Would you look at that the election episode was just amazing as I thought it would be. One and a half seasons of build up and it does not disappoint. With the election plotline being one of my favorite plotlines this far into the wire, I was really hoping they would tie it up well, and they sure did. My only problem with the way they ended the plotline was the election announcement itself, as it was decently anti calamitic which was a bit of a let down due to the suspense and hype it built up, but it was still decent. The content after the election results opened up great new plotlines that im sure the show will focus on from here on out. The rest of the episode was incredible to having a compelling plot and amazing character progression.
Reviews
2 Reviews
The Matrix
(1999)
The Matrix and The Allegory Of The Cave
23 May 2023
Warning: Spoilers
The 1999 movie, The Matrix is largely inspired by Plato's allegory of the cave the two holding similarities such as the 'ordinary vs special worlds', and the protagonists rolls, however The Matrix is able to set enough difference between the two, such as the antagonist (the vastly different threat level of the two) and mentor rolls (one having a mentor and one not), that The Matrix feels like its own, original, story.
The Matrix is a movie created by the Wachowskis in 1999 featuring the films protagonist "Neo" feeling a disconnect from the place he calls home. He is then introduced to the films mentor "Morpheus" who offers Neo a choice, "You take the blue pill, the story ends, and you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes." Neo, of course choses the red pill, because the Wachowskis would never make a 30-minute movie, and he wakes in in the real world, lying in a tank of goo managed by robots. It turns out that the world Neo grew up in, the world he was so used to, the world he could smell taste and touch was never his true reality. For his whole life, he was just forced into a dream while his body was being harvested for all the energy it could offer. If you are familiar with both, its clear that this movie is strikingly similar to The Allegory of The Cave written by Plato in 380 BCE. Both pieces have many similarities, as they feature a person, having an incredible limited scope of the world (through no fault of their own) who then get ripped away from the tiny cell of a reality they've been living in, and are brought into the real world, where they have to deal with the horrors that exist. What I love about the matrix, is even though it was based on Plato's writing, it still manages to separate the two extremely well. There are many key differences between The Matrix and The Allegory of The Cave, the first being "the saviors" role. In Allegory of The Cave, the person who brings the prisoner out of the cave is not a good person. They don't allow the prisoner a choice on if they'd like to leave the cave or not and almost torture the prisoner by making him look at the light, and the sun. In The Matrix, Morpheus is the opposite. Not only does he give Neo the choice to leave, but he guides Neo through this new world, and protects Neo like he protects no other. Another change from Plato's writing to the film is the protagonist of the world. The Prisoner and Neo are very different from each other, simply coming down to the fact that at the end of the day, the prisoner is a nobody, while Neo becomes the most important person on the planet. Neo also has someone to guide him through the real world, to show him the ins and outs, while the prisoner is forced to discover everything about it on his own. They also share some similarities, as they both go back into their prisons in order to free others and that becomes their life purpose. There's also a striking difference between the antagonists of the stories, as in the matrix, the antagonists take the form of deadly oppressive robots who overthrew humanity, where in the allegory of the cave, the antagonists are just the people who locked the prisoners away, and who taunt them from time to time. There's the obvious difference between the two surrounding their threat levels one being a giant obstacle the protagonist must face, and the other being just there. However, there are also some more descript differences between the two such as one being apparently there, even included in the prisoner's small knowledge of the world in the cell, and the other is a masked threat not apparent until the real world is shown.
For me, its tough to call the matrix an exact modern-day retelling of the allegory of the cave. Sure, they both hold the exact same themes and messages, but through the way each story is told, Plato seems to be suggesting that the cave could possibly be a modern day problem/reality while the Wachowski sisters show the matrix as a dystopian future and not a possibility for the modern day. Key differences like this set the matrix apart from the allegory of the cave, making its own (similar) but unique telling of a post-apocalyptic world.
In terms of the matrix's overall quality, the movie is incredibly strong for the first 30 minutes before the writing quality gradually falls for the rest of the film. It's almost as if when the writers ran out of source material, they couldn't keep any consistency and ended up taking the easy way out at almost every opportunity. Sounds like something else I know (cough, cough, game of thrones). The movie has great acting, amazing world building, good cinematography, but very inconsistent writing. Having to watch 'Neo being saved by a kiss' and the mediocre at best ending feels like a slap in the face to the audience who have dedicated their time into the film. The film has some great qualities though, and I think overall deserves a solid 8.5/10.
