The Matrix

@philosopherqueen,

The spoon is not there...
The architect / Creator of the multiverse
The architects' thing about life being a rerun was parallel to reincarnation...or purgatory.

Yeah the movie was full of pseudo-philosophical blurbs that had great potential, but they were more concerned about making cool effects than good story.

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@Aristoddler,

I loved this movie, the whole thing with the oracle and all the things that surrounded her. For one, ou mentioned that the spoon was not there, but all the sign in her kitchen which said "know thyself".

There were others, but it has been a long time since I seen it.

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@philosopherqueen,

Never really saw what was so great about the movie. But as Aristoddler said; the first had potential but it got to commercial for it's own good and the special effects were to numerous and did no good for the story line.

There are some books out there that discuss philosophy and The Matrix (As well there are those who do the same with South Park, The Simpsons and others)

But most movies these days have that effect; Harry Potter, Narnia and others.

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@Vasska,

My take on the movies was pretty simple... There's a lot of mind-boggling ideas blended into the history of philosophy, but most people don't have the natural interest to ponder them to the point of actually experiencing them. So... The movies simply took a lot of these kind of ideas, which are actually rather surface level for philosophy, and put them into a story that grabbed people's attention and brought these basic philosophical ideas to them in an entertaining way. This made the movie seem very "deep" to people who don't have that odd philosphical bent to have already thought through things of this sort a thousand times already. Hence the popularity.

Example: The "Matrix" is prety much the same idea as "Brains in a Vat". but most people would just shrug their shoulders and turn on the TV if I tried to start a conversation about brains and vats and their philosphical implications. So put the idea on TV, and presto!, you have a hit.

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@philosopherqueen,

I loved this film! ^_^

i felt it touched on many aspects of philosophy but the fact many of these aspects were hidden makes it even more genius... it makes me want to watch it over and over, taking in everything they say and wondering what their meaning of 'this' or 'that' sentence means.

something that made me think was when agent smith says to thomas anderson : 'you work for a respectable corporation,you have a social security no., and you pay your taxes'. this as well as other hints shows the comparision to our present world. what he is saying is that we all have to compete in this hierachy, we fall down we're cast out PERIOD. its all just a game and were conforming for what we believe is survival.

everyday we become passive to the television/computer, trying to escape from the reality, is it that absurd to think we could in the future go abit far as to create a new world where we could all live, like World of Warcraft except signals are now being sent to our brain.

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@JoseyDaisyChains,

Is philosophy escaping reality though?

Also, I'd like to add how much I enjoyed the first movie and second. I'm all for the great fight scenes, but the third was horrible. I loved how they expressed opinions on causality and choice, both views seems to evoke(or are invoked) a particular personality.

The personalities oppose each other (the oracle, and the french guy), but the opinions are totally reconcilable, or are basically the same.

And no, I'm not a big fan of the Harry Potter movies but I'll watch them. I recently watched the island and thought it was pretty good.

Is there any such classification as a philosophical thriller/drama? Those are what I'd be into.

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@philosopherqueen,

The Matrix is nothing but a remake of the brain-in-a-vat hypothesis of skepticism.

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@philosopherqueen,

thats what i loved about it !
when ever i need to recall on my Descartes evil demon analogy just need to remember that film
even the dialogue keeps to Descartes original script Razz

(well adding n subtracting a couple of details haha should of been Kubrick as the director)

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@JoseyDaisyChains,

I always thought it would have been funny if Morpheus was just some ordinary guy messing with Neo's head, and there really was no such thing as the Matrix, and also that both the red pill and the blue pill were actually extremely powerful laxatives.

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@Holiday20310401,

Holiday20310401;28664 wrote:

Is there any such classification as a philosophical thriller/drama? Those are what I'd be into.

Have you ever seen a movie called Dark City? It came out about a year before The Matrix. It has a very similar premise, but deals with it much better than The Matrix. It just doesn't have all the snazzy effects.

Dark City is one of those very rare movies that I felt compelled to watch twice in a row. . .

I'd classify it as Philosophical Film Noir Thriller Drama.

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@TickTockMan,

Thanks, say if you're into thrillers I'd suggest watching Fracture.

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@TickTockMan,

TickTockMan wrote:

Have you ever seen a movie called Dark City? It came out about a year before The Matrix. It has a very similar premise, but deals with it much better than The Matrix. It just doesn't have all the snazzy effects.

Dark City is one of those very rare movies that I felt compelled to watch twice in a row. . .

I'd classify it as Philosophical Film Noir Thriller Drama.

I agree that Dark City is far superior to the Matrix, and is a better representation of the brain-in-a-vat hypothesis.

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@Theaetetus,

The video store doesn't have a copy. Anyone got a link to watching the movie?

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@Theaetetus,

Theaetetus;29094 wrote:

I agree that Dark City is far superior to the Matrix, and is a better representation of the brain-in-a-vat hypothesis.

... and Equilibrium is a far deeper exploration of what is meant by "humanity" than The Matrix. Plus it has cool fight scenes.

Don't get me wrong though, I do really enjoy The Matrix (the first one anyway). It's just that I find it to be a bit of a salad bar of philosophical ideas . . . a little of this, a little of that, take what you like and ignore the stuff you don't.

To be fair, I do have to give The Matrix credit for introducing me to Baudrillard (remember the title of the hollow book where Neo had the illegal software for Choi and his friends?).

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@philosopherqueen,

Thats what scares me the most, not being able to distinguish between whats true and whats bull****. what if we believe to be the real world is actually completely different to everyone else saw?
just think if you started talking to these really interesting people and going coffee shops for chats and to the cinema but couldnt understand why people were staring at you so weirdly in public.
haha i KNow that completely off your point but it reminded me of something ive always been weary of >.<
like Kant points out about conceptual schemes, we all wearing different spectacles. back to what you were saying i think that would make a funny spoof film Very Happy

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@Theaetetus,

Theaetetus wrote:

The Matrix is nothing but a remake of the brain-in-a-vat hypothesis of skepticism.

Ya but way more cool. Laughing

haha

What I found funny was at the begining of the movie when Neo opens the door and sells the chip to that one guy. When he opens the hollowed out book and the page next to all the money is titled "Nihlism" (I hyperlinked it for those of you who do not know what this is.) Which just screams that this is a dream and he is in some kind of virtual reality:detective:

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@Wingman phil,

Wingman;29735 wrote:

Ya but way more cool.
haha

What I found funny was at the begining of the movie when Neo opens the door and sells the chip to that one guy. When he opens the hollowed out book and the page next to all the money is titled "Nihlism" (I hyperlinked it for those of you who do not know what this is.) Which just screams that this is a dream and he is in some kind of virtual reality:detective:

..... and the hollowed out book is: Simulacra and Simulation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

which speaks volumes. Pun intended.

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@TickTockMan,

TickTockMan;29762 wrote:

..... and the hollowed out book is: Simulacra and Simulation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

which speaks volumes. Pun intended.

OH HAHA Nice Catch

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The Matrix

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