is too strong.
00:36:11So in the end, Neo embraces radical free will.
00:36:15Not only won't he follow his given destiny,
00:36:17but he also rejects the limitations of the choice given to him entirely.
00:36:22As you adequately put, the problem is choice.
00:36:25While the Architect presents like an all-powerful god,
00:36:28this Overlord is really just part of another, larger system.
00:36:32The Architect was created to fulfill a specific purpose by the machines,
00:36:36who were in turn created by modern humans.
00:36:39You are the eventuality of an anomaly,
00:36:41which despite my sincerest efforts,
00:36:43I have been unable to eliminate from what is otherwise
00:36:46a harmony of mathematical precision.
00:36:49So by rejecting this fake god,
00:36:51Neo must grapple with the revelation that there is no source,
00:36:55no central authority or deity,
00:36:57that can confer ultimate meaning on his existence.
00:37:00And the purpose he chooses for himself is simply saving Trinity.
00:37:03The word existentialist gets thrown around a lot in pop culture,
00:37:08but this film's arc is literally the process one goes through as an existentialist,
00:37:13acknowledging the lack of an external source of meaning,
00:37:16and, after overcoming the crisis of that loss,
00:37:19embracing the opportunity to create meaning and values in your own life.
00:37:23Neo goes from being in this sort of cocooned and programmed world,
00:37:28to having to participate in the construction of meaning to his life.
00:37:33In fact,
00:37:34the Wachowskis ground the Matrix in the work of proto-existentialist Arthur Schopenhauer.
00:37:38When we wrote the Matrix trilogy,
00:37:40we had above our walls this amazing Schopenhauer quote,
00:37:43that was,
00:37:44the fundament upon that all our knowledge and learning rests is the inexplicable.
00:37:52When asking what to do in the face of a fulfilled or otherwise ignored purpose,
00:37:56there is a surprising place to look in the Matrix trilogy,
00:37:59computer programs,
00:38:01creatures of the machine world that should ostensibly be the enemy of humanity.
00:38:05Like Neo, these programs were built to do one specific thing.
00:38:08See those birds?
00:38:09At some point, a program was written to govern them.
00:38:12A program was written to watch over the trees and the winds,
00:38:17sunrise and sunset.
00:38:18But our understanding of the world in the Matrix
00:38:21is complicated by these programs' fear of death and the choices they make.
00:38:25Usually a program chooses exile when it faces deletion.
00:38:29The programs that are visible to humans in the Matrix,
00:38:32programs like Seraph, the Merovingian, and even the Oracle,
00:38:36are those who have consciously chosen to ignore their purpose,
00:38:39or who have merely outlived it.
00:38:41Even the Merovingian's bodyguards have, like Neo,
00:38:44lasted longer than they were originally intended.
00:38:47They come from a much older version of the Matrix,
00:38:50but like so many back then, they caused more problems than they solved.
00:38:54My husband saved them because they're notoriously difficult to terminate.
00:38:58These programs have been given a new reason to live by the Merovingian,
00:39:02but absent his leadership, they would be in the same position as Neo,
00:39:06lost, looking for what gives them purpose.
00:39:09Neo emerges from his meeting with the Architect,
00:39:12determined to have it all his way.
00:39:14Not only does he catch Trinity as she falls through the air,
00:39:17he pulls the bullet out of her then restarts her heart.
00:39:20I'm not letting go. I can't.
00:39:22It's the same thing Trinity did for Neo back at the end of the first Matrix,
00:39:27and it indicates the Wachowski's broader perspective on Neo's abilities.
00:39:31The power of the One is less about completing an assigned destiny
00:39:34within the set of parameters of a war,
00:39:36than it is about ignoring those rules altogether,
00:39:39and doing what you want because you want it.
00:39:41I love you too damn much.
00:39:48At the end of the movie, everyone is in a state of despair.
00:39:52Zion is facing down a massive army of Sentinels,
00:39:55Neo is reevaluating his existence as the One,
00:39:58and poor Morpheus has to question the story upon which he has built his entire life.
