Truman

I believe that in life we need to go about our daily routines not knowing what is to come in the future. In fact, I think the future shall be and stay unpredictable. That idea also includes no one else knowing what is to come in your future; except of course for God being that I am religious. I believe that God knows the main points that are in your life’s plan however he gives you the gift of free will and allows you to make it to each point on your own. I think Christof slightly portrays similarities to God however they differ in other ways as well.
In the Truman Show, Christof, the director of a television network is using Truman’s life to put out a show for the sake of his career. I must admit I sympathize for Truman because I feel he was being exposed and watched as if he were a museum exhibit. I found it amusing that in the movie they make it seem possible for this to even be done. It was also shocking to me that not only does every single person in Seahaven watch the Truman show but they also act in it when Truman comes around. Christof, coincidently having “Christ” in his name, watches Truman’s every move in a white house high up somewhere. At the end when Truman gets the idea that he is being exhibited on a show, he finds Christof. Just before Truman enters his home, Christof speaks to him through what appears to be the sky. Christof watches Truman just like God watches us however he cannot tell what is in Truman’s future.
If I was in Truman’s position, I would rather go live in a place where I am promised I would have nothing to fear. Personally, being watched by everyone on television from birth freaks me out. Wouldn’t that freak you out too? To me leaving Seahaven to live in a place where I have nothing to fear means living in a place where no one is watching me, nonetheless on a television program to benefit someone else’s pocket.
The Truman Show reminds me of The Matrix because Truman and the people of the Matrix world both live in worlds that they most likely don’t want to be a part of. In other words, they are living immorally under someone else’s examination.

Fate Freedom and Foreknowledge

I believe that my life is determined by a special individual fate! I feel that in the end, things will end up the way they were supposed to end up all along. In certain situation, things may just work out in your favor. I think it is all predestined. I call that fate.
I am a firm believer of the “everything happens for a reason” idea. I think that sometimes things happen in life that was just meant to happen. Even if it wasn’t the best experience, fate put it in your path for the learning experience. There have been times where I have been caught in situations where I would not want to be in, but in the end I come out a better person. To me I feel it was in my fate all along to help make me who I am.
In the Matrix movie, the oracle knows everything that will happen. The oracle tells Neo that she would offer him a seat but she already knows that he will not take it. This shows that the people of the Matrix world do not have free will. Everything people do or say in the Matrix world is already predestined. This is all due to their determined individual fate.
Schick explains that, “Fatalists, as they are called, believe that certain things are bound to happen no matter what anyone does. Take the case of Oedipus, for example. An oracle prophesied that Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother. To avoid such horrible fate, Oedipus left the city where he grew up, but ended up doing exactly what the oracle had predicted.” This shows that no matter how you go about your life situations, in the end, they will always turn out the way it was planned in your fate.

Source and Ontology

To me the term ontology means the study of the way things are supposed to be and how they are. I never really knew what this word meant until I read a line in the Matrix and philosophy that said, “The second way to distinguish between the categories of real and unreal has to do with their respective ontological status- put plainly, the way things exist.” (Irwin, 61). In other words, Sanford and Gracia use the term ontology to express how things just are. Dictionary.com states that ontology means: “the branch of metaphysics that studies the nature of existence or being as such.” All together, my understanding of this word is the science behind every living source.
Source on the other hand to me does not mean HOW things are but WHERE they came from. For example when writing a research paper you would need to gather information first in order to write your paper. Then you would list the sources in which you got your facts from and that means where they came from. Dictionary.com says, “Source: any thing or place from which something comes, arises, or is obtained.” In the Matrix and philosophy, Gracia and Sanford state, “The two ways of distinguishing between the real and unreal world- the sources for each and their ontological status- clarify the distinction between the two categories of the Matrix.” I agree with Gracia and Sanford’s idea of the source because I believe everything has a source. However I do not agree on the fact that you can distinguish between real and unreal using ontological status because if it’s unreal then it wouldn’t have ontological staus.

Does the Matrix Possibility Even Make Sense?

