The first cultural
artifact I chose to do is the movie The
Matrix. This story is about a computer hacker named Neo who has come across
something called the Matrix. He soon learns that the life he was living was not
real and that it is a computer program designed by artificial intelligence. It
was intended to keep the world and the people of it under control while they
harvest and grow humans as a source of energy to sustain themselves. Neo is
believed to be “The One” because it is prophesized that he will save the human
race from the machines. I think this movie tells of how we make our own futures
every second of our lives by the choices that we make. Every time we make a
decision, a sort of path is made. Just like Neo, we all face many choices
throughout each of our lives. There are an infinite number of “doors” and
“pills” for us to take, and each of these represents our decisions. Neo’s
choice to “follow the white rabbit” is ultimately what leads him to finding
Morpheus and discovering the truth about the world. It is the same for us. The
choices we make either lead to us to God or away from him. It is our purpose in
life to make decisions, and figure things out for ourselves or else God would
not have gave us this amazing ability. I also think the agents represent sin in
our lives and Morpheus symbolizes God. Like the agents, sin has a way of
finding us and following us wherever we go. It can also take form in millions
of things in the same way that they can pick anyone to take over. Sin creeps
into our lives and “infects” all that we do, separating us from God. Just like
God, Morpheus provides a path out for Neo. During the scene in the office, Morpheus
tells Neo that he will have to make a choice to do what he says or let them
take him. God tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 that he will always provide
us with an escape so that we may rise up against what is trying to crush us.
Discussion Questions:
1. How
do you know whether the things you perceive are real or just an illusion?
2. Do
we know anything for sure?
3. If our world was an
illusion would you prefer to live in the "real world" if in many ways
that world sucked?
Some good observations here, Courtney. But The Matrix, as a story, is asking us to look at systems: the machines have created a system of oppression to keep humans enslaved. Neo's choice is to see the system so he can live differently. What might be systems in our lives that we don't want to see? If we saw them, how would that affect our individual choices and the way we live?
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you described and compared real elements of The Matrix with Christianity and specific examples of how they relate (or how we can relate them). Adopting your observation of Neo being us, humans and the agents being sin (which makes sense) I think we could also translate Neo becoming invincible - stop bullets and fly- as we, accepting Jesus Christ as our savior and believing that we are God's sons and daughters ("the ones"), in other words ultimately trusting in Him, which helps us fight Satan and his temptations. For the your first discussion question, that same question was asked by Descartes in his meditations, his answer was: "I think; therefore I am."
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your insights about The Matrix. I liked how you saw the agents as representing sin. I had never thought about it like that, but after reading your post it has given me another take on The Matrix that I might not have gotten otherwise. Your third discussion question is one that I also was wondering. I'd like to say that I would choose the truth, but the more I thought about how this one decision could lead to two very different (and never intersecting) paths; I don't think I could ever know for certain unless placed in a situation like that
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