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JESUS, BUDDHA, AND GÖDEL: Unraveling the Matrix Mythos
Essay by Eric Furze
Webmaster's Note - On 6-13-2003, a friend found this essay on the IMDb.com Message Boards for "The Matrix: Reloaded." The next day, I read it, and was blown away by its mathematical and mythological content. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. --Jay
What do Christianity, Zen and formal mathematical logic have in common? If you look closely, “The Matrix: Reloaded” will tell you; beneath its shiny, heavily stylized surface, the second installment of the “Matrix” trilogy reveals a mythological sophistication that surpasses anything the genre has produced before. The trilogy’s penchant for religious iconography is, of course, already a widely celebrated phenomenon – philosophical essays on Neo’s messianic qualities began appearing in magazines and on websites shortly after the film was released in 1999 – but what has yet to be understood is that “Reloaded” profoundly redefines the structure and scope of that symbolism. While “The Matrix” was content to simply update ancient myths with modern images, the release of “Reloaded” reveals the Wachowskis to be attempting something much more ambitious: a synthesis of Oriental and Occidental mythology wholly new to the western literary tradition. If “Revolutions” can complete what “Reloaded” has begun, in fact, the trilogy could very well become the first mythology to unite East with West since the dawn of Occidental culture over 2500 years ago.
But the Wachowskis have more on their bookshelf than the Bible and the Ramayana, and in order to fully understand the framework of their creation, it is first necessary to grapple with a seminal, and famously difficult, result from mathematical logic. Fortunately, this detour through the esoteric is worthwhile: the good thing about math is that it is, if nothing else, predictable. The Wachowskis have adhered to it so faithfully, in fact, that its structure is readily visible and points to some fairly unavoidable conclusions about how the trilogy will resolve itself in its upcoming final installment.
I. The Gödel Sentence and The One
II. The Hero’s Journey
III. East Meets West and What “Revolutions” Has in Store
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