The Matrix Trilogy: From Nietzschean Humanism to Hinduism

Hey ATS. How's it going.

I see threads about the Matrix pop up here and there, so when I found this paper I thought, hey, ATS might like to read it and discuss it.

From Superman to Brahman: The Religious Shift of The Matrix Mythology

'In this article, we argue two points: 1) that the religious images, symbols and allusions of The Matrix mythology shift decidedly from the West to the East; and 2) that the Western end of this shift is grounded not in the Christian religious tradition, but in Nietzschean humanism. This humanism explicit in the opening lines of the history of the Matrix myth, as found in The Animatrix, retains its dominance through The Matrix and into Reloaded, at which point the myth turns increasingly eastward and ends in the cyclical images of Vedic and Puranic creation and dissolution.'

Introduction

'Religious exegeses and interpretations of the Matrix trilogy are abundant and include perspectives from all of the major world religions. Entire books have been written interpreting the trilogy through the lens of individual traditions, and several edited works contain interpretations from multiple perspectives. This diversity reflects what Doty views as the primary characteristic of postmodern art, namely, that it is a "pastiche” in which "particular images from elsewhere or the past may be brought in apparently by arbitrary importation, not because they are significant in the plot by themselves.”

Because of this fact, some have suggested that religious pluralism may be the best lens through which to view the Matrix trilogy. The simultaneous use of multiple allusions, images and symbols from multiple religious traditions supports this notion. However, what we do not find in the voluminous analytical literature is a discussion of the religious shifts the trilogy makes. While there is a menagerie of religious symbols and images indicative of a pluralistic outlook at work throughout the trilogy, particular religious motifs and images do seem to take precedence at certain points and thus help to shape the contours of the myth.

The primary religious shift in the myth is essentially one from West to East, beginning not with Christianity, as many have supposed, but with a Nietzschean humanism that uses the images and symbols of Christianity as a foil. From here, the myth shifts subtly eastward, ending with the cyclical images of Vedic and Puranic creation and dissolution.'

Read the rest at the above link, and comment. It has some interesting things to say about Sati.

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a reply to: BlueMule

ah thank you for something interesting and not so depressing, to read.

my take on it:

i disagree that it shifts from west to east. it's both eastern and western, the whole time.

a reply to: undo

In equal proportions?

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originally posted by: BlueMule
a reply to: undo

In equal proportions?

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well that's a good question, but i see both (and even hints of judaism and paganism). it has an absolutely mammoth jesus theme.


what i've noticed is people who don't really devote time to studying jesus, but instead to vatican teachings, miss alot of what he said, or they read it, but don't realize the implications because they have that other teaching running thru their heads. jesus is not a simple read. just ask any rosicrucian.

a reply to: BlueMule
It always seemed more Eastern than Western to me because the core theme of the Matrix is that we are asleep and being controlled by a vast machine (maya) and need to awaken from this dream-life.

However, in the Matrix, the dreaming seems to take place in the West so there is an Omega-like approach to getting beyond the dream - including guns! Gotta have guns (to sell tickets)! So the solution is definitely more Western - e.g., overcoming an actual physical machine. (It makes for a more exciting and successful movie to battle your way to awake-ness than to sit around meditating your way beyond the dream! LOL. Maybe they should have Bollywood-style danced their way there?)

I do see the progression the authors are writing about, but again, from the beginning, the Eastern archetype of being asleep in this life, is throughout the trilogy. But it is a hodge-podge of different archetypes - both East and West. Also, a good formula for success, no doubt.

Of course, if one gets into Western mysticism, one can also discover this same archetype of being asleep, but it is definitely not mainstream in the West, like it is in various Eastern traditions.

originally posted by: undo

originally posted by: BlueMule
a reply to: undo

In equal proportions?

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well that's a good question, but i see both (and even hints of judaism and paganism). it has an absolutely mammoth jesus theme.

I would agree. Neo being Jesus incarnate and by the end of the trilogy has died and been reborn. But of course they make this perfectly clear that it is cyclic in nature and there were many more Jesus's before him. I couldnt help but remark at a unique opportunity to attempt to visualize what it could be like to be "the one" Jesus, etc. Well certainly more intriguing at least than a carpenter/fisherman.

a reply to: Rosinitiate

the stone the builders rejected. i think the architect is their (wachowski brothers) version of satan.

