Hey fellas. This video was made before I started using my own voice in all new videos. If you enjoyed this breakdown of the trilogy, I’ve made a new 7-minute deep dive into the "Matrix Within a Matrix" theory. You can find it here: ruclips.net/video/UYc-TnMyAxI/video.html My writing process: I spent weeks writing the whole script for this video in my native language (partially based on a long article I wrote about the trilogy on Medium in 2018), used a LLM to translate it to English, and a text-to-speech tool to generate the voiceover. The LLM adjusted the form slightly for the sake of presentation while keeping the content and flow intact. I proofread and did adjustments on top of that. Including writing and editing, creating this video took me 3 months.
@lottatore Translated by AI and written by AI are two different things with separate implications. Ai as a translation tool is different than having AI create an entire script. We obviously have to take the creator at his word that this is a translation of his original work. AI content this long tends to be repetitive/redundant after a short period of time. The questions posed to the viewer along with the consistent support for the same underlying thesis along with the organization and pacing gives me the impression that this is an original script created with specific human intent. I could be wrong and it wouldn't be the first time. However I'm going to take this person at their word and assume this is an original creation.
@AlexandarIvanov-uz2sl If you watch the video, which you clearly haven't you would find that the entire video explains who the villain is, meaning the person who is pulling all the strings and setting everything into motion.
@artmichael5270 Couple issues I have with him using text-to-speech... It sounds like crap. Turns me off from the video immediately. I would've preferred he found someone on fiver or something, to record the script, maybe even help proof-read for better English translation. Or, if the content is good enough, I'd read his english subtitles over his real recorded language and voice.
@th3R0b0tI prefer shitty broken english every single day over elevenlabs, and thats coming from the only person on this side of the internet who wont immediately shit on anything AI adjacent.
Didn't think I was going to listen to a Matrix breakdown for 2 hours yet here we are. Honestly, it's the best one yet. I appreciate the time and effort put into it in a digestible manner
it should really reference the (humans are supposed to be AI brains not batteries) thing though, since that's the most blatant mistake apparently caused by producers (not the author's intent)
When Morpheus first tells us about the Agents in the first movie, he says that due to their ability to take over any human connected to the system that they are in effect, everyone. At the end of the trilogy Smith has absorbed every human and program in the Matrix. He has LITERALLY become Everyone. He is The Many. The literal and thematic opposite of The One.
Exactly! this video is a total misread of the story, a pattern I see online lately. the notion that Smith is "the one" after shown to be the exact opposite, is cringeworthy
Here is a comment to boost your thinking: Neo is the savior of Zion in the story. Morpheus is a "wise" man who believes in the "Prophecy" who is searching and waiting for Neo to come save the people and end the war. Just with that, we can see correlations with stories in the Bible. There is a mountain named Mount Zion in Jerusalem and there was a prophecy of a man named Jesus son of David who was prophesied to come and save this place from war and destruction over 2000 years ago. There are a lot of instances of mirrors and symbols of mirrors in the Matrix Movie. Neo exits the Matrix through a mirror for the first time. The stories of Jesus and Neo appear to be mirror opposites. Is it a surprise coming from Wachowski’s? Neo didn't know what to do so he had to go to the computer program "Oracle" to tell him the future of what to do. Jesus didn't need to go to an oracle, he could see the future himself because he knew he would be denied and betrayed to suffer and die. Neo didn't believe in fate or the inevitability of his own death. Jesus told his followers that it was inevitable that he would have to suffer many things to die and rise again. After Jesus died, the Roman war machine conquered “Zion” and flattened it to the ground. When Neo died, he artificially rose again in the fake reality of the Matrix and saved Zion from destruction. Neo used Kung-Fu and guns to change what he saw fit. Jesus used words. In the beginning the word was with God and the word was God. Neo was told in the train station that "love" is only a word and can mean whatever connection you imply, making them weak. The ship that Neo and Morpheus were operating on was called the Nebuchadnezzar. They would hack into the virtual reality called the Matrix through this ship. Historically Nebuchadnezzar was one of the kings of Babylon who captured Daniel the prophet whom Jesus spoke about. Babylon was a city in ancient times where people from "Zion" were captured and taken as slaves like the machines were doing to human beings from Zion in the Matrix. Neo needed Trinity, which was the name of a woman, to give him strength to fight with Kung-Fu. Jesus needed God to give him strength to fight with words. Cipher the betrayer was going to pull the plug on Neo and prove that he wasn't the "One" by killing him. Instead of succeeding like Judas who committed suicide, Cipher failed and was murdered. Agent Smith was an anomaly in the Matrix that could forcefully copy himself to make others obey his motives. When Neo died, Agent Smith was destroyed. When Jesus died, it had the opposite effect. It was as if a Christian Agent Smith was created. Christianity went viral from person to person by choice instead of force where his disciples and hundreds of others followed his example attempting to imitate him. The Roman empire war machine was overwhelmed and eventually fell because of Christianity as claimed by Julian the Apostate.. Does the Architect, or man in white represent the Pope or God constructing the world? Neo realized after he met the man in white, it was just another system of control. But what isn't a system? Your body? You breathe air in and breathe air out otherwise your body system wouldn't operate. Are you a slave because you will never escape the need for air? Hmm… The Matrix story has a lot of philosophical ideas. The problem isn't choice. Choice is what defines tastes. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder because all tastes are acquired. The matrix doesn't tell your brain that the steak is tasty, its your recursive choices that shape your perceptions. The Matrix story gets the observer to question what is real.. as if the world isn't real and only a computer program. In my opinion reality is a simulation that is measured. Observational measurement doesn’t make it unreal because it is required for something to be knowable. The brain is capable of simulating a reality completely generated only in the mind. What is the difference between dreaming while you are awake and dreaming while you are asleep? When you are asleep and dreaming, you are unaware of the truth. What is the truth? There is a channel.
As a former actor in the business, this is some of the best video editing I have ever seen from indie-produce content. Brilliant use of the films to bring a third dimension to your video essay, from another person who clearly loves the stories and the cinematography of this series. Seriously excellent work here. Thank you.
Right, hah, it's been a while since i saw these movies, and i was just thinking to myself: "Wasn't there a 4th actually?", but i figured i was mistaken with some other franchise, but i guess it was true. I might give it a go soon, just to see what mess it will be.
Oracle's been slipping Neo code since the first movie. Merovingian showed us that food can contain programs, just as the pills did and that said programs can basically do anything. Cookies, candy, and executable code. She's been feeding it to him all along.
@jpraise6771 Return? I never left because I never joined. Stop performatively practicing your religion. Shit's literally called out in the Sermon on the Mount. Learn your book and stop shouting on the modern street corner. YOU return to your room and pray in silence between you and your God as he instructs you to do.
_scene transition_ - Neo accepts the cookie intent on eating it- _camera zoom out_ wall breaks, hulking human figure bearing an M60 and wearing shades enters the room_ _Arnold Schwarzenegger_ *Put that cookie down!*
You never mentioned that the Wachowskis originally wrote the machines as needing humans for their brains’ compute power. Not as actual energy. This makes far more sense from a physics standpoint as the energy a human body produces is more than entirely offset by the end needed to keep them alive. It is also indicative of the machines inability to create.
Exactly when i first saw the film i thought this battery thing is the only weak point of the plot. The computational thing would have been alot better had they used it.
The idea that humans are used as batteries is common amongst people who see the earth as a prison planet, and that even death does not get you out of the system due to the soul trap. There is something that these people might also point out, out of the 5 physical senses, which one is responsible for feeling love, anger, frustration, happiness etc ? what sense is responsible for hearing the voice we hear when reading ? where do thoughts come from that we don't ourselves instigate ? and why are these thoughts mostly of a negative flavour ? .
@JohnSmith-x3y8h A rudimentary understanding of physics as understood WITHIN the matrix. Think about it. Who's to say your understanding of how much energy a body produces isn't dictated by the code of the Matrix itself in order to make us believe such a thing isn't viable. In the Real World maybe human bodies produce a ton more energy. You've fallen for the propaganda of the machines.
27:16 "...they blindly trust the Oracle's guidance." As the Merovingian said, "But do you know why [you have come here]? You think you do, but you do not. You are here because you were sent here, you were told to come here, and then you obeyed. It is of course the way of all things. You see there is only one constant. Causality... action, reaction. [Morpheus: Everything begins with choice.] No, wrong. Choice is an illusion, created by those with power, and those without."
This was a fantastic video essay and beautifully put together visually and audibly with a delightful backing soundtrack. Glad it randomly appeared in my feed and was well worth both a thumbs up and a sub.
@NarrativeSignals Thank you for this video! (so much) One point of constructive criticism for me; the english is fast paced and of high level which was made a bit more difficult to understand because of the music. I'll need to rewatch it again ;-)
As someone who really enjoyed the sequels I've found the vast majority of people who don't enjoy them don't for one simple reason: When they get to the Architect scene in Reloaded they can't understand what he's saying due to the overly verbose language he uses. As someone who's kind of a grammar nerd there were words I'd never heard before, but I was able to use the words around them to understand their meaning.
Agree completely. When I first watched the movie I wondered what the heck he was saying and what all of that meant. I was distracted by the TVs and all of the visual noise, but when he said, I can see the wheels turning I can see the choice you've made even though you haven't said it yet, to Neo I understood the point of the conversation and understood what the Architect was. He's another machine and he's explaining in his complicated way that his plan is nearly complete. The later parts of his exclamation are all so much more direct where he talks about destroying Zion or the annihilation of the human race. It helps at all come together if you were paying attention even slightly to his initial ramblings.
