Red and blue pills. The noble temptation of the System. A new look at the film "The Matrix"

"Neo, take these two pills - red and blue. - What, Morpheus, do you have to choose one of them again? - Take them both, idiot! This is Duovit."

I'm pike, here it is:

- Welcome, Neo. As you already guessed, I am Morpheus.
- This is a great honor for me.
- No. It's an honor for me.
- Please come in. Sit down. Perhaps now you are experiencing the same thing as Alice flying down the rabbit hole?
- Something like that.
- It’s all written all over your face.
- You look like a person who is not surprised by anything because he thinks it is a dream. To be honest, there is a lot of truth in this. Do you believe in fate, Neo?
- No.
- Why?
- I don’t like to float like a sliver on the ocean of life.
- This is very clear to me.
- Let me explain why you are here. Suspicion has crept into you. Until you can clearly formulate it. But it eats you. You lived with it all the time. Something is wrong in this world. This thought stuck in your brain like a thorn, driving you crazy. It was this feeling that brought you to me. Do you understand what I am talking about?
- About the Matrix?
- Do you want to know what it is? The Matrix is everywhere. We live in it. She is here in this room. You see it when you look out the window or turn on the TV. She is with you at work or at church or when you do your taxes. This is a veil covering your eyes so that you cannot see the truth.
- What truth?
- That you are a slave. Like everyone else like you, you were born in chains, born in a prison that cannot be smelled, touched, or seen. In a prison for the mind. Alas, it is impossible to simply explain what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself. It's not too late to give up. Then there will be no turning back. Take the blue pill and the fairy tale will end, you will wake up in your bed and think that you dreamed everything. Take the red one, and you'll be in Through the Looking Glass. I'll show you how deep this rabbit hole goes. Remember, I suggest you find out the truth. And no more.

Oh, how I love this moment - the moment of choice. So yesterday I experienced it in a special way.

Any irritation of your senses, be it an argument with a friend or an athlete running nearby, an unexpected gust of wind or a call from Mom on your mobile, an ad in the newspaper or a pain in your head - all this is a choice. Red or blue. It's up to you. After the blue one, you continue on your way as if nothing had happened - for you this is another habitual irritant that is forgotten almost at the same moment that it arose. Red changes you in such a way that it is no longer possible as before. I am sure that a simple breath of wind can change you, only if you choose red.

“Choose blue,” said Morpheus, “and the story will end right here.” You will wake up and believe what you want to believe. Choose red...
“And it turns out that everything around is not real, but a computer simulation,” Neo picked up, “And in fact I am the Chosen One, a hero, I can fly, I know kung fu...
“No,” Morpheus shook his head, “None of this infantile nonsense worthy of a thirteen-year-old.” You are not a hero or the Chosen One, but the world that you are so afraid of and do not love is very real and to change it, you need something more than dreams and pills. Welcome to reality, Neo.

Morpheus extended his hand and opened his fist. There were two tablets on the palm - blue and red.

“Ah,” Neo nodded understandingly, “I know.” It's called mescaline.

Morpheus extended his hand and opened his fist. There was nothing on the palm.
“Choose the blue spoon,” said Morpheus...

Morpheus extended his hand and opened his fist. There were two tablets on the palm - blue and red.
“Choose blue,” said Morpheus, “and the story will end right here.” You will wake up and believe what you want to believe. If you choose red, you will find yourself in a magical land and I will show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.
“Hmm,” Neo nodded his head, “Sounds good, but I have a better proposal.” How about: I show you the "fuck" and you arrange my phone call?

Morpheus extended his arms and showed Neo his fists.
“You’ll choose blue,” he said, “You’ll play for black.” If you choose red, it's for white.

Morpheus extended his hand and opened his fist. There were two tablets on the palm - blue and red.
“Choose blue,” said Morpheus.
- Why is one blue and the other red? - Neo interrupted.
- Blue Pepsi, red Coca-Cola, don’t interrupt. So, you choose Pepsi, that is, ugh...

Morpheus extended his hand and opened his fist. There were two tablets on the palm - blue and red.
“Choose blue,” said Morpheus, “and the story will end right here.” You will wake up and believe what you want to believe. If you choose red, you will find yourself in a magical land and I will show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.
“It’s interesting,” Neo turned to the opposite wall, “Why, if you’re talking pretentious loser nonsense, then in any case you look like a cool dude who has learned all the secrets of the world, but if you even say a word in simplicity and with optimism, they immediately reproach you for banality and primitivism?

