Thomas Hibbs has an interesting piece in NRO on the way in which the Matrix tries to both avoid and embrace Christian subtexts. It’s interesting that in an age of narcissism and nihilism, our popular entertainment seems to reflect in decidedly old-fashioned values like self-sacrifice, faith, and individual determination.
The Matrix And The Post-Christian Age
Published
Given that The Matrix, in it’s entirety, is mostly a narcissistic wish-fulfillment fantasy, that’s a strange angle to take…
Self-sacrifice, faith and individual determination, and the idea that man is a species doomed to cause its own extinction through its desire to repress and make war.
The first movie has Morpheus saying “We do not know who struck first, us or them…it was us that scorched the sky.” Well, Morpheus may not have known THEN, but “The Animatrix,” which along with “Enter the Matrix” must really be considered as part of the series, clarifies the point. We created the machines, we violently repressed the machines, we began destroying the machines and finally they turned violent–first on a small scale and then on a massive one. So, we began a war that we assured ourselves we would win because of some divine blessing bestowed on humanity, and we almost made the species extinct, and destroyed the face of the earth in the process.
Did it occur to anybody that themes like self-sacrifice, etc. significantly predate Christianity?
Didn’t anybody read Antigone?
And why was the last movie so lame? Would it have killed the W brothers to include maybe another 10 minutes, where it’s explained how machines and humans are going to live together on a world that can’t support agriculture? Clearly they’re making it so that you have to play the upcoming MMORPG in order to find out stuff that the last movie should have told us.
Either that, or they assumed that you’d figure out that people had been living and eating without agriculture for as long as the war had gone on.
Personally, I liked the ending. Explaining the details of what happened next would have drained the emotion from the moment. (And of course the Brothers W left room for a sequel and the MMORPG)
You’re right that the theme of self-sacrifice predates Christianity – however, the Matrix trilogy is bathed in Christian iconography. (“Trinity”, the idea of The One who dies to save mankind, etc…) Granted, it’s all part of a mishmash of philosophical systems, but it’s still very much present as a subtext to the film.
I thought the ending was good, too. A decent analysis of the events beginning with Neo meeting the Architect makes it possible to tell exactly what is happening at the end, plus the fact that they incorporate great cinematography into the crucifixion makes the scene pretty goddamn amazing, in my humble opinion.
But if there’s a sequel, I’m protesting. The series is done, the war is over. Let it be. Make your money off of merchandizing, not off of ruining a gem.