16 / 9 / 2013 - THE MATRIX Task

The questions in this task are related to the Key Aspect of AUDIENCE. When an Audience experiences a text (i.e. watches and thinks about a film), the filmmakers want them to react in a certain way, or to think of certain things. This is called the PREFERRED READING.

In The Matrix, many of the themes and ideas are hidden beneath the Kung-fu and Guns, but they are there. Maybe they are supposed to be subconcious, but I want you to identify and think about them. That is what the following questions are for.

Read them, discuss them and then write down your answers, either in your jotters or on the computer. You may want to use the Internet to research your answers.
Save all work to [Student In -> Media Studies -> S5&6]

1.What are the main themes of The Matrix? Just name them.


2.Draw a parallel between the world of the Matrix and our world.
Do we live in a matrix? Discuss ways our society enslaves us.

- What forces are controlling our lives: advertising, fashion, politics, formal education, class, etc.?

- Can someone be enslaved without knowing it?

3.Discuss symbolism in The Matrix:- The Spoon (There is no spoon)

- Symbolism of the characters and their names (Neo - Thomas Anderson; Morpheus; Trinity; the Oracle; Cypher) - The red pill and the blue pill

- Doors

4.How do we know that what we perceive is real? Do we ever distrust our senses?

5.How can Neo free himself from the Matrix? How is the idea of FREEDOM explored in the film?

6.Do we care about certain things independent of the experiences they create for us? For example, is being in reality important even if the experience isn’t pleasant? Is it better to live happily in the Matrix than miserably in reality? Why or why not?

7.Draw a parallel between choosing to live in Matrix - the current world we live in - or to know reality, to know about wars, the world of the starving, of the impoverished, of children enslaved in sweatshops, mines, prostitution…

8.If you were faced with the choice of reality vs. the matrix, which would you choose and why? Would you fight for freedom, like Neo and the rest of Morpheus's crew, or would you decide "ignorance is bliss," like Cypher does, and get reinserted into the matrix?   9.What can you do to set yourself free from “the Matrix”?   10.Can you also be like Neo and help others become free and stop being “batteries” that keep this system running? If so, how? What steps should you take? (Think of the film sequences and the different stages Neo underwent)