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The Matrix is the worst film ever made
I'm just rewatching it for the first time in over a decade.

I think it's fair to say that it had such an impact on mainstream culture at the time, that it really created the current culture that we have now, especially with terminology like red/blue pill.

Now The Matrix is not a bad film, but I've gotten to the famous fight scene where Neo and Trinity go to rescue Morpheus and shoot up a room full of guards while doing all the special moves and I suddenly realised that this scene alone has destroyed humanity.

You see, in movies up to this point, although heroes killed bad guys, they had no choice about it. Or they felt bad about it. Or there is enough personality about the bad guy so you still know he's human. When Hans Gruber goes out the window in Die Hard, you cheer for Bruce Willis, but you're still aware that Gruber was a person.

When Neo and Trinity shoot up these guards, there's nothing. No emotion. Just glorious violence. These guards aren't bad people. They are trapped in the Matrix as much as anyone else. They aren't the Agents. They are literally NPCs. In The Matrix, they are still people, their bodies will die as they die in the Matrix, but Neo and Trinity don't care. In the Matrix, they are just avatars. Obstacles to shoot. They literally become non human.

And cut to today and we are living in the culture The Matrix created. Red Pill or Blue Pill. And our opponents are simply living out their own little Matrix bubble and so they are now non human, just avatars for the Matrix bubble. And so they just exist to be murdered because they are a non human obstacle to one Matrix bubble overcoming another. We (well some people anyway) have been conditioned by this film, or its lasting cultural effect which has been echoed many times in later cultural works, to literally believe that other people are not real and that reality can be crafted to what you believe rather than what is. It's not a coincidence that the Wachowski Brothers crafted their reality to becoming the Wachowski sisters.

It's by no means a bad film. But it feels like the film which has destroyed humanity.
Last edited by Lobster Moth; 9 hours ago
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Showing 1-15 of 37 comments
I believe the problem you are describing has much more to do with social media than a movie scene. It has made people so narcissistic that they think the whole world needs to know that they just had a cup of coffee or eaten a Big Mac. Other people are just views and subscribers, lesser people whose only purpose is to feed the ego of the poster.

Now everyone thinks they are the main character and others are just NPC's.
Last edited by Abaddon the Despoiler; 9 hours ago
Alice is told she was playing a dangerous game. But she believed Smith was real.


Because smith us all is not real.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=tWk1SnRxrlI&si=Ih880CsoiT_u96lt
Lain predates the matrix
if one can be "conditioned" by a film then one has deeper issies one needs to desperately address.

I love the first T R O N film but it hasn't "confitioned" me to wear tights and throw Frisbees at policemen.

(although it would be fun)
The Matrix is the worst film ever made
It's by no means a bad film.
LOL wut.
That great scene you are describing is them carrying out what must be done.

You seem to have neglected an important part of '"lore"' within The Matrix.
Those guards are essentially drones, they maybe battery humans but they do not want to leave The Matrix and they are enforcing The Machine's will upon all.

Neo and Trinity cannot go in with a yellow book.
They HAVE to go in and get Morpheus out, they are against the odds.

They know at any moment anybody who is still a battery can become an Agent within that instant.

Social Media problems?
Turn them off and they are no longer your problems, it is everybody elses who partakes in Social Media.

I was just watching the first part of Shock Treatment.
It reminds me so much of present day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6FVOemQ6RU
Originally posted by -OrLoK- Слава Україн:
if one can be "conditioned" by a film then one has deeper issies one needs to desperately address.

I love the first T R O N film but it hasn't "confitioned" me to wear tights and throw Frisbees at policemen.

(although it would be fun)

We need to analyze more in this particular sensation of yours.
Originally posted by HeavyGoat:
The Matrix is the worst film ever made
It's by no means a bad film.
LOL wut.

These two things are not mutually exclusive. A film exists in many different spheres including technical, artistic and cultural. A film can be a technical and artistic masterpiece and a cultural evil, such as Triumph of the Will by Leni Riefenstahl.

When I refer to The Matrix not being bad, I am referring to its technical aspects, and when I say it's the worst film ever made, I am referring to its cultural impact. I didn't clarify that in my intro because I thought the context would come under the category of, to quote Monty Python, the bleedin' obvious.
Last edited by Lobster Moth; 9 hours ago
Originally posted by DutyCallsBackNextYear:
That great scene you are describing is them carrying out what must be done.

You seem to have neglected an important part of '"lore"' within The Matrix.
Those guards are essentially drones, they maybe battery humans but they do not want to leave The Matrix and they are enforcing The Machine's will upon all.

Neo and Trinity cannot go in with a yellow book.
They HAVE to go in and get Morpheus out, they are against the odds.

They know at any moment anybody who is still a battery can become an Agent within that instant.

Social Media problems?
Turn them off and they are no longer your problems, it is everybody elses who partakes in Social Media.

I was just watching the first part of Shock Treatment.
It reminds me so much of present day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6FVOemQ6RU


Cause it was hard for you to add Neo + Nazi = Neo-Nazi
I personally don't think the Matrix is terrible, but I do feel as if it is a bit overrated and it's legacy has overshadowed a number of better sci-fi films released around the same time. Hell, Dark City released about a year prior and had similar themes, yet fell into more obscurity.

