Transcription
The concept of choice is nothing more than an illusion created by the oracle. Its purpose is to maintain a high control level over humans, keeping them subdued and inside the matrix. Though we've already made multiple videos on this channel talking about the devious plannings of the intuitive program, we've only scratched the service. Join us as we dig a little deeper into the manipulative tactics that the oracle used on Neo after he finally emerged as the anomaly.
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Matrix Reloaded begins with Neo having a nightmare or premonition of Trinity's death, a premonition that began after Neo became the One. Remember this, as it will be extremely important later on. Later, multiple leaders of the resistance are having a secret meeting inside the matrix. Captain Naobi explains there are hundreds of thousands of sentinels digging their way towards Zion. Unlike the first movie where Neo's choices were explicitly shown, in Matrix Reloaded, it takes a little more time and effort for us to understand them. Neo fears Trinity's death, but now time is against him as the sentinels are approaching Zion. This dichotomy of selection is what will move the story forward, and this can obviously be linked to the oracle.
After Naobi explains the situation to the leaders, Morpheus arrives, talking about the prophecy of the One and how the war will end. He persists that the oracle must be consulted. "Some of you believe as I believe, some of you do not, but those of you that do know we are nearing the end of our struggle. The prophecy will be fulfilled soon, but before it can be, the oracle must be consulted." While everyone else is more concerned about the safety of Zion, Morpheus asks for one ship to stand by in case the oracle makes contact.
Fast forwarding to Neo's confrontation with Seraph. Neo asks him who he is, to which Seraph answers, "I protect that which matters most." Interesting. So to Seraph, the oracle is the most important thing in the matrix.
Next is probably one of the most disturbing scenes in the entire Matrix saga, one that reveals the oracle's true evil nature. "Well, come on, I ain't gonna invite you. Come around here and let me have a look at you." Odd, how this line implies that Neo was afraid of approaching the oracle. She, of course, can sense his presence. This happens because Neo can see the matrix. In the original script, it says that the oracle emitted the same code as Seraph, so Neo was seeing the oracle as a golden code at that moment. "My goodness, look at you. You turned out all right, didn't you? How do you feel?" "Uh, I know you're not sleeping. We'll get to that. Why don't you come and have a sip?"
This time, the oracle's words can be interpreted in multiple ways. She's happy because Neo has become the One, but as we know, or will discover soon, Neo is nothing more than an anomaly. So, in reality, the oracle was just satisfied by the fact that the anomaly has turned out to be what she expected. But then she mentions Neo's insomnia, which is quite interesting and important. Remember what is causing Neo's sleepless nights? Trinity's death. This is not a coincidence.
Neo refuses to sit next to the oracle at first, but then he does. "Maybe I'll stand." "Well, suit yourself. I felt like sitting." I know this scene reveals that Neo still struggles with the notion of free will and determinism. He still has the hope of being able to escape the system of determinism that the oracle established. He wants to be able to go against what the oracle can predict, and that is the reason why he refused to sit when it was offered. He wanted to decide when to sit, he wanted to be in control and unpredictable to the oracle. But it doesn't work. He accepts this moment of determinism because he wants to avoid Trinity's death.
"Let's get the obvious stuff out of the way. You're not human, are you?" "It was tough to get any more obvious than that. If I had to guess, I'd say you were programmed from the machine world." As we said before, in the movie script, Neo sees the oracle as a golden code. He has never encountered anyone inside the matrix whose code was a different color other than green since he gained that ability. That is until he met Seraph. So he deduces that she is not human, but a program from the machine world. Neo came to that conclusion way before learning the truth from the architect. Bear also in mind, Neo hasn't seen the oracle since he first met her. So, is he... "So far so good. But if that's true, that could mean you are part of this system. Another kind of control." "Keep going." "I suppose the most obvious question is, how can I trust you?"
"Bingo." Neo was right. He can't trust the oracle because she's a program. She is part of the same control system. Alas, he ends up making the same mistake that Morpheus made. Morpheus was afraid of losing the war, and that lack of hope made him trust the oracle. Neo falls into the same trap because he is afraid of losing Trinity. Once again, the oracle uses hopelessness as a manipulation tool. "It is a pickle, no doubt about it. Bad news is, there's no way if you can really know whether I'm here to help you or not. So it's really up to you. Just have to make up your own damn mind to either accept what I'm going to tell you or reject it."
