»My take on the trilogy with some questions.«

I am an AVID fan of the matrix and all 3 movies. Not only am i a fan, i also enjoy reading up on possible symbols, the philosophy and ideas behind the matrix..i must have watched the first movie over 10 times, reloaded over 5 or 6 and revolutions at least 4 since i just got the DVD. You might say I'm obsessed but I say I just have an interest

I'm new to these forums and i just thought i would throw some things at you guys.

Is Neo dead/alive?

Neo is physically dead. One of the biggest reasons I have concluded this is the fact that the W. brothers have made him to symbolize Jesus, and his selfless acts. Ironic the whole movie is based upon choice and love, huh? Anyway, there is 1 matrix. Neo goes to the machine city (the real world) to stop the program smith (when trinity dies, etc.). the machines think they have control of it (smith) when in reality they don't (smith was set free - in reloaded, smith hands the doorman his earpiece and says that neo has "set him free" - will get into this more). Neo knows this and tells the machine god that they have lost control and he can stop them.

The machines agree and if Neo wins peace will ensue. Back to the point. Neo fights smith (good vs. evil) and eventually realizes that even though he may beat the one smith, there are hundreds of thousands of copies of smith and there is no way he can beat them all..that's why he says "you're right, it IS inevitable) Neo lets smith copy himself onto him and the machines give him a boost in the real world and then (light penetrates darkness, another biblical symbol) now that smith is 'in' Neo, smith is also IN THE MACHINE COMPUTER. this enables the machines to delete the program smith. In the matrix it's viewed as light destroying all and with that process, Neo's mind is destroyed (smith copied himself onto neo, machines deleted smith thus killing neo's mind - [the body cannot live without the mind])

Some will say "how did the oracle survive then?" -- she is a program. when smith was deleted, I'm guessing the 'oracle program' was left over and thus she still 'existed'.

Symbolism - Neo as the Christ, selfless act of human sacrifice for all mankind (Zion)


Another mind boggler. When the architect and the oracle speak in the end, the architect says "what do you think I am, human?" is he insinuating he is a program? If he created the matrix, someone must have created him to create it in the first place. am i missing something? he cannot be the original designer of any of the machines or the AI if he is a program.


also, when peace enters the 'world'..is it the real world or what? you see Sati laying on the ground and you see computerized matrix code go across and everything and "make it new". this cannot be the real world. i'm guessing the matrix was reset and the machines and humans are neutral? but the architect says that the rest of the humans will be unplugged..if they're unplugged then they're in the machine world..someone explain this to me, please.


i'll bring up a TON more points if i can get some responses because i LOVE analyzing these movies.

until then.

welcome to matrix-explained! i think you'll find most of us in here are equally enthusiastic about discussing and analysing these movies, so you're definitely in the right place!

about your question about the Architect.. he's not insinuating that he's a program because we already know he's a program. it's more a comment about how lying is more of a human attribute than a machine attribute.

also he never said that he is the creator of the machines.. he said he created the matrix. it was the humans that created the machines, but it seems like you are working under the assumption that if he is a program than he couldn't have created any of that because he was in turn created by someone else. in my opinion that logic is slightly flawed.. no matter who he was created by, he would still be capable of designing the matrix because he is a form of AI.

about the ending.. the location where we see the sunrise is the newly reset matrix like you said. the reason they are talking about humans being unplugged is because man & machine have called a truce.. but you're forgetting all the humans that are still hooked up to the machine power plant in their little pods. so the Oracle is asking the Architect what's going to happen to those still hooked up, but that doesn't mean the sunrise is in the real world.

Thats right. The humans who want out of the Matrix will be allowed to leave.

Haze wrote:

When the architect and the oracle speak in the end, the architect says "what do you think I am, human?" is he insinuating he is a program? If he created the matrix, someone must have created him to create it in the first place. am i missing something? he cannot be the original designer of any of the machines or the AI if he is a program.

in the Animatrix, they mention machines designing other machines and newer and better AI. programs writing programs. where's the problem?

yes, the Architect is a program.

