The Matrix

Unplugging from The Matrix - Introduction
Storytelling as we knew it has been long gone away, it has been replaced with new faces and new methods of analysis by the overall population. These texts are no longer just available to the wealthy or the literate since nowadays anyone and everyone can read and comment on anything they wish to. In today's world people decide what the stories are about and giant communities come together to converge on meanings and themes.New forms of technology has affected the increase in involvement and contribution. Such communities exist because of basic human curiosity to explore and converse with others. People want to know that what they are thinking must not be too crazy or what they are thinking must have some importance in interpreting a text. A text even has changed from the old days from just being books, poems, and some art work to becoming multi million dollar blockbuster hits and eccentric forms of music. However, this is not to say that in the modern "Wired World" people are not obsessed with books or classical texts. A story that has captured today's minds is the story of the Matrix. The trilogy was a blockbuster hit with the general population and it has given rise much dispute and commenting by it's addicted fans. Some people have gone so far to question their own reality, do they have a point?

The simulation argument states that it is more likely for human civilization to be living in a simulation than an actual physical world. The argument comes to such a conclusion because of certain premises. These premises state that if an advanced civilization reaches a point of immense computing power they will likely run simulations to mimic their history or their universe. Another premise is that if these events do take place it is likely that they might run thousands of these programs simultaneously to gather whatever research they might need. Hence leading to the conclusion that it is more likely that we as a civilization are living in such a program because of the outnumbered ratio of a simulated world versus the real world. The simulation argument applies to the series of The Matrix because of the story of Matrix takes place in such a simulation and it shows the struggles of humans that eventually get out of such a simulation. This series also brings up the questions of would these humans want to get out of such a system to suffere the pain and agony of the real world? This is directly related to the promethean theme of having too much knowledge and dealing with it's consequences. Just like Victor in Frankenstein some of the characters in the Matrix deal with the consequences of acquiring too much knowledge. This is evident when one of the characters, Cypher, decide to betray his fellow humans to return to the dream world.

The Matrix has been addictively followed by many people because of the interesting questions that it raises. The fans form communities to form opinions and theories on some of the implications of the movie. These disputes enable many users to connect with others to test out their beliefs. Howeve, other than theorizing, The Matrix has been so popular that there are dedicated websites where fans can compile information and solid facts about the movie. Thirdly, The Matrix has opened up the door for movies of similar nature that add on to the premise of the movie. There have been many different adaptations of the movie since it came out. The fans have created side stories, prequels, and sequels with their own imagination and remidiation. In this project I will analyze many disputes arised by the fans of certain events in the story and what the author really intended. I will also look into remediated material from the Matrix to showcase the vast impact of the much liked story.

Interpretive Disputes
One of the most interesting topics of discussion that comes out of the Matrix fan community is not actually located in the tales of the story. Many fans have gone beyond the questions within the movie and have started asking questions that are outside the universe of the realm. To explore these disputes I chose to analyze the fan made forum of Matrix-Explained. Other than a place to discuss individual theories about the text, Matrix-Explained serves as the go to site for many fans having trouble understanding some of the more confusing parts of the story. User "VedMed" from Matrix-Explained user forum asks the interesting question of "Is there a matrix within the system of a matrix?" He asserts that even in the "real" world that we live in, our senses have a "meta-conciousness that supplies the information to our senses, creating the picture of the World in our minds via Control. And there is even greater meta-consciousness, and so forth to the Absolute Consciousness. So in actuality we do live in a Matrix which is in a Matrix, which is in a greater Matrix and so forth until we reach the Absolute." He doesnt make clear what he means by how the "Absolute Consciousness" is achieved and what differentiates it from the lower level collections of meta-conciousness. His overall message though is that anything and everything that is able to sense it's environment is already living in a matrix within a matrix. For example your motor sensors in your hands communicate with your brain which communicateed with other parts of the brain in a highly complex manner and different levels of interaction to make you the person understand that you are touching something. Another user by the name "Agent-Dragon" responds to his assertions by saying that "It is all about belief. If you think you are 'out' of the Matrix than that is how it is. If you believe you are in it still than that is how it is." He goes on to make the point that such conversations are interesting but they rely more on belief than actual analysis. The rest of the thread is lined with people arguing back and forth these two positions.

Another fansite called TheMatrix101 also discusses the topic of matrix within a matrix. They however provide sound evidence that includes scenes from the second movie "The Matrix:Reloaded" The theorize in one of the scenes where Agent Smith "is a program, so how can he actually exist in Zion? How can he be made real, when he's just a pile of bits in the first place? Zion must be part of the Matrix for Smith to exist in it, and the humans have no idea they're still in the Matrix." They also give another example of a similar event when Neo is able to disconnect the sentinels, the machines that were meant to destroy Zion. These theories rely on the assumption that human brain can not interact with the machine code. The machines think in programs and code how can they be influenced or can influence humans? Another user by the name of Muhammed Kapadia however has a rebuttal to this theory. He theorizes that Agent Smith was only able to control people with "holes" in them, meaning people that were saved from the matrix. These people are not 100% human and they have openings in them that can be linked to the matrix. The end result is however is again up for the community to decide and from personal observations it seemed split evenly on which side of the belief that the fans fell on.

