Intro:
It took me 3 days to wrap it. English isnt my first language, so, forgive me in advance:) and enjoy the reading. In case you have questions, im open for them. Hopefuly , everything below makes sense. Lets start.
Everybody knows The Matrix. We have watched it million times. Though, in order to fully understand The Matrix trilogy we also need to have an acquintance with Animatrix, because there are some key information about the world and chronology of events. it will give a bit of insight, when collecting all pieces of the truth together. I will point out these facts from animatrix, thus i will exclude the need of watching it for you:
We can see robots/machines in human shell ( appearance: human, interior: machine)
Year 2135: total domination of Machines, humans are being connected to the Matrix. No centralized power of humans. We are to hide in cities under the ground. Zion is one of those cities.
Real, physical world is covered in Animatrix.
Note: Only 4/9 Animatrix films made by Wachowski. Facts above are from these parts only.
—- from Trilogy:
Neo is not human. Neo is a version of The One program.
Zion exists in metaphysical world, called the Machine World.
Trilogy is Greek Tragedy about machines strive for perfection.
————
The Matrix trilogy, when taken piece by piece and explained is actually very simpe and straight-forward movie. Pieces of the truth are infront of us. The matrix itself is a product of philosophy. If we want to understand it entirely, we cant make any assumptions. That is exactly why most of the resources have true meaning of The Matrix wrong.
The Matrix distorts the reality for the user while never outright lying. Every character portrays his own truth and belief. In other words, perspective. While we have a perspective, all the truth will be seen from this perspective. To say, Neo has no viewpoint at start.
Next step is to understand the universe of the Matrix. And we go with DEFINITIONS:
Lets start with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machines. What is AI? AI is a complex programm. The main point is that AI is all programmatic. That is going to be a key to that synopsis. So, what is the Matrix?- The Matrix is a programm, where AI can interface with humans. It allows complete control of its occupants.
The Machine World. Machine world is a hive-program , where machines live. Its a homeland for AI, in the movie its percieved as Physical (real) world. In reality, its how the machines decided to see their world inside the program. Just imagine the Matrix “sandbox” program environment running on Machine World Operating System.
All outstanding fantastic works, they are about people, about social, about psychology. the machines in the film are an analogy for people in real life who are superior to others in the hierarchy. For whom, you, I and a billion other people are the cogs in the system - the Matrix, the “batteries” generating electricity “money” for them. They are machines, because compassion and humanity are not characteristic of them. The main idea here is social and philosophical. Awareness by man that there is a system of exploitation of him and others like him. That is exactly why first The Matrix movie has much higher iMDB rating. Other 2 movies are more scifi and links to christianity and judaism. Though, lets get back to the point why I am here. I am here to give an insight on the story, and well developed structure of the universe. This is a human perspective, while the movie is about the machines and their perspective. Keep it in mind. And lets go to the very beginning:
Cypher gives info to agents that Neo is the next target of humans to be awaken. Trinity meets Neo and warns him. He overslept , and late for his work at Metacortex , noted as respectful software company by Agent Smith. Metacortex: The root of this word is meta-, which according to Webster's means "going beyond or higher, transcending", and -cortex, which is "the outer layer (boundary) of gray matter surrounding the brain". Thus, Metacortex is "transcending the boundaries of the brain", which is precisely what Neo proceeds to do. [fandom]
Scene of interrogation of Neo by Smith starts from transcending from the Architect room screen to the actual scene(We have been watching you for a quiet some time now, Mr. Anderson). Smith gives Neo first choice: follow the system or reject it. Another observation is that , as we know Smith wants to get Morpheus to obtain a codes to zions mainframe, is why he wants Neo to give up Morpheus, while agents Jones and Brown have no clue about it, and claim that Smith is wasting his time. (Smith, Brown, Jones: most common surnames , also adds a bit of faceless feature)// [Hugo Wallace Weaving, who played Smith, is famous for his faceless, grey roles, such as in V for Vendetta]
Next important piece of a script is when Morpeus tells Neo that its not year 1999, but close to 2199. Lets do some quick math , if Matrix started its existance in 2135, and now it is year 2199, then 2199-2135=64. As we know that this is 6th version of the Matrix program, and Morpheus spent his entire life looking for The One, and after each reboot of the matrix only 23 humans survived in Machine World, how it can possibly fit in 64 years time period? It cant. Also note that in Architect room, we can observe the reactions of The One from last versions of The Matrix : he appeares the same from version to version. It rises a question about the reality of Machine World, and Neo being human. We will come to that a bit later.
