I'm not going to say much about this one. I liked The Matrix Reloaded a lot more than most other people did. However, I enjoy this scene as a sort of stand-alone short movie.
The reason I like it is because it feels archetypal. Perhaps it's my imagination projecting backwards, but I think I've harboured a lifelong scenario of meeting an immensely wise old man, who is not God and not necessarily benevolent, in some kind of normally inaccessible place, a place that seems unreal or hyperreal or something like that.
I think this archetype is also evoked by other scenes in movies, books, and television. For instance, the last scene in the first series of Squid Game, when the protagonist meets the evil genius behind it all. (I regret watching Squid Game, which I find sickening in retrospect. I only watched one season.) And then there are the final scenes in 2001: A Space Odyssey, where the monolith might serve the role of the wise old man. And then there's the premise of Stephen King's Dark Tower series, where the protagonist's whole purpose is to reach the top of the Dark Tower which is the nexus of the universe. However, I never got to the end of that series.
(I've never cared much about acting. But, insofar as I care about acting, it's to strongly dislike over-acting. So Keanu Reeves is my kind of actor, and I wish all actors and actresses were similarly "wooden".)
It is a thought-provoking scene. I did not see either the Matrix or the sequels, but I guess the Architect is trying to appear as if he knows everything but he really doesn't.
ReplyDeleteThe Matrix is one of the most famous ones, but I remember that back when personal computers and the Internet were new, there was an idea that the digital world would be a world unto itself, that virtual worlds would become more and more real.
But the thing is, that never happened. Computers and the Internet are more prevalent than ever, but the kind of excitement that people had about using them is gone. And the digital world seems more and more fake, not real. The idea of a life-like virtual world has become a storytelling trope, but it isn't considered in the way it used to be.
That's a pretty big deal, that something that was made so much of, has just been dropped. And the fact that it was just dropped is also a big deal. People have just moved on to the next hype. But I would say that the fact that it did not pan out means the underlying idea was wrong. Virtual worlds are virtual; they take everything they have from the real world, so they cannot be worlds unto themselves. And I would say the Internet was at its best when it tried to reflect the real world, in the early 2000's.
Thanks for the comment and very good points. Yes, I do think the Architect is bluffing to some degree. And come to think of it, saying: "She is going to die and there is nothing you can do about it" is true of us all, anyway.
DeleteI do remember the assumption that virtual reality would be the next big thing in the early nineties. It's quite extraordinary it hasn't actually happened over twenty years later, even if it does eventually happen. On the other hands, I suppose stories can be true on a more metaphorical level.
It is also telling that we now have to question everything on the internet, even video. "Pictures or it didn't happen" isn't true anymore...