The Matrix and The Bible research paper

Josmeile Paniagua

ENG101/103

Dr. McCormick

5/17/12

Topic: The Matrix and The Bible

Thesis: How the characters in the movie The Matrix relate to the characters of the bible and how the movie The Matrix connects to the Bible.

Gnostic Christianity the belief that finding God through knowledge is more important than just believing in him; seems to relate quite a lot with the movie The Matrix, in fact some of the characters in the matrix represent some biblical characters.

In the movie The Matrix, Morpheus tells Neo the main character of the movie that he is “the one” that would stop the matrix and set all the people free from it. The matrix is a computer dream world that everybody is living in. As Jesus explained, "The shadows of this world are perceived by mortals, and they think they know the Truth, but the Reality which casts the shadows is hidden from them, and they do not perceive the Light." (Sayings 2:2) this relates to how in the matrix people think that real world is earth but it isn’t because the machines control it, the real world is where the machines are. “Morpheus: Do you want to know what it is? The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us, even now in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.” These two quotes one from the bible and the other from the movie script explains how the matrix works to make believe that their dream world is reality. Neo’s name Thomas Anderson relates to the Gnostic Gospel The Gospel of Thomas, this gospel is about how Thomas didn't believe he was the one, just as how Neo at first didn’t believe he was “the one” as well.“Neo: I'm not the One, Trinity. The Oracle told me.” Neo at the beginning of the movie was living two lives one as Anderson a computer software worker and the other as a computer hacker that goes by Neo. “Agent Smith: Mr. Anderson. It seems that you've been living two lives.” This is one of the many ways in which Neo represents Christ, because it can be said that Christ was living to lives one as in a full man and the other as being a fully god. Moving on, both Neo and Jesus Christ, although they did it differently, through their resurrection they freed the human race. Jesus does it by dying and being resurrected from the death, through this he frees humanity from all sin; Neo does it towards the end of the movie, where he learns the truth and frees humans from the matrix by passing it to others.

         Morpheus can be said that relates to two biblical characters, which would be Joseph and God. He is like Joseph in how he guides Neo throughout the whole movie, and in the bible Joseph was like a father to Christ and also guided him out of Jerusalem because they wanted to kill Jesus Christ. “When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt.”(Mat 2:14)This can relate how in the movie the matrix and Agent Smith were trying to kill Neo, and Morpheus guides Neo all the times. But Morpheus can also be related to God because in the movie it is said that Neo has been searching for Morpheus and so has Morpheus but his entire life, you can connect this to the relation that God wants to have with us since we are born. Another strong connection Morpheus has to God will be the way he contacts Neo, he didn’t contact him through himself but rather sends Trinity to contact him for him, God as well does this to. God contacts us first through the Holy Spirit.

Trinity connects to the Holy Spirit by the way she works throughout the movie. One example would be how Neo resurrected from her just as how Jesus resurrected through the Holy Spirit. The meaning to Trinity’s name has also to do with her role as the Holy spirit, her name means the number three and as we all know that in the bible it’s always “The father”, “The son”, and the “Holy Spirit” just how its Morpheus, Neo, and Trinity that fight the machines; its always 3 people in both the movie and the bible.

The Oracle can be seen as a Prophet in the way that she can predict future events. Like how she predicted that Neo wasn’t the one, “Same as the bad news, you're not the one.” that’s in a way in which a prophet works delivering god’s message and at times predicting future events.

         Furthermore, Cypher also as Morpheus connects to two biblical characters. One of the biblical characters that he relates to would be Judas the man that betrayed Christ in exchange of money. “And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them.”(Mar 14:10) As you seen in the movie Cypher is seen talking to Smith about returning to the matrix world, and he tells Smith that when he returns to the matrix world he wants to be rich, somebody important like a famous person and that he wanted to live a luxurious life. Cypher also can relate to the Devil as you may have noticed Cypher in the beginning of the movie wears all red this following feature relates to the Devil’s image that we all have of him. He also relates to the Devil in how he was part of Morpheus team and didn't believe the prophecy that there was a chosen one and therefore he betrays them, just how the Devil betrayed God, he was once one of God's angels and betrayed him because he didn't agree with him. Cypher's definition of his name refers to a math symbol, which means zero, meaning someone that has no value, as everybody knows the man with no value would be Satan.