I'd like to read this and refresh myself on the trilogy, but I don't think I could sit through the last two movies again.

originally posted by: Rosinitiate
But of course they make this perfectly clear that it is cyclic in nature and there were many more Jesus's before him.

That brings to mind something Justin Martyr said.

'And when we say also that the Word, who is the first-birth of God, was produced without sexual union, and that He, Jesus Christ, our Teacher, was crucified and died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven, we propound nothing different from what you believe regarding those whom you esteem sons of Jupiter.'

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a reply to: undo

But doesn't Sati take over as architect (Brahma) at the end?

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a reply to: BlueMule

actually, which is a bit different than the matrix in that regard, jesus takes over as the architect in the end of the biblical text, but only after he proves the current architect doesn't really deserve his position since he appears to hate human beings.

if this were a metaphor for planets, it would fit right in with the verse in revelation that says "that there should be time no longer" (saturn=chronos=time), some reference perhaps to saturn being destroyed, converted to a sun (2010 space odyssey?) or something. i dunno, as it also references humans once again having access to the tree and water of life, which i've always thought was a metaphor for full body regen dna - which in that event, means the end of death ( life no longer has a destruct mechanism, so "time" in that sense is destroyed, and instead is replaced by life)

since prophetical texts are frequently multi-layered, it could mean all of the above and more.

While I found the original Matrix enthralling, the second and was there more that I did not even bother with were to me regurgitation of some of the gobble de gook from the first.

The article linked points out

that it is a "pastiche” in which "particular images from elsewhere or the past may be brought in apparently by arbitrary importation, not because they are significant in the plot by themselves.”

while a statement from a poster above mentions

menagerie of religious symbols

and another

But it is a hodge-podge of different archetypes

The Wachowskis got luck with Matrix. The camera action mixed with the "pastiche" of borrowed symbolism from where ever they could find it spelled success.

I wonder at the idea of trying to make any real 'sense' of it all, hashing out what they were trying to say, what it's meaning was, what it's revelations on reality were. For me it was all a conglomeration of ideas that were cooked up together in a stew pot and presented to a young generation who for the most part had never given any thought possible realities beyond mendacity as if it was something to really think about.

In a way, I am led to comparisons of the Matrix with L Ron Hubbard and Scientology. This mediocre science fiction author concocks this elaborate concept and somehow it is picked up by a whole bunch of folk as being some kind of window on a truer reality.

But back to the Wachowskis. Their next big flick was V for Vendetta. This one for me was exactly the same. A mix-mash of revolutionary jargon and symbology gleaned from this and that revolutionary philosophy and presented as a stirring fanfare for the revolting masses. And as in Matrix, and Scientology, once again so many picked it up as the symbol of demarkation from the staus quo.

Finally as I seem to be on a romp here. The W's last movie Jupiter Ascending. Again I see them standing over a boiling stew pot, tossing in this and tossing in that and for whatever reason some of this other stuff too. Too much of that? Who cares. To little of this? So what. It will all boil down to a simmer, then we will toss in a bunch of high priced trailers with pretty and action filled teasers and blaze our names across it and and so what if it stinks to high heaven. People will love it because it is a Wachowski movie.

And we all know from their success with the Matrix, that what the Wachowski's have to say is something to think about.
Not.

i just thought i'd mention, the architect in the film is like the biblical zoa, who have "eyes" all over them, also like the wheels with eyes in ezekiel 1. also wonder if that spider looking robot in the end that is carrying neo's body, is what the architect looks like when not in his "human body" form. tad bit gruesome, i'd say.

A western film with fighting styles inspired by an eastern cartoon that was originally based on an eastern story of a Monkey King called "The Journey to the West" that ended up to battles that could be blowing planets up at the level of being feats like that of Superman which was originally western that would of been based of various Myths to where the whole Justice league is like Mt. Olympus?

Lets not get confused by religion.
The Matrix film is about the human condition - existential anxiety. In fact the message in all religions is also about the human condition of suffering and the cure to it.
Doesn't everyone want a peaceful life?
The reason why life is heavy is because the 'separate self' seems real.