Matrix and the Right Choice

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Remember when the first Matrix came out? For me, these are the troubled times of pre-adolescence, full of embarrassment, questions, and strange sensations. But I remember exactly that when I first saw the film of the then-Wachowski brothers. Then, as it should be for any child, he associated himself with a good guy. With Neo. Still, he jumped between buildings, dodged bullets, and, in the end, really turned out to be the Chosen One. You can become the Chosen One today as well and win the jackpot by joining TonyBet.

An amazing film that is full of all sorts of references that I didn’t understand at the time. From the most obvious, except for “Alice in Wonderland,” I could see in the frames and then not without help. About “A Clockwork Orange” and say nothing. I was an ordinary boy, not a prodigy with a passion for film criticism.

Neo As A Hero

Naturally, I wanted to be like Neo. Looking back at the end of the 90s, I understand that it was normal. What could be cooler?! You swallow a pill and wake up in a creepy cocoon. Your muscles barely work. You’ve got weird stuff in your throat and tubes attached to your body. Not the most positive first impression. But ok, I acclimatized in some regions of the world no better. But after that, you live on a scruffy ship belonging to a tiny fraction of people hiding deep underground. You are eating suspicious goo and fearing that robots with tentacles will suddenly appear.

The only safe haven is in the digital space. Here hair returns, and creepy connectors disappear. And you can arrange a battle royale with your comrades. You give Morpheus a beating and jump from skyscrapers with Trinity.

Everything Could Be Worse.

20 years ago, I thought that everything was as it should be. The fight against the machine, the fight against the system, the fight for rights and freedoms. Everything is as it should be. Yes, someone will die as a result, but it’s all for the common good, isn’t it? In fact, it turned out that there is no common good. There is just a rabbit hole, and it has its own rules. As subsequent sequels to The Matrix have shown, a hole can be fought. But it cannot be defeated because wherever you dig, you only expand the walls of someone else’s empire. Sounds familiar, especially today, doesn’t it?

The finale of the trilogy showed an idyllic ending. It is more like a mockery, an attempt to end the series with at least something. The Matrix is not about a happy ending, but rather, about the fact that in life, you can live by all the rules. Moreover, you can avoid serious mistakes but still be a loser. Statistically, the probability of failure is much higher than the probability of success. And there can be a million reasons for this. However, this does not mean it is necessary to take a defeatist position and do nothing. As rocket scientists like to say, even a rocket explosion is a success.

Cypher Is Among Us

This all sounds like a motivational speech from some rogue coach. In fact, if you were to ask me now who I like most in The Matrix, I would point to Cypher. The same operator saw not a code, but a blonde, a brunette, and a redhead. He decided to betray his comrades in order to return to the simulation in order to enjoy the virtual life and not know about all the nightmares of reality.

Unfortunately, I’m not alone. I am sure that many of those who watched The Matrix in their youth are now looking at the role of Neo with skepticism. And indeed, he is too “ideal” protagonist. A kind of messiah. He decided to take all our sins upon himself and allow us to go to heaven.

Against his background, Cypher looks like the banalest traitor, ready to plunge a blade between the shoulder blades at the first opportunity. He was tired of thinking about others and putting the common good above all else. He was sacrificing his life for Morpheus. And then Morpheus got obsessed with his miracle boy. He was tired of crawling down the same rabbit hole, watching the asses of those in front. In a moment of betrayal, he tells Trinity that Morpheus did not free them from the Matrix to give them freedom. He needed soldiers. Those people who could make sacrifices and do what he told them to. And he did this not with the help of the truth. But by blowing smoke rings and surprising them with impressive tricks. Naturally, Neo followed him like an obedient lamb to the slaughter.

Our Reality And Matrix

The last 10-15 years have been a strange time. But the last one and a half or two years turned out to be a brutal call. Many with whom I discussed this topic say that if they were in the place of the fictional Neo and knew all the facts, they would, without a shadow of a doubt, choose the blue pill. Not because they want the defeat of humanity. It is because they see no good reason to get out of one golden cage and into another rusty and battered. And for what? To restart the simulation again?

Moreover, in The Matrix, there are absolutely no guarantees that when you take a red pill, you really wake up. Nothing prevents the omnipotent AI from keeping a thousand layers of the Matrix with different conditions, Chosen Ones, Morpheus, and Trinity.

So, perhaps, I will also support Cypher. He wants to forget about the nightmare of nine years. He wants to return to oblivion and enjoy mundane pleasure. But what about humanity? What about the opposition to evil and the struggle for freedom?

Do you really think that the Matrix can be won? In a world where they make the fourth “Matrix,” and instead of creating new, original games, they release remaster after remaster? I doubt it.