Hello theorists! Jacob here from Wise Crack
We consult with Game designers and Mathematicians
running stress tests and many calculations
for over six months!
all to discover which truly makes the greatest movie of all time.
Based on a proprietary set of scoring categories we'll analyze all the ways
a movie can flex it's muscles to wrack up points.
Their style: the look and sound of a movie.
Depth: the smarts and subtexts of a film.
Context: how it connects with history and culture
And technique: the directing, writing, performance and more.
Anything and everything a movie does right in these areas will earn it points
on it's journey to become a film legend.
And when a movies really on a roll, (biblical reference!)
the more each subsequent achievement is worth,
unlocking higher multipliers, and even hidden bonuses.
But, if the movie falters, and it's streak is broken,
(Unclear Motivation!) then combos will be lost,
and multipliers will stall back! There will be many films;
many contenders for the crown, but only the
best of the best will have what it takes to earn top spot on the film legend's
leaderboard. So settle in, grab that bag of Cheetos,
and get ready to play Film Legends.
Welcome to Film Legends, where the most renowned films of our age
battle to be crowned, the greatest of all time.
We'll be analyzing and awarding points for
every single thing a movie does right.
Many will compete, but in the end only the strongest will
have what it takes to become Film Legends.
Today's challenger, The Matrix.
The Matrix opens with a glitching Warner Brothers logo
establishing the visual motif of a computer screen.
The first life action shot, a blinding flashlight shines
directly at the viewer, reflecting to how the characters
are blinded to the truth
SWEET VIZ
The room Trinity hacks in is labeled as 303.
Just like, you guessed it, a Trinity
DOUBLLY SWEET VIZ
Trinity is a reference to the Holy Trinity,
The father, the son, and the holy spirit.
AMEN
NEW MULTIPLIER UNLOCKED
the Matrix: making dominatrix gear fashionable and workday appropriate
ROCK IT JANET!
maybe too much so
NOT YOU TOO BOB!
The remains of a window look like a clock reading 3 o'clock
a la TRINITY
I'm not really sure why I still feel so nostalgic for these
INEXPLICABLE NOSTALGIA
our first show of Neo is him asleep
a computer washing over his face, symbolizing how he is stuck in Matrix
SWEET VIZ
effective exposition
DOUBLY SWEET VIZ
Neo is an anagram for, of course, one.
WORD PLAY
Neo lives in room 101 because he is the one!
EASY PUNS
101 is actually a direct reference to George Orwell's novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four
in the novel, room 101 is a torture chamber
where prisoners are brainwahsed and subjected to their worst fear
you know like stuck in an artificial reality run by tentacle machine monsters
LOVECRAFTIAN
Neo hides his illegal programs in a copy of Simulacra & Simulation
by post-modern philoshoper Jean Baudrillard
in Simulacre & Simulation,
Baudrillard argued that society so saturated by media and advertisement
that there was no longer any true original reality, only a simulation and a copy of one
sounds awfully familiar to-- -- To the Matrix? yeah
yet when Baudrillard himself was asked what he thought of the Matrix,
he called the film an embarassing and crude misrepresentation of his work
SICK BURN! COMBO LOST
the chapter Neo stores his illegal software in is called On Nihilism
reflecting Neo's current state of disillusionment
DEEP THOUGHTS
the punk Neo sells his illegal software to, ironically, refers to him as his Savior
humorously foreshadowing Neo's arc as The One
"you're my savior man!"
ISNT IT IRONIC?
and then he says--
"you need to unplug man"
which Neo will ironically later literally do
LIKE SO IRONIC
at this point you don't even need to watch the rest of the movie to know how it's gonna end
the two punks are named Choi and Dujour
together the names form Choix Du Jour
aka choice of the day
WORDPLAY
A literary allusion to Alice in Wonderland
another story about a perosn discovering a world beyond their own mundane existance
LITERARY ALLUSION
"who are you?" "my name is Trinity."
"the Trinity? I thought you were God."
"most guys do."