UHM...i´ve never think about that b4, nice topic, waiting for more questions to be put in here...something in my mind...if this was a matrix, and you get the choice between getting unplugged or not...what´d you choose? By me, I´m staying plugged in.

i'd choose the truth

Funnily enough, in the web chat on 6 November 1999, the Wachowskis answered Blue. Go fig.

As for me, I have taken the Red Pill, and while there are days when I wish I could go back, all in all, I guess I'm pretty comfortable with my choice, because, here I am, at it again.

Haze wrote:

Ironic the whole movie is based upon choice and love, huh?

Haha, not really. First of all, irony has nothing to do with it; the (first) definition of irony is "The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning." I don't think the filmmakers had any intention of using choice and love to convey ideas that were different from or opposite to choice and love! Second, to quote Lennon (John Ono), "Love is the answer." Then again, if you study philosophy, theology, theosophy, Zen, Gnosticism, etc., you will see that Love is also the question! Love is the reason we are here; it created the world, and it continues to be the driving force behind our existence. There can be no love, of course, without choice. You cannot be forced to love; if you are, if you have no choice, then it is not Love at all. Love is by definition, by its very nature, a choice.

Haze wrote:

Symbolism - Neo as the Christ, selfless act of human sacrifice for all mankind (Zion)?

Ah, yes, it is true. The Christ, of course. Christ, in Greek, "Christos," means "anointed one." It is a transliteration of Hebrew "Messiah," "Anointed One," who was supposed to be a King who was prophesied to come to save the Jewish people. The whole story is long, mostly untrue, and has no place here, so this is all I will say of it.

An interesting side note: many of the early, original Christians (Marcionites, e.g.) preferred to call themselves "Chrestians," and followers of "Jesus Chrestos" (Jesus the Good) rather than "Jesus Christos" (Jesus the Messiah). "Chrestos" means "Virtuous" or "Good" in Greek, and it is thought that this was a way for the users of this term to distance Jesus from the Jewish Messiah, since they likely thought that such an equation was a mistake. I can't say I disagree; nothing good has ever come from myth being taken as literal fact.

As for "all mankind (Zion)" -- you may or may not realize that this point is the key to understanding your symbolism, as quoted above. In Jewish myth, "Egypt" is used to signify the body, while "Israel" is used to signify the soul (essentially). Hence, to "ransom captive Israel" is to save the soul from slavery, in "Egypt," the body. If this sounds to you like the ideas in The Matrix, then you are beginning to understand.

Zion, I think, is similarly symbolic, as is The Matrix itself. I think the Matrix symbolizes the body, the physical aspect of Man, while Zion symbolizes the soul, or human essence, the spiritual aspect of Man. So when Neo brings together the Two Worlds, (notice the Cross of Light when Neo dies - it's quick, but it is there) he is reconciling the body with the spirit, just like in the story of Christ's resurrection.

Last but not least: Welcome to the matrix-explained!

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I am an AVID fan of the matrix and all 3 movies. Not only am i a fan, i also enjoy reading up on possible symbols, the philosophy and ideas behind the matrix..i must have watched the first movie over 10 times, reloaded over 5 or 6 and revolutions at least 4 since i just got the DVD. You might say I'm obsessed but I say I just have an interest

not wanting to make this a competition, but ive seen the first movie about 50 times, the second about 15 and the third 9

ok i'm talking 10 times since 1999...

but thanks for the responses..i solved some questions on my own and gained some knowledge.. more questions later

annaerullo, I hate to tell you...but the Matrix all about Irony.

Matrix 1 Flashback - "Fate, as it seems, is not without a sense of irony"

We made machines to work for us, and in the end, we are actually working for them. Actually, irony would be the easiest thing that this movie is about.

Just wanted to mention that.