Lastly, Agent Smith relates to two biblical characters as well, Agent Smith would be King Herod the king that was afraid of the chosen one Jesus of changing his laws and his ways. “And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”(Mat 2:13) As the king he decided to find Jesus and kill him. He also relates to the devil because it is said that the devil has 7 different heads and Smith and the other agents are always changing from body to body and when they move fast you can see multiple faces moving. Also how throughout the whole movie Smith's purpose was to destroy Morpheus and Neo, “curse God, and die.” just as the devil wants to destroy god and Christ. 

 In conclusion, the characters from The Matrix, through their actions throughout the movie and their purpose in the movie show how they relate to some biblical characters and also to Gnostic Christianity.

LIB Assignment Modern Chamber music

4) Listening to music live differs from listening to it on a recording because when you hear music live the composer can change it up, the conductor can make you play the symphony more dramatic. You can also improvise but only if they are good enough. When you listen to recording music it always sounds the same.

6) I listen to a lot of different types of music, I listen to pop, alternative rock, and Spanish music like merengue and bachata, the Spanish music I listen to are from my parent‘s country. I grew up listening to that kind of music because its what my family listened to. The music I heard today is different than the music that I listen to because it sounded different and they used different instruments.

7) I think people like music because its soothing, it calms them down makes them feel more relaxed. Some people like this type of music just simply because they like how it sounds, it seems to catch their attention. People could also like this music because by listening to it you have like a little story in your head of what’s going on.

8) When I watched the musicians play I noticed that the way the communicated was by nodding there heads, by doing this the other person knew when to start playing the song.

Adaptation movie

   The movie Adaptation that we watched in class is based on the non fictional book "The Orchid Thief" by:Susan Orleans, in the movie the main character is Charlie Kaufman (Nicholas Cage) and he seems to be a very miserable man, he has a very low self esteem and is constantly calling himself fat, he has no luck when it comes to the ladies, and is sexually frustrated. Also he is a screenplay writer in this following movie he is suppose to write a screenplay for the book "The Orchid Thief" so they can make a movie out of it but Charlie is having a hard time coming up with a screenplay because he wants to make this movie different he wants to tell a story about the opposition of change not about overcoming obstacles.

   Due to this he faces many problems because he can't adapt to change, he believes that there is nothing to write about the book, and that there is little bit of information given to make it into a movie. He eventually turns into his twin brother for help because he is a thriller writer and that's what he needs in his screenplay, he needs action, thrill to make it into a good movie.

    From there on as we all saw we had a hard time figuring out what was part of his imagination and what was reality. The author confuses us by including events that happen in reality and he joins it with clips that are fictional. The meaning to the movie is indeed the title itself which is adaptation. Everything throughout the movie is caused to adapt. Charlie is suppose to adapt to the book to write a screenplay, the author Susan is suppose to adapt to her life, and lastly the orchids are suppose to adapt to their environment.

"If I told him" A complete portrait of Picasso by:Gertrude Stein

The poem “If I told him” A complete portrait of Picasso by: Gertrude Stein was very confusing to read because she repeated a lot of words over and over again. In class when the teachers made each of us read like 2 sentences of the poem out loud I thought that we weren’t reading it as Gertrude would want people to read her poem because we were way out of beat, some people would read the poem fast and then some people would read it slow. When we were reading the poem I thought to myself that it didn’t make sense how that poem would be a portrait of Picasso because to me it had nothing to do with him, she never mentioned Picasso in the poem she was talking about other people and things like Napoleon and kings. But then when I heard Stein saying her poem it made sense to me why she made the poem like that. She wrote the poem like that because that’s how Picasso is, that was her way of describing how he is. The way Stein performed her poem was very different because poems are usually recited and when she recited her poem there was music in the back, I never heard anyone recite their poem like that. Her poem was very unique.

