[WIP] Retirement

[onelifecrisis]

Originally Posted by Philipp_Thomsen

LOL!

You guys need to read more!

Hundreds of people already did what I'm planning to do.
You guys are to tied up on money that living without it seems impossible.
But remember, capitalism, fast food, carrers, ostentation, this is all 21th century inventions, and I really don't want that. People lived very happily before that.

Maybe they did, maybe they didn't. Who knows? Answer? Not you. You weren't there.

Originally Posted by Philipp_Thomsen

Just stop and analise the world around you. Guys with BMW's, nice suits, running around like crazy, worried about tons of things, all the time talking in the cellphone. And on the other side of the sidewalk, a garbage man, talking to a hippie, both laughing a lot.

You've seen The Matrix too many times. It's a good film, with a good point, but I'm wondering if you grabbed the wrong end of it. After all, you've never been that guy with the BMW and the cell phone.

*dons lecturer hat*

Morpheus shows Neo that the world is a machine. People in the world are slaves to the system. Anyone in the system can become an "agent" i.e. anyone who puts the system above all else loses their humanity. Fair enough. You obviously get this bit loud and clear.

Morpheus also teaches Neo that if he believes in himself, and if he sees the system for what it really is (an illusion) then he can do anything he likes inside the machine. It's important to note that outside the system he's nothing - just flesh and blood, and no more or less than any other man. When you watch the film, which parts make you whoop and cheer? The parts where Neo is in the Real World, or the parts where Neo is kicking ass in the Matrix?

At the end Neo finds that can't do any of it alone. He needs Trinity. The purpose of the character called Cypher is to show us what happens to the Neos who don't find their Trinitys. If you're the romantic sort you can take that to mean that a man is nothing without a good woman, otherwise you can take in the more general sense that people need love (of whatever kind) from other people. Either way, it comes down to one thing: other people are both the reason and the ability to use the system to your own ends.

The next two films in the series are an overly-long discussion of free will vs purpose. Smith values purpose, Neo values freedom of choice. So, purpose is bad and free choice is good? Well, think about that suit you mentioned, running around babbling on his cellphone. What makes him so... energetic? Purpose. Just like Smith. So the suit is an agent of the system, right? Another plugged-in souless cog in the machine with no free will. Or is he? Did you ever think maybe he's Neo?

Here in the UK, not so long ago, two policemen watched someone drown to death because in the specific circumstances it would have been illegal to save the person's life. They are the agents/slaves to the system, and that is what the film is trying to warn you against. In my opinion, the film isn't trying to say "rise up and overthrow the system!" After all, everyone knows that the only result would be a new system. The film is trying to let you know that (a) it is a system - some people don't even realise that, and (b) you can beat it, use it, twist it to suit your purposes, but you don't have to be any more trapped by it than you want to be, and you should not sell your soul to it.

I bet that by now my patronising teacher babble is probably making your blood boil, but I must add one thing: another good film to watch, before you go, would be Fight Club. You'd like it, I think, if your homophobia can handle the gay subtext. It's the same sort of thing but much better in some ways. It's also entirely metaphorical from start to finish, so put your thinking hat on and enjoy.