00:40:03Everything was done as it was supposed to be done.
00:40:06Once the One reaches the source, the war should be over.
00:40:09Eventually, with the destruction of the Nebuchadnezzar,
00:40:12everything Morpheus thought he knew has been taken from him.
00:40:15I have dreamed a dream, but now that dream is gone from me.
00:40:22Now what?
00:40:23If there's another ending comparable to The Matrix Reloaded's,
00:40:27it might just be that of Angel, the spin-off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
00:40:31The series ends with Angel's assembled crew,
00:40:33full of characters who have rejected their original purposes,
00:40:36choosing to continue to fight for good and justice,
00:40:39even in the face of overwhelming odds.
00:40:42And in terms of a plan, we fight.
00:40:44For a moment near the end of The Matrix Reloaded,
00:40:47that's what the film seems to be leaving us with.
00:40:50The act of continuing to fight rather than the ability to win is the point.
00:40:54From there, though, the movie pivots.
00:40:56There is a chance to overcome the enemy.
00:40:59Something's different.
00:41:00The crew of the Nebuchadnezzar are attacked by sentinels,
00:41:02forcing them to abandon ship.
00:41:04But Neo, now more deeply aware of his connection to the Source
00:41:08and of his abilities as the One, not to achieve some singular purpose,
00:41:12but as tools to let him achieve what he wants,
00:41:15is able to shut them down outside of The Matrix.
00:41:19I can feel them.
00:41:20How exactly Neo accomplishes this feat,
00:41:22what it will enable him to do next,
00:41:25and what will happen now that he's been connected to Bane,
00:41:27a living man overwritten with the Smith program,
00:41:30are questions for our next video.
00:41:32It's the question that drives us now.
00:41:36Ultimately, Reloaded is a transitional movie,
00:41:39leading into the more explicitly spiritual themes of The Matrix Revolutions.
00:41:44I see death, and you are all that stands in his way.
00:41:48By the end of The Matrix Reloaded,
00:41:51everything the Resistance fighters thought they knew has been undercut.
00:41:55What are we going to do?
00:41:57I don't know.
00:41:58And likewise, the Wachowskis have unleashed a philosophical tremor on the viewers,
00:42:02capable of shaking up and toppling whatever you took away from the first movie.
00:42:06People get very upset, and they're like,
00:42:09stop attacking me in the same way that people get upset
00:42:12with deconstructionist philosophy.
00:42:14I mean, Derrida and Foucault, these people upset us.
00:42:17The first Matrix flatters us, and asks us to identify with its hero,
00:42:21but once the hero loses his center of gravity, we lash out accordingly.
00:42:26Are people capable of moving past this kind of existential crisis?
00:42:30Can the revolutionaries who have long viewed all machines as enemies
00:42:34in a black-and-white, us-versus-them mentality
00:42:37learn to work together with programs?
00:42:39People who are not even technically people?
00:42:41I suppose the most obvious question is,
00:42:45how can I trust you?
00:42:46The Matrix Reloaded answers with a resounding maybe,
00:42:50leaving the answer up to us.
00:42:52Bad news is there's no way if you can really know
00:42:54whether I'm here to help you or not, so it's really up to you.
00:42:58Judging from the original reception of the movie,
00:43:00it seems like many fans may have ignored that message.
00:43:04Will it continue to be rejected?
00:43:06Once again, Thomas Anderson is consumed by the growing sense that something is wrong,
00:43:11meets a mysterious man named Morpheus, leaves his old world behind,
00:43:15and finds love with the fearless Trinity. Sound familiar?
00:43:19The Matrix Resurrections, the sequel released 18 years after the last film in the Matrix series,
00:43:25mirrors the story of the first Matrix, even concluding with nearly identical shots.
00:43:30But the repetition is the point.
00:43:32Resurrections thoroughly interrogates the original film and its legacy.
00:43:38Beautiful.
00:43:40It's so beautiful.
00:43:43It asks whether anything has improved as a result of the Matrix's message to free your mind,
00:43:49or if the mind control in our actual world has just gotten worse.
