Internal Predictor of USSR
The Matrix and “The Matrix” — two opposites
St-Petersburg
2001
1. Just another movie?
Many, especially from among the youth, have already seen the movie “The Matrix”. There are different opinions about the film, but its popularity is undebatable. Even in V. Putin’s book “From the first person...” there is mention of the film by the president’s youngest daughter: “We now have a new favourite movie — “The Matrix” — but dad has not seen it yet. We invited him. He said he does not have time, but will definitely watch it later”. So, what is the movie about?
At first sight — another thriller, which will be forgotten having made no meaningful influence on the minds and morals of spectators, who, after some time, will crave for a new violent spectacle, but in different scenery. A brief content of the film is as follows:
A young man named Thomas Anderson works in a software company, and in his free time is engaged in hacking from his home PC. With hacking being his major pastime, his “skills” improved so much, that he became one of the best hackers on the planet. On the internet, Anderson searches for the head of a secret criminal organization – a man called Morpheus, but that man contacts Anderson himself. Morpheus arranges a meeting between his aides and Anderson, offering to answer the only question that really interests Anderson — “What is the “Matrix”?” — during an in-person meeting. Anderson agrees, and the meeting happens, changing the fate of the entire planet.
According to Morpheus, the habitual world seen by all of us, exists as a neuro-interactive model, supported by a machine-computer system called the "Matrix", and the planet Earth (at least for the last two hundred years) — is a lifeless desert, above which hangs a gray veil of clouds, a sky without the Sun and stars. Such is the result of the activity of a technocratic civilization, which ended in a war between people and machines, in which the machines, having won and taken power over humanity, grow people as a bioenergetic raw material to maintain their own activity.
However, in these circumstances exists a “resistance” movement, called “Zion”, which continues the war against absolute power of machines over people. In the virtual world created by the “Matrix” acts a key character called “the Oracle”. She, as it is said in the film, “knows everything”: that which was and that which will be. For this reason, the main characters — Neo, Trinity, Morpheus — visit her by means of unauthorized access into the “Matrix”. According to Morpheus, after the “Matrix” was just created, there was a man born inside who was capable of changing the “Matrix” as he saw fit. It was he who freed the first people from the “Matrix” to begin acting in the real world. This man has long died, but by the Oracle’s prophecy he will return, and his return will lead to the collapse of the “Matrix” and will end the war between machines and people.
Since he has not yet arrived, Morpheus’ team conducts an information war for freeing people, hacking into the “Matrix” from onboard a hovercraft called “Nebuchadnezzar” in search of the saviour of mankind. They are opposed by so-called “Agents” of the “Matrix”, who look like people, but are capable of taking on any appearance and greatly surpass the “physical” and “paranormal” capabilities of common people.
Both sides hunt for Anderson, driven by their own aims: Agents want to use Anderson to hack into the Zion mainframe; Morpheus sees in Anderson the new savior of mankind — Neo, capable of freeing people from enslavement by the “Matrix” dreamworld. In this aspect, the storyline has much in common with Biblical narratives, according to which (both by the Old and New Testaments) the saving of mankind should be obtained through the Messiah – God’s Messenger. Since the story in the New Testament is more widespread in Western society, then the movie has analogues of its main characters: Neo — analogue of Christ, Morpheus — analogue of John the Baptiser; the film also has its own Judah.
The development of this storyline has all the features inherent to all thrillers: multiple chases, artistically arranged fights, colourful killings, tickling situations where the “happy-end” hangs by a thread, and other attributes of the genre. All the captivating scenes show the achievements of contemporary computer graphics, and it is they which are most attractive for the young spectator.
But all of that is abundant in other thrillers, and therefore cannot explain the vast popularity of “The Matrix” in the world. So maybe other than the special effects, the movie has another, more important meaning, the unconscious desire to understand which makes the film so popular; especially amongst youth, who is only preparing to enter into self-dependent life?
2. The hunt for man and questions of life and death
“The hunt for the man has begun!” — with these words begins the main storyline of the film. This phrase expresses the essence of technocratic civilization: it is anti-human, simply because it destroys the biosphere without which humans cannot live. The anti-human nature of technocratic civilization manifests in different ways, among which is the inadequacy of informational content to the form of its delivery. The western regional civilization, in the second half of the 20th century, has been leading in development of technology, especially in its mass use in all areas of life. As such, the West has also become the leader in dragging humanity down into technocratic catastrophe. Just like it leads in creation of packaging for various products, the West leads in creation and improvement of ways and means of conveying information: TV, radio, mobile telephony, Internet, email, Video-conferences, social networks, etc. have become more and more used in the world as a result of technological superiority of the western civilization and its active global trade policy. Having become the technological leader, the West has done well to impose its views on problems of development of humanity and ways of solving them onto other cultures, including the Russian culture.
But being a developer and producer of effective forms of conveying information, the West cannot suggest any substantially new content that could fill these forms. Western scientists and theologists are afraid of directly and openly admitting this: after accepting the Bible as the true “word of God”, the West has blinded itself in a worldview sense, and became fruitless when it comes to new content; “Conscience — within the limits of the Bible, Bible — within the limits of Knowledge”, said “humorist” M. Zhvanetsky. All past and contemporary worldview developments of the West — various philosophical schools and doctrines of antiquity, including Marxism — determining the future of civilization, cannot take the westerner outside the pen of the Bible. It is possible that, being unconscious of this dead-end, searching for a way out of it, the West has become more attracted to everything Orientaclass="underline" spiritual practices, yoga practices, Eastern martial art schools, Buddhism, “Islamic fundamentalism” that is actively spreading among the western population, and the like. As the XX century has shown, in adopting the achievements of cultures of other regional civilizations, the West only successfully adopts the forms, generally losing or perverting the content.