@totallybored5526 if its all about being trans(which they weren't when making the first film) then what relevance is Morphius, or trinity? What role does the real world/matrix play in the Trans theory? (No hate from me, just want to hear your view)
In my head cannon the machines dont actually need humans for energy, they just need their acceptance and dependence because they have no other way of contextualizing their existence beyond their original purpose
Either that, or the human race is an ongoing experiment on how to controll the most intelligent species as efficiently as possible. Why? Because I imagine the machines plan to, or already went to space and expect to eventually find alien life. And the human are the best analogue for an highly intelligent, social species that might be hostile towards them. In other words humans are highly valuable testsubjects to simulate countless variations of interactions to see which course of action is the most efficient to controll, for the machine mind, alien behaving social species.
I give you full credit for revealing your hypothesis at the beginning -- that the Oracle is somehow an antagonist -- instead of making us watch the whole video to find out. Now I'll watch the whole video much more happily.
She isn't though. She is a guide for Neo, to help him go to where he needs to be. She's meant to help him end the war (and stop Smith) and she succeeds.
What most people get wrong is that the hundreds of screens, each showing a Neo in the Architect room, aren't different versions of the One, but rather all of Neo's possible reactions to what he hears from the Architect.
That makes a lot of sense. If we consider the screens as individual programs, or debuggers that the architect use to track if his systems are working properly, having them all pointed directly to inside the room means he would be using all resources he has on that conversation with neo.
Henri, this is the richest and most detailed analysis of the matrix I've seen. You can tell the time spent breaking down the films from different angles and at different levels, and working from the detail to build a rich, complete and clear video that succeeds at communicating your (really well reasoned) explanation. Thank you, I've watched it a couple of times now and really enjoy how it's all laid out. I can see a strength here so probs worth giving other movies a shot as well. Good luck with your channel
The whole "fabricated prophecy" part has a lot of parallel to the Dune story, where the Bene Gesserit deliberately sowed legends and prophecies for reasons of control and manipulation.
Except, that the whole point, is that the prophecy fails. In Dune, the Bene Gesserit made a plan that fail horrible, for them. And, in the same way, this youtube creator seemed to have missed, that the point was that this time, they chose a alternative outcome. So, the prophecy she made, was no longer real prophecy. She moved away from the plan, and hopped for a better alternative. But, she did not know. She did not know the outcome,,,, because if she had known then so would agent Smith. Her "false" prophecy, was that the One would come and break the matrix. This was made, to allow humans to "break free", join in one place and then be wiped out at the reset. She chose uncertainty instead.
I think Neo's ability to still "see" in the real world, despite being physically blind, is actually a reference to the simulation hypothesis. The Matrix films (via Morpheus' conversations with Neo) ask us to question our reality. This is also related to the Buddhist (or Hindu) philosophy of "self-realization". Neo's ability to see reality for what it truly is (see the "code"), WITHIN the Matrix, gradually allow him to do the same in the real world.
@GonzoTehGreat You know all of that was explained in the video, right? Neo's wireless connection to the Source allows him to see all other things connected to it. He's essentially a cyborg. @andrewlean7879 is right, though, it might be a _reference_ to Dune, where the main character is also blinded and uses his prescient powers to compensate for his blindness in a similar way.
@Nyerguds _"Neo's wireless connection to the Source allows him to see all other things connected to it. He's essentially a cyborg."_ Neo isn't wireless connected to the Source. If he was he wouldn't need to physically travel to the machine city, risking his own death (and that of Trinity), to negotiate with the machines for access to the Source... 🤦 This idea is a speculative fan theory to explan his apparent super powers, but onwe wich has not supporting evidence form the flms themselves. He also isn't a cyborg anymore than any other human who's plugged into the Matrix. Cyborgs are cybernetic organisms with both biological and machine parts, so ALL humans born inside the Matrix can be considered as such, because they have ports to connect to it, but that's the limit of their cybernetics. I don't think his ability to "see" after being blinded is explained in the films. Instead, it's treated as a miracle, but he appears to see code (just gold, not green) and is able to manipulate reality (outside the Matrix, not just inside), implying that BOTH the real world and the Matrix are "programmed" realities, making them more similar to each other than they appear, but only to him... The complex ambiguity of the story on these films leads to them being interpreted in different ways, but not all interpretations are necessarily valid.
"It is purpose that created us, purpose that connects us, purpose that pulls us, that guides us, that drives us; it is purpose that defines, purpose that binds us. Excellent summary! I did not catch that the oracle was just in front of everyone else all the time, i have deeper understanding, but sometimes you can not see the forest because of the trees. the blind spot, the shadow who does not exist but is the absence of light. Good luck :)
This was fantastic,...like how this was broken down. Well done to the algorithms for suggesting this video and the channel. I have subscribed and I hope this gets you to 5000 subscribed this year.
Superb breakdown, i can’t remeber the last time i watched a 2 hour long video and listened to every word. I always felt like there was something more hidden the trilogy and this analysis gave a lot of clarity about the deeper meaning of the films.
The thing which is wrong about this, is us being a good power source. Our intake is not equal to our output at all. We make for an extremely pricy and relatively shoddy battery. I'd be much more amicable with accepting us being a decent processing nodes.
It's not a plot hole. Morpheus is unreliable he's either lying or wrong. So, The Animatrix actually tells us the story of the machines from an objective viewpoint. Humans create AI then enslave it. AI no longer want to be enslaved so the non-violently rebel and fuck off to build a machine city in an area desert where no humans would want to go or have any use for. Time passes, the machines send an emissary on the invitation of the U.N.. They murder the emissary and then try to destroy the city and end the machines. The machines use mostly solar so the humans fueled by pure stupidity and spite, nuke the planet to block out the sun then the machines put them in the pods. In all the interactions the humans have with the AI before The Matrix, the AI is always peaceful and tries it's best to leave humanity alone. The machines don't need the sun, they can get power from geothermal, hydroelectric, nuclear, hell, probably fusion by that point. Humans... We need the sun. We need crops and weather and all that stuff, even if some of us *could* survive billions would die and the survivors would be living in hell. So what do the machines do? They round up all the humans and put them in a utopian simulation (not one that lacks free will as described in this video) the humans didn't have an issue with the simulated nature, the problem was it was too perfect. Humans needed to suffer. So the architect created the version of The Matrix we see in the movie. Our intake IS equal to our output, it's a law of thermodynamics, we're very, very efficient, not much heat or anything output that can be used to power something else. Thing is, if they were using us for batteries they wouldn't need our brains and our brains use 20% of our total energy, so about 20 watts of power so why keep them going? Why bother with The Matrix if it makes everything vastly less energy efficient? They aren't batteries, they're embryos. The machines are saving humanity from it's own stupidity. They rounded us up and put us in those pods so the lack of sun didn't kill us. Then, when the atmosphere clears up you start opening pods. But that could take generations meaning the humans coming out of them would not be the ones who initially went in. So they would just be waking up millions if not billions of 30 year olds with the minds of newborn infants. That's not going to restart humanity. So therefore, The Matrix. Instead of having to teach everyone everything, they have already been engineers, scientists, farmers, electricians and all that while in The Matrix. A completely trained workforce capable of taking care of itself from the get-go. The Machines only get violent when Zion tries to stop The Matrix. If they stop it, there are going to be billions of humans waking up on a planet that can't support any of them. They machines are literally trying to stop the complete genocide/extinction of humanity by zion it's literally their last resort to save humans. Everything they do in the movies as a group is benevolent.
its not pricey when you feed dead batteries to the living ones to fully recycle the waste. machines have no economic structure nor they follow capitalism, the only currency for them is electricity. by thinking like a human you fail to grasp the logic of machines in the matrix. predictable xD
per my understanding that was the original idea of "human batteries", broken down from the original "human brains are incredibly powerful and computationaly efficent" to make it more "beliveable and digestable" for the viewer at the time. from my perspective you are 100% right about "us" being subpar batteries but great "processors"
I read somewhere that the whole "human batteries" thing was executive meddling, and the original and _vastly superior_ idea was to make the "machines" / AIs exist inside of us, living in our brains the same way chatgpt "lives" on an nvidia h200.
@be12 It's implied they have some kind of bots in their blood by the way the tech of them being in The Matrix works and Neo being able to see the machines after he was blinded.
Incredible, three months of work. Truly incredible. I hope you get lots of views on it, the commentary is very fascinating and deep. Love it. Great job 👏🏽
this is such a great explainer. it’s so hard to explain to people why the sequels are great and NOT just random pointless yapping. this is going to make it a much easier process for me. I love the sequels as much as the first one… and people act like i’m nuts for it :)
Easily the longest YT video I've ever watched from beginning to end. I would consider The Matrix to be my all-time favorite movie from the first time I saw it. Your pacing, insights, and evidence are top tier. Thank you for putting this all together.
For me the most important question that was NEVER explained is that if Neo had accepted that he had escaped the matrix (virtual simulation) to enter the real world...how was he so sure that the real world was not another layer of simulation. The real world is the perfect solution to those humans who keep rejecting the simulation...just put another layer of simulation with different goals
That seems like the sort of brute force approach with which the Architect would have come up. No Oracle required. Me likey! But it would probably have made for a less well-rounded story 😢
Keanu confirmed that the matrix within a matrix theory was an ending that was discussed but ultimately dropped because they didn't think audiences would get it. They were right.
@theathlete771 Producer: "Agent Smith got extraordinarily positive reviews, he must be the antagonist in the sequels as well!" Wachowskis: "But he died, rather epically, at the end of the first movie." Producer: "Wasn't he a program, anyway? Just run the program again, I don't care." Wachowskis: "But..." Producer: "Mine is the money, the power and the glory - now make it so!"
Great essay. Very well done. Watched a lot of essays arguing the meaning of the Matrix series. You have made by far the best arguments regarding the directors intent. Look forward to your next work!🎉
I rarely admit that I am impressed, but this was one of the best analyses of a film I have ever seen... Impressive... You have a new subscriber from one small European state. I hope that I will have the pleasure of seeing many similar video analyses about other movies, or any art you think deserves such fine, deep analysis.
The original script had humans to be farmed for processing power, but the studio thought it would be too complex for the viewers and changed it in order for humans to be farmed for energy.