00:43:53And it makes a few key corrections, or clarifications,
00:43:56like walking back from some of the binaries that may have been overemphasized in the originals.
00:44:02They believed that it had to be us or them.
00:44:06It also tackles what's been termed Trinity Syndrome by Tasha Robinson,
00:44:10the critique that as a strong female character, Trinity appeared very exciting,
00:44:15but spent most of the narrative assisting a male protagonist's character development.
00:44:19Here, it's Trinity who gets to make the crucial choice,
00:44:22and by the end, even displays more characteristics of The One than Neo.
00:44:28I'm not doing this.
00:44:29Are you doing this?
00:44:31Ultimately, Resurrections is a romance above all.
00:44:34Here's the Matrix Resurrections ending explained,
00:44:37and how this story has always been about love conquering all.
00:44:42There's a part of me
00:44:47that feels like I have been waiting my whole life for you.
00:44:52It turns out in my Matrix,
00:44:59the worse we treat you,
00:45:00the more we manipulate you,
00:45:02the more energy you produce.
00:45:04The original Matrix trilogy ends with Neo ending the war,
00:45:08and offering humanity the chance to free itself.
00:45:11But in Resurrections, 60 years later,
00:45:13after the resulting energy crisis caused a machine civil war,
00:45:17the machines have once again enslaved humans for energy,
00:45:20and controlled their minds.
00:45:22And the people inside the Matrix are more pliable and obedient than ever.
00:45:26Sometimes it feels like people gave up,
00:45:31like the Matrix won.
00:45:32Even Neo and Trinity have been resurrected by the machines,
00:45:35and plugged back into the Matrix.
00:45:37Neo believes he is Thomas Anderson,
00:45:39an extraordinarily successful game designer,
00:45:42responsible for The Matrix.
00:45:44And Trinity believes herself to be a woman named Tiffany,
00:45:47a mother and wife to a guy named Chad.
00:45:50It sounds like a reference to the meme in the incel community
00:45:52of a handsome guy who's popular with women,
00:45:55but it also refers to the fact that he's played by Chad Stahelski,
00:45:59Keanu Reeves' stunt double from the original Matrix.
00:46:02This new Matrix was designed by The Analyst,
00:46:05the successor to The Architect,
00:46:07who's much more skillful at exploiting human feelings
00:46:10and subtler, less overt forms of violence.
00:46:13His Matrix was all fussy facts and equations.
00:46:16He hated the human mind,
00:46:18so he never bothered to realize that you don't give a shit about facts,
00:46:21it's all about fiction.
00:46:22This resurrected Matrix reflects fears
00:46:25that many things have gotten worse in our society.
00:46:29The Matrix is the same or worse.
00:46:31And the movie is more detailed than ever
00:46:33in illustrating how the illusory world we focus on every day
00:46:36is a lot like The Matrix.
00:46:38Neo has achieved everything our Matrix says we're supposed to pursue,
00:46:42but like many who find similar success in our world,
00:46:45he just finds himself working more hours
00:46:47and not really knowing what the end goal is.
00:46:50A lot of hours.
00:46:51Most times, I don't know.
00:46:55To most of us,
00:46:56being a successful programmer in a big city doesn't sound so bad,
00:46:59but that just reveals how we are buying into many of the Matrix itself's premises.
00:47:05So what's it like being a world-famous game designer?
00:47:08Must be amazing.
00:47:09That being wealthy, famous, and admired is what matters,
00:47:12even if you feel alone, unconscious, numb, and without purpose.
00:47:16When Neo eats a juicy steak by himself,
00:47:19it's a direct callback to the cowardly materialist Cypher.
00:47:23Trinity's plot illustrates how The Matrix exerts mind-control pressure on women
00:47:27through ingrained ideas about what it means to be a good wife and mother,
00:47:31and therefore a good woman.
00:47:33The pressure of gender expectations making Trinity feel she should have a family
00:47:37makes it difficult for her to even access what she actually wants.
00:47:41I remember wanting a family, but was that because that's what women are supposed to want?