Knowledge Communities
The Matrix obviously has a huge fanbase because of it's interesting and appealing storyline. There were many sites where the facts and information is localized in matrices of pages. One of these pages is the wikia page for the trilogy called simply Matrix Wikia. This page has the iconic theme colors and graphics of the series where green code runs down on a black background. The site contain 1,152 pages within itself for users to access. It helps new coming users start off by having tabs on most popular articles, information on the series, and blog posts by fans to dispute and debate the storyline. The site not only contains knowledge on the trilogy but also on other adaptation of the movie, for example The Ani-Matrix. The site however lays out the plot of the story without any alerts to newcoming members. If one reads the pages of the community they will likely learn more than they wish if they haven't seen the movies or it's other adaptations. The community works like wikipedia or any other wikia site where any individual with appropriate knowledge can edit or change anything they wish to. The community works on and depends on each individual to correct mistakes. From personal observation I did not notice anything that was out of the ordinary about the storyline so it should be safe to say that the community is working and achieving what it was supposed to do.

Another knowledge community edited by amatuers and where average folks can put in what they know is again the website TheMatrix 101. Not only do they have forums for people to dispute issues but they also have pages where they contain solid information about the trilogy. For example they have a page on each movie that contain the synopsis, characters, meaning, and symbolism within the movie. This website is different from the wikia site because it is run by admins that have set up the website. They contain not much detailed information on the series because of the limited number of people that can edit the pages. For example the synopsis in the wikia site contain 6 or 7 paragraphs of detailed articulation but the synopsis in this site is only 2 paragraphs long. That is not to say however that the information is not accurate, it is just not as expansive as the wikia site. What I personally liked about the website was the fact that they have a "meaning" section where they put the idealism and symbolism behind certain lines and events. For example they emphasize on the line "there is no spoon" from the first movie by saying that this was a key scene for Neo to understand objects in the matrix world do not exist. This enables Neo later on to control the environment to defeat the virus programs that he fights. These kinds of expansive websites can serve to inform the fans or even people that had never seen the movies. They do a great job of summarizing and compiling facts about the movie.

Remediation
One of the most popular external adaptation of the trilogy has to be the The Ani-Matrix series. The series complies 9 animated short films that are based off of the original movie. They remediate the Matrix because they change from the original film version to animations that include 3D animation and also Japanese style traditional anime. The series starts off with giving background information on why the human race has been enslaved by the machines. It gives a story of a young man struggling to figure out if the world he lives in is fake or not in the Detective Story short film where the character Trinity appears. On another one of it's short stories the Ani-Matrix presents a group of kids playing with a glitch in the program designed by the Architect. The importance of these short films is that they expand on the implications of the stotyline in the original trilogy. The Wachowski brothers may not have inte  nded for the original story to have implementations and expansion seen in the series of the Ani-Matrix. However when they decided to take up on the challenge the adaptation earned it's place to become the number one selling anime movie in the year 2003.

Along with the movies there have been many game adaptations of the series as well. Although not as successful as the animated series games such as Enter the Matrixhave given an alternative storyline to the fanbase. The remediated movive in the game form received terrible scores however. A critic from G4.com gave it a two stars out of five when it came out.

My favorite remediated form of the matrix is one that can actually impact the real world. Before the movies not many people thought much of their world as being artificial or fake. However, with the idea spreading like wild fire after the movies, many individuals are convinced that they live in a matrix like state. These kinds of conspiracy theory specialists are able to spread these ideas because of how popular the movie has made the Simulation Argument. For example, on one of the sites they point to ghosts as evidence for the a program world being in place. They argue if ghosts can't physically be explained or even exist than why are there so many reports or stories on them? Why is our history littered with ideas of a spirit? There are other websites that go beyond further just accepting that we live in a matrix. The claim that the ancient's had figured this out they knew about the eventual resetting of the program. That is why, they say, that the world will "end" in 2012 and reboot reality. Another popular idea that can be linked to current culture is the idea of the Architect in the matrix reflects that of God. They claim that this world is just a stage in which people are tested and the real world is waiting for them once they pass on and get accepted into society. However far fetched these ideas may be it points to the impact of the series and the Simulation Argument on the public. There is nothing we can say or do to disprove them and it is good to explore and understand alternative ways of thinking. The Matrix has certainly been a source for people to remediate their thinking however odd it may be. Just like texts and poems being remediated by the wired world, the wired world and it's contributors have been remediating and expanding on the series original story.