A Comparison of the Representation of the Future of The Matrix and Planet of the Apes

Millions of people flock to the movie theater year after year on a quest to be entertained. Even a mediocre movie has the ability to take the audience to another place, escaping the realities of their own life, even if for just a few short hours. Some movies are simply pure entertainment. And then, there are those movies that provoke conversation long after the film has been viewed. Despite the popularity of the recent films The Hunger Games and Divergence, the dystopian theme in film is not a new one. The Matrix shows a society where humans exist without any freedom. The film, not only entertaining but thought provoking as well, paints a world with two different dimensions, a world very much like today’s when the film is closely examined. The Matrix questions the benefit of technology and influence over society.

Millions of people flock to the movie theater year after year on a quest to be entertained. Even a mediocre movie has the ability to take the audience to another place, escaping the realities of their own life, if only for a mere two hours. Some movies are simply pure entertainment. And then, there are those movies that provoke conversation long after the film has been viewed. Dystopian themes are not new, and have historically provided a template to gage the course of human existence. The Matrix portrays a society where humans exist without freedom. The film is not only entertaining, but also thought provoking. It paints a world with two different dimensions, one with the mind numbing

The Matrix, written and directed by Lary and Andy Wachowski, is a 1999 science-fiction action film that has been regarded as one of the most igneous and highly imaginative films of all time. It depicts the complex story of a dystopian future in which the reality perceived by most human beings is actually a simulated one created by AI machines who use the suppressed humans as energy sources. Though the main characters of the story have freed themselves from the matrix, one character named Cypher (a.k.a. Mr. Reagan) regrets learning the truth and wants to return back to the dream world. Cypher is an example of antagonist Agent Smith's belief that "as a species, human beings define their reality through misery and suffering" as he believes

In 1999, Larry and Andy Wachowski directed The Matrix, a movie featuring the future in which reality as perceived by most humans is actually a simulated reality or cyberspace called "the Matrix”. This fake reality was created by sentient machines to pacify and subdue the human population. To some, this movie represents just another brilliant Hollywood sci-fi action film, but for others, it challenges the understanding of perspective, reality and appearance ("The matrix 101," 2003). The Matrix heavily relies on the concepts of Irish Philosopher George Berkeley who believed reality, or reality as humans perceive it, is fundamentally mental and therefore immaterial which is known as Idealism.

The movie that I choose to watch is “The Rise of the Planet of the Apes”. In class we learned that primates have different categories. The categories include; movement, reproduction, intelligence and behavior patterns. In the movie, the main ape, Caesar, as well as the other primates in the movie shows examples of these categories. Although, like most modern day movies, some behaviors and characteristics are not true and do not relate to the material that we studied in class.

Planet of the Apes takes the world as we know it and turns it upside down and in so doing questions almost every belief and value system of mankind. Written and produced at a time when America and much of the world was in the midst of a cultural change and people were questioning and protesting everything the screenwriters take make this film a satirical and thought provoking commentary on the big questions of the era. The Vietnam War, the struggle for equal treatment of African Americans and a general mindset of questioning religion and traditional values were the things that made up the American culture of the nineteen sixties. The film grapples with and makes ant attempt to address most of the issues of the period in which it was written. Three thousand years into the future man has devolved into a non-speaking primitive being while apes have evolved into intellectual beings capable of rational thought and speech. Taylor, the captain of the spaceship and tragic hero, speaks his last words before hibernating his way into the distant future, he states that he is leaving the twentieth century and asks a question, “Tell me, though, does man, that marvel of the universe, that glorious paradox who sent me to the stars, still make war against his brother ... keep his neighbor's children starving?” Taylor, a cynic and skeptic, sees man as violent and destructive. When he arrives in the future to a world where apes are supreme the antagonist of the film, Dr.

The Matrix, released in 1999, is a science fiction action film that depicts a dystopian future. In this reality, what is perceived by humans is only a computer simulated reality called ‘The Matrix’ which was created in order to sustain human delusion while their bodies were used as an energy source by machines. The main character, computer hacker Neo (played by Keanu Reeves, respectively) is drawn into rebellion against the machines once he is united with those that have been freed from the false reality. The characters, suffering from the reality of a broken illusion, make specific choices and decisions which can be explained or validated by sociological perspectives discussed by Berger. First off, ‘The Matrix’ can be defined as a social institution with the ability to give those that live within the false reality a fulfilled existence and exert social control over it’s residing victims. Second, the betrayal of Cypher touches upon the concept of sociological knowledge; specifically, the reference group ideology. Lastly, Neo’s previous feelings of unease and change of character after he joins Morpheus’ rebellion shows the importance a reference group can have on the overall personality and ideology of a person. Therefore, the Sociological Perspective understands the personalities, actions, and story of the movie ‘The Matrix’ in a variety of ways.

Neuromancer came up with a novel approach towards science fiction, and was instrumental in spawning multiple movies of similar genre. One of such movie is “The Matrix”. The reason I chose this movie for the review is the very concept of stimulated reality in this movie being quite analogous to the one slowly budding towards the end in the Neuromancer.

There has been many remakes and sequels for the famous film known as The Planet of the apes. Without a doubt there are many similarities and differences between the original and the remakes. The two films that I'm going to compare and contrast is the original 1968 film to the 2011 Rise of the planet of the apes.

The matrix is a simulated world that tells a person how to feel, what he sees, tastes and will never know it is not his conscious decision.

In the world of 2001, people have become so machinelike that the most human character turns out to be a machine. That’s the essence of Kubrick’s dark prophecy: as we come

There are a lot of movies made about our world and what our world could be. They show

When Planet of the Apes opened in theaters, few people knew what to expect. To most, the idea of a movie with the premise of a planet full of intelligent apes went against everything they had been taught. The initial attraction was the superb cast, spearheaded by Charlton Heston who portrays Taylor, an astronaut who crashes onto the planet. Heston was joined by many popular actors and actress such as, Roddy McDowell as Cornelius, Maurice Evans as Dr. Zaius and Kim Hunter as Zira. Though the cast may have been the initial draw, the content is what has made the movie Planet of the Apes a classic that will continue to be enjoyed for generations to come.

The Matrix is littered with remarkable scenes such as these that help to make it the

Machines that rule the world. Broken down, this is the fundamental building block of two major motion pictures released decades apart from one another. Although the two films have similar fundamentals, each film is different in technological ways. Because there is a difference of seventy-two years between the release of Metropolis (1927) and The Matrix (1999), there are bound to be some distinct differences between the two films. These differences spring from the roots of the film: the film stock, cinematography, and the editing processes.