Trinity breaks the mold for traditional feminine action heroines
inverting the damsel in distress archetype
quite simply: she doesn't need any damn guys to save her
FEMINISM
"they're watching you Neo."
Keanu Reeves sucessfully emotes
PERFORMANCE
maybe he is human
or maybe not
OH KEANU
"Thomas Anderson?" Neo's real name is Thomas Anderson
"yeah that's me"
etymologically Anderson means "Son of Man"
a name that is often attributed to Christ
AMEN
Neo's first name, Thomas, is a reference to the apostle Thomas
known as Doubting Thomas
who earned that name by expressing reservations that Christ was humanity's savior
just as Neo rejects his own Oneness
"I'm not the one."
DOUBLE TAP AMEN
when Neo is taken into custody
we see this play through a reflection on Trinity's bike
these reflective shots reflect the duality of each character
their image in the Matrix vs the one in reality
SWEET VIZ
Holy Orwellian overtones!
remember kids, Big Brother is always watching.
LITERARY ALLUSION
wait a second!
September 11, 2001?
how could the Wachowskis have known about 9/11?!
this movie came out in 1999!
queue the non-copyrighted music that sound conspicuously like the X-files theme.
ILLUMINATI ALERT
"I am Morpheus"
Morpheus is a reference to the ancient Greek God of Dreams
in Ovid's Metamophoses
LITERARY ALLUSION
In Metamorphoses, Morpheus would send dreams through one of two gates
Ivory, the false gate, or horn, the gate for true dreams
just as Morpheus gives Neo the choice between the blue or red pill
DUAL LITERARY ALLUSION
"What does that mean?" "It means buckle your seatbelt Dorothy, cause Kansas is going bye-bye."
a reference to the Wizard of Oz
like Alice in Wonderland, a story about a person travelling to a land beyond their dull reality
TRIPLE LITERARY ALLUSION
Neo awakens in a vat of goo, attached to a mechanical umbilical cord
the birthing parallels couldn't be more evident.
SWEET VIZ
Keanu Reeves looking stylish even bald
BAE
the ship lifts Neo into a blinding light
Symbolizing he's about to learn the truth
DEEP THOUGHTS
this imagery mirrors one of our founding philosophical stories, Plato's Allegory of the Cave
In Plato's allegory, People, chained from birth, face a blank wall.
they see shadows cast upon this wall and assume these shadows to be reality
just like Neo assumes the digital simulation of the Matrix to be real
DEEPER THOUGHTS
In the allegory, when a prisoner escapes and sees the world as more than just shadow he freaks out and is blinded by the sun
similarly when Neo awakens to the dystopian future---
"why do my eyes hurt?" "you've never used them before."
he uses his eyes for the first time and is blinded by a piercing white light.
DEEPEST THOUGHTS
And he'll later freak the f*** out
PHILOSOPHICAL TOKEN UNLOCKED
WHOA
Morpheus' ship is called the Nebuchadnezzar
a biblical reference to the book of Daniel
Nebuchadnezzar, like Neo, was a man in search of answers to a dream he couldn't remember
AMEN
The Nebuchadnezzer is the Mark three eleven
a biblcal reference to Mark 3:11
DOUBLE TAP AMEN
"you believe it's the year 1999, when in fact it's closer to 2199."
The Matrix, released in the midst of the YTK crisis,
expertly taps into the fear of technilogical progress and well, octopus machines
TIMELY
Yet the Matrix, while admonishing technilogical advancements
indulges in the very state-of-the-art effects it rallies against
"This machine dominatedd world was created entirely within computers."
DOUBLE STANDARDS
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
"welcome to the desert of the real."
a phrase from Simulacre & Simulation
yes the same book Neo stores his illegal software in
"Zion."
"If the world was over tomorrow, Zion's where the party would be."
Zion is referenced as the last remaining city of mankind
Another biblical regerence
as Zion is synonimous with Jerusalem
Neo's recruit to Morpheus' side can be seen as radical indoctrination
Morpheus' crew literally downloads information into Neo's mind
turning him from working class drone, into a karate kicking machine
"I know Kung-Fu."