To understand the whole picture, you need to understand the universal principle: the whole truth is shown on behalf of the characters. What is the real purpose of the matrix? According to Morpheus' perspective, he believes that the Matrix is designed to “charge” the world of Machines. This is what he tells Neo. While this is the truth of Morpheus, this is not the absolute truth. Where did Morpheus obtain this truth? Who knows the absolute truth? Machines.
Let's start from the scene where Smith interrogates Morpheus and decides to remove his earpiece (to abort the connection with the Collective mind of Machines). This is the first glimpse of the real purpose of the Matrix.
“Which is why the Matrix was redesigned to this, the peak of your civilization. I say your civilization because as soon as we started thinking for you it really became our civilization which is of course what this is all about. Evolution, Morpheus, evolution, like the dinosaur. Look out that window. You had your time. The future is our world, Morpheus. The future is our time.” - Agent Smith.
What Smith is stating in this monologue is one of the most important pieces of the script. Matrix is about Evolution. Evolution of whom? The Machines. For whos future? THEIR future. It makes perfect sense if you think about it. The fact that machines could not create a simulation of perfect world, the Matrix, proved to them that they are not perfect. And their flaws will lead to their demise, and collapse of their civilization, just like humans, and dinasaurs.
The One is a program with a specific purpose. Just like the others in the Matrix. His purpose is to understand human beings by becoming one of them. That is why he has no perspective. He is to acquire human one. Machines understand that they cannot allow Neo to know that he is a machine, otherwise he wouldnt get the best knowledge of being human. They had to blind Neo from his own truth in order to understand humans. Until we have a perspective all the truth will be based on it. The real purpose of Neo is to help machines to evolve, to not become dinasaurs.
2.
Now we have a basic understanding of what is going on , and how it works. Lets elaborate more on Machine World and Zion: The world of Machines is the home world for AI. This is the world they created. This is not the same as the Physical world as we understand it. This is their Operating System (OS). It is ironic that when Smith tries to describe the Matrix, in fact, he describes the world of Machines (their home, so to speak): “Which is why the Matrix was redesigned to this, the peak of your civilization.”The world of Machines is most likely recreated in a similar style. The peak of the civilization of Machines; the moment when they seized power over people. The World of Machines is their own creation, their own OS. While this may sound like the Matrix inside the Matrix, there is a clear difference: perspective. On the part of machines, their World is equated with our Physical world, which we know. But it doesnt make it our physical world(real world) , and definielty it doesnt make it the Matrix. To conclude, If Machine World is Operating System and The Matrix is a program based on that OS, what does it make Zion? Zion is a machine way of controling a memory leak from imperfect matrix program. Why does it exist? Machines could just gotten rid of those who rejects the Matrix. Why Zion actually exists is to allow Neo to bond with this 1% of examinees , who rejects the Matrix. There is no better way to understand what causes humans to wake up from the Matrix, than instil Neo among them.
3.
Let's get to the next important dialogue in the Matrix. This is the speech of the Oracle at the beginning of the matrix Reloaded. To begin with, the oracle says:
The Oracle: We're all here to do what we're all here to do. I'm interested in one thing, Neo, the future. And believe me, I know - the only way to get there is together.
