(Ring)
Wake up, Theorist.
I don't know if you're ready to see what I have to show you but unfortunately the two of us have very little time.
They're coming for you.
And I don't know what they're going to do if they find you.
I can help you but only if you do exactly as I say:
Watch this video and perhaps you will have a chance.
Good luck.
(Hang up)
(Beep)
Hello internet!
Welcome to FILM THEORY!
I'm glad you decided to stick around because there is much we have to discuss.
FILM THEORY
When it hit theaters in 1999, The Matrix was unlike anything anyone had ever seen before.
Well unless you keep up with any form of Cyber-Punk
had ever read a philosophy textbook,
were a fan of Japanese anime or kung fu films
had ever watched Tron. Uh you get the idea.
but hey that makes complete sense when you consider that the
films creators, writers and directors The
Wachowskis were absolutely
massive fanatics of all of
those things and wanted to add to those genres
with the film that incorporated elements
from all of them. And the world they created while
accessible enough to be mimicked in hundreds
of parodies long before poop emojis
became a way to ironically say "I
love you" or less ironically
"I have to poop" has long been
debated and reinterpreted by the same
over analytical fanbase The Wachowskis themselves hail from
and you know that where there's over analysis to be had
the theorists will follow
so I dug through the awesome first movie,
the not so awesome CGI of the second,
and the philsophical ramblings of the whole series
Only to discover that we have been completely wrong the whole time,
that the hero of humanity named 'The One'
he who is prophecised to bring about the downfall of the machines
and reload the matrix,
is not Neo!
desptie his name being a clever anagram of one
no.. put aside Keanu Reeves' highly emotive face
the one is in fact ........
"Me ..me..me"
"me too"
Agent Smith, The cold hearted, murderous, hater of humanity
and the bad guy trying to stop Neo ..
Is in fact the hero who sets in motion
the destruction of the matrix and humanity's freedom
Let's see how far this rabbit hole goes ...
Now I'm gonna assume you need a bit of a refresher on
what the heck this trilogy is about
beyond white dredlocks and Christ imagery
so let me do a real quick recap for you first
in the first movie we meet "Mr Anderson" (Bad Agent Smith impression)
I can't do it I can't do the voice
In the first movie we meet Thomas Anderson
a Hacker Codenamed 'Neo'
who is disillusioned with his job,
his life,
and reality itself
until mysterious messages lead him to Morpheus
who totally blows his mind
when he tells him that the world as he knows it,
is a computer simulation
and humanity is enslaved by machines,
who use this digital reality,
or 'The Matrix'
to keep humanity submissive
whilst they harvest their body heat for energy
"Whoa"
Turns out Neo is the subject of a holy prophecy
he is 'The One'
humanity's saviour
who has the ability to trancend the laws of this digital reality
in such an advanced way that he can do
Amazing
Epic
'Not-at-all-ripped-off-from-Dragon-Ball-Zesque
things
All hail the coming of 'The One'
and the destruction of the matrix ..
right?
Well...
As 'The Architect' explains in the second movie
in a monologue that's gone down in history
as one of the single most confusing things
ever said by an actor in a major blockbuster ever..
Neo's 'special status' is all part of the machines master plan
y'see another name of the one is the prime program
He's the result of an imperfect system
you know how when you divide numbers together
you sometimes get a remainder when they don't divide in perfectly
'The One' is basically all those remainders
glommed together into a big number ball
and as long as he exists
the matrix will remain imperfect
and gradually decend into chaos
until it crashes and desroys all of humanity
including it's last stronghold
the sweaty dubstep-fueled-rave-cave
of Zion
[Air Horn]
Long story short
Humanity will be extinct
to prevent this 'The One's code needs to enter the source
which allows the matrix to reload
and everything to become perfect and stable
eventually Neo goes to the source
jacks in
fights Agent Smith
an AI program tasked with keeping order in the system
loses
or wins?
and since Neo is plugged into the source over at machine city
the anomly goes bye-bye
and the Matrix is able to finally be reloaded
Bringing peace to the struggle between man and machine
with blind-jesus Neo being carried off into the light
The End!