00:47:47How do you know if you want something yourself,
00:47:49or if your upbringing programmed you to want it?
00:47:52And the demands of being a mother in a society that continues to put
00:47:55so much of the child-rearing load on women
00:47:57leaves her too tired to think about much else.
00:48:00I should get more therapy, but honestly, I'm too goddamn tired.
00:48:04Kids are exhausting, you know?
00:48:06Because it's a choice she never truly made.
00:48:08Her traditional family is her prison that inevitably takes over her life
00:48:12and produces noise whenever she approaches the truth.
00:48:16I have to take this.
00:48:17And by the end of the film, it's very clear how intentionally her family
00:48:38has been weaponized against her.
00:48:40That was for using children.
00:48:46Prescription drugs are literally equated to blue pills,
00:48:50and the mental health complex is shown to control Neo
00:48:53by falsely making him feel there's something deeply wrong with him.
00:48:56Far from suggesting a repeat of your initial breakdown,
00:49:00I believe this episode demonstrates healthy self-protection.
00:49:03Do you need a refill on your prescription?
00:49:05It's a plot that alludes to how the pharmaceutical industry
00:49:08has influenced the exploding numbers of mental health diagnoses in recent years.
00:49:13And whether it's through making Trinity feel like a bad mom,
00:49:15or making Neo feel his supposed mental illness is a danger to other people,
00:49:20the analyst is constantly using this society's conventional morality
00:49:24to guilt them into miserable compliance.
00:49:27No longer the young unattached rebels they were in the originals,
00:49:30this Thomas Anderson and Tiffany believe they have responsibilities.
00:49:34Just as when we get older, we may find more and more reasons
00:49:37why it's not realistic to live the life we truly want.
00:49:41It's too late.
00:49:42Like the other people still trapped in the Matrix,
00:49:44Neo and Trinity allowed themselves to become distracted,
00:49:47because it was easier than being vulnerable and trying to find each other.
00:49:50At some point, I think I gave up searching for something real.
00:50:00After all these years, to be going back to where it all started,
00:50:04back to the Matrix.
00:50:06Resurrections goes out of its way to constantly evoke and imitate the original trilogy.
00:50:11From big moments like the red pill theater and the sparring match between Neo and Morpheus,
00:50:16down to the way scenes are framed, and numerous actual clips that play
00:50:20or are intercut with new characters to tell us their relationships to the original ones.
00:50:25The main difference is that whereas in the first film,
00:50:27he and we had to learn what the Matrix is,
00:50:30in this world, people are constantly explaining the Matrix to him.
00:50:34So instead of being a dangerous, almost unutterable secret,
00:50:38the concept of the Matrix becomes banal,
00:50:40an entertainment and critique that can exist happily within the actual Matrix.
00:50:45Neo is forced by parent company Warner Bros. to think of a sequel to The Matrix,
00:50:50a somewhat autobiographical plot that alludes to how writer-director Lana Wachowski
00:50:54repeatedly refused to make this sequel before finally agreeing.
00:50:58The other creator of the original Matrix, Lily Wachowski, declined to be involved.
00:51:03Neo is miserable, literally trapped by his own success,
00:51:06drugged up on blue pills by corporate overlords
00:51:09who demand art that is both new and unsurprising.
00:51:13Inside you'll find the breakdown, including key word association with the brand,
00:51:18the top two being originality and fresh.
00:51:21In interviews, Lana Wachowski describes Hollywood's need for sequels as
00:51:25hostile to originality.
00:51:27Artistically speaking, stories need an end to achieve completeness and meaning,
00:51:31but commerce demands that stories never end,
00:51:34as long as they can still be sold.
00:51:36As you begin working on Matrix 4,
00:51:39and who knows how many more?
00:51:41Like Lana Wachowski must have,
00:51:42Neo contends with a multitude of commercial voices telling him
00:51:46what the Matrix sequel should be.
00:51:48Just as the original trilogy was torn between heady,
00:51:51philosophical insights, and blockbuster violent spectacle,
00:51:54we hear a debate between those who argue people have always
00:51:58really come for the cars and guns,
00:51:59I like my games big, loud, and dumb.
