So.... it's an old movie, I know, but it's gold, and I want to tell you why I believe this is the case in a kind of mini-review. Spoiler alert before we proceed, so please go and watch it if you don't want to get an epic movie ruined. I'll go into some details about the plot, some key moments, and other details that I feel are necessary, so if that's okay, see you down below🙂
The Architect & the Pills
Great to see you over here! Anyway, John Wick, also known as Keanu Reeves, stars as Neo alongside Laurence Fishburne, who is Morpheus in the movie. If you're hoping for an easy plot, you won't get it in the opening lines of the movie. Morpheus finds Neo working a frustrating 9-to-5, where he's called Anderson. So many titles, just one character... Anyway Keanu's corporate name where he works as a computer programmer is Mr. Anderson, while his name outside of the matrix is Neo.
Morpheus needs Neo's help so he can figure out what the matrix is. Neo's not ready to have his mind blown as severely as it's about to be, because Morpheus takes him to an underworld where others like themselves are trying to break free from the matrix. That's because, in the movie, human beings are used as a power source to supply energy to a bigger system that's beyond the matrix itself. It's all headed by a character simply called The Architect (fitting, because architects are generally villainous villains), anyway...
Morpheus tells Neo that reality isn't what he believes it is, and there's an option to live a full life without ever knowing the truth. This is the origin of the (in)famous red pill, which got hijacked and became what I think was an unintended translation of the whole pill situation. So there's a blue pill, which, if Neo takes it, will make him forget everything and allow him to keep living his life as he knew it. The red pill, on the other side, will make him aware of the details of the oppression under which they live.
He takes the red pill, for the plot...
Some Food for Thought (Because of the Pills)
Now; here's the main correlation I wanted to make, and that's between the matrix and capitalism. For some reason, people also translated this detail wrong, as far as I and some content creator on social media believes. And so the rant begins...
We've been sold a lie, guyssss😢
Who stands to benefit the most from consumerism? I'm not, and I suspect that you're not either. More and more items are made to last for as short a time as possible so that we need to replace them regularly. Others have become status symbols, from phones to addresses. We'll keep buying and replacing in what seems to be an increasingly shorter span as time goes by. This means we have to work harder to achieve the status that will "free us from the matrix."
But will it, though? I mean, money does make things a lot more fun and easier, but beyond that, what does it do? Thanks to inflation, we'll just keep trying to accumulate the cash until we're out of time. And here's the thing; unless you have A LOT of money, you're still in the middle of the clusterf.. sorry, matrix. Let's break it down.
Okay, Seriously Though
Think about someone who doesn't know where their next meal will come from. The main thing they have in mind is the next meal; everything else is secondary to that. This is the pits of survival mode, and you don't expect someone in such a situation to pursue things that may be fulfilling for them, like art and innovation. Apply this widely; the ones living paycheck-to-paycheck will constantly be thinking of what they can do to stretch out their paycheck before the next one arrives. Businesses in survival mode will be chasing that profit constantly, leaving no room for much else. And so on and so forth.
I'm not telling you to quit your job. Although...
Apart from that, would you truthfully say you're happy living the rest of your life this way? Working long and hard to get up to the next tax bracket, from where you'll reset and repeat. All your blood, sweat, and tears going to the owner, generally a mysterious figure (an Architect I'm sure hehe) who no one even knows to actually exist in most cases. For whatever reason, we've been told that if we can only work hard enough, we can finally be free. That money, in abundance, is the figurative red pill that will allow us to break free of the matrix and live our best lives. I'll repeat that it does, but only to a certain extent. My issue is the cost that this comes at.
With unemployment at an all-time-high, people are bound to get creative in trying to pile up the coins. Cheating and stealing are somewhere in this collection of activities, as are a whole lot of other unsavoury things. Family-time and random walks through places you like are a luxury in this scenario. Even a simple mental-health day becomes so much more taxing to attain than the relief that it's supposed to provide.
Oracles, Agents and E-mails, Oh My!
Finally, the last bit of note-worthy thought I can remember from the Matrix is the conversation that Neo had with Morpheus when they went to see a lady they called the Oracle, a lady who helps guide freed minds through the Matrix. At her apartment, they met a boy who bent a spoon using power from his mind. The take-away at the end of all this is that each individual has the power to shape their own reality. I suppose this means that everyone has the power to decide what they want their lives to be like, via mental conditioning by themsevles if they choose to. If they don't make this choice, they leave the task to their environment and other variables, and this seldom works out positively.
Yes I'm not about to leave out the epic bullet-dodging scene that I know you know, and that made my young mind break. And also, the agent always called Neo by his matrix name; "Mr. Anderson." He won't acknowledge Keanu in any other way, and says it in a way that can be described as that chill you get from work e-mails. Those ones that never find you as well as they claim that they intend to. That cold, corporate world will drive a shiver down any reasonable mind I swear. While the graphics may seem a bit dated right now, I still believe that you're going to enjoy the movie if you get immersed in it. I honestly don't see a problem with them, though.
What's my takeaway from all of this? Don't buy that thing, and don't fall for that lie 😉
What's yours?
Comentarios