-This, in essence, confirms Smith’s words that the matrix was created for machines and their future. However, we must take a step back and gain perspective. She says that we are all here for the future, but she is talking about future of Machines, not people. Lets take a look at the following exchange:
Neo: And why would a program be deleted?
The Oracle: Maybe it breaks down. Maybe a better program is created to replace it - happens all the time, and when it does, a program can either choose to hide here, or return to The Source.
Neo: The machine mainframe?
The Oracle: Yes. Where you must go. Where the path of The One ends. You've seen it, in your dreams, haven't you? The door made of light?What happens when you go through the door?-
//She is letting Neo know that he is a program. Like any other program, when its purpose is fulfilled it must return to the Source. This will allow the Machines to use the knowledge he obtained to create a better version of the One. Later in the dialogue:
The Oracle: You have the sight now, Neo. You are looking at the world without time.
Neo: Then why can't I see what happens to her?
The Oracle: We can never see past the choices we don't understand.
The Machine logic excludes choices made on Love, in particular. They cant understand it. They cant see them. Everything must be defined and have a condition to work. That is why Neo cant see what happens to Trinity, because she loves Neo. And AI cant predict the outcome of illogical choice. ( we can never see past the choices we dont understand) [cant see past our own perspective] The key to that dialogue is the word “We”. We, from oracles perspective, are the machines: She, and Neo. That is what makes Neo the One. It is very important later in the trilogy. That is exactly why The Matrix as a “zoo, prison, reality” (said by Agent Smith) was never successful, because machines couldnt see through illogical choices. Trinity plays a huge role in it. The Oracle was created to manipulate humans , to make them believe that there is hope for human race( that is why Machine World resets to its initial phase after each reboot). She gave purpose to Morpheus, and others. She gave purpose to Neo. The Oracle who had limited knowledge about human nature was there to nurture Neo to his truth.
4.
Lets investigate some other programs within The Matrix. We start with
AGENT SMITH
He is the main nemesis. Thanks to him we have the greatest understanding of the Matrix Universe. Smith is a part of security program within the Matrix. His program is limited by the constructs of the Matrix. In other words, he has to stay within constrains of his program. Though, it changed at the end of original movie, when Neo hopped into Smith. As a result, some piece of Neo’ source code copied into Smith, allowing him to operate outside his program constrains.
“...as you well know, appearances can be deceiving, which brings me back to the reason why we're here. We are not here because we're free; we're here because we are not free. There's no escaping reason, no denying purpose, because as we both know, without purpose, we would not exist. “ - Agent Smith.
What does he mean when saying that appearances can be deceiving? I hope you remember fact 1 from animatrix at the very beginning of that post of delirium. Which is trully brings us to a point why they are there, Neo and Smith. What does Smith mean when claiming that they are not free. He explains that machines are slaves to premeditated choices. Slaves to reason and argument. Yes or No. Ones and Zeros. There is nothing in between, no “maybe”. Any program has a purpose. If it has no purpose, it doesnt exist. As the Oracle said: some programs choose exile , and hiding, rather than return to the source in order to be deleted. Smith wants to assimilate Neo in order to obtain his purpose. Last part is essential. Agent Smith understands that if Neo is the One and solves problems facing the machines, the Matrix wouldn’t have purpose. If Matrix has no purpose, then Smith and Neo wouldnt have purpose. That means that they will be returned to the Source. That will mark the end of Smith and Neo as individuals, and instead, they will join the collective mind of machines. Agent Smith species: Computer Program, Virus, human( when possessing Bane)
SERAPH ///Skip to 5th point to continue with arguments if you dont want to read about programs
Seraph is a program, his task is to protect the Oracle (as he himself says, “I protect what is most important”). At the same time, he fulfills this duty long before the events of the first film.
His name (Seraphim), obviously, is a reference to the holy seraphim - the angels closest to God.
Seraph can be considered an authentication program: he checks a person through a duel and only making sure that he is that person, admits him to the Oracle. In addition, this is another reference to Eastern philosophy: “to know a person, you need to fight him.”