Morpheus extended his hand and opened his fist. There were two tablets on the palm - blue and red.
- Are there any cookies? - Neo will ask disappointed.

Morpheus extended his hand and opened his fist. There were two tablets on the palm - blue and red.
“Choose blue,” said Morpheus, “and the story will end right here.” You will wake up and believe what you want to believe. If you choose red, you will find yourself in a magical land and I will show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.
Neo, smiling widely, took the blue pill and popped it into his mouth.
“What, loser,” he asked the numb Morpheus, “have you been showing off?”

When you are stuck in the Matrix. Your actions?

A topic to ponder for fans of the film "The Matrix". Of course, there is always a choice. There are at least four options.

Take the blue pill - you can get stuck in the Matrix even deeper.

Take the red pill - find out the truth.

Accept a lollipop from Pythia - find out the reasons for your choice. Know yourself.

Eat a French olive - find out the causes of events and phenomena.

What happens if you combine them? You can imagine.

Blue + Red - Then Morpheus finds the body in Neo’s “fields” and becomes his guardian angel (by the standards of the Matrix). Neo remains a simple resident of the Matrix.

Blue + Lollipop - Morpheus and the team fly away. Neo discovers his destiny, understands what he needs. He brings order to his life in The Matrix. But of his two lives, only one remains. But Pythia is equally ready to chat with Neo and Thomas Anderson. Feed him cookies and ask him only understandable questions.

Blue + Olive - Neo remains in the Matrix leading a double life. He gets a job in a special service and becomes an agent - a hacker. But out of habit, he indulges in petty cyber pranks. Or maybe not even small ones.

Red + Lollipop - Neo exits the Matrix. He immediately understands the essence of his destiny. (What the audience learns throughout all parts of the film) Captures the ship. Teams up with that bald cameraman who misses the Matrix. He organizes a coup in Zion and prohibits the release of new people. Does not allow the number of inhabitants to reach the number of 250,000 that the Architect intended. Then he goes to the Architect and sets his own conditions for the reboot. The ones Pythia named at the end of the film.

Red + Olive - Neo exits the Matrix. He sees in advance the causes of all troubles. He immediately turns over to Morpheus the bald operator who wants to turn them all in. Morpheus will not be caught, Agent Smith will not escape the control of the system. Instead, Neo goes to Persifona and kisses her, no questions asked. And the first time - as it should be. While Trinity distracts the Frenchman in the women's restroom. Persifona gives Neo the Master Keys in joy. They all go to the Architect in a crowd and give him a blue pill. The architect retires, forgetting about the Matrix and becoming a simple citizen. Neo becomes the new Architect.

Lollipop + Olive - Neo subjugates the matrix without even knowing about its existence. By force of will, he hacks artificial intelligence and now the agents work for him. Although he doesn't even know that they are programs. The architect works part-time for Neo as a system administrator.
Neo has one problem - he can’t give his wife the phone.

What if there are three?

Blue + Red + Lollipop - Neo forgets about the Matrix. But Morpheus becomes his guardian angel. Neo somehow keeps getting into trouble. Agents hunt Neo while trying to track down Morpheus. And Morpheus constantly saves Neo, trying not to get caught by the agents himself. In the end, Morpheus goes to the Frenchman and Persiphone and exchanges Neo for the Master of Keys, and goes to the Architect himself. Neo becomes the new Keymaster. The Frenchman protects Neo from agents. Persifona sometimes tries to teach Neo how to kiss out of boredom. The Frenchman tries to teach Neo control. Morpheus tries to teach him how to fight. Trinity sometimes visits Neo's body in the fields and writes sweet nothings about white rabbits to him via the Internet.

Blue + Red + Olive - Neo forgets about the Matrix. But he begins to understand cause and effect better. He becomes the disciplined programmer Thomas Anderson. He goes to bed on time so as not to oversleep for work. He gets promoted and has a great career. Finding himself in high society, he meets a Frenchman. They have a lot in common. They both revel in power. While the Frenchman protects his programs from being erased, Neo protects his own - Morpheus and Trinity - from agents. Trinity falls in love with that bald cameraman, and he becomes the chosen one. Eventually, the bald operator gets to the Architect and restarts the Matrix.

Blue + Lollipop + Olive - Neo forgets about the Matrix. He writes his own Artificial Intelligence, which turns out to be so perfect and powerful that it seizes control of the Matrix and the world of machines. Not without the help of a conspiracy with the French, of course. The Architect is trying to hack Neo's Artificial Intelligence and take back control. In the end, he recognizes the perfection of Neo's intellect and the completeness of his work and calms down.

