The case for Remaking The Matrix Trilogy
Mar. 7th, 2015 09:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wingedbeastTo make sure everybody's on the same page. The Matrix Trilogy follows Tom Anderson (AKA Neo) through a series of events. First, he finds out his entire reality is a lie. Next, he finds out he is the superhero messiah, at the same time accidentally creating a sentient virus. He confronts the very godlike program that created The Matrix. He negotiates a peace between mankind and the machines. And, he dies to save both from that sentient virus.
Throughout all of this, Tom Anderson... no, Neo heroically resists the temptation to emote.
The first Matrix movie gets a lot credit... and even deserves some of it. It created an accessible language of philosophical solipsism and injected it into the mainstream, making some meaningless but entertaining conversations less combersom. It also showed that the audiences for action movies had an appetite for movies where they could turn on their brains, rather than turn them off. And, yes, good use of bullet time.
It did not pioneer the technology for bullet time, the concept of a thoughtful action movie, or the use of philosophical solipsism as the premise of a fiction. Arguably, it didn't intend to do these things. But, it did intend to be a deep exploration of matters of reality, entrapment and control, and spirituality... it could do better.
For movies that have done better, I can advise watching Dark City, which deals not only with the notion of reality not being what you think, but your very own mind not being what you think.
There is another movie that explores the concept. But, here's the thing, I can't remember the name of this movie. I've tried Googling around for it. I can't get to this. It might be a more obscure movie than I think. If anybody can help me find the name of this movie, in which a man explores various levels of reality, finding them each to be false realities, and winds up finding out that the real reality is much more banal, with a machine giving everybody the virtual worlds to fill the lives and worlds they want, please, help me.
In part, I want to know the name of that movie, because it influences how I think the Matrix trilogy should have gone.
One of the first problems, as noted in my joke above, is the lack of emoting on the part of most of the characters. The best emoting in the movie come from the Oracle, Agent Smith, and the guy who wanted to return to the Matrix. There are potential fixes, but I actually think that can be turned into a strength with the right story.
Another problem is that the symbolism is... not subtle. At an early point in the first movie, someone calls Neo "my own personal Jesus Christ". That isn't so much symbolism as blatantly telling the audience what to believe. This, too, can be made into a strength.
The first problem I'd actually fix is a scene, early on, in which Tom Anderson's employer says that Tom has a problem with authority. Does he? Does he ever show a problem, in any of the three movies, with authority? The first fix still has this scene, but with push-back. "Have I displayed a problem with authority?" Even a moment of genuine confusion at the accusation would be important, because it's important for the audience to ask that question as well.
The next fix would happen at Neo's visit to the Oracle. Here, Neo wants to know if he is The One. Instead of telling Neo, outright, that he isn't The One, tell Neo that being The One isn't a matter of fate. "Being The One is a matter of being the right person with the right chances who makes the right decisions. Lots of people could be The One, but Morpheus believes that person is you. And, he will act on that belief."
That will still lead into the big mega-shootout in which several innocent security guards will never see their families again. Fix number three, give a look at those bodies. Have the cameras at least acknowledge that those people that died were, within the movie, people.
Things will go different from here on in. I don't feel the need to have a viral Agent Smith, though I do find Hugo Weaving just too good an actor to eliminate from the films. So, instead, have Agent Smith's code attached to Neo's in a different way.
Agent Smith hated the Matrix. His motivation was to escape the Matrix, its smell, possibly the things he had to do within it. He wants to go home. And, he'll help Neo if Neo will help him, the way both for Agent Smith to go home and for Neo to free everybody is The Source Code, something only Neo can truly search for, as Agent Smith is a program and cannot exist outside the Matrix. But, Agent Smith is the only one that can guide him, as he knows how to recognize it.
Sufficient action scenes that involve both getting to physical and Matrix specific locations in an Oddesy. The end of that Oddesy, however, is a room, in the real world, in which Agent Smith finds himself standing. The reveal that we all expected/wanted in the trilogy is revealed, what Neo thought was the real world wasn't. Agent Smith was just as shocked.
This gives both Neo and Agent Smith the shock that allows them to "disbelieve" the illusion that is this level of Matrix, and allows them both to awaken from pods in...
In the third movie, they awaken in what Agent Smith views as his home. Neo immediately disbelieves, seeing the code. But, that means nothing to Agent Smith, who always was a program. This is simply his home, away from humanity.
In this final installment, we would have the full revelation. No, humans aren't being used for energy generation. That is the laughably simplistic, and quite frankly idiotic, reason that is given to the humans that want to be freedom fighters. The real reason is that the computers need human minds, sentient minds, the greater multitude in the wider array of conditions the better, to provide the statistical templates from which sentient programs are created.
And, the real reason to create a The One program is to give some people the hope to go on as freedom fighters.
One of the overarching goals of The Matrix's attempt to be as ethical as possible given the needs, is to see people to the lifestyle of their choice. Some people want to work in a reality that is as they see it. Others want to break free of the system and free others. Some want to be the power behind it all, like the very human architect that explains this to Neo.
Neo isn't the only The One program, of course. There are a few spawned every generation at, created out of a combination of the desires and expectations of Scion. Most turn out exactly like Morpheus, believers that inspire others to believe. Some have just the right opportunity and just the right timing to be The One... that will return...