CHARACTER ARC
"The Matrix is a system Neo. That system is our enemy."
Morpheus expounds on the tennants of Anarchism
"You are notone of us. You are one of them."
Advocating for the total annihilation of social hierarchies.
aka the Matrix
"someone is going to have to fight them."
REBEL YELL
Cypher's insistance on ignorant and living in the Matrix exemplifies radical ignorance
DEEP THOUGHTS
A philosophy advocating the refrain from knowledge when the cost exceeds the benefit
"why oh why didn't I take the blue pill?"
for Cypher, the knowledge that the world is run by machines isn't worth it.
it's better to just live in ignorance.
"ignorance is bliss."
and listen to some sweet, sweet harp music
"Let me have a geeta."
as Cypher's enjoying his cigar
we ironically cut to the crew eating gross slop
NICE JOB, EDITORS
At dinner, Mouse asks how the Matrix even knows what chicken tastes like
reflecting Rene Descartes' dream arguement
in which the philosopher asks,
"That's exactly my point!"
Morpheus' crew
lookin good!
VIVA LA REVOLUTION
"do not tramp in the spoon, that's impossible."
huh?
"only try to realize the truth." "what truth?"
"there is no spoon."
Oh I get you, Buddhist child
the spoon only exists in the matrix which means it actually doesn't exist at all
DEEP THOUGHTS
typically the image of a domestic black woman attributed to the stereotypical mammy
a portly black housekeeper most famously depicted in Gone with the Wind
"Mammy! Here's Miss Scarlett's pickles."
the Wachowskis though have cleverly inverted this stereotype
and turned a domestic, uneducated mammy into the wisest and most powerful being in the Matrix
The Oracle
"I'm supposed to say mmhmm that's interesting."
PROGRESSIVE
Neo's visit mirrors the tale of Socrates to the Oracle of Delphi
Socrates asked who is the wisest person in the world
the Oracle responded "you" but Socrates couldn't believe it
and immediately sought someone wiser
similarly Neo goes to the Oracle to find out if he's the One
but his self doubt leads him to believe he isn't
when the cops use their nightsticks to whoop Morpheus' ass
how can we not recognize how painfully reminicient this is of the infamous Rodney King beating
TIMELY
if Morpheus was right,
then there's no way I can pull this plug
well ironic divine intervention!
AMEN
"I'd like to share a revelation that I've had."
Agent Smith's belief that machines are the natural evolution of man
provoke the principles of Social Darwinism. Applying Natural Selection to social order
"Like the dinosaur, you've had your time. The future is our world."
" please remove any metallic items you're carrying"
WOAH here we go!
Holy shhhhhiiiii
s o m a n y s l o w m o t i o n s h o t s !
I feel myself slowing----
dooooowwwwnnn
SWEET VIZ
a western motif complete with a tumbleweed blowing by before a duel
DOUBLY SWEET VIZ
The Matrix functions as an allegory of the story of Christ, with Neo representing the son of God
Neo is recruited into saving the people of Zion
performs exceptionsl feats
dies
and then is resurrected.
just like Christ who seeks to redeem the people of Zion
does epic stuff like walking on water
dies for humanity's sins
and then he's resurrected
AMEN
reality itself bends around Neo
a payoff to Neo bending the spoon
SWEET VIZ
The Matrix knows exactly how to end the movie
and leave the audience wanting more
PERFECT LANDING
Alright Matrix, let's see how you did!
over 7 million points in style, proof that black leather never goes out of fashion
and talik about that depth! 8 million points!
whoever said Keanu Reeves was dumb?
and all those smart philosophical references earned the Matrix the Thinking Man token!
but will those brains be able to top Captain America on the leaderboard?
Let's find out!
The Matrix toppling empty, blank spaces and wow! Easily topping Captain America!
The Matix is number one!
for now!
let us know in the comments what movies you think have what it takes to knock Neo down a peg!
and get ready for next week when Pixar sends it's first challenger up to bat!
IS THE NEXT CHALLENGER READY?!
(whoo Finding Nemo!)
Howdy theorists! hope you're loving the show!
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