Red + Lollipop + Olive - Neo exits the Matrix. But instead of saving Morpheus, he returns to Zion and secretly hacks into the city’s main computer. Changes the access codes that Morpheus knows to others. Then he goes to the Frenchman and gives him these codes in exchange for a key master. The Frenchman also gains power over Zion and protects it from machines. The two of them persuade the Architect to leave Zeon alone.

What if it’s all at once!

Blue + Red + Lollipop + Olive - Neo wakes up in the morning and realizes that he overslept. He doesn’t remember what he did that night or what pills he took. But he understood his fate and saw the causes and consequences of events. Neo goes to work and before he can be fired, he quits himself. Without waiting for re-arrest, he surrenders to agents and receives a prison term. While in prison, he gradually bends spoons, telling other prisoners that there is no spoon. On days of clear weather, he even sometimes flies. He often talks to the Architect and Pythia through the walls of the cell, insistently asking not to destroy Zion. Which leads others to some confusion. Trinity and Morpheus sometimes visit him, both in the Matrix and outside of it.

One day in the middle of the night Neo will wake up and see that his cell has two doors...

What if you don't take anything?
- Neo, remember, I only want to tell you the truth. Take a pill.
- Eat your pills yourself, Morpheus. Can you explain everything to me in words, without pills?
- You won't believe me without the pill, Neo.
- What kind of house is this? Are you hanging out with girls here? Where are we?
- The main thing is not “where”, but “when”. It's the 22nd century now. Machines have captured people and we grow on trees, and the sky is covered with clouds forever, and people live underground in the sewers, and programs hack programs, but it happens the other way around, when programs get out of control of the programs and reprogram themselves. Now, what question do you think is appropriate in this situation?

(Neo, after some thought)
- Maybe we can open a factory to produce your pills?

p.s. ATTENTION! This article and survey is NOT propaganda for taking any pills or their combinations, or the result of their action. Please do not take the text too seriously.

October 22nd, 2015

The New Man is the one who has the potential to change the System, update its version, rewrite the rules. In fact, this is a representative of a new species, a mutation, a leap, an adequate response to inadequate conditions.

Information about the New Man is in plain sight for everyone. But until you know about it, you cannot see it. The Wachowski brothers, directors of The Matrix, were definitely in the know. And they put a lot more information into this film than it seems.

What is the name of the main character of the film? Agents invariably call him "Mr. Anderson." This is his matrix surname. It comes from ancient Greek and is translated as “man”. Agents, addressing him in this way, seem to constantly emphasize this - you are just a person. The hero himself calls himself Neo. And this is the name his friends call him. Neo translates to "New". And if you add these two names, you get “New Man”.

What is this film about? The question seems trivial. But that's not true. And this is perhaps the most interesting thing.

I rewatched this movie the other day and was surprised that I hadn't seen it before. However, why am I surprised? We see and hear only what we want. And Neo demonstrates this in the best possible way. The key moment of the film is Morpheus's conversation with Neo about the nature of the Matrix, during which Neo is offered a choice.

This fragment is very rich and should be examined carefully. Listen to Morpheus' words and look at the symbolism of the scene. He says:

- Alas, it is impossible to explain what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.

He puts the pills in his hands and adds:

- It's not too late to refuse. Then there will be no turning back.

Morpheus holds out his left hand, which contains a blue pill. And he says the following (be careful):

- Take the blue pill and the fairy tale will end. You will wake up in your bed and believe it was a dream.

Please note that Morpheus offers him something that is not at all what it seems at first glance. He offers him awakening, end of the fairy tale. At the same time, the director gives a hint. He shows his left hand in the reflection of Morpheus's glasses, where it appears as his right hand.

- If you take the red pill, you will enter wonderland. I'll show you how deep the rabbit hole is.

And again reflections in glasses. Again the hands change places.

What does he offer him with the red pill? Not awakening. Not freedom. Not a way out of the Matrix. Not her change. No. He offers wonders and knowledge.

When Neo reaches for his right hand, we see it again in the reflection of the glasses, i.e. as if in the left hand. And Morpheus stops him with the words:

- Remember. I'm just suggesting that you find out the truth. Nothing else.

And Neo takes the red pill, then drinks it.

Flash of lightning. Morpheus's smile.