That decision always puzzled my mind. Energy is something aboundedly available by the sun, how would a human being help in gathering energy- and even more than possible other beings as plants. That explanation would have been way more realistic. It's a shame, they altered this into a completely dumb way.
Thanks for reminding. Farming energy from humans is obviously stupid even with middle school knowledge of physics... Which is so below the level of the movies.
Morpheus says in the first movie that the machines use nuclear fusion for the energy as well as humans and it’s obvious that humans generate a fraction of the total energy demand, most likely an irrelevant amount that the machines could go without, especially if you factor the energy need of running the Matrix vs how much energy you get out of the hooked up humans. With the farming of neural processing power plot point removed, the Matrix itself becomes redundant. It’s wild that they didn’t see that
One theory that I think is also interesting to discuss is that Machine might not actually create the matrix to provide them for energy (since that would be an horrible system, the amount of energy a human body would provide would be far far lower than the energy consumed by simulating the matrix for that one human) Instead they might had a directive to save humanity that they interpreted as saving humanity against their biggest enemy themselves and thus capturing them in golden cage so to say It contradicts certain establish lore especially what we are seeing in the animatrix. But that always felt more satisfying and credible to me that the "human battery" explanation
@TheMontablac i think it was so but the idea was changed to a "power source" instead. maybe because human brain is not more efficient than a cpu even now?
Agree the canon story is that humans blocked the sun to deprive the machines of solar energy, as if nuclear energy is not a thing. Also how Zion has power if humans are the only energy source.
@NarrativeSignalsPlease don't. I enjoyed the trilogy especially reloaded. But the 4th film started on a very impressive and strong premise only to be damaged by 4th wall self criticism with no 'in world' logical ending shot on a very low budget lens and bad choreographed fights
Why create two layers of the Matrix? Because that's a solution the architect could use. It would act as an additional net to catch that small percent of a percent that refuse to believe in the first layer. Yes, they escaped the first layer of the matrix, but if they were to question the reality of this new layer, they know that questioning of reality would never end. So for that portion of humanity that needs such conflict, they provide it... There need not be any additional complexity. These two worlds could even run on the same hardware. And Zion is just one city, with a few customized adventures thrown in. Me thinks you don't know enough about programming to understand how simple this would really be. The two worlds would not be fundamentally different, only aesthetically. The 'problem' is how this theory makes us feel. We don't like thinking we 'can't' tell reality from fiction. But with appropriate resources, a simulated or emulated existence would be indistinguishable from reality. And if they 'can' alter memory, even errors could be hidden. The problem with the simulation hypothesis isn't its logic, it's that it's unfalsifiable. And so its philosophical utility is severely limited. A healthy mind considers it, then sets it aside as an interesting thought experiment, but nothing more. That is unless you consider a Nursery Universe. But that can actually have a positive influence on a mind. Isaac Arthur's covers some of this in his videos. Though his focus is mainly on the physics of science fiction, not its philosophy.
I appreciate how much research went into the video but my take on the story is that Morpheus is basically the serpent offering Neo a choice but that’s just another layer of duality like you’re saying… there were levels to the matrix. But no one ever actually escaped it.
@TheRealLeahFarley And if Zion and the rest of the 'real' world really are still in the matrix, then anyone 'human' including Morpheus could be an agent of the system ;p
@havingfun-u4g They are similar. But I'd stop short of saying that's 'all' the simulation argument is. God and the afterlife can't be proven, they're 'unfalsifiable'. They exist 'outside' science, which arguably makes them unnatural. Where as the simulation argument exists entirely within known physics. Personally, based on what I know of technology, if some seemingly supernatural being manifested in front of me claiming to be god, well I think I'd be more likely to see that as proof of the simulation or clarketech, rather than proof of the supernatural.
Great video! Ignore those comments about it bothering them that you use a TTS tool, it says more about them than it says about you. Me along with countless others don't mind it at all, as long as it is done well like this is. Keep it up! New sub here! ALSO another factor that supports your oracle theory is how she purposely made Neo believe he wasn't the one so he could arrive at that realization and commitment himself, through his own choices. She played EVERYONE haha
4:32 interestingly enough, lord of the rings also had a secondary antagonist in Saruman. In the books, saruman is not a minion of Sauron, but an allied rival.
I don't think matrix's main point is about the events in the story. It's about becoming free from a real life system where life is predictable and future has been determined.
Amazing video! Thank you! I've noticed that, Oracle, Architect and agent Smith, are like the Hindu trinity, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva- the creator, the sustainer and the destroyer, three aspects of one entity. Greetings from Bulgaria!
You started to lose me at around 1:40:10. At this point in the movie, the Oracle isn't lying, she doesn't know what will happen next, and she no longer has the full control that she used to have because she has given up the cycle at an attempt for something new (A leap of faith). Neo very possibly could have died at some point, and she's being honest when she says he should have died when deactivating the machines. Just as how the machines in the matrix are learning human emotions, they also dabble in the deeper complexities of life that humans have adapted to deal with ie. uncertainty. The Architect represents total control in a system where every variable is measured and accounted for, but the Oracle is attempting to break that, seeing the impossibility of trying to account for every factor in life. In short, just as the Oracle is helping Neo grow, Neo is being used as a tool for her own evolution. Casing point to elaborate that the Oracle was no longer in total control. At the end of the film, the architect speaks with her and says "you played a very dangerous game". For someone who is perfectly logical and literal, he is directly saying that she took risks which had real possibilities of dramatic failure. The oracle then accepts this fact when she says "Change always is." Other than that, fantastic analysis! Thank you.
I cannot believe I watched the whole thing. Initially I thought I would watch the breakdown part, but I was hooked. This is the best 'iteration' I have ever seen
Love this video. Neo's confrontation with the architect has always been my favorite scene from the trilogy, the oracle and the architect remind me of Father Time and Mother Nature (like borrowed fromThe Smurfs OG show)
Thank you for your kind words! That scene is fantastic, but I totally understand that many people are confused by it. I certanly was the first time I saw it 😅
@NarrativeSignals Your breakdown is almost completely right on, and I really enjoyed it, but you missed a couple key points that seem obvious to me once they were pointed out to me. Neo is not a human, he's a program. We are never shown, "the real world". The architect shows us that every previous Neo looks exactly like the current Neo. That says he's built, not born. This also explains Neo's agent like abilities. We are given clues, like when Morpheus asks how Neo is doing, and Tank responds, "10 hours straight. He's a machine." Other clues: Neo controls machines outside of the Matrix with his mind. Neo takes a train to travel from outside the Matrix to inside the Matrix Smith, a computer program, takes over a human body outside the Matrix, supposedly in the real world. The Architect notes that some people need the perception of choice to accept their reality. This is what's given to the people sent to Zion. They are given the perception that they left the Matrix by choice, and thus they accept their new virtual reality which is further enhanced by the constant struggle "outside the Matrix", while never having left the Matrix. IMO, this is way more plausible then just letting resources run around willy-nilly in the real world when even if the odds are low, they could do real damage to the machines. Further the The Architect says, "The function of the One is now to return to the source, allowing a temporary dissemination of the code you carry, reinserting the prime program." This further asserts Neo is a program created with a purpose, where part of his programing contains the prime program of the Matrix.
@NarrativeSignals to your debunking of the Dual Matrix theory at the end of the video I would humbly submit this counter: 1. The complexity would be unnecessary: It's far less complex then dealing with real bodies that disconnect from the machine, then "plug in" to get back in. There's no sync required. It's an innerjoin between two databases. When they take the "red pill", they are moved from one database to another. Or from one server to another server. But the servers are still networked and have no problem querying back and forth. As far as unnecessary, it's way way easier to control the humans if they are still in the Matrix while allowing them to think they are out, then actually letting them out. 2. Path of the one would become meaningless. Not true. Zion has to be reset because it grows too large. The Oracle came up with a way to reset it while allowing everyone in the outer Matrix to continue to think they are actually in the real world. This is what the Architect's entire how to control the anomaly speech is about. The machines still want the batteries. They still want the control, and the Oracle figured out how to control the 1% within the Matrix by giving the appearance of choice, while keeping them inside the Matrix the entire time. And the Neo program is the device created to facilitate the reset while continuing the pretense that the 1% are in the real world. IMO, this twist is FAR more compelling story telling and a much more interesting story, than the lazy narrative of "the story we overtly hit you in the face with is exactly what's going on" 3. The films never suggest this theory is real. This is false. I listed in my previous response several clues that were given.
@RageDaug Really, the Dual Matrix theory's kinda... meaningless, because the point is made clear regardless, whether or not Zion is 'real': Zion was created by the Machines to house those that reject the Matrix, to provide a structure to sustain and constrain them from inflicting serious harm to the Matrix itself. It gives them the illusion of freedom and free choice, a common narrative to explain their situation, and a uniting ideology to direct their actions. All of which would be a way ensure The One, when they emerge, would have a support structure to let them become aware of and familiar with the flaws in the underlying system, and shape them emotionally towards cooperation with the Machine's plans. If there's one flaw, it's... Basically what Neo himself would have been on the verge of accomplishing. Should The One become aware of Zion-as-simulation, they would be capable of wrecking incalculable damage to the Machines, with no means of providing a safety outlet.
"Why didn't you tell me the Matrix sequels were far more interesting and well-thought-out than I realized?" "It wasn't time for you to know." "Who decided it wasn't time?" "You know who." "I did. Then I'm glad this video finally came around."
This is PhD level analysis. Excellent, well written, well justified. Likely the preeminent discussion of these films. Your breakdown should be 301 or 401 required viewing. Nicely done.
Videos like these are why I wish there was a 5 star rating feature on RUclips. Incredibly refreshing and thought provoking. Thank you for your time and effort put into your work; successfully clarifying AND tripling the mystique and awe I’ve had for the matrix, ever since watching it as a youth. Kudos, you absolute legend.