00:52:01We need guns.
00:52:02Lots of guns.
00:52:03and those who argue the highbrow thought is the actual brand.
00:52:08Mindless action is not on brand.
00:52:10She's right, Matrix is mind-born.
00:52:13Ideas are the new sexy.
00:52:14Through this self-referential humor, the early part of the movie
00:52:17digs into the thorny question of whether revisiting a beloved classic
00:52:21like The Matrix even can be more than a cynical cash grab.
00:52:25This cannot be another reboot, retread, regurgitate.
00:52:29Why not? Reboot, sell.
00:52:32With The Matrix specifically, this question is even more salient,
00:52:35because it's about escaping a world that looks very much like modern,
00:52:39capitalist, technology-saturated life.
00:52:41Thus, rebooting the franchise to simply make money is about as counter to
00:52:45The Matrix's central message as you can get.
00:52:48Even the fandom of The Matrix and positive dialogue about its legacy
00:52:51feel oppressive to Neo.
00:52:52The first time I played the trilogy, I was... shook.
00:52:56Neo's handler, Jude, and Neo's other co-workers repeatedly tell him,
00:53:00and implicitly, Lana Wachowski, what the story actually means,
00:53:04covering almost all the major popular readings of the film
00:53:07that we ourselves have discussed in videos.
00:53:10Obviously, The Matrix is about-
00:53:11Transpolitics.
00:53:12Crypto-fascism.
00:53:13It's a metaphor.
00:53:14Of capitalist exploitation.
00:53:16Most of these readings have convincing elements,
00:53:18but here The Matrix Resurrections is making the point that
00:53:21declaring The Matrix to be only one of those things is reductive.
00:53:24Focusing too much on any single explanation is a trap,
00:53:28wielded effectively by The Analyst,
00:53:30who keeps Neo under control by offering him neat and tidy stories
00:53:34that explain away the odd things Neo notices.
00:53:37Your sublimated anger toward your business partner
00:53:40cast him as your nemesis.
00:53:41A married woman named Tiffany became the trinity of a doomed romance.
00:53:45And as we saw in the original,
00:53:47a key to getting freed from The Matrix is to look into
00:53:50the strange things you notice that feel off.
00:53:53Still, however much the earlier scenes express some mocking
00:53:56and resentment about the need to make a sequel at all,
00:53:59The Matrix Resurrections does exist,
00:54:01and the film ultimately repudiates its most cynical impulses,
00:54:05embracing the generation that grew up with the original.
00:54:08He may hate the focus groups, but Neo learns from his true fans.
00:54:12He bonds with and relies on the people who have come after
00:54:15and been inspired by him.
00:54:16There's a lot of people out there like me
00:54:19who are a little bit obsessed with your life.
00:54:22It's no coincidence that the film opens with Matrix superfan Bugs,
00:54:26who ends up becoming a key part of the story and helping
00:54:28the original Neo and Trinity find their way back to themselves,
00:54:32something that wouldn't have been possible without her nerdy obsession.
00:54:40Since it's absurd to think returning to The Matrix could ever be
00:54:43as powerfully original as the first film,
00:54:45the movie goes the opposite way and digs deeper
00:54:48into an ongoing dialogue about itself.
00:54:50Nothing comforts anxiety like a little nostalgia.
00:54:54I wasn't too sure about the callback, but you know,
00:54:57it's just hard to resist.
00:54:59And a major focus is how the next generation,
00:55:02who grew up with these stories about Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus,
00:55:05will implement its messages in their world.
00:55:07At the same time, The Matrix Resurrections is subtly correcting
00:55:11or clarifying a couple aspects of its narrative.
00:55:13It makes the point that binaries, which define The Matrix for many of us,
00:55:17in the ones and zeros of binary code, the battle between humans and machines,
00:55:21or the way you're either in The Matrix or against it,
00:55:23are ultimately reductive and don't hold up.
00:55:26When somebody offered me these things,
00:55:27I went off of binary conceptions of the world.
