Ponder the Meaning of Life With 1984 and The Matrix Essay example --

The film The Matrix, directed by Andy and Lana Wachowski, may seem to be a unique, original storyline to the untrained viewer, but the story of a totalitarian government and a hero who attempts to save the people is far from this. In reality, there are so many similarities that can be seen in other texts that were written and filmed before that it cannot be ignored. In particular, George Orwell’s 1984 has a similar government that controls its people and a â€Å"hero†, Winston, who is also searching for the truth. Winston lives Oceania where Big-Brother and â€Å"The Party† schedule your entire lives telling when to sleep, eat, and work and keep you under constant surveillance. This is similar in The Matrix, where most of the humans lived in a computer-programmed world which is also constantly surveyed by government authorities. The Wachowski siblings’ film, The Matrix, connects with the concept of dystopia as expressed in George Orwell’s novel, 198 4, by referring to a totalitarian government and the lack of choices, which it accomplishes through the introduction of new surveillance technology, comparing two worlds, and a hero’s journey to liberate the people. The use of new surveillance technology in both 1984 and The Matrix helps to make a world in which people are truly living under complete control believable. In The Matrix, it is possible to hack into the Matrix world, but the government is easily able to detect where the hack is happening and catch up to the hackers. One example in the film is when Neo goes with Morpheous and his crew back to the â€Å"Matrix† world and the government agents quickly catch up with them, breaks into their â€Å"warehouse†, and nearly stops them from leaving to go back to the real world. The government is an omn... ... point that the Wachowski’s are making: freedom and choices give life meaning. We can easily see how the Wachowski’s drew from similar ideas as Orwell in 1984, but has a more hopeful ending. Both texts use surveillance to show how the people are under complete control and show us a world where people believe the lies and are trapped in. The one major difference is that one text does not give us hope and belief that things can be changed, while the other one does. The Matrix does that latter. They give us hope by showing characters that live in a real world with freedoms and are happy. Neo’s life does have a meaning and a purpose. Without seeing the same conclusion in 1984, but with a depressing ending, one would not be able to see as clearly in The Matrix that having freedom and choices is what gives life meaning and we must strive to always keep our freedoms. Ponder the Meaning of Life With 1984 and The Matrix Essay example -- The film The Matrix, directed by Andy and Lana Wachowski, may seem to be a unique, original storyline to the untrained viewer, but the story of a totalitarian government and a hero who attempts to save the people is far from this. In reality, there are so many similarities that can be seen in other texts that were written and filmed before that it cannot be ignored. In particular, George Orwell’s 1984 has a similar government that controls its people and a â€Å"hero†, Winston, who is also searching for the truth. Winston lives Oceania where Big-Brother and â€Å"The Party† schedule your entire lives telling when to sleep, eat, and work and keep you under constant surveillance. This is similar in The Matrix, where most of the humans lived in a computer-programmed world which is also constantly surveyed by government authorities. The Wachowski siblings’ film, The Matrix, connects with the concept of dystopia as expressed in George Orwell’s novel, 198 4, by referring to a totalitarian government and the lack of choices, which it accomplishes through the introduction of new surveillance technology, comparing two worlds, and a hero’s journey to liberate the people. The use of new surveillance technology in both 1984 and The Matrix helps to make a world in which people are truly living under complete control believable. In The Matrix, it is possible to hack into the Matrix world, but the government is easily able to detect where the hack is happening and catch up to the hackers. One example in the film is when Neo goes with Morpheous and his crew back to the â€Å"Matrix† world and the government agents quickly catch up with them, breaks into their â€Å"warehouse†, and nearly stops them from leaving to go back to the real world. The government is an omn... ... point that the Wachowski’s are making: freedom and choices give life meaning. We can easily see how the Wachowski’s drew from similar ideas as Orwell in 1984, but has a more hopeful ending. Both texts use surveillance to show how the people are under complete control and show us a world where people believe the lies and are trapped in. The one major difference is that one text does not give us hope and belief that things can be changed, while the other one does. The Matrix does that latter. They give us hope by showing characters that live in a real world with freedoms and are happy. Neo’s life does have a meaning and a purpose. Without seeing the same conclusion in 1984, but with a depressing ending, one would not be able to see as clearly in The Matrix that having freedom and choices is what gives life meaning and we must strive to always keep our freedoms.