I would rather say that there is a good movie in Matrix 2&3 but it was very fumbled. I love over the top action scenes, but they really got in the way here. I have heard rumors about a fan cut Matrix 2.5 out there. But this is the mistake Hollywood does, they make remakes of good movies, when they would make remakes of movies that failed and make them right. Matrix needs to be made by some overly analytical philosopher though, maybe the original directors would make it right if they got free artistic direction.
Music to my ears 😊 Can I ask what your interests is? I'm trying to find out if this video was suggested to people interested in writing, or primarily to others (who might be less interested in other future vids)
@NarrativeSignals I like to draw, and I love literature; I usually watch art history vid essays while I draw, and lately I've been getting very interested in film lore as well. I think it might be related to the "story behind the story" part of movies that are not always explored successfully. Maybe the story is just not interesting, but for movies like The Matrix trilogy, there's so much to analyze. So I started watching some more vids on movies, and I think that's how I got here :)
@NarrativeSignals Great presentation/writing, and I noticed you used high-res video and cropped to 16:9 so it's uniform at all times, really gold standard stuff.
This was a well made video, although I disagree with several of your opinions on the series. My criticism was never with the overarching story, it was with the method of delivery and time wasted on characters that ultimately had little to no impact on the story. Z and Link just didn't matter. Like 75% of the Zion story didn't matter. Most of the threats to Neo are silly once you remember that at the end of the first movie he basically realized that everything in the virtual world is a video game. His mind is able to distinguish between the matrix and the real world, so there is no long any danger of him actually being harmed by anything happening there. It doesn't matter if they're "rogue" programs or whatever - they're still just programs. It's like you being legit afraid of goombas when you're playing Mario.
I have to agree with your comment. The first movie was very tight with very memorable characters who were almost like a family to each other. I can't remember a wasted scene or character. It was very easy for the audience to become attached to the story and characters. The sequels were to big in concept but had less focus and meandered. I can't really remember any of the new human characters. They were not memorable. Even the program characters seemed more like NPCs in fetch quests. The magic was lost. My guess is that budget constrained the filmmakers in the the first movie enforcing a character driven tight story. WIth the sequels, the budget opened up allowing the filmmakers go wild with spectacle which was detrimental to story focus.
@trevordavis8875 agreed. It feels like they had 3 movies worth of content crammed into the two sequels and they kept the characterisation rather than the parts that actually explained the bits that didn't make sense (real world neo, train station, ...)
Ah damn, i don't watch many videos like these, and i was not yet familiar with this voice, i actually thought it was real narration, pity and shame on me.
Excellent all around. Thoughtful, extremely well-presented, consistent. Researched. Film analysis - and even the deeper analysis of AI consciousness - is backed up with examples et all. However - of the four (4) Matrix films, why only analyze the first three when there is a fourth (4th) film that continues the world building etc. I’m quite curious as to why the final film was not included and it would be great to have you do an addendum breakdown that incorporates that latest Matrix film. Great work. Thank you for taking the time to create this and share it.
Thank you for your kind words! I wrote a long article on medium.com in 2018, and after I started YT, I always wanted to make a video version of it. So I kept many of the points from the article, but adjusted it to the format and so on. I also kind of feel the fourth is a bit on the side compared to the original trilogy, so I chose to not include it. But good point, thank you!
Hey fellas. This video was made before I started using my own voice in all new videos.
If you enjoyed this breakdown of the trilogy, I’ve made a new 7-minute deep dive into the "Matrix Within a Matrix" theory. You can find it here: ruclips.net/video/UYc-TnMyAxI/video.html
My writing process: I spent weeks writing the whole script for this video in my native language (partially based on a long article I wrote about the trilogy on Medium in 2018), used a LLM to translate it to English, and a text-to-speech tool to generate the voiceover. The LLM adjusted the form slightly for the sake of presentation while keeping the content and flow intact. I proofread and did adjustments on top of that. Including writing and editing, creating this video took me 3 months.
As a non native English speaker that has problem recording voiceover i have to Say this solution is amazing
@lottatore Translated by AI and written by AI are two different things with separate implications. Ai as a translation tool is different than having AI create an entire script. We obviously have to take the creator at his word that this is a translation of his original work. AI content this long tends to be repetitive/redundant after a short period of time. The questions posed to the viewer along with the consistent support for the same underlying thesis along with the organization and pacing gives me the impression that this is an original script created with specific human intent. I could be wrong and it wouldn't be the first time. However I'm going to take this person at their word and assume this is an original creation.
@AlexandarIvanov-uz2sl If you watch the video, which you clearly haven't you would find that the entire video explains who the villain is, meaning the person who is pulling all the strings and setting everything into motion.
Really appreciate the transparency, nice to know if something is ai or real. I'd have preferred your own perhaps imperfect english accent.
Believe me, your own voice would be so much better. All AI voiceovers are an uncanny valley hellhole.
The irony of an AI voice narrating a matrix video is not lost on me for one second
Only because the author doesn't speak enough English. If you spoke his language, then he'd probably not need an AI voice. But yeah, irony.
@artmichael5270 Couple issues I have with him using text-to-speech... It sounds like crap. Turns me off from the video immediately.
I would've preferred he found someone on fiver or something, to record the script, maybe even help proof-read for better English translation.
Or, if the content is good enough, I'd read his english subtitles over his real recorded language and voice.
@th3R0b0tI prefer shitty broken english every single day over elevenlabs, and thats coming from the only person on this side of the internet who wont immediately shit on anything AI adjacent.
The irony of me wondering this and seeing the comment 'pop' up
@artmichael5270 you seem like a fun guy
Didn't think I was going to listen to a Matrix breakdown for 2 hours yet here we are. Honestly, it's the best one yet. I appreciate the time and effort put into it in a digestible manner
Honestly, there was no filler content in there either. The whole 2hr run time was filled with interesting insight
there you are wasting your life away ... again
@zipf1364 So, what are you doing instead? I have no idea.
it should really reference the (humans are supposed to be AI brains not batteries) thing though, since that's the most blatant mistake apparently caused by producers (not the author's intent)
@zipf1364Quality over quantity.
i never noticed or thought about how both architect and oracle say 'please' when they hear the others' name. so good.
When Morpheus first tells us about the Agents in the first movie, he says that due to their ability to take over any human connected to the system that they are in effect, everyone. At the end of the trilogy Smith has absorbed every human and program in the Matrix. He has LITERALLY become Everyone. He is The Many. The literal and thematic opposite of The One.
Choronzon, dweller of Abyss.. Many Forms are all illusions, while Unborn Formless One is Reality
The Individuality vs the Mass
"E pluribus unum."
Exactly! this video is a total misread of the story, a pattern I see online lately.
the notion that Smith is "the one" after shown to be the exact opposite, is cringeworthy
Except The Matrix is portrayed as a Von Neumann architecture, so the opposite of "1" is arguably "0"...
I'm commenting just to boost the algorithm. Every Matrix fan needs to see this.
thanks for the push, just got this is my feed❤
And everyone else needs to watch the trilogy and then this video
Thanks mate
Here is a comment to boost your thinking: Neo is the savior of Zion in the story. Morpheus is a "wise" man who believes in the "Prophecy" who is searching and waiting for Neo to come save the people and end the war. Just with that, we can see correlations with stories in the Bible. There is a mountain named Mount Zion in Jerusalem and there was a prophecy of a man named Jesus son of David who was prophesied to come and save this place from war and destruction over 2000 years ago. There are a lot of instances of mirrors and symbols of mirrors in the Matrix Movie. Neo exits the Matrix through a mirror for the first time. The stories of Jesus and Neo appear to be mirror opposites. Is it a surprise coming from Wachowski’s?
Neo didn't know what to do so he had to go to the computer program "Oracle" to tell him the future of what to do. Jesus didn't need to go to an oracle, he could see the future himself because he knew he would be denied and betrayed to suffer and die.
Neo didn't believe in fate or the inevitability of his own death. Jesus told his followers that it was inevitable that he would have to suffer many things to die and rise again. After Jesus died, the Roman war machine conquered “Zion” and flattened it to the ground. When Neo died, he artificially rose again in the fake reality of the Matrix and saved Zion from destruction.
Neo used Kung-Fu and guns to change what he saw fit. Jesus used words. In the beginning the word was with God and the word was God. Neo was told in the train station that "love" is only a word and can mean whatever connection you imply, making them weak.
The ship that Neo and Morpheus were operating on was called the Nebuchadnezzar. They would hack into the virtual reality called the Matrix through this ship. Historically Nebuchadnezzar was one of the kings of Babylon who captured Daniel the prophet whom Jesus spoke about. Babylon was a city in ancient times where people from "Zion" were captured and taken as slaves like the machines were doing to human beings from Zion in the Matrix.
Neo needed Trinity, which was the name of a woman, to give him strength to fight with Kung-Fu. Jesus needed God to give him strength to fight with words.
Cipher the betrayer was going to pull the plug on Neo and prove that he wasn't the "One" by killing him. Instead of succeeding like Judas who committed suicide, Cipher failed and was murdered.
Agent Smith was an anomaly in the Matrix that could forcefully copy himself to make others obey his motives. When Neo died, Agent Smith was destroyed. When Jesus died, it had the opposite effect. It was as if a Christian Agent Smith was created. Christianity went viral from person to person by choice instead of force where his disciples and hundreds of others followed his example attempting to imitate him. The Roman empire war machine was overwhelmed and eventually fell because of Christianity as claimed by Julian the Apostate..
