What is the ultimate reality? This question popped into my head when I re-watched The Matrix a few days ago. Up until then I just assumed the movie was all about exaggerated fighting and the legendary backwards bends when Neo dodged bullets and weapons from enemies. In fact I had this habit of confusing The Matirix with Men in Black and Kong fu Hustle (it’s not my fault they have similar props) . Beyond the seeming comedy and extra effects in the movie I discovered something else. The plot. The movie to me has a fantastic plot which borders on the issues of what reality is. I am not much of a movie person but I noticed a similar theme when I watched Tron. There is this quest to understand reality better; by questioning the present reality and going a step further to propose that there is a different or alternate reality from the existing reality we live in. Both Tron and Matrix propose that this alternate reality can be deciphered through the digital world- programming. While the latter suggests that the present reality is in fact controlled by computers, the latter believes that an alternate reality is existing synonymously with the present. Now this raises a funny question to me. If there is another reality from what there is now, so what? Why does it matter.
According to Morpheus, the other reality is where man is free. Free from control, free from ‘evil’ and free to choose. The last time I ever thought so much about the concept of freedom was when I read Orwell’s 1984. In that book Orwell depicted a society where the masses were extremely controlled, the only people who were not under Big Brother’s control were the Proletariats. Yes, there were the poorest but they were the freest. So Orwell contrasting two classes of people in one society helps the readers to contrast two worlds and to make a choice for themselves as to which is better. What does Orwell’s story have to do with the Matrix?
It is simple. There is a direct relationship between freedom and the perfect reality. A reality that is different from the present. Script writers, movie directors and even book authors have published countless of literature on this issue to suggest to readers the possibility of an alternate reality. So is there an alternate reality? One thing I have noticed from the climax of all the movies and books that write on this reality issue is that the alternate reality is just as bad. In the Matrix for instance those characters who had escaped to the alternate reality Zion were still unsafe and threatened. In Tron evil had somehow sipped into the alternate reality and threatened to destroy the city. And in 1984, the proles had their own fair share of bombs and attacks from the other class. What is my point? The alternate reality would forever be dependent on the protagonist who will free the escapees from the conflict in the ‘perfect world’. Deciding to believe in the existence of an alternate reality is entirely up the reader eventually.
Hmmmmnn just had a brilliant idea. May be I should write about an alternate reality too… you know in the African scope. Any ideas what it should be called?
Something more to think about 