What-if?

RED PILL OR BLUE PILL?


3:05 CHOICE IS AN ILLUSION

We are viewing Momento tomorrow, which stars Carrie-Anne Moss (TRINITY) and Joe Pantoliano (CYPHER).

Need I say more? It's time for another Matrix themed post (revisiting the pill scene Emma mentioned in one of her earlier blog posts).

Much like Kindred, being a work of science-fiction allows for The Matrix to push norms. It is chock-full of philosophical references that challenge the viewer's perception of reality, freedom, and choice (just to name a few). If you haven't seen it yet, I strongly recommend it. For those who haven't, here's some quick info about the movie (from IMDb because I couldn't summarize the film. Stuff in parenthesis from myself): A computer hacker (Neo) learns from mysterious rebels (Morpheus & Co.) about the true nature of his reality and his role in the war against its controllers (man vs machine!).

The first clip is from the first movie. Morpheus offers Neo a choice. The blue pill allows him to continue on his merry way living under an illusion, under the "reality" that has been accepted. The red pill allows him to follow Morpheus' path and gain consciousness of the confines of the Matrix, which is a stimulation of the world as we know it. In another scene, another character, Cypher regrets choosing the red pill and would have rather lived in ignorance.

I was probably around ten when I saw the Matrix for the first time, and though I didn't understand most of it, the pill scene stuck with me. I wondered: what would I do if I were given the choice? Would I take the risk of having my life change, unknowingly for better or worse, and become aware of a truth that cannot be forgotten or would I rather return to my daily life despite knowing that everything is a lie. The characters we've encountered in our readings didn't have Neo's right to choice. For example, in Kindred, Dana couldn't control the force that threw her back in time and in the rest of the texts, fate seems to dictate the characters' actions. Just as many of us wrote of not having choice in our blogs, the chance to make a real choice for ourselves is a weighty rarity. As I mentioned in my blog on Cat's Cradle, I would rather pull the wool over my eyes than see a blinding sight. Some would say that my choice is "cowardly," but I ask, do you really want to know if our reality isn't what we believe it is? Do you really want to doubt the meaning of your existence? Do you really want to know the Truth?

I question reality. Life sometimes doesn't feel "real," as if things are sometimes too smooth, too familiar. Some days unfold as if written out, and other days feel like repeats. I would like to believe that I'm the protagonist of my own story that the world, if it isn't an organic matter, is something that is created around my existence. It sounds cocky, I know. BUT, I mean it more in the sense that if everything is an illusion, I rather be at the core, to be part of the reason and not just a dispensable filler. I just want to live in a reality that allows me to feel significant, and even if we are unaware of a greater Truth, then I rather NOT know what it is if it detracts from my sense of self. I fear knowing too much of the unknown. I don't mind challenging what feels constrictive, but there is always that shadow of doubt and fear that I have that there exists unthinkable, life-changing knowledge so immense that you cannot disbelieve it. Then, there wouldn't be a choice to forget and live on merrily as Morpheus claims the blue pill allows. In a way, Neo never even had a real choice since both options follow the path of discovering a greater consciousness.

This is idea of a no-choice-choice is strengthened in the second clip, which is from the Matrix Reloaded. The Merovingian uses causality to prove that contrary to what Morpheus says, choice is an illusion. Every action is an effect of a cause, whether or not you can trace the direct correlations. With this approach, choice is a lie. There is no choice. The choice you think you made on accord of your "free will" and "independence" is just a ripple in the water.