“Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.”
When we first hear about the Matrix, we don’t learn exactly what it is. With the limited references to it in the beginning of the movie, we begin to think it is some secret virtual world, as both Neo and Trinity are hackers. However, we learn from Morpheus that the Matrix is in fact the world we thought was reality; the one Neo was living as Mr. Anderson, living a normal 1999 life. With Neo unplugged and in the real world, Morpheus reveals to him the true reality; a world where machines grow and use humans like cattle or crops. As he stated, humans had always relied on machines to survive. And now, it is the opposite. Machines have taken over and are “growing” humans in tubes/pods for the sole purpose of energy, furthermore liquified to feed more humans for energy to survive. The irony is in that humans created machines to serve humans, but now humans are grown and used to feed machines. Furthermore, while machines and AI are linked to digital and virtual worlds, in the reality machines live the real world and humans live in a dream world: the Matrix. The playful and calm tone in which Morpheus explains the twisted reality’s irony as if narrating a book or movie to Neo is contrary to the true atmosphere and feelings which both the characters and viewer experience towards the state of Earth in 2199.
Though not directly related, the concept of the word “fate” itself has a huge meaning in the movie. The main character, Neo, doesn’t believe in fate. He hates the thought of not being in control of his own life, which Morpheus agrees with. However, Morpheus “unplugged” Neo because he believed in fate, in the role that Neo was born to play. Neo spends the whole movie being told and being believed to be “the chosen one”, much to his doubt. Morpheus fully believed in Neo, whilst the rest of his crew stood on the edge of wanting to believe. Trinity did her job as told, never stating fully her opinion. Tank was especially enthusiastic to Neo, expressing his excitement in the event that Neo was indeed the one. Cypher, the traitor, seemed envious and doubtful of Neo, possibly from his disdain for being unplugged and that Trinity showed more affection to Neo than to him. Mouse and Tank’s brother and Apoc never really expressed whether or not they believed that Neo was the one. Throughout his experience as a rebel, Neo went along with everything but still seemed hesitant on his supposed role that Morpheus was so sure of. When he is finally told by the Oracle, the person with supposedly the most authority or credibility, that he is in fact not the one, he throws himself back in danger to save Morpheus and comes back out alive because he started believing; by the end of the movie, he was, as fate has it, the one to save the world.
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