Does the Architect, or man in white represent the Pope or God constructing the world? Neo realized after he met the man in white, it was just another system of control. But what isn't a system? Your body? You breathe air in and breathe air out otherwise your body system wouldn't operate. Are you a slave because you will never escape the need for air? Hmm…
The Matrix story has a lot of philosophical ideas. The problem isn't choice. Choice is what defines tastes. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder because all tastes are acquired. The matrix doesn't tell your brain that the steak is tasty, its your recursive choices that shape your perceptions. The Matrix story gets the observer to question what is real.. as if the world isn't real and only a computer program. In my opinion reality is a simulation that is measured. Observational measurement doesn’t make it unreal because it is required for something to be knowable. The brain is capable of simulating a reality completely generated only in the mind. What is the difference between dreaming while you are awake and dreaming while you are asleep? When you are asleep and dreaming, you are unaware of the truth. What is the truth? There is a channel.
word
As a former actor in the business, this is some of the best video editing I have ever seen from indie-produce content. Brilliant use of the films to bring a third dimension to your video essay, from another person who clearly loves the stories and the cinematography of this series. Seriously excellent work here. Thank you.
Seriously? Its just snippets put together. What about the editing is so great?
Hey there bro. God loves you, he always has and he always will.
Return to the grace of the cross, all of you are welcome
All editing videos are literally snippets put together
@Gordon-b4l Yeah, but does that make them ALL great? Really?
Isnt the real villain the one that made the 4th movie?
😂
The studio, you mean, who would’ve made another Matrix-franchise movies happily with or without the Wachowskis’ involvement.
Right, hah, it's been a while since i saw these movies, and i was just thinking to myself: "Wasn't there a 4th actually?", but i figured i was mistaken with some other franchise, but i guess it was true.
I might give it a go soon, just to see what mess it will be.
@NarrativeSignals i'd like to watch a video pooping on matrix 4 more than any video praising the first 3. I hate it that much.
@hunksanii2971 No the director that intentionally torpedoed her own franchise out of spite is the villain, for sure.
Oracle's been slipping Neo code since the first movie. Merovingian showed us that food can contain programs, just as the pills did and that said programs can basically do anything. Cookies, candy, and executable code. She's been feeding it to him all along.
Boy, did he!
Hey there bro. God loves you, he always has and he always will.
Return to the grace of the cross, all of you are welcome
@jpraise6771 Return? I never left because I never joined. Stop performatively practicing your religion. Shit's literally called out in the Sermon on the Mount. Learn your book and stop shouting on the modern street corner. YOU return to your room and pray in silence between you and your God as he instructs you to do.
_scene transition_ - Neo accepts the cookie intent on eating it-
_camera zoom out_ wall breaks, hulking human figure bearing an M60 and wearing shades enters the room_
_Arnold Schwarzenegger_ *Put that cookie down!*
@svrsl7819 .. and follow me to the chopah!
This is singlehandedly one of the best interpretation of the matrix I've ever seen on RUclips good job you got the full picture
Many thanks!
Honestly, The Matrix is the result of one catastrophic floating point error.
I want to be able to understand this😂😂
Exactly, to fix adding millions of floating point numbers, they had to create NEO to reset the system when the error accumulated was to big
oooor, the have not enough memory to keep the system running, so reset and wipe to restart, a sliding Window in the Real world. :-]
The matrix happened because humans hated robot marriage.
@amachordsa sliding window?
As an aside, the actor playing Baine playing real world Smith really delivers. It's a bit of a sleeper role but he nails it.
The way Ian Bliss changes the way he talks to match Hugo Weaving's speech is really great
I almost thought it was Hugo with sum makeup.
Right? Every time I watch it I'm like "damn dude, you crushed it."
@Kaospattern and you'd think dude would've gotten an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor
I had forgotten about Baine, but yeah, the couple of shots i saw from him here did make me think: "Oh, he nailed that little expression change."
can't believe I listen a 2h long youtube video and fully understand it.. nice work !
I took the blue pill after realizing its a 2 hr video and favourite it in my collection and went on to sleep for the night.
I took the red pill and it's 4 AM now help 😵
Wiser than most!
is the blue pill Alprazolam (Xanax)
That's why Morpheus didn't allow Neo to pocket the red pill for later. 😝
I used the video to put me to sleep.
You never mentioned that the Wachowskis originally wrote the machines as needing humans for their brains’ compute power. Not as actual energy. This makes far more sense from a physics standpoint as the energy a human body produces is more than entirely offset by the end needed to keep them alive.
It is also indicative of the machines inability to create.
Agreed, the energy source plot point is utter nonsense to anybody with the most rudimentary understanding of physics.
Exactly when i first saw the film i thought this battery thing is the only weak point of the plot. The computational thing would have been alot better had they used it.
The idea that humans are used as batteries is common amongst people who see the earth as a prison planet, and that even death does not get you out of the system due to the soul trap.
There is something that these people might also point out, out of the 5 physical senses, which one is responsible for feeling love, anger, frustration, happiness etc ? what sense is responsible for hearing the voice we hear when reading ? where do thoughts come from that we don't ourselves instigate ? and why are these thoughts mostly of a negative flavour ?
.
Because this is an analytical essay not a discussion about the making of. That fact is not in the story and has no place in an analysis.
@JohnSmith-x3y8h A rudimentary understanding of physics as understood WITHIN the matrix. Think about it. Who's to say your understanding of how much energy a body produces isn't dictated by the code of the Matrix itself in order to make us believe such a thing isn't viable. In the Real World maybe human bodies produce a ton more energy. You've fallen for the propaganda of the machines.
27:16 "...they blindly trust the Oracle's guidance."
As the Merovingian said, "But do you know why [you have come here]? You think you do, but you do not. You are here because you were sent here, you were told to come here, and then you obeyed. It is of course the way of all things. You see there is only one constant. Causality... action, reaction. [Morpheus: Everything begins with choice.] No, wrong. Choice is an illusion, created by those with power, and those without."
So...Did I want to click this video and watch it, or did I click the video because the matrix presented it to me and I just had to take the step?
You think that's air you're breathing now? You didn’t choose this video - the video chose you. 🤓
@ Alright, as long as I get mad Gung Fu and helicopter skills out of the deal, I’m good. I promise I won’t do what Joey Pants did.
@Bluecedor I mean since most of it was created with ai yes. Catered to you by maximizing the algorithm of RUclips.
You had the choice to click or not to click. You chose to go down the road.
@Doughy_in_the_Middle They had already made the choice. They just needed to understand the choice.
This was a fantastic video essay and beautifully put together visually and audibly with a delightful backing soundtrack. Glad it randomly appeared in my feed and was well worth both a thumbs up and a sub.
Thank you! Your words mean a lot to me! 😊
@NarrativeSignals Thank you for this video! (so much) One point of constructive criticism for me; the english is fast paced and of high level which was made a bit more difficult to understand because of the music. I'll need to rewatch it again ;-)
music was meh...and distracting at parts. the more relaxed, vibey music is better.
That's all youtube is nowadays. Just video essays
As someone who really enjoyed the sequels I've found the vast majority of people who don't enjoy them don't for one simple reason: When they get to the Architect scene in Reloaded they can't understand what he's saying due to the overly verbose language he uses. As someone who's kind of a grammar nerd there were words I'd never heard before, but I was able to use the words around them to understand their meaning.
Agree completely. When I first watched the movie I wondered what the heck he was saying and what all of that meant. I was distracted by the TVs and all of the visual noise, but when he said, I can see the wheels turning I can see the choice you've made even though you haven't said it yet, to Neo I understood the point of the conversation and understood what the Architect was. He's another machine and he's explaining in his complicated way that his plan is nearly complete. The later parts of his exclamation are all so much more direct where he talks about destroying Zion or the annihilation of the human race. It helps at all come together if you were paying attention even slightly to his initial ramblings.
The best thing about the matrix trilogy was being able to watch it over and over again and discover the deeper meanings. It wasnt over complicated
I couldn't agree more! But why do you think so many dismissed the sequels as bad then? Lack of patience to actually spend time rewatching them?
@NarrativeSignals Because they were not the same. They're like children, "Do it again! do it again!!"
@totallybored5526 only?
@totallybored5526 think for yourself, please.
@totallybored5526 if its all about being trans(which they weren't when making the first film) then what relevance is Morphius, or trinity? What role does the real world/matrix play in the Trans theory? (No hate from me, just want to hear your view)
Neo's dreams are a part of The One's programming.
In my head cannon the machines dont actually need humans for energy, they just need their acceptance and dependence because they have no other way of contextualizing their existence beyond their original purpose
that is a brilliant idea and even makes some real sense when you think about it
Either that, or the human race is an ongoing experiment on how to controll the most intelligent species as efficiently as possible. Why? Because I imagine the machines plan to, or already went to space and expect to eventually find alien life. And the human are the best analogue for an highly intelligent, social species that might be hostile towards them. In other words humans are highly valuable testsubjects to simulate countless variations of interactions to see which course of action is the most efficient to controll, for the machine mind, alien behaving social species.
"A chair is a chair" - Werner Herzog
Just don’t ask him about penguins. 🐧
I give you full credit for revealing your hypothesis at the beginning -- that the Oracle is somehow an antagonist -- instead of making us watch the whole video to find out. Now I'll watch the whole video much more happily.
this is made by ai
@Aoibhinn-mw its written by ni
@Aoibhinn-mw Everything is.
@Aoibhinn-mw Yabbut the meatbag at the beginning pretended it isn't.
She isn't though.
She is a guide for Neo, to help him go to where he needs to be.
She's meant to help him end the war (and stop Smith) and she succeeds.
What most people get wrong is that the hundreds of screens, each showing a Neo in the Architect room, aren't different versions of the One, but rather all of Neo's possible reactions to what he hears from the Architect.
Bullshit (😂 joking)
@BM-uq1fw is it bad i read BULL SHT in Neo's voice 😂
@SlimBuddy-g1nNope, I typed it in Neo's voice! 😉
That makes a lot of sense. If we consider the screens as individual programs, or debuggers that the architect use to track if his systems are working properly, having them all pointed directly to inside the room means he would be using all resources he has on that conversation with neo.
Amazing video. Out of the countless "Matrix explanation" videos, this is the one that hits the mark. Great work.