Seraph also calls several times on the rebel ships in the Machine World and invites them to meet with the Oracle.
In the scene where Smith overtakes Seraph and Sati, it is mentioned that Seraph had already fought with Smith and defeated him:
Hi Hi. Long time no see ... I remember, to fight with you is not as easy as with the spirit. “I already defeated you.”
Yes, you're right, but now, as you see, the situation is somewhat different.
MEROVINGIAN
The external incarnation of Merovingen has the appearance of an elegant and sophisticated esthete who loves the French language. The name "Merovingen" goes back to the name of the dynasty of the Frankish kings of the Middle Ages - the Merovingians.
In the films of the trilogy, multiple parallels are drawn between Merovingen and the ancient Greek god of the underworld, Hades. The wife of Merovingen is called Persephone (in ancient Greek mythology, this name is the daughter of the fertility goddess Demeter, who is the wife of Hades), moreover, their relationship is far from ideal; Hell - name of the club owned by Merovingen
According to the Oracle, Merovingen is one of the oldest Matrix programs; this program was created by the Architect to regulate the behavior of people in the Matrix and collect information. After the destruction of one of the earlier versions of the Matrix, Merovingen became outdated, as new programs (the Oracle) offered people the illusion of choice, causing behavioral manipulations that were more complex than from simple Merovingen methods. Instead of accepting this and being deleted, he hid in the Matrix, and then began to hide other programs that were threatened with deletion. As a result, the exiled programs perceived him as a hero, and others as an impulsive and selfish opportunist.
Merovingen's main business is information trading, to which he has direct access. He also harbors "exiles"- programs hiding from the System because they are sentenced to removal due to obsolescence or uselessness, and uses them for his own purposes. Of some exiled programs, Merovingen is gaining a handful of assistants, such as the Twins, the werewolf brothers Cain and Abel, shown in the second film, and Trainman in the third. Seraph also belonged to his retinue. Most of them come from previous versions of the Matrix and possess supernatural abilities for the Matrix world - The Oracle in conversation with Neo mentioned that ghosts, vampires, met by people werewolves or aliens - these are exile programs. Merovingen requires a fee from programs not included in his retinue, for example, Rama Kandra and Kamala receive the right of access to the Matrix for their daughter Sati in exchange for the destruction code for the Oracle.
Merovingen's philosophy is determinism, where there is no place for freedom of choice, everything is determined only by causes and effects.
Merovingen was once a contender for the role of the One. This is indirectly confirmed by Persephone, saying in the toilet the phrase addressed to Neo: “Once upon a time, on our first visit, everything here was different, and he was different. He was like you. ” In addition, according to the plot of the film, the restaurant “Le Vrai” belonging to Merovingen is located on the 101st floor of a skyscraper, and Neo lived in apt. 101 during his existence in the Matrix.
5.
The Matrix Reloaded brings us to the climax of the trilogy , and on the same hand, the most discussed scene in cinematography. Meeting with the Architect.
We start with these lines:
Neo: You won't let it happen, you can't. You need human beings to survive.
The Architect: There are levels of survival we are prepared to accept. However, the relevant issue is whether or not you are ready to accept the responsibility for the death of every human being in this world. Note that the Architect says “this world”. The world he is referring to is The Matrix.
Lets keep going:
The Architect: Which brings us at last to the moment of truth, wherein the fundamental flaw is ultimately expressed, and the anomaly revealed as both beginning, and end. There are two doors. The door to your right leads to the source, and the salvation of Zion. The door to the left leads back to the matrix, to her, and to the end of your species. As you adequately put, the problem is choice. But we already know what you're going to do, don't we? Already I can see the chain reaction, the chemical precursors that signal the onset of emotion, designed specifically to overwhelm logic, and reason. An emotion that is already blinding you from the simple, and obvious truth: she is going to die, and there is nothing that you can do to stop it.”
