The 1st episode of The Matrix was pretty explicit in the author’s attempt to criticize the today’s world of “walking dead”. Are we really consciously living, fully understand what we’re doing? How many of us are truly aware of the fact that we’re nothing but a tool to help the society evolve. For a “greater good” of our collective human race.
I thought it is a pretty new concept people started to think about recently. However, as it turns out, time and time again writers have warned us of our path to doom.
In Fight Club (1999), the Narrator lives a “walking dead” life as a car company consultant. His every day is the same as every other day, he goes to work, buys his satisfaction from IKEA furniture as a consumer. He never really thought of what he’s doing, not until he met Tyler Durden. Who enlightened and brought him out of his rat race, but not in the society accepted ways such as giving him wealth and materials. He introduced him to the Fight Club.
Without further spoiling this magnificent story, I can make the point I want to: How many of us can NOT identify with the protagonist’s life? We go to school, get a job, buy stuffs, get a family, get old, finally die. That is nothing but the life of a “walking dead”, a cell supporting the life of The Matrix.
What shocked me most was the miserable fact that the whole human race have no signs whatsoever to stop “evolving” for the society. Back in 1955, the movie Rebel without a Cause also criticize the exact same thing about the modern societies.
Years later, consumerism has grown stronger than it has ever been. People are now working even harder to achieve the intangible. Just as global warming is at an alarming stage, so is our consciousness as individuals. Perhaps this is not to be surprised, as awakening from the Matrix can be very daunting:
All the above probably makes no fucking sense at all to some people. To people who understand it, however, it should have a profound meaning. So, can you truly say you’re know what you’re doing? If not, are you ready to shake it off and man up, or you’d rather stay unconscious and follow the crowd, for “our greater good”?