And no, The Matrix hasn't destroyed my views on humanity last I checked. Though I will agree I do think the whole red pill/blue pill meme has been way overused in modern vernacular.
Last edited by Iratus Machina; 9 hours ago
Originally posted by Iratus Machina:
I personally don't think the Matrix is terrible, but I do feel as if it is a bit overrated and it's legacy has overshadowed a number of better sci-fi films released around the same time. Hell, Dark City released about a year prior and had similar themes, yet fell into more obscurity.

And no, The Matrix hasn't destroyed my views on humanity last I checked.

Yet you plaing shooter games.

You know another videogame was named: The matrix.

Where you shoot people.
Originally posted by DutyCallsBackNextYear:
That great scene you are describing is them carrying out what must be done.

You seem to have neglected an important part of '"lore"' within The Matrix.
Those guards are essentially drones, they maybe battery humans but they do not want to leave The Matrix and they are enforcing The Machine's will upon all.

Neo and Trinity cannot go in with a yellow book.
They HAVE to go in and get Morpheus out, they are against the odds.

They know at any moment anybody who is still a battery can become an Agent within that instant.

Social Media problems?
Turn them off and they are no longer your problems, it is everybody elses who partakes in Social Media.

I was just watching the first part of Shock Treatment.
It reminds me so much of present day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6FVOemQ6RU

Great point. Well argued.

I would counter by saying that this is a really interesting philosophical point that the films completely ignore the consequences of. These are original films, there was nothing to stop them having a single short scene where the implications of this are explored. All of the humans who have 'woken' from the Matrix were at one point, a battery and therefore any battery has the potential dichotomy not just of becoming an agent, but also of escaping the Matrix. So the decision to ignore.that and ignore that all these people could potentially be saved is just as much an important creative decision that affects how these NPC people are portrayed on screen.
OP took the blue pill
Originally posted by talemore:
Originally posted by Iratus Machina:
I personally don't think the Matrix is terrible, but I do feel as if it is a bit overrated and it's legacy has overshadowed a number of better sci-fi films released around the same time. Hell, Dark City released about a year prior and had similar themes, yet fell into more obscurity.

And no, The Matrix hasn't destroyed my views on humanity last I checked.

Yet you plaing shooter games.

You know another videogame was named: The matrix.

Where you shoot people.
Yeah, I play FPS and action games and RPGs. What about it? I mean, they are works of fiction last I checked.
Originally posted by Lobster Moth:
Originally posted by DutyCallsBackNextYear:
That great scene you are describing is them carrying out what must be done.

You seem to have neglected an important part of '"lore"' within The Matrix.
Those guards are essentially drones, they maybe battery humans but they do not want to leave The Matrix and they are enforcing The Machine's will upon all.

Neo and Trinity cannot go in with a yellow book.
They HAVE to go in and get Morpheus out, they are against the odds.

They know at any moment anybody who is still a battery can become an Agent within that instant.

Social Media problems?
Turn them off and they are no longer your problems, it is everybody elses who partakes in Social Media.

I was just watching the first part of Shock Treatment.
It reminds me so much of present day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6FVOemQ6RU

Great point. Well argued.

I would counter by saying that this is a really interesting philosophical point that the films completely ignore the consequences of. These are original films, there was nothing to stop them having a single short scene where the implications of this are explored. All of the humans who have 'woken' from the Matrix were at one point, a battery and therefore any battery has the potential dichotomy not just of becoming an agent, but also of escaping the Matrix. So the decision to ignore.that and ignore that all these people could potentially be saved is just as much an important creative decision that affects how these NPC people are portrayed on screen.

Cause even the maincharacters were batteries but them kill people cause them think all other people aren't real just like a drone pilot.
Originally posted by Lobster Moth:
Originally posted by DutyCallsBackNextYear:
That great scene you are describing is them carrying out what must be done.

You seem to have neglected an important part of '"lore"' within The Matrix.
Those guards are essentially drones, they maybe battery humans but they do not want to leave The Matrix and they are enforcing The Machine's will upon all.

Neo and Trinity cannot go in with a yellow book.
They HAVE to go in and get Morpheus out, they are against the odds.

They know at any moment anybody who is still a battery can become an Agent within that instant.

Social Media problems?
Turn them off and they are no longer your problems, it is everybody elses who partakes in Social Media.

I was just watching the first part of Shock Treatment.
It reminds me so much of present day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6FVOemQ6RU

Great point. Well argued.

I would counter by saying that this is a really interesting philosophical point that the films completely ignore the consequences of. These are original films, there was nothing to stop them having a single short scene where the implications of this are explored. All of the humans who have 'woken' from the Matrix were at one point, a battery and therefore any battery has the potential dichotomy not just of becoming an agent, but also of escaping the Matrix. So the decision to ignore.that and ignore that all these people could potentially be saved is just as much an important creative decision that affects how these NPC people are portrayed on screen.

There is no counter along that line because it is a warzone.
They cannot sit around waiting for everybody to wake up, they need to wake people up by showing the rules of reality that is put about them are flawed and is not as what they think believe it to be.

Neo can do that because he can break those rules and that in itself is what will wake people up.

Bomber Command did not like blowing up civilians but they still had to blow up the factories.
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