In the end, regardless of how much the allegory of the cave inspired it, the matrix manages to be its own unique film that does a great job of separating characters, world building, and plot from the source material its based off. Both the matrix and the allegory of the cave bring up a similar, disturbing, question: I's this our true reality?' And I will leave you with that, an ending worse than the matrix's itself.
The Matrix is a movie created by the Wachowskis in 1999 featuring the films protagonist "Neo" feeling a disconnect from the place he calls home. He is then introduced to the films mentor "Morpheus" who offers Neo a choice, "You take the blue pill, the story ends, and you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes." Neo, of course choses the red pill, because the Wachowskis would never make a 30-minute movie, and he wakes in in the real world, lying in a tank of goo managed by robots. It turns out that the world Neo grew up in, the world he was so used to, the world he could smell taste and touch was never his true reality. For his whole life, he was just forced into a dream while his body was being harvested for all the energy it could offer. If you are familiar with both, its clear that this movie is strikingly similar to The Allegory of The Cave written by Plato in 380 BCE. Both pieces have many similarities, as they feature a person, having an incredible limited scope of the world (through no fault of their own) who then get ripped away from the tiny cell of a reality they've been living in, and are brought into the real world, where they have to deal with the horrors that exist. What I love about the matrix, is even though it was based on Plato's writing, it still manages to separate the two extremely well. There are many key differences between The Matrix and The Allegory of The Cave, the first being "the saviors" role. In Allegory of The Cave, the person who brings the prisoner out of the cave is not a good person. They don't allow the prisoner a choice on if they'd like to leave the cave or not and almost torture the prisoner by making him look at the light, and the sun. In The Matrix, Morpheus is the opposite. Not only does he give Neo the choice to leave, but he guides Neo through this new world, and protects Neo like he protects no other. Another change from Plato's writing to the film is the protagonist of the world. The Prisoner and Neo are very different from each other, simply coming down to the fact that at the end of the day, the prisoner is a nobody, while Neo becomes the most important person on the planet. Neo also has someone to guide him through the real world, to show him the ins and outs, while the prisoner is forced to discover everything about it on his own. They also share some similarities, as they both go back into their prisons in order to free others and that becomes their life purpose. There's also a striking difference between the antagonists of the stories, as in the matrix, the antagonists take the form of deadly oppressive robots who overthrew humanity, where in the allegory of the cave, the antagonists are just the people who locked the prisoners away, and who taunt them from time to time. There's the obvious difference between the two surrounding their threat levels one being a giant obstacle the protagonist must face, and the other being just there. However, there are also some more descript differences between the two such as one being apparently there, even included in the prisoner's small knowledge of the world in the cell, and the other is a masked threat not apparent until the real world is shown.
For me, its tough to call the matrix an exact modern-day retelling of the allegory of the cave. Sure, they both hold the exact same themes and messages, but through the way each story is told, Plato seems to be suggesting that the cave could possibly be a modern day problem/reality while the Wachowski sisters show the matrix as a dystopian future and not a possibility for the modern day. Key differences like this set the matrix apart from the allegory of the cave, making its own (similar) but unique telling of a post-apocalyptic world.
In terms of the matrix's overall quality, the movie is incredibly strong for the first 30 minutes before the writing quality gradually falls for the rest of the film. It's almost as if when the writers ran out of source material, they couldn't keep any consistency and ended up taking the easy way out at almost every opportunity. Sounds like something else I know (cough, cough, game of thrones). The movie has great acting, amazing world building, good cinematography, but very inconsistent writing. Having to watch 'Neo being saved by a kiss' and the mediocre at best ending feels like a slap in the face to the audience who have dedicated their time into the film. The film has some great qualities though, and I think overall deserves a solid 8.5/10.
In the end, regardless of how much the allegory of the cave inspired it, the matrix manages to be its own unique film that does a great job of separating characters, world building, and plot from the source material its based off. Both the matrix and the allegory of the cave bring up a similar, disturbing, question: I's this our true reality?' And I will leave you with that, an ending worse than the matrix's itself.
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