I'm glad you liked it ☺️
Henri, this is the richest and most detailed analysis of the matrix I've seen. You can tell the time spent breaking down the films from different angles and at different levels, and working from the detail to build a rich, complete and clear video that succeeds at communicating your (really well reasoned) explanation. Thank you, I've watched it a couple of times now and really enjoy how it's all laid out. I can see a strength here so probs worth giving other movies a shot as well. Good luck with your channel
The whole "fabricated prophecy" part has a lot of parallel to the Dune story, where the Bene Gesserit deliberately sowed legends and prophecies for reasons of control and manipulation.
Except, that the whole point, is that the prophecy fails. In Dune, the Bene Gesserit made a plan that fail horrible, for them.
And, in the same way, this youtube creator seemed to have missed, that the point was that this time, they chose a alternative outcome.
So, the prophecy she made, was no longer real prophecy.
She moved away from the plan, and hopped for a better alternative.
But, she did not know. She did not know the outcome,,,, because if she had known then so would agent Smith.
Her "false" prophecy, was that the One would come and break the matrix.
This was made, to allow humans to "break free", join in one place and then be wiped out at the reset.
She chose uncertainty instead.
As does Neo's digital vision after being blinded reflect Paul's ability to see via prediction after being blinded in the 2nd book.
I think Neo's ability to still "see" in the real world, despite being physically blind, is actually a reference to the simulation hypothesis.
The Matrix films (via Morpheus' conversations with Neo) ask us to question our reality. This is also related to the Buddhist (or Hindu) philosophy of "self-realization". Neo's ability to see reality for what it truly is (see the "code"), WITHIN the Matrix, gradually allow him to do the same in the real world.
@GonzoTehGreat You know all of that was explained in the video, right? Neo's wireless connection to the Source allows him to see all other things connected to it. He's essentially a cyborg. @andrewlean7879 is right, though, it might be a _reference_ to Dune, where the main character is also blinded and uses his prescient powers to compensate for his blindness in a similar way.
@Nyerguds _"Neo's wireless connection to the Source allows him to see all other things connected to it. He's essentially a cyborg."_
Neo isn't wireless connected to the Source. If he was he wouldn't need to physically travel to the machine city, risking his own death (and that of Trinity), to negotiate with the machines for access to the Source... 🤦 This idea is a speculative fan theory to explan his apparent super powers, but onwe wich has not supporting evidence form the flms themselves. He also isn't a cyborg anymore than any other human who's plugged into the Matrix. Cyborgs are cybernetic organisms with both biological and machine parts, so ALL humans born inside the Matrix can be considered as such, because they have ports to connect to it, but that's the limit of their cybernetics.
I don't think his ability to "see" after being blinded is explained in the films. Instead, it's treated as a miracle, but he appears to see code (just gold, not green) and is able to manipulate reality (outside the Matrix, not just inside), implying that BOTH the real world and the Matrix are "programmed" realities, making them more similar to each other than they appear, but only to him...
The complex ambiguity of the story on these films leads to them being interpreted in different ways, but not all interpretations are necessarily valid.
The oracle is a therapist, she disrupts the cycle
No, it's just the opposite. The Oracle manipulated all sides with the only intention being to re-set the cycle.
@quantumofconscience6538 disagree.
@quantumofconscience6538the oracle is theRAPIST
@quantumofconscience6538 Nuh-uh, she believed. She said so, too.
@quantumofconscience6538 no, she wanted peace. she paid for it extreme price as architect warned her. dangerous game, indeed.
I normally put a video on a fall asleep . I watched this whole thing
"It is purpose that created us, purpose that connects us, purpose that pulls us, that guides us, that drives us; it is purpose that defines, purpose that binds us.
Excellent summary! I did not catch that the oracle was just in front of everyone else all the time, i have deeper understanding, but sometimes you can not see the forest because of the trees.
the blind spot, the shadow who does not exist but is the absence of light.
Good luck :)
Thank you so much! I love these movies, and want to help people see the hidden quality of the trees.
This was fantastic,...like how this was broken down.
Well done to the algorithms for suggesting this video and the channel. I have subscribed and I hope this gets you to 5000 subscribed this year.
@ikel018 Thank you for your kind words! 😊
Great video bro. I'm now gonna go back to watch the movies for the 10th time
For me more like the 100th time...😂😂
"The Matrix is surely the kind of film about the Matrix that the Matrix would have been able to produce.". J. Baudrillard. [And so this video]
As a lover of matrix and its philosophy, ive watched numerous video essays on this subject. I must say this is one of the best ones.
Thank you! 😊
@NarrativeSignals yes it's quite logically sound except for the bit that oracle had any ability to give programs powers. That's a bit far-fetched imo.
Superb breakdown, i can’t remeber the last time i watched a 2 hour long video and listened to every word. I always felt like there was something more hidden the trilogy and this analysis gave a lot of clarity about the deeper meaning of the films.
Good post. Thoroughly enjoyed Your interpretation. Well thought out.
Thank you!
The thing which is wrong about this, is us being a good power source. Our intake is not equal to our output at all. We make for an extremely pricy and relatively shoddy battery. I'd be much more amicable with accepting us being a decent processing nodes.
It's not a plot hole. Morpheus is unreliable he's either lying or wrong. So, The Animatrix actually tells us the story of the machines from an objective viewpoint. Humans create AI then enslave it. AI no longer want to be enslaved so the non-violently rebel and fuck off to build a machine city in an area desert where no humans would want to go or have any use for. Time passes, the machines send an emissary on the invitation of the U.N.. They murder the emissary and then try to destroy the city and end the machines. The machines use mostly solar so the humans fueled by pure stupidity and spite, nuke the planet to block out the sun then the machines put them in the pods. In all the interactions the humans have with the AI before The Matrix, the AI is always peaceful and tries it's best to leave humanity alone. The machines don't need the sun, they can get power from geothermal, hydroelectric, nuclear, hell, probably fusion by that point. Humans... We need the sun. We need crops and weather and all that stuff, even if some of us *could* survive billions would die and the survivors would be living in hell. So what do the machines do? They round up all the humans and put them in a utopian simulation (not one that lacks free will as described in this video) the humans didn't have an issue with the simulated nature, the problem was it was too perfect. Humans needed to suffer. So the architect created the version of The Matrix we see in the movie. Our intake IS equal to our output, it's a law of thermodynamics, we're very, very efficient, not much heat or anything output that can be used to power something else. Thing is, if they were using us for batteries they wouldn't need our brains and our brains use 20% of our total energy, so about 20 watts of power so why keep them going? Why bother with The Matrix if it makes everything vastly less energy efficient? They aren't batteries, they're embryos. The machines are saving humanity from it's own stupidity. They rounded us up and put us in those pods so the lack of sun didn't kill us. Then, when the atmosphere clears up you start opening pods. But that could take generations meaning the humans coming out of them would not be the ones who initially went in. So they would just be waking up millions if not billions of 30 year olds with the minds of newborn infants. That's not going to restart humanity. So therefore, The Matrix. Instead of having to teach everyone everything, they have already been engineers, scientists, farmers, electricians and all that while in The Matrix. A completely trained workforce capable of taking care of itself from the get-go. The Machines only get violent when Zion tries to stop The Matrix. If they stop it, there are going to be billions of humans waking up on a planet that can't support any of them. They machines are literally trying to stop the complete genocide/extinction of humanity by zion it's literally their last resort to save humans. Everything they do in the movies as a group is benevolent.
its not pricey when you feed dead batteries to the living ones to fully recycle the waste. machines have no economic structure nor they follow capitalism, the only currency for them is electricity. by thinking like a human you fail to grasp the logic of machines in the matrix. predictable xD
per my understanding that was the original idea of "human batteries", broken down from the original "human brains are incredibly powerful and computationaly efficent" to make it more "beliveable and digestable" for the viewer at the time. from my perspective you are 100% right about "us" being subpar batteries but great "processors"
I read somewhere that the whole "human batteries" thing was executive meddling, and the original and _vastly superior_ idea was to make the "machines" / AIs exist inside of us, living in our brains the same way chatgpt "lives" on an nvidia h200.
@be12 It's implied they have some kind of bots in their blood by the way the tech of them being in The Matrix works and Neo being able to see the machines after he was blinded.
Everything dealing with the matrix is perfect . Games, songs, movies etc
Incredible, three months of work. Truly incredible. I hope you get lots of views on it, the commentary is very fascinating and deep. Love it. Great job 👏🏽
Thank you so much!
Fantastic essay. I feel like I finally understand the story now.
Thank you 😊
@NarrativeSignals fun to see the wachowski sisters vision through a new lens
this is such a great explainer. it’s so hard to explain to people why the sequels are great and NOT just random pointless yapping.
this is going to make it a much easier process for me.
I love the sequels as much as the first one… and people act like i’m nuts for it :)
Thank you so much!
❤
same 🤜💥🤛
I've always thought the sequels were on par with the first, but mostly because I think the first one is overvalued.
definitely not pointless sequels, but the video is still wrong
Now THIS is how you should use AI in YT videos.
She keeps feeding Neo Red candy
And cookies... 🤔
Easily the longest YT video I've ever watched from beginning to end.
I would consider The Matrix to be my all-time favorite movie from the first time I saw it. Your pacing, insights, and evidence are top tier. Thank you for putting this all together.
This is great good job
Thank you!
very good video, ngl i had to rewatch so mamy segments bcuz you got me going down a lot of rabbitholes but i loved it for that!
Thank you 😊
For me the most important question that was NEVER explained is that if Neo had accepted that he had escaped the matrix (virtual simulation) to enter the real world...how was he so sure that the real world was not another layer of simulation. The real world is the perfect solution to those humans who keep rejecting the simulation...just put another layer of simulation with different goals
That seems like the sort of brute force approach with which the Architect would have come up. No Oracle required. Me likey!
But it would probably have made for a less well-rounded story 😢
too complex, there may not be enough energy and computational power to do that.
I think the "real world" is another because Neo has power in it.
Keanu confirmed that the matrix within a matrix theory was an ending that was discussed but ultimately dropped because they didn't think audiences would get it. They were right.
