A R C H I V E S
Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Matrix Reloaded (read only if u've seen it) |
|---|
| struggling |
| 05/14/03 at 01:07:20 |
| Assalamoalaikum all I was just reading the following on one internet site about the new Matrix movie: "Reloaded picks up where Matrix left off. The machines have discovered the human stronghold of Zion deep inside the Earth's core. They are tunneling there to kill the human race. Neo, along with his comrades Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), must travel inside the matrix to destroy the machines and end their attempt at genocide." Then I thought about the names in the movie: Zion - last human stronghold - wow... why not they named it Israel or would that be too obvious? Neo - is he the modern age god (god of technological or post modern age!!!)? Morpheus - the Greek god of Morphine, sleep Trinity - we all know what Trinity is Just wondering that these guys have taken care of all the major faiths in the movie (at least what they think!!!). Is there no place for Islam in their future or even other faiths. wassalam |
| 05/15/03 at 19:16:46 |
| jannah |
| Re: Matrix Relocaded |
|---|
| salaampeaceshalom |
| 05/14/03 at 04:50:51 |
| [slm], well there was a rumour a while ago that one of the character's name was god in arabic, which they later denied. So maybe it's best if they did leave Islaam out of it? [wlm] |
| Re: Matrix Relocaded |
|---|
| bhaloo |
| 05/14/03 at 21:23:22 |
| [slm] Didn't someone due an analysis of the Matrix movie with Islam and some of the concepts there? I'm thinking it was a brother, but maybe it was Se7en? ??? |
| Re: Matrix Relocaded |
|---|
| zanfaz |
| 05/15/03 at 06:43:47 |
| [slm] Yes it was se7en. It was posted in the old board. I don't have the link to it, but i had sent that to one of my friend who was a big matrix fan. He was very moved after reading that. I found it in my archive. Here it is... ------------------------------------------ If there is *any* one movie out there with definite Islamic themes, it's the matrix. If you really think deeply about a lot of the dialogue and concepts in the movie, you can draw so many parallels between them and Islam and the Muslim's perspective of life.. this is part of the dialogue from one scene: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morpheus: Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know, you can't explain. But you feel it. You felt it your entire life. That there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there. Like a splinter in your mind -- driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is deep yeah? Something in Neo is telling him that there is more to this world than what we see in the everyday. It's as if his *fitrah* is screaming for him to question the nature of the life of this world. In another part of the movie Morpheus says: "Its the question that drives us, the question that brought you here. You know the question, just as I did." the conversation continues... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Neo: The Matrix? Morpheus: Do you want to know what it is? (Neo nods his head.) Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere, it is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window, or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, or when go to church or when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And isn't the matrix described just like hayaatud dunyaa? A world that blinds and deludes us from truth, from reality, from understanding that there is so much more to our existence than what we encounter in this life. Here's another quote from the movie about the matrix, by Agent Smith: "Have you ever stood and stared at it, Morpheus? Marveled at its beauty. Its genius. Billions of people just living out their lives... oblivious." Read the next part (a continuation of the dialogue quoted before) for what's really amazing.. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Neo: What truth? Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born inside a prison that you cannot smell, taste, or touch. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SubhanAllah!! Talk about islamic eh? We are all born having acknowledged that the purpose of our lives is being 'ubaad of Allah. We are all slaves, but we are slaves to That which liberates us from being servants to creation. (I'll talk about this more later on ) Something else that I thought was very 'islamic' about the movie was the whole concept of sleeping and waking, and the matrix and the 'desert of the real'. Check it: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morpheus: I imagine that right now you're feeling a bit like Alice. Tumbling down the rabbit hole? Neo: You could say that. Morpheus: I can see it in your eyes. You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he's expecting to wake up. Ironically, this is not far from the truth. --- (In his left hand, Morpheus shows a blue pill.) Morpheus: You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. (A red pill is shown in his other hand) You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. (Long pause. Neo begins to reach for the red pill) Remember -- all I am offering is the truth, nothing more. (Neo takes the red pill and swallows it with a glass of water) --- Morpheus: Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream, Neo? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world? --- Neo: Why do my eyes hurt? Morpheus: You've never used them before. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SubhanAllah, these parts of the movie *always* remind me of a hadeeth of Rasulullah that Hamza Yusuf mentions quite a bit.. that "people are asleep, and when they die, they wake up." This is *deep*. Think about it. We're living our lives heedless, oblivious to so much.. asleep, unconscious, dreaming away, unaware of the truth of the nature of the world around us. We get into this 'sleep' of the mechanics of the every day.. getting up, going to school/work, watching tv, buying stuff.. we start to forget that the purpose of our lives isn't to make some money or to raise a family or even to establish an Islamic state.. it's ubudiyyah to Allah. And it's like 'ilm is the red pill.. that opens up the 'desert of the real' for us and allows us to 'see' and understand what's beyond the matrix, that wakes us up and reminds us of the purpose of our lives. And often times, when we are granted that ability to wake up -- by that verse in the Quran or that lecture that really 'opens our eyes' instead of choosing to, we choose the blue pill.. to go back to sleep, to ignore reality, and go back to thinking or pretending that the matrix (dunyaa) is everything. We don't believe as Muslims that this world is unreal or a dream, but we know there is more to it than what we see around us. (A great lecture on all this is "What do Muslims Believe?", by Hamza Yusuf, it has some awesome stuff on how we should understand hayaatud dunyaa. Another quote from the movie that's deep: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [at a restaurant in the matrix] Cypher: You know, I know this steak doesn't exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, you know what I realize? Ignorance is bliss. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now *this* is the quote that got me and Haroon Sellars talking Cypher is just like us eh? Think about what he says in terms of our shahawaat and shaytan, instant gratification and long term consequences. It's deep man, reflects a lot about ourselves. Now one of my favorite parts of the movie: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spoon boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth. Neo: What truth? Spoon boy: There is no spoon. Neo: There is no spoon? Spoon boy: Then you'll see, that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- First of all, if you're flowing with me on this whole matrix parallel islamic vibe, you realize that we believe that there *is* a spoon. (Meaning, we believe that hayaatud dunyaa is real, and it's laws are real.) But, what spoon boy says about *bending your own self* is true. This ties into a whole concept me and Lightning discussed.. about how, with belief in the ONE (that's in the movie too ) the laws and rules of this world can be bent. It reminds me of a quote.. that if you make Allah your mawla (your Master), all of creation becomes a servant to you. And if you make other than Allah your master, you become a servant to all creation. Think about Muslim armies that stood only three hundred strong and defeated armies three times their size. Think about those people in our legacy that have been granted by Allah amazing abilities, like true dreams, perception of things others are unaware of, etc. What happens when Neo believes in the One? He doesn't even *need* to dodge bullets. So if you’re flowin with me here you understand that with eman, with yaqeen in Allah - with belief in the One - the matrix collapses and you become it's master, able to defy laws others are not, have all of it at your command, instead of being it's slave. You get me? Deep eh? I could keep goin What do you guys think about all this? It's not that I don't have definite issue with certain parts of the movie.. I do. But I think that the movie is *deep*, and forces the general American public to think about life in a way that they're not used to. What's cool is that the matrix is awesome for daawah. Sometimes we forget that some of the things that are so basic to our understanding of life (like that this life is transient and the hereafter is what's eternal) are completely foreign and alien to non-muslims. I remember one time trying to explain dunyaa/akhira to this girl in my physics class, and she had *no idea* what I was talking about.. but when I got her on this matrix vibe, I could see that something clicked Also, the parallels only go so far.. there are a lot of parts of the movie that have *nothing* to do with Islam, so if you do decide to use this as an opener make sure you clarify Man I can't seem to shut up about this Can you tell I've thought a lot about it wAllahu a'lam.. lemme know what y'all think about all this.. |
| Re: Matrix Relocaded |
|---|
| salaampeaceshalom |
| 05/15/03 at 08:11:29 |