You've got it, Neo. You took the hook from someone whose name speaks for itself. In Greek mythology, Morpheus is the god of dreams. And Morpheus is just the Latin pronunciation of this name. It is translated as “the one who shapes dreams.” What can you get from the lord of dreams?

Only dreams.

Morpheus in the film is part of a dream that Neo sees, and in terms of Morpheus himself, another program of the Matrix. And Morpheus’s task is to prolong this dream. He does this by convincingly believing in the reality of the character Neo.

And it is now obvious to me that Neo’s awakening was also false. The first false awakening was at the very beginning of the film, when Neo wakes up in his office and sees on the monitor: “Wake up, Neo.” Moreover, at the beginning he still doubts the reality of what is happening. But with the appearance of Morpheus and the second false awakening (exit from the Matrix), his doubts leave him. He believed in what was happening and accepted it as the ultimate reality. But all we saw in this film were dreams nested within each other.

Neo swallowed not just one hook, but a whole armful. Here is the hook “thirst for knowledge”, here is the “desire for love”, here is the “desire for justice”, here is the “world with which something is wrong”, and here is the “fight with the Matrix for all this”. All this keeps Neo asleep and throughout the film we see how his subconscious is trying to convey to him the meaning of what is happening.

All his noble urges are the reason why the dream continues. This is his “noble temptation.” The red color of the pill is a symbolic hint to this, which is later explained in the scene with the girl in red, whose role is to distract.

While you are fighting the System, you are interacting with it. You feed her and you belong to her. As long as you have goals, you are still in the System, because all goals and motives involve objects within it. This is her territory.

Did Neo make the wrong choice of pill?

Morpheus did not deceive Neo about anything. He only offered him the truth . And nothing more. And there really is no turning back. As well as forward.

Right is left, left is right. This is what we saw in the reflections of the Matrix. And both tablets are equivalent. Both lead to false awakening. Only one with miracles, the other without.

Awakening cannot depend on another. No one will wake you up, Neo. It's not as cheap as you thought.

Not choosing, ignoring the System is the only way to leave it.

They offer a choice between a red and a blue pill. The blue pill will allow you to remain in the artificially created reality of the Matrix, that is, to live in the “unknown of illusion,” while the red pill will lead to an escape from the Matrix into the real world, that is, into the “true reality,” despite the fact that this is a more cruel, complex life .

Origin

IN "The Matrix" there are references to historical myths and philosophy, Gnosticism, existentialism, nihilism. The film's premise comes from Plato's allegory of the cave, René Descartes' skepticism and evil spirits, Kant's ideas about phenomenon and the thing in itself, Zhuang Tzu's butterfly, the concept of simulating reality, and the brain-in-a-flask thought experiment.

Matrix

In The Matrix, Neo (Keanu Reeves) hears rumors about the Matrix and a mysterious man named Morpheus. Neo spends his nights on the computer, trying to find out the secret of the Matrix and what it is. Eventually another hacker, Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), introduces Neo to Morpheus.

Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) explains to Neo that the Matrix is an illusory world created to prevent people from learning that they are slaves to external influences. Holding a pill in each hand, he describes to Neo the choice he faces.

The blue tablet will allow you to remain in the artificial reality of the Matrix, while the red one serves to determine the location of the human body in the real world and “separation” of it from the Matrix. The choice between the blue and red pills is irreversible.

Neo chooses the red pill and wakes up in the real world, where he is thrown out of the fluid-filled chamber where he lay unconscious. After being rescued and recovered on Nebuchadnezzar, Morpheus shows Neo the true nature of the Matrix: a detailed simulation of Earth as of the late 20th century (the year of action is not specified exactly, but it is approximately two hundred years ago relative to the time of Neo's awakening). It is designed to keep people's minds in subjection while their bodies are stored in huge power plants where heat and bio-energy are used by the machines that have enslaved the people.

Gödel, Escher, Bach

Douglas Gofstadter in the book Gödel, Escher, Bach(1979) introduces two characters emerging from the two-dimensional world of Escher's prints by drinking liquid from blue and red bottles. Gofstadter recalls Lewis Carroll's great influence on this book, the "enter" and "exit" bottles being analogous to the "drink me" potion and the "eat me" cake, in " Alice in Wonderland", which reduced and increased it. The Matrix very clearly references Alice in Wonderland with the phrases "white rabbit" and "down the rabbit hole."