Clear as mud
But what's easy to lose
amidst all the black trenchcoats and bullet time effects
are the details!
for instance let's look at the aforementioned prophecy
Quote ... when the matrix was [first] built there was a man born inside that had the ability to change what he wanted,
to remake the matrix as he saw fit.
It was this man who freed the first of us and taught us the truth.
When he died the oracle prophesied his return
and envisioned that his coming would hail the destruction of the matrix and the war,
bring freedom to our people :End Quote
so if neo is truly the one
he needs to have been born in the matrix
is able to change it
and ultimately destroys it to set humans free
Let's start with the first criteria
Born Inside the Matrix
Uhhh ......
NO
Neo is not born inside of the matrix
he was born in one of those gross harvest pods
by the machines
he even has the extra electrical outlets on his body to prove it
which are so useful during the holiday season
to be fair
neo was reborn inside the matrix after being killed by agent smith at the end
of the first film but keep in mind that the Oracles prophecy also specifies
quote when the matrix was first built and as we're told in the film this is
the sixth version of the matrix the matrix is older than you know I prefer
counting from the emergence of one integral anomaly to the emergence of the
next in which case this is the sixth version
mr. Anderson wasn't around way back then you know who was though
Agent Smith
Smith has been there since the beginning
"did you know that the first matrix was designed to be a perfect human world"...
"where none suffered, where everyone would be happy"...
"it was a disaster!"
he speaks about it in a way that implies that he was there
but not only that he goes so far as to call the Oracle 'mom' in the third movie
"you would know mom"
so despite him being just a computer program the idea of birth still applies
to look at it a different way at the end of the first matrix
neo jumps into Agent Smith destroying him from within but that moment fundamentally changes Smith
he's reborn in the second movie as a rogue virus
as he explains to Neo
"because of you I'm no longer an agent of this system"...
"because of you I've changed"...
"I'm unplugged... a new man..."
which just goes to show one other way that Smith was born
inside of the matrix
ok but let's move on the second part of the prophecy says the one will be able
to change the matrix to remake it as he sees fit
although Neo shows some real promise at the end of the first movie
with his jumping inside Smith fatality
that's pretty much the end of his endeavor to do any kind of next-level hacking
neo doesn't actually change anything throughout the sequel's
sure he can do some kung fu moves and fly but that's about it
when it comes to changing the fabric of the matrix the way it behaves
Smith shows far more power
I mean check out how the matrix looks by the end of the series when Smith is at
the height of his power
it's unrecognizable and very clearly the one who made those changes was Smith
in his own words "you like what I've done with the place?"
but MatPat you might be saying don't you know that Smith is only special because
neo is special with neo jumped inside of him at the end of the first movie he
copy part of himself onto Smith interesting theoretical theorists
so you're suggesting that neo causes Smith's exceptional powers but not so
fast
the quality that determines if someone is truly the one is based on the ability
to repel against the machines like Morpheus says yet their strength and
their speed are still based in a world that is built on rules make sense
machines are just a series of zeros and ones so of course they're bound by the
rules of their programming for wait
then how do you explain this seed in the first matrix myth takes out his earpiece
while interrogating Morpheus and explains his desire to escape the matrix
I must get out of here
I must get free and with the other agents walk in and see him without his
earpiece and they scold in smith is a program meant to ensure the security of
the matrix that earpieces his direct line with the system and here it appears
as though he's going rogue
not only does the fact that Smith is able to go against the rules and take
out his earpiece suggest his heightened ability to repel but everything he says
in the scene is oddly human talking about smelling and tasting humanity and
being disgusted by them
it's the smell I could
taste your stink long before he takes on neo Smith is working against his
programming Smith not neo is the anomaly in the system and now for the final
tenant of the prophecy that he would bring destruction to the matrix and
bring freedom to the people and end the war
ok so although the saga ends with the matrix still intact it gets pretty
banged up during the Smith neo final battle and in reloading one could say
that it was destroyed and look who says that he's actually going to destroy the
matrix
