Could the Matrix movies be considered Taoist texts?

[Vanir Thunder Dojo Tan]

You dont think the AniMatrix had any bearing on the story???

The oracle telling it how it was... wasnt how you saw it???

 

just sayin', thelerner

[soaring crane]

There's a LOT of water imagery in that movie (I've only seen the first one) as I recall ...

[Vanir Thunder Dojo Tan]

the falling code reminds me of digital rain

[PLB]

Baudrillard would have disowned the films because they introduced a "real" that the original thought did not. The dislocation demanded by Baudrillard's insistence that reality has been murdered is a difficult narrative to follow. It may or may not relate to Taoist thought but the difficulty reminds me of Zhaungzi .The movies avoided that kind of discomfort by introducing a back story.

[Rara]

Baudrillard would have disowned the films because they introduced a "real" that the original thought did not. The dislocation demanded by Baudrillard's insistence that reality has been murdered is a difficult narrative to follow. It may or may not relate to Taoist thought but the difficulty reminds me of Zhaungzi .The movies avoided that kind of discomfort by introducing a back story.

Do you mean that unlike Zhuangzi, The Matrix offers too much of an answer?

[PLB]

Do you mean that unlike Zhuangzi, The Matrix offers too much of an answer?

 

Yes, in the sense that the movie provides a means for restoration. Baudrillard says:

 

 

Whence the characteristic hysteria of our time: the hysteria of production and reproduction of the real. The other production, that of goods and commodities, that of la belle epoque of political economy, no longer makes any sense of its own, and has not for some time. What society seeks through production, and overproduction, is the restoration of the real which escapes it. That is why contemporary "material" production is itself hyperreal. It retains all the features, the whole discourse of traditional production, but it is nothing more than its scaled-down refraction (thus the hyperrealists fasten in a striking resemblance a real from which has fled all meaning and charm, all the profundity and energy of representation). Thus the hyperrealism of simulation is expressed everywhere by the real's striking resemblance to itself.

[Vanir Thunder Dojo Tan]

Right, so regular normal unplugged folks (unwashed masses of Zion), had no magic. Only when they plugged into a video game and were aware that they were did they get the 'magic'. In plain old reality was still plain old reality, except for the One.

 

You know, the more i think about it, the more i am inclined to watch the movies again, PLUS the animatrix, and give it this new perspective.

 

As i thought about it more and more, i realized that Thelerner is probably SPOT ON.

 

In the Oracle's recap during the Animatrix, we learn that the Machines were Mankind's "brainchild" and "we" relied heavily on them for everything from everything to everything (also, subtly ew).

It was all fine and dandy until the machines started learning to be JUST LIKE US. So when our children started behaving like we used to in our shameful history, we disowned them and attempted to eradicate them, JUST LIKE IN OUR OWN SHAMEFUL HISTORIES!!!

 

 

So really, we're jsut terrible parents and should be going extinct any second now.

[Rara]

 

You know, the more i think about it, the more i am inclined to watch the movies again, PLUS the animatrix, and give it this new perspective.

 

As i thought about it more and more, i realized that Thelerner is probably SPOT ON.

 

In the Oracle's recap during the Animatrix, we learn that the Machines were Mankind's "brainchild" and "we" relied heavily on them for everything from everything to everything (also, subtly ew).

It was all fine and dandy until the machines started learning to be JUST LIKE US. So when our children started behaving like we used to in our shameful history, we disowned them and attempted to eradicate them, JUST LIKE IN OUR OWN SHAMEFUL HISTORIES!!!

 

 

So really, we're jsut terrible parents and should be going extinct any second now.

I actually went and rewatched the first film last night, trying to see all this but didn't. Even though Neo makes the first shot with a gun in the final infiltration to rescue Morpheous, The Matrix isn't real and is yet trying to destroy humans and zion.

 

Way I see it, if your computer games were actually taking your soul away to the point of you playing them 24/7, that computer probably needs trashing.

[taoismtaoism]

What were your favourite movies in the Trilogy?

 

I personally liked the first the best, as it seemed to explore Taoist themes and concepts more so than the others.

 

Reply/comment with your ranking of the 3 movies, it would be pretty interesting to see

[Rara]

What were your favourite movies in the Trilogy?

 

I personally liked the first the best, as it seemed to explore Taoist themes and concepts more so than the others.

 

Reply/comment with your ranking of the 3 movies, it would be pretty interesting to see

1) 1

2) 2

3) 3

 

3 was just boring as hell.

[Vanir Thunder Dojo Tan]

all 3 are ONE movie.  they should only be watched back to back or not at all

edit: and the animatrix is like a great primer, or post-movie

Edited February 20, 2015 by Vanir Thunder Dojo Tan