| [slm] hey that's cool. Similar thoughts ran across my mind when I watched the movie. Lord of the rings is another one that has the same effect, and certain themes/quotes that u can relate to Islaam. It's weird cuz when I was at my other uni, we analysed the movie from a christian and greek mythological stance. Never occured to me to put forward Islamic similarities. Wish I had done so now. [wlm] |
| 05/15/03 at 08:24:23 |
| salaampeaceshalom |
| Re: Matrix Relocaded |
|---|
| ascetic |
| 05/15/03 at 19:13:42 |
| I watched 'Matrix: Reloaded' yesterday and 'Disappointed' would be an understatement. Apart from overdoing the CGI (computer graphics) for some of the action sequences, the movie gets downright cheesy at times. I was also wondering that if the original Matrix lingo got too dense for some non-techie (read "geeky") people, then this one will surely fly over a lot of heads. |
| Re: Matrix Reloaded (read only if u've seen it) |
|---|
| jannah |
| 05/17/03 at 01:36:34 |
| Don't read this unless u watch movies and plan to see this movie......... My advice don't bother.. the movie is made up of 3 main things 1. fight/action scenes 2. sexual content 3. esoteric debates on man versus machine ... it is very different from the first movie imho. if u must continue with the matrix story line at least rent the video and that way u can censor the R rated scenes which are pretty long unfortunately... |
| Re: Matrix Reloaded (read only if u've seen it) |
|---|
| Ameeraana |
| 05/18/03 at 03:16:56 |
| [slm] I did not read any of these posts yet as I have not seen the movie... but just in case you all are interested, there are some cool animatrix "anime" at http://www.intothematrix.com/ where you can find some awesome downloads where The Matrix writer-directors Larry and Andy Wachowski commissioned seven artists from Japan, America and Korea to make nine short films set in the world of their feature trilogy. They are very cool!! I love anime!! Ameera |
| Re: Matrix Reloaded (read only if u've seen it) |
|---|
| theOriginal |
| 05/19/03 at 04:20:54 |
| [slm] Honestly, it was an insult to the first one. Plus I watched it with french subtitles...and since the theatres here are so small, and as usual we arrived a little late in order to avoid the 10 minutes worth of ads, we had to sit right up front. Even though they completely ruined it, they redeemed themselves with that debate that Neo had with the Source. It was very insightful. There is a place in the Qur'an (in fact, there are 2), where Allah (swt) says that our entire race could be wiped out of existence. I mean seriously...what good would be to Him in hell (that is to say if we fail our test here on Earth)? We are a model of duality (men partnered with women) that are being tested on Earth. And if we pass, then we can enter the perfect world (i.e. Jannah), otherwise, our model will be scrapped, and a new one will be tested. Now before I get carried away with that theory (it's not even mine, it belongs to a PhD student at the University of Toronto), i'll hush. But that dance scene reminded me of hell. :( Overall, mmmmmmmmm I don't know. |
| Re: Matrix Reloaded (read only if u've seen it) |
|---|
| ikani |
| 05/21/03 at 10:04:59 |
| Assalamu alaikum, Haven't seen Matrix: Reloaded but what I like most about the first part was the concept of living in a world where all the pleasures, work and 'life' people pursued each day weren't actually real. Quite like a muslim's concept of life in this present world. |
| Re: Matrix Reloaded (read only if u've seen it) |
|---|
| mr-bean |
| 05/23/03 at 06:35:58 |
| [slm] it was so rubbish....it like so sucked....and man it was scary too....keanu reeves buck naked is something pretty scary all right!! also you have to like stare at your shoelaces for like 10 minutes while trinity and neo do their thing.....which is like really gross.....(i used to think neo and trinity were so cool.....well no longer...) the source stuff and the architect stuff were so bogus....it tried to add a bit of depth to a movie totally lacking any.... and the ending....man what a rubbish ending...it was like some loser hindi movie.... the original was sooo cool because (1) it hardly had any fasaad (bad stuff) in it (only a kiss -- and even snow white has that) (2) you could watch neo transform from "ordinary guy" to "...no i'm not the one...the oracle hit me with that one" to "the one" (3) the last sequence where he is killed and then comes back to life and stops the bullets was so cool --- because you did not expect it. (4) it had so many memorable lines -- like ..."humans are a virus....we are the cure..." (5) agent smith was so wickedly cool....especially his exchange with morpheus when he was taken prisonor (6) things surprised you in the original....nothing is surprising in reloaded. the only surprising thing is that the oracle helped build the matrix. (7) You could loosely say that the whole theme -- that the world is an illusion blinding you from the real truth is an islamic allegory about the dunya and the akhirah.... The only twist in the plot of reloaded is that --- there is another matrix inside of the matrix --- that's why neo could stop the sentinels. But why couldn't he feel it up till then? lol! And the sermon on the mount is almost surely supposed to mimic Moses's (as) sermon to the freed