This past Friday, my friends and I attended Rose’s showing of the classic sci-fi film The Matrix. I last saw this movie when I was in middle school. Therefore, this time around, I viewed it through the lens of a more mature, critically-thinking, experienced young adult. My new perspective resulted in different opinions on the characters and situations within the film.

First of all, my position on the “blue/red pill dilemma” has changed. For those of you who don’t know what I’m referring to: in the movie, our main character Neo has to choose between taking a red or blue pill. The red pill would allow him to escape the Matrix, which is a happy, but false and simulated reality created by robots for humans. On the other hand, the blue pill would return Neo to the Matrix. As a child, I thought the red pill was the clear choice, as I reasoned that I wouldn’t want to live a lie, no matter how much more blissful life would be in ignorance. But now, I see the blue pill as my obvious selection. I’d rather be happy in a simulated world than unhappy in the real world. Outside of the Matrix, what kind of quality of life would I be getting? I would be confined to a little hovercraft with only a few other “roommates” not of my choice, constantly in fear of attack by the ruling robots. This is not a happy existence. Who cares if it’s the reality? I’d rather live in the Matrix, where I’d be more content, with a greater variety of friends, career options, travel destinations, and so on and so forth. Furthermore, reality is such a relative term. What makes something real? The Matrix was real to the people living in it and would be real to me. Therefore, in this specific case, I’d prefer the blissful ignorance over the harsh reality. This choice is situational though, and were I given a different set of options not having to do with the Matrix, my choice between ignorance and reality may be different.

In addition to my transition from the red pill to the blue pill, as an older viewer, I found the female character Trinity to be frustrating. As a young kid I thought she was awesome: she’s a talented, aggressive, agile, and strong warrior, and thus breaks gender roles left and right. However, I now recognize that Trinity is quiet and reserved with barely any lines, and is only in the movie to serve as Neo’s love interest. She falls for Neo for no clear reason, as they barely exchange any words throughout the course of the movie. In this way, she’s seen as kind of a mindless/thoughtless/superficial being, as we are left to wonder, does she only love Neo for his strength? His masculinity? Therefore, as hard as she tries, Trinity is not the ideal role model for young girls, as she is quiet, not outspoken, mindless, and only present in the movie to offer the main male character love.