In this, we would have a fuller use of philosophical solipsism, but also a good exploration of how attempts to escape one system often create just another. Even in the actual trilogy, Zion was just that, another social system in which people can be locked. The statement is then, less a matter of how killing people in the name of saving them is good, but a serious question of whether breaking free is simply a matter of choosing the system we prefer.
Throughout all of this, Tom Anderson... no, Neo heroically resists the temptation to emote.
The first Matrix movie gets a lot credit... and even deserves some of it. It created an accessible language of philosophical solipsism and injected it into the mainstream, making some meaningless but entertaining conversations less combersom. It also showed that the audiences for action movies had an appetite for movies where they could turn on their brains, rather than turn them off. And, yes, good use of bullet time.
It did not pioneer the technology for bullet time, the concept of a thoughtful action movie, or the use of philosophical solipsism as the premise of a fiction. Arguably, it didn't intend to do these things. But, it did intend to be a deep exploration of matters of reality, entrapment and control, and spirituality... it could do better.
For movies that have done better, I can advise watching Dark City, which deals not only with the notion of reality not being what you think, but your very own mind not being what you think.
There is another movie that explores the concept. But, here's the thing, I can't remember the name of this movie. I've tried Googling around for it. I can't get to this. It might be a more obscure movie than I think. If anybody can help me find the name of this movie, in which a man explores various levels of reality, finding them each to be false realities, and winds up finding out that the real reality is much more banal, with a machine giving everybody the virtual worlds to fill the lives and worlds they want, please, help me.
In part, I want to know the name of that movie, because it influences how I think the Matrix trilogy should have gone.
One of the first problems, as noted in my joke above, is the lack of emoting on the part of most of the characters. The best emoting in the movie come from the Oracle, Agent Smith, and the guy who wanted to return to the Matrix. There are potential fixes, but I actually think that can be turned into a strength with the right story.
Another problem is that the symbolism is... not subtle. At an early point in the first movie, someone calls Neo "my own personal Jesus Christ". That isn't so much symbolism as blatantly telling the audience what to believe. This, too, can be made into a strength.
The first problem I'd actually fix is a scene, early on, in which Tom Anderson's employer says that Tom has a problem with authority. Does he? Does he ever show a problem, in any of the three movies, with authority? The first fix still has this scene, but with push-back. "Have I displayed a problem with authority?" Even a moment of genuine confusion at the accusation would be important, because it's important for the audience to ask that question as well.
The next fix would happen at Neo's visit to the Oracle. Here, Neo wants to know if he is The One. Instead of telling Neo, outright, that he isn't The One, tell Neo that being The One isn't a matter of fate. "Being The One is a matter of being the right person with the right chances who makes the right decisions. Lots of people could be The One, but Morpheus believes that person is you. And, he will act on that belief."
That will still lead into the big mega-shootout in which several innocent security guards will never see their families again. Fix number three, give a look at those bodies. Have the cameras at least acknowledge that those people that died were, within the movie, people.
Things will go different from here on in. I don't feel the need to have a viral Agent Smith, though I do find Hugo Weaving just too good an actor to eliminate from the films. So, instead, have Agent Smith's code attached to Neo's in a different way.
Agent Smith hated the Matrix. His motivation was to escape the Matrix, its smell, possibly the things he had to do within it. He wants to go home. And, he'll help Neo if Neo will help him, the way both for Agent Smith to go home and for Neo to free everybody is The Source Code, something only Neo can truly search for, as Agent Smith is a program and cannot exist outside the Matrix. But, Agent Smith is the only one that can guide him, as he knows how to recognize it.
Sufficient action scenes that involve both getting to physical and Matrix specific locations in an Oddesy. The end of that Oddesy, however, is a room, in the real world, in which Agent Smith finds himself standing. The reveal that we all expected/wanted in the trilogy is revealed, what Neo thought was the real world wasn't. Agent Smith was just as shocked.
This gives both Neo and Agent Smith the shock that allows them to "disbelieve" the illusion that is this level of Matrix, and allows them both to awaken from pods in...
In the third movie, they awaken in what Agent Smith views as his home. Neo immediately disbelieves, seeing the code. But, that means nothing to Agent Smith, who always was a program. This is simply his home, away from humanity.
In this final installment, we would have the full revelation. No, humans aren't being used for energy generation. That is the laughably simplistic, and quite frankly idiotic, reason that is given to the humans that want to be freedom fighters. The real reason is that the computers need human minds, sentient minds, the greater multitude in the wider array of conditions the better, to provide the statistical templates from which sentient programs are created.
And, the real reason to create a The One program is to give some people the hope to go on as freedom fighters.
One of the overarching goals of The Matrix's attempt to be as ethical as possible given the needs, is to see people to the lifestyle of their choice. Some people want to work in a reality that is as they see it. Others want to break free of the system and free others. Some want to be the power behind it all, like the very human architect that explains this to Neo.
Neo isn't the only The One program, of course. There are a few spawned every generation at, created out of a combination of the desires and expectations of Scion. Most turn out exactly like Morpheus, believers that inspire others to believe. Some have just the right opportunity and just the right timing to be The One... that will return...
In this, we would have a fuller use of philosophical solipsism, but also a good exploration of how attempts to escape one system often create just another. Even in the actual trilogy, Zion was just that, another social system in which people can be locked. The statement is then, less a matter of how killing people in the name of saving them is good, but a serious question of whether breaking free is simply a matter of choosing the system we prefer.