In The Matrix and Philosophy, page 36, David Mitsuo Nixon discusses if The Matrix can even make sense. After reading his prompt, I agree that in order to have a false belief you must have true beliefs first. In other words, in order to know something is not real, you first must know what is real. Then you can judge what is not. At first I could not see where he was going with it but he quickly cleared up his point with a conversation example between him and Cletus. Cletus states that bears are scary. Nixon asks if it’s because they are so big or because they are furry. Cletus then replies that he was not aware that they were big or furry. At the end of their conversation Cletus concludes that he doesn’t even know what bears look like. Apparently Cletus must have heard from word of mouth that bears are scary, believed it and repeated it. Nixon says “We can’t really make sense of the idea of a person whose beliefs are all or almost all false.” I realize now that what he is trying to say is that Cletus could not have had a false belief that bears are scary without knowing what a bear looks like and what it means to feel scared.
My response to this prompt is that in the Matrix, people are simply living in a false world. They do not know that what they believe is part of a false reality. Whatever they do believe however, is real to them. Referring back to his prompt on page 28, “Do We Really Know Anything” Nixon states, “Notice that the Matrix possibility does not say that I am in the Matrix right now. It just says that it is possible that I am in the Matrix right now.” I feel that this line contradicts the movie because the people living in the Matrix, other than Neo, Morpheus, Trinity and the agents are not aware that where they live is a false world. In conclusion, I agree with his prompt on ‘Does the Matrix Possibility Even Make Sense?” However, I cannot seem to find the connection he tried to make with the Matrix world natives and what they do and do not know!

The Matrix???

I must admit that when I first saw The Matrix I wasn’t able to grasp the concept of the plot. It was a little bit confusing to me mainly because I was not sure what was Morpheus and Neo’s specific purpose in what they were doing. I then began to understand that they were the “good guys,” the protagonists, trying to save everyone from a false world and that the antagonists were the agents. Even though I eventually realized what everyone’s objective was, I still felt as if there was some other idea beyond that in which I was not grasping.
After a class discussion, I started to get the idea of religious issues being portrayed in The Matrix. It began to make a little more sense to me because it was as if each character in the Matrix was portrayed as a religious figure. Neo was chosen by Morpheus like Jesus was chosen by God to spread a word. That was his specific purpose.
The Allegory of the Cave also helped me understand the theme in the movie because Socrates was on a mission save the enslaved from the cave. At first I didn’t know what the cave had to do with the Matrix but now I see the connection.
I am beginning to grasp some of the concepts of The Matrix but I think I should watch the movie again now and see how I interpret it.

The Allegory of the Cave

I feel as if I am in the Socrates cave. I am still very young, living at home with my family. It is what I am accustomed to my whole life so I don’t exactly have a problem with it. However, at times I look forward to my bright future so much that I am already striving to get out.
I am a hard-working college student as well as a hard worker at my job outside of school. I am making money to give my parents a little break supporting me financially. Especially since education is so expensive. I also have a dedication to my cave and I respect the rules given to me in it. Although this is my home that I am chained to and I love, it still however feels to me like I have a long way to go until I escape this cave of sleepless nights and time-consumed days.
I know that somewhere in the end it will pay off. That is when I will see the sun light. Perhaps then I’d really experience the fresh air and enjoy it considering I have earned it, on my own, but with the support of my parents in this cave. Once I am released from this cave, I will still respect the way I started out in here. After all, the reason I’d have grown to be the person I will be that day is because of my life in the cave.

About Me

Hi, my name is Liana Melendez. I am an Aquarius born on January 23, 1990. I was raised in Queens, New York my entire life. I am Dominican and Puerto Rican. I work as a cosmetic and fragrance freelancer at Bloomingdale's 59th Street. I am a Liberal Arts: Social Science and Humanities student at LaGuardia Community College. I would love to transfer to Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania one day to study abroad all over the world. At this point, I am not 100% sure on exactly what I want to do in the future but I sure am working on finding it. Aside from that, I am very easy to talk to and a compassionate being at that. I love puppies and babies. I also love the beach, make up and tans. I like to exercise. I'm at the gym four to five days per week. I absolutely adore bananas! I just recently became a frequent coffee drinker. Cannot really think of anything else to say about myself at the moment but there is a lot more where that came from and if you have any questions all you have to do is ask =)