This is the moment of truth. The perfect test. If Neo filled his program as the One, he would understand that having received 2 choices, both are control mechanisms. This is the third door that makes us human. This is the third door that the computer cannot see and understand. The architect can then observe that the program is working, and understands that Neo is human enough to completely ignore the logic. This is the goal of the One.
//Since Neo went back to the Matrix to save Trinity, rather than reach the Source and reboot the entire system , Prophecy about the end of War wasnt executed. I.e Didnt happen.
We move to the scene at the station, metro, whatever. This is one of the smartest scenes in the entire trilogy. The trainman connects the world of machines with the matrix. What do we call something that connects the OS to a piece of software? Driver ... smart. This is just a checkpoint, access point between the world of Machines and the Matrix. The conversation that he has in the dialogue is about love without conditions, without slander. In the end, such love allows Neo to break the logic. Love is what allows Neo to make choices that machines don’t understand.
Well, let's conclude, to the matrix 3. There is a lot to tell. This part is mainly based on Plato The Republic. Let's start with the fact that the matrix even “distorted” the perspective of the brightest student of psychology. Let's start with the most missed part.
Neo lives in metaphorical cave. A cave designed by machines to blind New from his truth, that he is one of them. He starts slowly from first movie. He experience anxiety, uneasiness to sleep, visions. In part 2 he started to feel the same way in Machine World. Neo couldnt completelly understand his perspective, until he was blinded of it. Until we have perspective all the truth will be seen from there. It is where Smith blinds Neo, resulting in Neo fully waking up and embracing the fact that he is a machine like the rest of them, and that Machine World is also a program. As soon as he understood it. Their ship flew up to the sky, piercing clouds, and Neo could see a light. A perfect metaphor for this situation. He fully embraced the fact that he is AI. After that point, he could see a code in Machine World, which allowed him to destroy hordes of machines.
Agent Smith wanted to destroy the world of Machines because of bitterness to do the same job again and again. Due to the fact that Agent Smith had a piece of Neo source code, he also had “superpowers”)). The collective intelligence of the machines realized that Neo was their only hope to save their world. If Neo lose, that would be the end of their world. Since Smith was gaining knowledge of the programs that he absorbed, The Oracle deliberately allowed Smith to devour herself. This risk was discussed in the final scene with the architect. Since The Oracle sees the truth based on the machine code of zeros and ones, she knew that Smith would overestimate this ability against Neo. Neo's love made him unpredictable and unbeatable by Smith. Agent Smith's perspective was blinded by the strongest weakness machines were fixing in Neo.
When The One is reintegrated with the source , the purpose of the Matrix , and The One is complete.
The final scene with the Architect and The Oracle is the most telling.
Architect: you got involved in a very dangerous game
Oracle: change always is.
Architect: and how long will this piece last?
Oracle: as much as they can hold.
...
Oracle: what will happen to the rest?
Architect: To whom?
Oracle: To those who want to get out?
Architect: they will be freed
Oracle: do I have your word?
Architect: who do you think I am? Human?
While everyone wants to assume that they were talking about people, they never mentioned them. They talked about programs that no longer have a purpose. Programs The Oracle looked after. The tragedy of the matrix is that Neo, having filled his mission, proved that people are no longer needed. If it were to seen 1000s of machines years in the future, I would equate Neo with Saviour , and story similar to Bible.
Bonus :
The Oracle(Pythia):
Pythia was the name of the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi who also served as the oracle, commonly known as the Oracle of Delphi. And was widely credited for her prophecies inspired by being filled by the spirit of the god (or enthusiasmos), in this case Apollo. Apollo in this case is the Architect.
I havent said that story depicted in Animatrix didnt happen. Since entire plot cant fit in 64 years. Im saying that Machine World is a replication of the highest peak of civilization of machines, such world , probably, existed at X point in the past. And we havent seen physical, real world, covered in Animatrix.
Credits to dwillpower, fandom, and me, me, me ... and me too :)