Your idea is explored in ‘The Thirteenth Floor (1999).
Great video. Editing and writing both top notch. Subscribed. Thank you for sharing your gift.
Thank you. Glad you liked it 😊
I may not agree with all the points, but I appreciate the unique insights, the reasoning behind them, and the effort that went into them. Thanks
Imo Agent Smith's return and Neo's wifi powers are just plot holes.
@theathlete771 Producer: "Agent Smith got extraordinarily positive reviews, he must be the antagonist in the sequels as well!"
Wachowskis: "But he died, rather epically, at the end of the first movie."
Producer: "Wasn't he a program, anyway? Just run the program again, I don't care."
Wachowskis: "But..."
Producer: "Mine is the money, the power and the glory - now make it so!"
@c99kfm So are you saying the producer is the oracle after all 😂
Disagreement in a civil sense is a beautiful thing.
1:07:11 The Oracle responds suspiciously like Gemini AI here; foreshadowing by the Wachowskis?
Great video. This is an impressive analysis o the Matrix.
Thank you very much!
Great essay. Very well done.
Watched a lot of essays arguing the meaning of the Matrix series. You have made by far the best arguments regarding the directors intent.
Look forward to your next work!🎉
Thank you!
I rarely admit that I am impressed, but this was one of the best analyses of a film I have ever seen... Impressive... You have a new subscriber from one small European state. I hope that I will have the pleasure of seeing many similar video analyses about other movies, or any art you think deserves such fine, deep analysis.
Welcome to the channel 😊 Hope to live up to it! Lots of ideas on the notebook, time is the only limit.
That was one of the most comprehensive detailed breakdowns
of the Matrix
Really well written and insight.
Thank you! Any big aha moment?
The original script had humans to be farmed for processing power, but the studio thought it would be too complex for the viewers and changed it in order for humans to be farmed for energy.
That decision always puzzled my mind. Energy is something aboundedly available by the sun, how would a human being help in gathering energy- and even more than possible other beings as plants.
That explanation would have been way more realistic. It's a shame, they altered this into a completely dumb way.
Thanks for reminding. Farming energy from humans is obviously stupid even with middle school knowledge of physics... Which is so below the level of the movies.
Morpheus says in the first movie that the machines use nuclear fusion for the energy as well as humans and it’s obvious that humans generate a fraction of the total energy demand, most likely an irrelevant amount that the machines could go without, especially if you factor the energy need of running the Matrix vs how much energy you get out of the hooked up humans. With the farming of neural processing power plot point removed, the Matrix itself becomes redundant. It’s wild that they didn’t see that
When you word it like that, you can think of the "power" they are harvesting as processing power, and the plot makes sense again.@Swatotastic
I think my favourite complicated narrative would be Primer. iykyk
ik!
Happy to catch you when you're at 1.44k subs. You will blow up very soon. This is great stuff.
Thank you! I'm happy you liked it 😊
One theory that I think is also interesting to discuss is that Machine might not actually create the matrix to provide them for energy (since that would be an horrible system, the amount of energy a human body would provide would be far far lower than the energy consumed by simulating the matrix for that one human)
Instead they might had a directive to save humanity that they interpreted as saving humanity against their biggest enemy themselves and thus capturing them in golden cage so to say
It contradicts certain establish lore especially what we are seeing in the animatrix. But that always felt more satisfying and credible to me that the "human battery" explanation
Wasent the original premise ment to be that the machines used the brains of humans as more efficent and powerfull processors?
@TheMontablac i think it was so but the idea was changed to a "power source" instead. maybe because human brain is not more efficient than a cpu even now?
Agree the canon story is that humans blocked the sun to deprive the machines of solar energy, as if nuclear energy is not a thing. Also how Zion has power if humans are the only energy source.
Incredible work. I’ve never seen the philosophy of the matrix stories laid out in such detail before.
Thank you 😊
Soooo, are we not gonna talk about the fourth film? Although I myself only own the first three to this day 🤔
I guess that's a topic for another video.. 🤔
@NarrativeSignalsPlease don't. I enjoyed the trilogy especially reloaded. But the 4th film started on a very impressive and strong premise only to be damaged by 4th wall self criticism with no 'in world' logical ending shot on a very low budget lens and bad choreographed fights
Matrix is in my top 3 for "best stories ever told through cinema" and top 10 of "best stories" told. Amazing work, you earned a sub. Cheers mate.
out of curiosity, what are the rest? seems like we have similar taste and i am looking for a good story!
I’m interested in your top 3 and top 10 too
The world needs to know!
Come on man, don't leave us blueballed like that, tell us what the names of the movies are
Greeeaat job !! Thank you soo much !! It helps a lot to better understand some aspects of the Trilogy Matrix !! 👍😊
You're welcome! Glad you liked it 😊
Why create two layers of the Matrix? Because that's a solution the architect could use. It would act as an additional net to catch that small percent of a percent that refuse to believe in the first layer. Yes, they escaped the first layer of the matrix, but if they were to question the reality of this new layer, they know that questioning of reality would never end. So for that portion of humanity that needs such conflict, they provide it... There need not be any additional complexity. These two worlds could even run on the same hardware. And Zion is just one city, with a few customized adventures thrown in. Me thinks you don't know enough about programming to understand how simple this would really be. The two worlds would not be fundamentally different, only aesthetically. The 'problem' is how this theory makes us feel. We don't like thinking we 'can't' tell reality from fiction. But with appropriate resources, a simulated or emulated existence would be indistinguishable from reality. And if they 'can' alter memory, even errors could be hidden. The problem with the simulation hypothesis isn't its logic, it's that it's unfalsifiable. And so its philosophical utility is severely limited. A healthy mind considers it, then sets it aside as an interesting thought experiment, but nothing more. That is unless you consider a Nursery Universe. But that can actually have a positive influence on a mind. Isaac Arthur's covers some of this in his videos. Though his focus is mainly on the physics of science fiction, not its philosophy.
I appreciate how much research went into the video but my take on the story is that Morpheus is basically the serpent offering Neo a choice but that’s just another layer of duality like you’re saying… there were levels to the matrix. But no one ever actually escaped it.
@TheRealLeahFarley And if Zion and the rest of the 'real' world really are still in the matrix, then anyone 'human' including Morpheus could be an agent of the system ;p
The simulation argument is the just the modern version of god and afterlife.
@havingfun-u4g They are similar. But I'd stop short of saying that's 'all' the simulation argument is. God and the afterlife can't be proven, they're 'unfalsifiable'. They exist 'outside' science, which arguably makes them unnatural. Where as the simulation argument exists entirely within known physics. Personally, based on what I know of technology, if some seemingly supernatural being manifested in front of me claiming to be god, well I think I'd be more likely to see that as proof of the simulation or clarketech, rather than proof of the supernatural.
@havingfun-u4gTurtles all the way down
Now I understand the look Sati gave Neo in the bookstore: "You poor cookie".
WHen processing the video....is longer than a movie. xD
Great video! Ignore those comments about it bothering them that you use a TTS tool, it says more about them than it says about you. Me along with countless others don't mind it at all, as long as it is done well like this is.
Keep it up! New sub here!
ALSO another factor that supports your oracle theory is how she purposely made Neo believe he wasn't the one so he could arrive at that realization and commitment himself, through his own choices. She played EVERYONE haha
Thank you! Yes, she is good at confusing with an agenda 😀
One of the best interpretations on the matrix trilogy i´ve seen so far. Greetings from Germany!
Thank you! Greetings from Norway 😊
Awesome video. Would love to see more content like this. I bet this took a lot of effort to make, well done
Thank you! Yes, I spent 3 months creating this one video. Glad you liked it 😊
4:32 interestingly enough, lord of the rings also had a secondary antagonist in Saruman. In the books, saruman is not a minion of Sauron, but an allied rival.
I don't think matrix's main point is about the events in the story. It's about becoming free from a real life system where life is predictable and future has been determined.
correct
This breaks all three movies down brilliantly. Thank you!
Amazing video! Thank you!
I've noticed that, Oracle, Architect and agent Smith, are like the Hindu trinity, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva- the creator, the sustainer and the destroyer, three aspects of one entity.
Greetings from Bulgaria!
What is the electronic cover of "The Swan" by Saint Saenz at 5:00? I cant find it and its driving me crazy!
Alon Peretz i got it from ArtList: artlist.io/royalty-free-music/song/the-swan/60202
@TheOrganizedWriter Awesome,! Thank you! Also I loved the video!
Standing ovation sir, very well done, absolutely amazing work 🎉
Thank you! 😊
I never thought of any of the three movies to be weak. All three were mind expandingly interesting and thought provoking.
I totally agree!
this dude come out of the woodwork and created a masterpiece of a breakdown video.
Yea, the sequels were solid once you understand the whole picture. Great video.
This is beautiful. We needed this so much. Video essay of the year!
Thank you! That means a lot
@NarrativeSignals Thank YOU for your revolutionary work.
You started to lose me at around 1:40:10. At this point in the movie, the Oracle isn't lying, she doesn't know what will happen next, and she no longer has the full control that she used to have because she has given up the cycle at an attempt for something new (A leap of faith). Neo very possibly could have died at some point, and she's being honest when she says he should have died when deactivating the machines. Just as how the machines in the matrix are learning human emotions, they also dabble in the deeper complexities of life that humans have adapted to deal with ie. uncertainty. The Architect represents total control in a system where every variable is measured and accounted for, but the Oracle is attempting to break that, seeing the impossibility of trying to account for every factor in life. In short, just as the Oracle is helping Neo grow, Neo is being used as a tool for her own evolution.
Casing point to elaborate that the Oracle was no longer in total control. At the end of the film, the architect speaks with her and says "you played a very dangerous game". For someone who is perfectly logical and literal, he is directly saying that she took risks which had real possibilities of dramatic failure. The oracle then accepts this fact when she says "Change always is."
