One blog that I read was Anya's blog, "Change of Mind: Unorthodox Love." In the blog, she discussed different kinds of love, and how our society expects all different love stories to be about "romantic" love.
"I loved the comment you brought up about the differences between love and romance. I definitely think that our society equates "love" with "romance", I've never thought about there being much of a difference. Everyone around us expects every "love story" to be something dramatic, filled with kisses in the rain and perfect couples. We expect love stories to be just like "The Notebook", or like any novel written by Nicholas Sparks. So everybody would be disappointed by a "love story" that turned out to be almost the opposite. There is a strong difference between romantic love and a love between friends, as we clearly see in the movie Once. I think that the love in Once is just as beautiful and just as fulfilling as any dramatic romance."
Sydney's blog, "Dialectics: Reality and Imagination," talked about how the Matrix made her realize that reality and imagination could be one coexisting idea, instead of two separate entities.
"Isn't it so amazing how a movie can make us question the whole world around us? It was really interesting to read through your thought process on such a complicated, confusing idea. Your blog made me stop and think as well. Our minds create what we perceive as "the real world", or as "reality", but if we wanted to perceive reality as something different, then couldn't we turn our imagination into our own reality? I guess through imagination, and through these holes in "reality", we could change everything about our lives. We say that certain things are "good" and that certain things are "bad" because that's what "the real world" tells us. But if in our imagination, what is really "bad" could be "good", and vice versa, then everybody would be able to live fulfilling lives, just by convincing themselves and imagining that they are living good lives. What is reality, anyway? The Matrix has now thoroughly screwed up the way that I think about everything. For all we know, the tree outside of my window isn't real. Shoot."
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Dialectics: Ignorance and Truth
In the Matrix, we are told that the world that we live in isn't real. The "real" world has been reduced to rubble. We are all unknowingly part of a Matrix; our world is basically a computer program, and we have no real control over our lives or our world. Thankfully, this is just a movie (or is it?). But the characters in the movie are forced to make the choice between learning the truth and remaining ignorant.
Of course, one could say that this is a simple choice. Who wouldn't want to know the truth? Why would anybody want to live in the dark? Knowing the truth must be the better choice. If you know the truth then, even if you're unhappy, at least you're not living a lie. Neo chooses to take the red pill, and it changes his entire life. If he had chosen to take the blue pill, however, would his life have been any worse? He could have woken up in his own bed, and not even remembered his encounter with Morpheus. He never would have known that he was being ignorant. Personally, I think it can be argued that he could have lived a happier life if he had taken the blue pill. Cypher chose to take the red pill like Neo did, so at some point, he also thought that it was better to know the truth. But in the movie, after years of living in the "real" world, we realize that Cypher cannot tolerate the truth. He is absolutely miserable, and attempts to get inserted back into the Matrix, back into ignorance. According to him, "ignorance is bliss." Is it worth knowing the truth if you end up living an unhappy life? I personally don't think so. I'd rather be happy and ignorant.
The topics of ignorance and truth have been compared and contemplated by many incredible minds. The one thing that I immediately thought of while I was watching this movie was Plato's Allegory of the Cave. For all of the people in the cave, the truth, reality, all that exists are the shadows on the walls. We could call these people ignorant, but they don't know any better. They are mistaken as to what reality is. These prisoners are much like all of the humans who were living in the Matrix. But is life really better outside of the cave? When a prisoner is released outside into the real world, his eyes burn from the sun. This world is much too different, too complex, too unreal to him. He has trouble believing any of it. He wants to go back into the cave.
Is there any happy medium between ignorance and knowing the truth? I really don't think there can be. In our world, once you know the truth, you can never completely forget it. At some point in life, everybody must choose either to be exposed to reality, as awful as it may be, or to live in their cave. Neither of these options are completely fulfilling, and I doubt that one can ever be completely sure that their decision was the right one.
Of course, one could say that this is a simple choice. Who wouldn't want to know the truth? Why would anybody want to live in the dark? Knowing the truth must be the better choice. If you know the truth then, even if you're unhappy, at least you're not living a lie. Neo chooses to take the red pill, and it changes his entire life. If he had chosen to take the blue pill, however, would his life have been any worse? He could have woken up in his own bed, and not even remembered his encounter with Morpheus. He never would have known that he was being ignorant. Personally, I think it can be argued that he could have lived a happier life if he had taken the blue pill. Cypher chose to take the red pill like Neo did, so at some point, he also thought that it was better to know the truth. But in the movie, after years of living in the "real" world, we realize that Cypher cannot tolerate the truth. He is absolutely miserable, and attempts to get inserted back into the Matrix, back into ignorance. According to him, "ignorance is bliss." Is it worth knowing the truth if you end up living an unhappy life? I personally don't think so. I'd rather be happy and ignorant.
The topics of ignorance and truth have been compared and contemplated by many incredible minds. The one thing that I immediately thought of while I was watching this movie was Plato's Allegory of the Cave. For all of the people in the cave, the truth, reality, all that exists are the shadows on the walls. We could call these people ignorant, but they don't know any better. They are mistaken as to what reality is. These prisoners are much like all of the humans who were living in the Matrix. But is life really better outside of the cave? When a prisoner is released outside into the real world, his eyes burn from the sun. This world is much too different, too complex, too unreal to him. He has trouble believing any of it. He wants to go back into the cave.
Is there any happy medium between ignorance and knowing the truth? I really don't think there can be. In our world, once you know the truth, you can never completely forget it. At some point in life, everybody must choose either to be exposed to reality, as awful as it may be, or to live in their cave. Neither of these options are completely fulfilling, and I doubt that one can ever be completely sure that their decision was the right one.
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