The Matrix And 1984 Analysis

Like today’s world, in The Matrix technology dominates society. There are two dimensions in the film: the artificial intelligence world and the “real” world. The AI world is painted in all the glories of the world the viewer knows: a world where choices are “made” by the individual and “supposed” freedom exists. Morpheus offers Neo an opportunity to see the world for what it really is and break free from the bondage of technology, “You take the blue pill – the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill – you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.” The humanistic need to mentally

As the electronic eyes shrink in size, Big Brother grows even bigger. (Hancock 1995, 1) Cameras can turn into instruments of abuse, even to effectiveness of telescreens that did in Winston and many of his kind. The wired society is a creeping phenomenon because there are no regulations or laws to protect against video surveillance. (Hancock 1995, 2) Our poor character Winston was subject to a harsher type of surveillance than what has been seen, but with no regulation the possibilities are very real that a system that did the work on the people of Big Brother can exist in our society today. George Orwell amazingly portrayed a anti-utopian world in witch everyone was caught up by the strong possibility that there being watched, and if/when they foul up, there next in line to be reconditioned. Even Winston knew the great power of

In 1984 the political manipulation of technology oppresses the people of Oceania and leads to the downfall of individuality and of the qualities that define humanity. Telescreens and the Internet are used not for entertainment purposes but to monitor people’s lives.

The prophetic nightmare of George Orwell gives us many warnings that are becoming increasingly true in our modern society; however, among all of the auguries and prediction none rival his warning about the severity of our reliance on technology. He shows us the dangers of technology through the protagonist Winston’s eyes. The prophecies in this novel are ones that we need to head in today’s society. With apparent advancements in technology we have begun to fall down the same awful Orwellian spiral, loosing to technology our privacy and thought.

“I used to worry that computers would become so powerful and sophisticated as to take the place of the human minds,” expresses Lewis Thomas, the author of “The Corner of the Eye” [Thomas, 83]. A large part of Thomas’s fear of computers is due to the fact that “a large enough machine can do all sorts of intelligent things beyond our capacities” [Thomas, 83]. However, computers cannot replace us; he realizes computers cannot do some of the things that we can do, like being human. We like to be equivocal, imaginative, and self-conscious. Computers are the complete opposite of the traits that define us as human; or as Thomas states it, “they are not designed, as we are, for ambiguity” [Thomas, 83]. As witnessed by history, the present, and soon the future, it would be self-evident truth that computers will not take over us or be “us”.

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.

Societies, around the world, have always had the desire to control their members and manipulate their reality. With the help of technology, this might be achieved easier than previously believed. Using something as ordinary as your phone will give the government access to one-way constant and unauthorized surveillance. Your phone is also a way for media outlets and corporations to get you to purchase their products by constantly bombarding you with ads about things that you might be interested in. Since using our phones and seeing ads are so familiar to us, we don’t truly realize how the government and media outlets are manipulating and spying on us. Works of fiction such as The Truman Show and Neuromancer, have attempted to defamiliarize these concepts by showing them at work on a larger scale. Both protagonists, Truman and Case, respectively, have fallen victim to manipulated realities and unauthorized surveillance. Authority figures, in these works, are using

Totalitarianism is defined as a political system of government in which those in power have complete control and do not allow people to oppose them. Those in power are a single party dictatorship in which one party controls state, and all other parties are forbidden. Other important features that distinguish or help define totalitarianism include restricted or eliminated constitutional rights, state terrorism, and totalitarian rulers are known as ideological dictators. The government of Oceania, in the novel 1984, is an example of totalitarian society. Germany, under Adolf Hitler's National Socialism is another example of totalitarianism. Orwell's Oceania has both similarities and differences to the totalitarian states of the