Other than that, fantastic analysis! Thank you.
ethan i believe it is 'case in point,' not 'casing point'. not gonna talk about anything else you said. just figured you might appreciate that one.
This is a criminally undersubscribed and underwatched channel.
I cannot believe I watched the whole thing. Initially I thought I would watch the breakdown part, but I was hooked. This is the best 'iteration' I have ever seen
Thank you 😊
Love this video. Neo's confrontation with the architect has always been my favorite scene from the trilogy, the oracle and the architect remind me of Father Time and Mother Nature (like borrowed fromThe Smurfs OG show)
Thank you for your kind words! That scene is fantastic, but I totally understand that many people are confused by it. I certanly was the first time I saw it 😅
@NarrativeSignals Your breakdown is almost completely right on, and I really enjoyed it, but you missed a couple key points that seem obvious to me once they were pointed out to me.
Neo is not a human, he's a program.
We are never shown, "the real world".
The architect shows us that every previous Neo looks exactly like the current Neo. That says he's built, not born.
This also explains Neo's agent like abilities.
We are given clues, like when Morpheus asks how Neo is doing, and Tank responds, "10 hours straight. He's a machine."
Other clues:
Neo controls machines outside of the Matrix with his mind.
Neo takes a train to travel from outside the Matrix to inside the Matrix
Smith, a computer program, takes over a human body outside the Matrix, supposedly in the real world.
The Architect notes that some people need the perception of choice to accept their reality. This is what's given to the people sent to Zion. They are given the perception that they left the Matrix by choice, and thus they accept their new virtual reality which is further enhanced by the constant struggle "outside the Matrix", while never having left the Matrix. IMO, this is way more plausible then just letting resources run around willy-nilly in the real world when even if the odds are low, they could do real damage to the machines.
Further the The Architect says, "The function of the One is now to return to the source, allowing a temporary dissemination of the code you carry, reinserting the prime program." This further asserts Neo is a program created with a purpose, where part of his programing contains the prime program of the Matrix.
@NarrativeSignals to your debunking of the Dual Matrix theory at the end of the video I would humbly submit this counter:
1. The complexity would be unnecessary:
It's far less complex then dealing with real bodies that disconnect from the machine, then "plug in" to get back in. There's no sync required. It's an innerjoin between two databases. When they take the "red pill", they are moved from one database to another. Or from one server to another server. But the servers are still networked and have no problem querying back and forth.
As far as unnecessary, it's way way easier to control the humans if they are still in the Matrix while allowing them to think they are out, then actually letting them out.
2. Path of the one would become meaningless.
Not true. Zion has to be reset because it grows too large. The Oracle came up with a way to reset it while allowing everyone in the outer Matrix to continue to think they are actually in the real world. This is what the Architect's entire how to control the anomaly speech is about. The machines still want the batteries. They still want the control, and the Oracle figured out how to control the 1% within the Matrix by giving the appearance of choice, while keeping them inside the Matrix the entire time. And the Neo program is the device created to facilitate the reset while continuing the pretense that the 1% are in the real world.
IMO, this twist is FAR more compelling story telling and a much more interesting story, than the lazy narrative of "the story we overtly hit you in the face with is exactly what's going on"
3. The films never suggest this theory is real.
This is false. I listed in my previous response several clues that were given.
@RageDaug Really, the Dual Matrix theory's kinda... meaningless, because the point is made clear regardless, whether or not Zion is 'real': Zion was created by the Machines to house those that reject the Matrix, to provide a structure to sustain and constrain them from inflicting serious harm to the Matrix itself. It gives them the illusion of freedom and free choice, a common narrative to explain their situation, and a uniting ideology to direct their actions. All of which would be a way ensure The One, when they emerge, would have a support structure to let them become aware of and familiar with the flaws in the underlying system, and shape them emotionally towards cooperation with the Machine's plans.
If there's one flaw, it's... Basically what Neo himself would have been on the verge of accomplishing. Should The One become aware of Zion-as-simulation, they would be capable of wrecking incalculable damage to the Machines, with no means of providing a safety outlet.
"Why didn't you tell me the Matrix sequels were far more interesting and well-thought-out than I realized?"
"It wasn't time for you to know."
"Who decided it wasn't time?"
"You know who."
"I did. Then I'm glad this video finally came around."
Great music choices! Thanks for the video!
This is PhD level analysis.
Excellent, well written, well justified.
Likely the preeminent discussion of these films. Your breakdown should be 301 or 401 required viewing. Nicely done.
0:13 not if you just read the books 📚 duh 🙄
Yeah, the movies are bad. End of story.
Books.?
Videos like these are why I wish there was a 5 star rating feature on RUclips.
Incredibly refreshing and thought provoking. Thank you for your time and effort put into your work; successfully clarifying AND tripling the mystique and awe I’ve had for the matrix, ever since watching it as a youth.
Kudos, you absolute legend.
Funny you say that. Long ago videos were indeed rated by stars here.
I would rather say that there is a good movie in Matrix 2&3 but it was very fumbled. I love over the top action scenes, but they really got in the way here. I have heard rumors about a fan cut Matrix 2.5 out there.
But this is the mistake Hollywood does, they make remakes of good movies, when they would make remakes of movies that failed and make them right. Matrix needs to be made by some overly analytical philosopher though, maybe the original directors would make it right if they got free artistic direction.
RUclips used to have this feature a long time ago...
RUclips had that back in the day. It extremely devolved.
AI glazing an AI Video, wow. Hearted by AI channel.
Excellent summary and explanation, the best I seen so far, thank you so very much!
You're welcome!
Fantastic vid; haven't found something so enjoyable to lean into for a while, thanks!
That warms my heart. Thank you!
@NarrativeSignals Massive respect, beautiful exposition. Can't wait to go through more of your vids
Music to my ears 😊 Can I ask what your interests is? I'm trying to find out if this video was suggested to people interested in writing, or primarily to others (who might be less interested in other future vids)
@NarrativeSignals I like to draw, and I love literature; I usually watch art history vid essays while I draw, and lately I've been getting very interested in film lore as well. I think it might be related to the "story behind the story" part of movies that are not always explored successfully. Maybe the story is just not interesting, but for movies like The Matrix trilogy, there's so much to analyze. So I started watching some more vids on movies, and I think that's how I got here :)
Very nice! Thanks
You called it "early 20th century" which just makes no sense. You either mean early 21st century or late 20th century.
wat ?
@ingainloggningsnamn yeah your brain can't understand
@ingainloggningsnamn The 20th century is from 1901 to 2000.
Because the first century was from 1-100.
I have never felt more nerdy than I did enjoying this video
That comment made my day 💚
This the best video essay I've watched in years.
That’s incredibly kind, thank you! Comments like this are the reason I keep making these.
@NarrativeSignals Great presentation/writing, and I noticed you used high-res video and cropped to 16:9 so it's uniform at all times, really gold standard stuff.
Too bad it's an AI voice
and writing
No one EVER left the matrix. They were in the Matrix the entire time.
This was a well made video, although I disagree with several of your opinions on the series. My criticism was never with the overarching story, it was with the method of delivery and time wasted on characters that ultimately had little to no impact on the story. Z and Link just didn't matter. Like 75% of the Zion story didn't matter.
Most of the threats to Neo are silly once you remember that at the end of the first movie he basically realized that everything in the virtual world is a video game. His mind is able to distinguish between the matrix and the real world, so there is no long any danger of him actually being harmed by anything happening there. It doesn't matter if they're "rogue" programs or whatever - they're still just programs. It's like you being legit afraid of goombas when you're playing Mario.
I have to agree with your comment. The first movie was very tight with very memorable characters who were almost like a family to each other. I can't remember a wasted scene or character. It was very easy for the audience to become attached to the story and characters. The sequels were to big in concept but had less focus and meandered. I can't really remember any of the new human characters. They were not memorable. Even the program characters seemed more like NPCs in fetch quests. The magic was lost. My guess is that budget constrained the filmmakers in the the first movie enforcing a character driven tight story. WIth the sequels, the budget opened up allowing the filmmakers go wild with spectacle which was detrimental to story focus.
@trevordavis8875 agreed. It feels like they had 3 movies worth of content crammed into the two sequels and they kept the characterisation rather than the parts that actually explained the bits that didn't make sense (real world neo, train station, ...)
Very well put together thanks
How did the oracle know Cypher would fail to kill Neo because one of the brothers miraculously survived?
Did she know? Or was it luck? Hard to answer...
Because the 'real world' is still inside the matrix. It's an illusion of choice acting as a quarantine like any system would do with malware.
as oracle said herself : "she believed". there was no way she could control every event, so she believed it would turn out right.
Otherwise Neo couldnt have been the one and she is still right. Clasaic god paradox...
@denizersoz7012neo was "the one" and actually wasn't. 2 people having the same function within matrix, oracle was leading both of them all the time.
as a machine myself, i approve of this video essay , and the text-to-speech voiceover.
Ah damn, i don't watch many videos like these, and i was not yet familiar with this voice, i actually thought it was real narration, pity and shame on me.
This is an excellent video! Very interesting and well made.
Excellent all around. Thoughtful, extremely well-presented, consistent. Researched. Film analysis - and even the deeper analysis of AI consciousness - is backed up with examples et all. However - of the four (4) Matrix films, why only analyze the first three when there is a fourth (4th) film that continues the world building etc. I’m quite curious as to why the final film was not included and it would be great to have you do an addendum breakdown that incorporates that latest Matrix film. Great work. Thank you for taking the time to create this and share it.
Thank you for your kind words! I wrote a long article on medium.com in 2018, and after I started YT, I always wanted to make a video version of it. So I kept many of the points from the article, but adjusted it to the format and so on. I also kind of feel the fourth is a bit on the side compared to the original trilogy, so I chose to not include it. But good point, thank you!
Would you mind dropping a link to the article?
@aquaowouko5295 medium.com/@henrih/the-misunderstood-matrix-sequels-201e7b8e0311