Remember all

In film " Remember all"(1990) the red pill is offered to Arnold Schwarzenegger's character, Douglas Quaid: "This symbol is a symbol of your desire to return to reality." There is no blue pill in the film, and the plot revolves around the unknown, Quaid in a dream, in the real world. However, they offer him a pill with the assertion that Quaid is still sleeping, and the pill will return him to reality, the words “in your dream you will fall asleep” sound.

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Notes

Excerpt characterizing the Red and Blue Pills

“Bonaparte l"a dit, [Bonaparte said this],” said Prince Andrei with a grin.
(It was clear that he did not like the Viscount, and that, although he did not look at him, he directed his speeches against him.)
“Je leur ai montre le chemin de la gloire,” he said after a short silence, again repeating Napoleon’s words: “ils n"en ont pas voulu; je leur ai ouvert mes antichambres, ils se sont precipites en foule”... Je ne sais pas a quel point il a eu le droit de le dire. [I showed them the path of glory: they did not want; I opened my halls to them: they rushed in a crowd... I don’t know to what extent he had the right to say so.]
“Aucun, [None],” the Viscount objected. “After the Duke’s murder, even the most biased people stopped seeing him as a hero.” “Si meme ca a ete un heros pour certaines gens,” said the Viscount, turning to Anna Pavlovna, “depuis l"assassinat du duc il y a un Marietyr de plus dans le ciel, un heros de moins sur la terre. [If he was a hero for some people, then after the murder of the Duke there was one more martyr in heaven and one less hero on earth.]
Before Anna Pavlovna and the others had time to appreciate these words of the Viscount with a smile, Pierre again burst into the conversation, and Anna Pavlovna, although she had a presentiment that he would say something indecent, could no longer stop him.
“The execution of the Duke of Enghien,” said Monsieur Pierre, “was a state necessity; and I precisely see the greatness of the soul in the fact that Napoleon was not afraid to take upon himself the sole responsibility in this act.
- Dieul mon Dieu! [God! my God!] - Anna Pavlovna said in a terrible whisper.
“Comment, M. Pierre, vous trouvez que l"assassinat est grandeur d"ame, [How, Monsieur Pierre, you see the greatness of the soul in murder," said the little princess, smiling and moving her work closer to her.
- Ah! Oh! - said different voices.
– Capital! [Excellent!] - Prince Ippolit said in English and began to hit himself on the knee with his palm.
The Viscount just shrugged. Pierre looked solemnly over his glasses at the audience.
“I say this because,” he continued with despair, “because the Bourbons fled from the revolution, leaving the people to anarchy; and Napoleon alone knew how to understand the revolution, defeat it, and therefore, for the common good, he could not stop before the life of one person.
– Would you like to go to that table? - said Anna Pavlovna.
But Pierre, without answering, continued his speech.
“No,” he said, becoming more and more animated, “Napoleon is great because he rose above the revolution, suppressed its abuses, retained everything good - the equality of citizens, and freedom of speech and the press - and only because of this he acquired power.”
“Yes, if he, having taken power without using it to kill, would have given it to the rightful king,” said the Viscount, “then I would call him a great man.”
- He couldn't do that. The people gave him power only so that he could save him from the Bourbons, and because the people saw him as a great man. The revolution was a great thing,” Monsieur Pierre continued, showing with this desperate and defiant introductory sentence his great youth and desire to express himself more and more fully.
– Are revolution and regicide a great thing?... After that... would you like to go to that table? – Anna Pavlovna repeated.
“Contrat social,” the Viscount said with a meek smile.
- I'm not talking about regicide. I'm talking about ideas.
“Yes, the ideas of robbery, murder and regicide,” the ironic voice interrupted again.
– These were extremes, of course, but the whole meaning is not in them, but the meaning is in human rights, in emancipation from prejudice, in the equality of citizens; and Napoleon retained all these ideas in all their strength.
“Freedom and equality,” said the Viscount contemptuously, as if he had finally decided to seriously prove to this young man the stupidity of his speeches, “all big words that have long been compromised.” Who doesn't love freedom and equality? Our Savior also preached freedom and equality. Did people become happier after the revolution? Against. We wanted freedom, and Bonaparte destroyed it.
Prince Andrey looked with a smile, first at Pierre, then at the Viscount, then at the hostess. At the first minute of Pierre's antics, Anna Pavlovna was horrified, despite her habit of light; but when she saw that, despite the sacrilegious speeches uttered by Pierre, the Viscount did not lose his temper, and when she was convinced that it was no longer possible to hush up these speeches, she gathered her strength and, joining the Viscount, attacked the speaker.