Summary of Chapter 4 At the Schooner's Rail

In Chapter 4 At the Schooner's Rail the captain of the ship passes out on his cabin floor and after finishing dining with the shipmates Prendrick and Montgomery go to the deck to have a talk. Montgomery starts reminicing about London. Prendrick tries to entertain him by talking about stuff that he remembers like gossip and etc. While being on the deck Prendrick sees a beast and wonders why that beast is on board. He doesnt say nothing becasue he doesnt want to get Montgomery mad, hes also scared of getting him mad. Moreover, Prendrick thanks Montgomeery for saving his life and taking care of him. Montgomery starts talking about his past and how he went crazy for ten minutes in a  foggy night. Eventually Montgomery doesnt wish to continue sharing his story and stops, Prendrick does not force him to continue he just leaves it at that.

Summary of Greenberg

Clement Greenberg is an author and writes about others; he isn't a painter. Greenberg refers to philosopher Kant to criticize criticism, to self criticism. He believed that Kant was the first modernist. Greenberg believed in modernism. Modernism is to surpass the old masters. He didn't know why everybody kept painting like the renaissance times, he thought that they should of changed the way they painted. Moving on, he talks about Moneau. Moneau admits to his limitations , and that he uses lines to create an image.

Outline for A Streetcar Named Desire

    Thesis: Throughout the play "A Streetcar Name Desire" by Tennessee Williams the author uses the use of alcohol to show how similar Blanche Dubious and Stanley Kowalski are but how it effects them differently. 

Body Paragraph 2: How both are acoholics. Blanche seeks attention from man when drunk like when she flirts with Stanley and tells her sister (pg.30). These flirtatious actions make her feels wanted, desired by many men which is what she wants.On the other hand, Stanley develops a more aggressive attitude when he is drunk. Great examples would be like the fight on poker night in which he hits his wife knowing she is with child.(pg.40) When he rapes Blanche he was also drunk(pg.93-94) These impulsive aggressive actions make him feel like the man in charge of the house.
Stanley:                                                                                    Blanche:

- loses control when drinking then regrets what he does                - drinks a lot      - gets very flirty                                                                                              
- makes him feel strong,empowered                                            - enjoys it               

- doesn't drink much                                                                   - makes her feel better

Body Paragraph 3: How they both have strong sexual desires. Blanche got fired from school because she seduced one of her students.(pg.59) Even when she lives with Stella and Stanley she flirts with Stanley knowing that he is her own sister's husband; showing no shame in her game.Moreover, she also flirts with Stanley's friend Mitch by talking to him in a flirtatious attitude. Furthermore, Stanley's desires are more like an animals desires. For an example: when he hits Stella they make up by having sex.(pg.40) That reaction shows the inner animal desires he has. [Blanche ruins everything for them, that's why Stanley hates her. He isn't able to have sex with his wife Stella.]

Stanley:

-uncontrollable desire   - he acts on his emotions

-like a animal               - impulsive 

-cant control his emotions

Body Paragraph 4: Both are manipulators.They both tend to manipulate Stella to there advantage. Blanche manipulates her with her whole fragile perfect act. Stella knows that she needs to compliment her. Stanley takes advantage of the situation that Blanche has gone mad and manipulates his wife in thinking that he didn't rape Blanche when he actually did. He pushes Blanche to her breaking point driving her crazy.

Conclusion: In conclusion, through the use of alcohol, the author Tennessee Williams helps show how Blanche Dubious and Stanley Kowalski are very much similar but also how it has different effects on them.


Comparison between the two characters Blanche and Stanley:
1) both are alcoholics.
2) both have sexual desires.
3) both are manipulators.