The Gospel according to Neo: 'The Matrix' as a phenomenon shaping public opinion about religion

The Christian Science Monitor ^ | May 09, 2003 | Josh Burek

[Destro]

What I liked about it wasn't that it was just Hong Kong wire kung fu fighting only. There was something for the mind other than eye candy. This is as deep as a movie can get and be entertaining which is why I think the "Philosophy for Dummies" critique is unwarranted. The movies are visual mediums and thus visual short hands are the only effective way of putting forth any meaning.

[discostu]

Wow talk about over analyzing stuff. It's a generic plot that goes back to the earliest days of scifi done with really good special effects. These people are like my Sophomore English teacher who took all the joy out of reading poetry by talking the symbolism to death. Some people just don't know how to sit back relax turn their brain off and have some fun.

[discostu]

Arguably the only good holodeck episode. It's amazing the bad ideas they came up with for the holodeck.

[Charles Martel]

V'ger, Nomad....

Ah, yes... Y'ger. Where No-mad had gone before. ;-)

A more apt comparison would be Landru. Ooh... and the collective "mind" of the androids in "I, Mudd".

"Norman... coordinate!"

[Lurker]

Sure you could.

"He's beginning to believe."

Regards,

L

[Charles Martel]

It's amazing the bad ideas they came up with for the holodeck.

Hey... they had to do *something* to stretch those plots into an hour of television time. My favorite use of the holodeck was the recreation of the original Enterprise bridge in Relics.

[discostu]

But it's such a great idea so frought with wonderful plots and yet they just could never manage to dot the i. Actually the best use of the holodeck I remember was the one where Jordi used it to figure out how to fix the warp drive (or trick them out or whatever), that's exactly the kind of thing a holodeck would be good for "what happens if we reroute the antimatter disposal system through the sewage disposal system... apparently we get a major increase of power but everybody who sits to pee gets cancer... hmm emergency use only". Of course in classic Trek form they completely ruined the episode by having him fall in love with the replica of that scientist, they made up for it later by bringing the actual scientist on the ship and making her a total bitch though.

[Psycho_Bunny]

Wow....is there a "People who think waaaaaayyyy to much" post topic at FR?

[A. Pole]

I cannot fathom what it is about that awful film that people think is so great.

It is a good attempt at popularization of idealist metaphysics and epistemology. For example it can help to understand this story:

"And now, I said, let me show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or unenlightened:, Behold! human beings living in an underground den, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the den; here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads. Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the puppets.
[...]
And now look again, and see what will naturally follow if the prisoners are released and disabused of their error. At first, when any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck round and walk and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp pains; the glare will distress him, and he will be unable to see the realities of which in his former state he had seen the shadows; and then conceive some one saying to him, that what he saw before was an illusion, but that now, when he is approaching nearer to being and his eye is turned towards more real existence, he has a clearer vision,, what will be his reply? And you may further imagine that his instructor is pointing And when to the objects as they pass and requiring him to name them, will he not be perplexed? Will he not fancy that the shadows which he formerly saw are truer than the objects which are now shown to him?[...]"
( The Allegory of the Cave (The Republic , Book VII) )

[friendly]

Hollywood, whatever other flaws it possesses, certainly is highly skilled in exploiting the shallowness and emptiness in the lives of its prime (braindead) target audience.

To assert that the Matrix is a work of spiritual significance is preposterous, and speaks only for Hollywood's pathological rationalization and promiscuous manipulation of the easily deceived.

[headsonpikes]

LOL!

[B-Chan]

It is a good attempt at popularization of idealist metaphysics and epistemology.

I disagree. The plot (such as it is) bears more in common with gnostic dogma (the Matrix = Demiurge) and its pagan ethos than with Plato's conception of the ideal Forms at the base of all reality. Plato's message is that Everything That Is, Is Real; the message of The Matrix is that Nothing Is -- Everything is Illusion. The film encourages the viewer (through the viewpoint character Neo) to question reality, then begs the question; again, how can Neo know that the world to which Morpheus introduces him is in fact the Real World? He cannot; therefore, by the script's own internal logic, Neo is no more enlightened than he was before. For all he can know, the whole rebellion thing is just another digital illusion, created by the Matrix for the purpose of neutralizing troublemakers.

Then again, why would the Matrix bother? Every person in the Matrix world is kept alive by the Matrix's technically-sophisticated life support system. Instead of using a honey trap to snare those who ask too many questions or sending data-intensive AI Agents to kill off troublemakers, why wouldn't the Matrix just cut off the offending party's life support? No muss, no fuss: cut the air, water and waste lines, dump the body into the recycling chamber -- problem solved.

(And the idea of humans beings as living batteries is too stupid to even consider.)

Sorry, but The Matrix fails to make the grade, either as entertainment or as philosophy. Of course, that's only my opinion; there's no disputing over matters of taste.

[discostu]

Sweet. For so long I thought I was the only person who thought the movie was stupid like rock. I wasn't going to go see either sequel but my boss bought the department tickets (didn't ask who wanted to go first, so I got no chance to politely decline). The good news is we're going to a 12:40 showing and the day is officially done when the closing credit role, home by 3:30 not a bad payoff for suffering through a dumb movie.

[Mr.Clark]

Another example is the fact that one of the main ships in the sequel is called the LOGOS. Can't wait until May 15th!!

[A. Pole]

The plot (such as it is) bears more in common with gnostic dogma (the Matrix = Demiurge) and its pagan ethos than with Plato's conception of the ideal Forms at the base of all reality.

Gnostics were influenced by Plato and concept of Demiurge (imperfect creator) is present in Plato's philosophy.

[CyberCowboy777]

Bump

[Allan]

Bump

[unspun]

So this is the "Christian Science" Monitor criticizing a movie about mind over environment....

(whew)

Compassionate FReepers:
PLEASE HELP US FIND MERCHANT SEAMAN

[Dasaji]

So all humans not plugged into the matrix live in deep caves warmed by the still warm core in an otherwise cold earth

That would be where the "Hollow Earth" theory comes in. . .

[LibKill]

HarryPotterHarryPotterHarryPotterHarryPotterHarryPotter!

And all this sound and fury has about as much meaning as that surrounding the Harry Potter films.