“ War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength,”. The following quote originates from the infamous novel, 1984 by George Orwell. The significance of this popular quote was to display an example of the action of doublethink. Doublethink is the act of having two contradictory thoughts at the same time and believing both are true. Doublethink plays an influential role in the novel, 1984. The novel takes place in a super-state by the name of Oceania which covers the entire continents of our America in reality. The main character of this novel is Winston Smith, a thirty-nine year-old Party member who works at the Ministry of Truth correcting “errors” in past publication who has a

Humans believe they are experiencing reality, however their world is “computer generated,’ however when Neo awakes after consuming the ‘red pill’ he discover the reality of his existence and escapes the Matrix in order identify the truth. Similarly in ‘The Allegory of the Cave,’ the prisoners are chained facing a wall which is alit by fire, allowing them to only see shadows of the outside world. The prisoner’s chain symbolise the limitations of society, as they pull the prisoners away from the truth, the reality of life. Similarly in The Matrix, this showcase of domination has developed from a society with unenlightened and narrow minded views, expressing an individual’s ignorance to deception and perception.

The conflict in the quote above is a man vs society conflict, because winston is expressing his hate of the leader of the party(big brother), and his wish to see big brother's leadership fall. Winston is fighting against society, because big brother and the party control all aspects of of live in Oceania's society. It is considered a crime to go against Big Brother, and when caught people are killed by being shot in the neck. Winston already knows the consequences of his hate for Oceania's, and the fact that he still comitted "Thoughtcrime (Orwell 22)" shows the reader the dept of Winston's hatered for Oceania's government. Winston commits more crimes such as adultry, and disbelieving Ingsoc, he is eventually caught and taken to "the Ministry

Neo was now surrounded by people just like him who were searching for answers as to what the Matrix is. As they were sitting around the table, Mouse turns to Neo and says, "To deny our impulses is to deny the very thing that makes us human." During the Agent Simulation Training with Morpheus, Neo follows his impulses and turns around to look at the woman in the red dress, Mouse's proud creation. Neo was only following his human instincts. Of course, Mouse's statement would only be true for all humans if we were actually allowed to have impulses. Winston Smith, in George Orwell's 1984, would certainly disagree with this notion of humans having impulses, and every one in Airstrip One, Oceania

In the novel 1984 by George Orwell a man named Winston lives within a dis-utopian society. People within this society keep their emotions non-noticeable because if they go against what the inner circle is teaching than that person would work manually labor for the rest of their life. In the story a party known as the inner circle uses a few slogans and sayings to control everything. The inner circle uses all that they say to brainwash people into believing what they are saying is true. The inner party 's slogans are “War is peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is strength” By using these phrases one can see that the inner circle can manipulate everyone into believing in what the inner circle tells

A novel’s ending plays a very important role on the way it is perceived; for example, a novel could have a great plot and character development but having a dissatisfying ending will just make the reader want to toss it directly into the trash can. In his novel 1984, George Orwell manages to link the events throughout the novel into the most satisfactory ending I’ve read so far: Winston’s death. When reading the novel for the first time I thought O’Brien actually belonged to the brotherhood and was somehow trying to help Winston, then, after reading a few more pages I’d go back and in a way battle that thought with the idea that at the end, Winston would end up inevitably dead. It’s that what makes the ending so great, it was caused by

Moreover, the ability to enter a digital environment solely constructed on one’s mind effectively restructures “the entire social world as an object of control" (Feenberg 7). In other words, as humans substitute their actuality with the matrix, life is instrumentalized and technology replaces reality as its foundation. Next, in Neuromancer, advancements in cosmetic and medical technology allows for nearly unrestricted body modifications. Such immense technological capacity introduces “an age of affordable beauty” in which employing technology to achieve a desired appearance is a norm (Gibson 4). Thus, one’s appearance is rendered a product of technology rather than a visual representation of one’s individuality. This example coincides with the substantive theory’s views in its illustration of the “degradation of man and Being to the level of mere objects” (Feenberg 7). Lastly, the ascension of computers into power overtly foreshadows “the transformation of the entire world,” including humans, “into ‘standing reserves’”