Children of Isreal....at Mount Sinai....even the way the hordes looked and dressed is exactly like the way those of us who grew up in the west were taught that the freed children of isreal looked like...and afterall the place is called zion but the dance crap.....that i bet is also themed after jewish cultural dance with the heavy drums and swaying and swooning... just think of the prince of egypt movie Man the wachowski bros have a few screws loose..... The only memorable line in the film is when Morpheus says something like: "What hit you couldn't have missed you, and what missed you couldn't have hit you." Incidentally, this is a very famous hadith of the prophet and a cornerstone of aquidah and the belief in qadaa and qadr. Amusing....hey?! Yeah....i'm a bum....better go and do some real work now....anybody understand how the moduli ob a toroidal compactification of 11 dimensional supergravity evolve in time? |
| 05/23/03 at 06:39:08 |
| mr-bean |
| Re: Matrix Reloaded (read only if u've seen it) |
|---|
| theOriginal |
| 05/23/03 at 08:29:27 |
| [slm] LOL. Okay I find anything (including flies on walls) amusing, so this probably doesn't say much, but... Mr. Bean, that was pretty funny. And I liked the character emotionless as well. Now, allow me to add depth to the movie: You know how the Source says that the function of The One is only to pick 16 people to secure the human race. And The One only exists to make that choice, and this human race is the 6th version. Then Neo, the 6th The One chooses Hope over Survival, and the Source says "Hope, the greatest flaw of human beings" or something to that effect. Which means!!!!!!!! that all the other The One's probably chose Hope too, and are roaming around in that hopelessly grey and dreary Real World. And the reason the 6th version failed is because those people were so retarded. Sheesh, what's up with that dancing. Reminded me of that scene from the 10 Commandments. Anyhowwwwwwwww..... Back to the PBJ... Wasalaam. |
| Re: Matrix Reloaded (read only if u've seen it) |
|---|
| Nomi |
| 05/23/03 at 13:43:13 |
| [slm] all its.. err.. amazing that how people get so much "into" these movies !! everybody knows that things are fake but still !!! |
| Re: Matrix Reloaded (read only if u've seen it) |
|---|
| Nafisa |
| 05/24/03 at 09:40:24 |
| [slm] Anyone think the Architect should have been handing out family sized buckets of KFC? Hello Colonel. geez, it really distracted me. Also, I did not understand a single word he said. as soon as he started talking about maths and probablities I was lost. I liked the film overall, although I didn't understand some of it. all that stuff about choice being bad and whatnot. the 'rave' scene was just icky but if anyone plans on seeing it then plan your bathroom break as soon as the music kicks up in Zion. Just nip out, go to the bathroom/get popcorn/whatever then come back and voila! nasty scenes gone. So, anyone got any theories on Neo being able to stop the sentinels at the end? there's a connection between him and Agent Smith cos Smith said so. I think they can both control the Matrix in some way . Anyone stay for the revolutions trailer after the credits? I sat thru about 10mins of excruciating techno for that trailer, sheesh! don't bother, peeps! [wlm] |
| Re: Matrix Reloaded (read only if u've seen it) |
|---|
| Nomi |
| 05/25/03 at 17:10:53 |
| [quote] anyone got any theories on Neo being able to stop the sentinels at the end? [/quote] Yes the writer/director does and you know they can change that too !! just by trashing the script and writing a new one OR just by a "retake" Its all in the hands of the writer/director :) Thats what i tell my family all the time :) |
| 05/25/03 at 17:15:24 |
| Nomi |
| Re: Matrix Reloaded (read only if u've seen it) |
|---|
| theOriginal |
| 05/26/03 at 04:49:00 |
| [slm] Sigh....useless post: Techno and trance. My musical downfall. Everytime I try quitting, I bump into a new Bob Sinclair track. I gave up the mainstream trash, but trance...oooh...trance. It is SO hard. Wasalaam. |
| Re: Matrix Reloaded (read only if u've seen it) |
|---|
| Nisa |
| 06/28/03 at 10:13:36 |
| [slm] Pray you are all well and in the best of eeman, Ameen. I jus wanna say this.....Matrix 2, how do I put this nicely, was complete T-R-A-S-H. Astaghfirullah....I'm surprised more of the brothers and sisters who posted didn't comment on the grotesque and improper, not to mention shameful scenes which dominated the movie. I sat there, eyes closed tight, sighing, almost on the verge of tears, because all I could think was, what does Allah swt think of me being here? Every single moment we are here in this world, we are to account for it. Now, the movie, not only being a source of sexual content, and sexual innuendos....also makes you wonder how much time you wasted when you could have been remembering your Lord, praising Him, remembering His favors unto you.......subhanAllah. May we, by Allah' swt Grace, not waste a single moment in this temporary existence of ours....for truly, to Him is our return....may we face our Lord with abundant hasanat and with Him pleased with us, Ameeeeen! [wlm] :( |
Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board |