00:55:29And the woman with the pills laughed because I was missing the point.
00:55:31In the new city of Io,
00:55:33humans live side by side with machine synthiants,
00:55:36working together on projects neither would be able to do on their own,
00:55:39like reviving agriculture.
00:55:41And Niobe says there really isn't any clear-cut us or them
00:55:45when it comes to humans and machines.
00:55:46This city was built by us and them.
00:55:51And the movie's new version of Morpheus is a program created by Nio,
00:55:55based on a combination of original Morpheus and Smith.
00:55:58If we look back, the original trilogy had already complicated
00:56:02the binary between humans and machines.
00:56:04The Matrix Revolutions showed programs that have the potential to feel love.
00:56:07Every program that is created must have a purpose.
00:56:10I just have never heard a program speak of love.
00:56:14In Reloaded, Counselor Haman was acutely aware
00:56:17of how even Zion relied on machines.
00:56:20I'd like to be reminded this city survives because of these machines.
00:56:26These machines are keeping us alive.
00:56:28And from the beginning of The Matrix, there have been hints
00:56:30at the blending between humans and their digital antagonists,
00:56:33as Nio is frequently compared to the Agents and Smith.
00:56:37You move like they do.
00:56:39I've never seen anyone move that fast.
00:56:41But Resurrections takes all this further.
00:56:43The character who makes The Matrix heist in the climax of Resurrections
00:56:46possible is a program we met before, the adult Sati,
00:56:50played by Priyanka Chopra Jonas.
00:56:52My father knew we'd meet again,
00:56:54though he would have wished for happier circumstances.
00:57:02The young people we meet who were inspired by The Matrix
00:57:04weren't just shaped by the myth of the One,
00:57:06they were also inspired by Trinity.
00:57:09All I ever wanted was to be as fearless as Trinity.
00:57:11But Trinity's characterization has also garnered criticism over the years.
00:57:15In We're Losing All Our Strong Female Characters to Trinity Syndrome,
00:57:19Tasha Robinson described Trinity Syndrome as
00:57:22the hugely capable woman who never once becomes as independent,
00:57:26significant, and exciting as she is in her introductory scene.
00:57:29In much of The Matrix's narrative, Trinity mostly is either supporting
00:57:32Neo unconditionally, or serving as a symbolic motivation for him.
00:57:37You can't be dead because I love you.
00:57:42It's debatable whether this critique is totally fair when you look at the arc
00:57:46of the original trilogy.
00:57:47In the original Matrix movies,
00:57:48Neo and Trinity save each other repeatedly.
00:57:51Pretty much everyone is there to support Neo,
00:57:53since they believe he's the one.
00:57:55But that doesn't mean Trinity doesn't know her own mind,
00:57:57or have her own sense of purpose.
00:57:59I believe if you are really serious about saving him,
00:58:01you are going to need my help.
00:58:04And since I am the ranking officer on this ship,
00:58:06if you don't like it, I believe you can go to help.
00:58:09And her wisdom, athletics, and understanding of love
00:58:12have always been pretty amazing.
00:58:14But if Resurrections may not exactly be correcting Trinity Syndrome,
00:58:17it's at least trying to clarify that Trinity is just as important
00:58:21to the picture as Neo.
00:58:22At the end, Resurrections reverses the dynamic of the original Matrix.
00:58:26I never believed I was the one, but she did.
00:58:32It's my turn to believe in her.
00:58:34The plot hinges on the attempt to free Trinity from the Matrix,
00:58:37and everything rests on her choice.
00:58:40The most important choice of Neo's life is not his to make.
00:58:44The movie's climax is Neo trying to convince Trinity
00:58:47to remember who she is and come back to him.
00:58:49At one point, Neo could control the laws of nature within the Matrix,
00:58:52but even he can't make another person love him,
00:58:55and it's important that when Trinity initially says no,
00:58:58Neo accepts that.
00:59:00It's too late.
00:59:01I understand.
00:59:02Whereas her Matrix husband Chad tries to force her to leave with him.
