Thoughts on The Matrix Reloaded
Jun. 13th, 2003 12:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darcydodoBefore I enter the realm of the cut-tag, I will say that I liked it. I haven't seen the original Matrix in absolutely ages, and maybe this helped, in that I didn't have it so fresh in my mind to compare this against. But I also think that one thing that might make people dislike the movie is if they're expecting it to try to answer questions raised by the first one. It didn't. I don't think it tried, either. My guess is that basically, at the end of the third one, we're going to be sitting there saying "Oh, that's what was going on? I had no clue that was even in the offing!"
I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to write here; I was talking about the film with Katie, the girl I went to see it with, as we walked home, so probably I'll just splash out some of what we chewed over. She referred to the movie as being sodden (well, not actually the word she used) with French post-modernism, and I can sort of see what she means. There was a certain amount of repetition-of-the-same-thing-with-different-perspectives-and-did-it-actually-happen. But the only place that was visually the case was in Neo's dreams of Trinity, and that was always exactly the same up until the point where it ends. So that doesn't actually fit.
(OK, now I've gotten somewhat distracted, 'cause Katie and I are arguing about the movie with a cynical guy in the computer room. So I'll jump to one of the other things I'd come up with which we've just now been discussing.) The different versions of the matrix. Let's consider for now that the Architect is telling the truth and there have been 6 different versions. Now, these versions were referred to previously in the movie: Persephone says that the vampire agents of the Merovingian come from an earlier version of the matrix. This means that the code of the matrix is simply altered for each new version, rather than fully rebuilt each time. (Except, of course, possibly for the first version, which the Architect implied was too flawed to retain.) But that means that the Merovingian himself is from an earlier version of the matrix. And hence the Key Maker has probably been held by the Merovingian for more than one version.... So. If the Key Maker has been held by the Merovingian for more than one version, where did Neo's predecessors get the key to get to the Architect?
But here's another question, regarding the Merovingian. Persephone tells Neo that the Merovingian was like him once. This says several things to me, depending on how I follow the various routes that then open up in my mind. But one important hurdle that must be jumped first is that it's been stated that the Merovingian is a piece of code. Katie thinks that it's possible Neo might himself be a code. And if he is, this opens a whole new can of worms.... But let's ignore those two facts briefly. OK. The Merovingian was once like Neo. Perhaps he was one of Neo's predecessors. So how is he now inside the matrix, if he went back and restarted Zion as the Architect claims all of Neo's predecessors have? Maybe they didn't. Maybe the Architect, too, is lying. Because he says that what makes Neo different is his love for Trinity. But Persephone says that the Merovingian loved her, once, too. Maybe the Merovingian was the first One, which would explain how he can say that Neo, unlike "the others," has some skills.
So now let's say that Neo is, like the Merovingian, a piece of code. That would mean that his human body in the real world doesn't exist. Which would mean that the real world doesn't exist (as I have seen suggested elsewhere). But, happily, that would explain both how the Agents can take over people and, in a different sense, how Agent Smith can take over people. Because in the first case, don't you wonder what happens to the bodies of the people whom the Agents subsume? Since the Agents are theoretically bits of code? They can't survive forever, but neither can they disappear, because then there would be no point to them. And in Smith's case, it would explain how he can suddenly inhabit bodies in the real world, like that of Bing (or whatever his name is). And it might go some way towards explaining Neo's new connection at the end of the film with the machines.
OK, I'm starting to forget where my ideas were going, 'cause I spent too long listening to an annoying guy go on about how he's already thought of all these things blah blah blah. And I want to go to sleep. But if I think of something else tomorrow, I'll post more.
I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to write here; I was talking about the film with Katie, the girl I went to see it with, as we walked home, so probably I'll just splash out some of what we chewed over. She referred to the movie as being sodden (well, not actually the word she used) with French post-modernism, and I can sort of see what she means. There was a certain amount of repetition-of-the-same-thing-with-different-perspectives-and-did-it-actually-happen. But the only place that was visually the case was in Neo's dreams of Trinity, and that was always exactly the same up until the point where it ends. So that doesn't actually fit.
(OK, now I've gotten somewhat distracted, 'cause Katie and I are arguing about the movie with a cynical guy in the computer room. So I'll jump to one of the other things I'd come up with which we've just now been discussing.) The different versions of the matrix. Let's consider for now that the Architect is telling the truth and there have been 6 different versions. Now, these versions were referred to previously in the movie: Persephone says that the vampire agents of the Merovingian come from an earlier version of the matrix. This means that the code of the matrix is simply altered for each new version, rather than fully rebuilt each time. (Except, of course, possibly for the first version, which the Architect implied was too flawed to retain.) But that means that the Merovingian himself is from an earlier version of the matrix. And hence the Key Maker has probably been held by the Merovingian for more than one version.... So. If the Key Maker has been held by the Merovingian for more than one version, where did Neo's predecessors get the key to get to the Architect?
But here's another question, regarding the Merovingian. Persephone tells Neo that the Merovingian was like him once. This says several things to me, depending on how I follow the various routes that then open up in my mind. But one important hurdle that must be jumped first is that it's been stated that the Merovingian is a piece of code. Katie thinks that it's possible Neo might himself be a code. And if he is, this opens a whole new can of worms.... But let's ignore those two facts briefly. OK. The Merovingian was once like Neo. Perhaps he was one of Neo's predecessors. So how is he now inside the matrix, if he went back and restarted Zion as the Architect claims all of Neo's predecessors have? Maybe they didn't. Maybe the Architect, too, is lying. Because he says that what makes Neo different is his love for Trinity. But Persephone says that the Merovingian loved her, once, too. Maybe the Merovingian was the first One, which would explain how he can say that Neo, unlike "the others," has some skills.
So now let's say that Neo is, like the Merovingian, a piece of code. That would mean that his human body in the real world doesn't exist. Which would mean that the real world doesn't exist (as I have seen suggested elsewhere). But, happily, that would explain both how the Agents can take over people and, in a different sense, how Agent Smith can take over people. Because in the first case, don't you wonder what happens to the bodies of the people whom the Agents subsume? Since the Agents are theoretically bits of code? They can't survive forever, but neither can they disappear, because then there would be no point to them. And in Smith's case, it would explain how he can suddenly inhabit bodies in the real world, like that of Bing (or whatever his name is). And it might go some way towards explaining Neo's new connection at the end of the film with the machines.
OK, I'm starting to forget where my ideas were going, 'cause I spent too long listening to an annoying guy go on about how he's already thought of all these things blah blah blah. And I want to go to sleep. But if I think of something else tomorrow, I'll post more.
no subject
Date: 2003-06-13 09:15 am (UTC)I didn't mean to imply that it was him being a program, I was simply trying to draw up more evidence of how he's like Neo. The program thing was completely separate.
What sort of reaction did his stream of sewer French get there ? It got a huge laugh in Montreal.
Much of the theater stayed entirely silent, which surprised me (although people might've been snickering quietly in their seats). The laughter that it did get was sort of shocked and loud and of the just-how-long-will-it-take-to-stop-laughing-because-I-personally-can't sort. Sadly, I only understood bits of it (though enough to tell it was incredibly crude!). I need to improve my vocabulary. :)
I loved how the subtitles just disappeared during those points, though. (I mean of course, but anyway.)