you guessed it Smith and the only reason that the war between man and machine
zens is because Smith is so darn good at tearing up the fabric of the matrix that
the machines can't control them anymore
this precarious position Smith puts the machines in is what gives me 0 the
bargaining power to strike up a deal with babyface over here that allows the
humans who want to stay in the matrix day and the EDM fans who want to leave
and head to the concert in Zion go over that way and get all sweaty
do might be the one making the deal but without Smith's uncontrollable power the
machines would need to end the war in the first place
but here's the detail that seals the deal the matrix will reload when the
remainder code of the one enters the source
Smith openly says that he's avoiding returning to the source after merging
with neo in the first movie in his own words he's been compelled to resist the
call afterward I knew the rules i understood what I was supposed to
I didn't I couldn't compelled to stay compelled to disobey
but for that final battle neo uploads himself into the matrix from machine
city at the end of the battle Smith victorious assimilates neo into a final
Smith clone but then this breaks him up and all the Smiths blow up for some
unexplained reason this always confused me
why do Smith lose it's really unclear and it feels like a cheap ending for
such an awesome villain until you consider what's happened Smith infects
neo who is jacked into the matrix from machine city AKA the location of the
source when Smith assimilates him his code is getting jacked directly into
that source as the prophecy of the architect of said the prime program in
this instance has been reinserted look at how Neos body and the wires connected
to respond in the moment of his assimilation in that moment through Neos
assimilated body
Smith's anomalous code is reunited to the source and the matrix is finally
able to reload
let me make it clear he is the one but you
the unwitting one he's the savior of humanity without even intending it or
wanting it for that matter but that all leaves us with one final question and
it's a simple one
why does everyone call me old one if he's not the one who needs to watch the
one the one the one who sure Morpheus in the dirty sweatshirt gang may just be
mistaken but what about the architect or the Oracle
these are two of the most powerful programs in the system and they should
probably know right
well one of them does it is rambling speech
the architect says it was the Oracle who created the one
not only does this strengthen the whole mom argument with agent smith from
earlier but it also shows that she's the only person who truly knows the one's
true nature
the ones true identity I'm not the one
sorry kid and what did she do with that knowledge she chooses to lie to everyone
else about it in the final lines of the franchise the architect and oracle meet
in the reloaded matrix with the architect saying you can be a very
dangerous game
what's he talking about what is this dangerous game
well it's a reference to the lie she told everyone that the one was neo when
she knew it was Smith
why would she do this she says in these final moments that she wanted change but
what does that mean
well it was the only way that she could get peace had the machines known it was
Smith all along they would have assimilated him into the system earlier
in the war between humans and machines would have continued but by misleading
everyone into thinking it was neo it allowed Smith to threaten the fabric of
the matrix to the point where the machines had to make a deal of peace
with me Oh creating an elaborate live was the only way to truly change the
system the dangerous game was allowing a rogue program like Smith to get as
powerful as he did
boy did she do a good job of covering up the truth since it fold all of us to /
for a decade
Agent Smith that rainbow over there for you buddy
you truly are the one but hey that's just a theory. A film theory.
and cut subscribe to your viewer you will have your eyes open to the truth
and the realms of TV and cinema class we have another matrix episode coming down
the pipeline so you want to subscribe so you don't miss that one
but if you're ready to go further down the rabbit hole for more matrix C
goodness right now and click here to check out my friends over at the
wisecrack channel as they take a deeper look at the matrix reloaded exploring
all the details we've been overlooking for years that give us a sense of the
movies true hidden meaning or click here to just check out their channel chances
are you watch film theory for thought-provoking movie and TV related
videos right
well these guys do just that using education and entertainment into that
sweet sweet thing we call entertainment
I'm a huge fan of their stuff and I think you will be too so go ahead and
click here
check it out now if you'll excuse me it is long past due that we talk about some
marvel
more on that next time mr. and or no
still can't do it damp