00:59:06Seeing Neo and Trinity unconscious and alone,
00:59:09to use the analyst's words, reduced to just average people,
00:59:12full of self-doubt and trying to be like everyone else,
00:59:15underlines that it's truly their love that makes them superpowered.
00:59:19Once again, their love conquers everything.
00:59:21But something is different.
00:59:23Now it's Trinity who displays several of the abilities of the One.
00:59:26Like Neo, she can see the code that comprises the Matrix itself.
00:59:30But where Neo's vision was originally presented in stark colors,
00:59:34classic black and green, or a blinding gold light,
00:59:37Trinity sees the code laid on top of the Matrix.
00:59:40She can reject the stark dichotomy of real and unreal,
00:59:44and see both for what they really are.
00:59:46The movies had already complicated the question of whether Neo is the One,
00:59:50and if so, whether that identity is faded or chosen of free will.
00:59:53The prophecy was a lie.
00:59:57The One was never meant to end anything.
01:00:00It was all another system with control.
01:00:03And while the original Matrix suggests that Trinity falling in love with Neo
01:00:06is prophesized because he was already the One,
01:00:09The Oracle told me that I would fall in love and that that man,
01:00:15the man that I loved would be the One.
01:00:17It's also possible to interpret this in a different way.
01:00:20Trinity's love is what makes Neo the One, at least at first.
01:00:23In Resurrections, having been separated from that love,
01:00:26Neo feels less superhuman than ever.
01:00:28He can no longer fly.
01:00:30I don't suppose he can still fly?
01:00:36Yeah, that's not happening.
01:00:38But eventually, they have all the power in the world together.
01:00:41And at last, the ending of the first Matrix film of just Neo
01:00:45being able to fly is updated to show them ascending into the sky as a pair.
01:00:50Even the analyst recognizes the power of their connection,
01:00:53but wants to hoard it and manipulate it for his own ends.
01:00:56Every sim where you two bonded, let's just say bad things happened.
01:01:06In fact, their relationship and the power of love to conquer death
01:01:10is the reason the Resurrections exist.
01:01:12Lana Wachowski decided to return to the characters of Neo and Trinity
01:01:16as a way of processing personal losses.
01:01:18Many of the younger characters are played by actors
01:01:21from the Wachowski's Netflix series Sense8
01:01:23that explores many of these themes of love and identity.
01:01:26In Sense8, no one has to be the one because their Sense8,
01:01:29a group of eight people who share experiences and work together,
01:01:33is never truly alone, an experience mirrored by Bugs
01:01:36and Trinity briefly sharing a body.
01:01:38Neo expresses anxiety about returning to his previous role as a hero.
01:01:42What if I can't be what I once was?
01:01:45But with the help of Bugs, Sati, and the rest of the Nemecine's crew,
01:01:48he doesn't have to be the one, he can be one of many.
01:01:51The real essence of the Matrix's one story,
01:01:55which mirrors the Christ narrative,
01:01:57is that the most powerful force in our lives is love.
01:02:00Love is the only thing that really matters,
01:02:02the only thing we should never live without.
01:02:04Yet, we're constantly bombarded by influences
01:02:06that tell us it's not a priority.
01:02:08Quietly yearning for what you don't have,
01:02:11while dreading losing what you do.
01:02:13For 99.9% of your race, that is the definition of reality.
01:02:18A key reason the Matrix remains in control is that on some level,
01:02:21many people don't want to center love in their lives.
01:02:25The sheeple aren't going anywhere.
01:02:28They like my world.
01:02:29They want to be controlled.
01:02:31They crave the comfort of certainty.
01:02:33But like the Matrix, Resurrections ends with the hope
01:02:36that at least some of us will be inspired to seek something new,
01:02:40something special, and dare to break free of the mental prisons
01:02:43that on some level we can sense are there.
01:02:46We've been given another Matrix movie.
01:02:48What we do with it is up to us.
01:02:50That's the take.
01:02:51Click here to watch a video we think you'll love,
01:02:54or here to check out a whole playlist of awesome content.
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