Candy. Interesting how this scene is very similar to their first meeting. The oracle isn't actually lying, though. She doesn't deny that she's part of the system, yet she lets Neo make up his own mind. Even worse, she offers him a red candy. What else is red? Another non-coincidence. Neo accepts the candy, as he accepted the pill from Morpheus, and this, my friends, is a sign of trust. "You already know. If I'm going to take it." "Wouldn't be much of an oracle if I didn't. But if you already know, how can I make a choice?" "Because you didn't come here to make the choice. You've already made it. You're here to try to understand why you made it."
A debate about candy and free will turns into a discussion about Neo's decision that he apparently made but does not understand yet. What decision could this be? Well, Neo choosing Trinity over everyone else. "But why help us?" "We're all here to do what we're all here to do." Once again, the oracle doesn't exactly tell Neo if she is there to help or not. She lets Neo come to that conclusion himself based on what is seen up until this moment. The oracle's programming makes her very manipulative and ambiguous in the way she speaks, but not necessarily a liar.
"I'm interested in one thing, Neo. The future. And believe me, I know the only way to get there is together." The oracle introduces the notion of a common need between humans and machines: the need to survive. Neo comes to accept this eventually when he joins Dale's Ex Machina to destroy Smith. The idea is that there must be truths between both parties, even if it mostly works in the machine's favor, as it would keep the status quo intact. This idea was created by the oracle.
"They have programs running all over the place. The ones doing their job, doing what they were meant to do, are invisible. You never even know they were here. But the other ones, well, you hear about them all the time." "I've never heard of them." "Of course you have. Every time you've heard someone say they saw a ghost or an angel, every story you've ever heard about vampires, werewolves, or aliens is the system assimilating some program that's doing something they're not supposed to be doing." Programs hacking programs. Why? They're reasons, but usually a program chooses exile when it faces deletion.
Here, the oracle is basically explaining to Neo how Smith is able to do what he is doing. Just before facing him, he is a program that hacks other programs. It also gives necessary insight into how programs work within the matrix and what happens to them if they don't do their job right. The oracle already knew Smith was coming. Sarah reminds her that it was time to leave. She was one step ahead of Smith. She was preparing Neo for that destined encounter. Although it makes us wonder if the program's hacking programs line is referring to Neo rather than Smith.
And why would a program be deleted? Maybe it breaks down. Maybe a better program is created to replace it. That happens all the time. And when it does, a program can either choose to hide here or return to the source. The machine mainframe. "Yes, where you must go. Where the path of the One ends. You've seen it in your dreams, haven't you? The door made of light."
When a program is no longer needed, it must return to the source. Where the One, as in Neo, must also go. The oracle is basically telling Neo that he himself is a program. His purpose is coming to an end and must soon return to the machine mainframe. The source needs the programs to return so it can analyze its data and make the system better. But why? The answer is found in real-world artificial intelligence development. AI programs are not made from scratch. They are given a set of basic heuristic commands so they can learn by themselves. This is called deep learning. As the AI is subjected to many different variables, it learns. And that is what happens with the programs inside the matrix. They learn and self-modify and then return to the source to be analyzed, and that data will bring new improvements to the matrix in its next version. That includes the integral anomaly. His data is the most important. It is needed to balance the equation and better protect the next version of the simulation. It is as if each program is a research module that the matrix uses for improvement.
"What happens when you go through the door?" "I see Trinity, and something happens. Something that she starts to fall, and then I wake up." "Do you see her die?" "No." "You have the sight now, Neo. You are looking at the world without time." So the oracle is literally confirming to Neo that he now has the same ability as her: foresight, though he is not as proficient. She asks Neo what happens when he goes through the door, but she already knows where it leads to: the architect. This is a form of psychological conditioning. After Neo became the One, he started to have the visions of Trinity's death and the door because the architect wanted him to. Neo's ability to see further than time itself happens because he can see the matrix code. He can see beyond the rules of cause and effect. This means that those visions were actually programmed into Neo's mind, and this is confirmed by the architect himself.
"Your five predecessors were, by design, based on a similar predication. A contingent affirmation that was meant to create a profound attachment to the rest of your species, facilitating the function of the One. While the others experienced this in a very general way, your experience is far more specific, vis-à-vis love." The architect basically explains to Neo that he and his predecessors were all programmed to feel love, making it easier for them to be controlled. The difference between Neo and his predecessors is that his love was focused on a single person: Trinity. This type of conditioning includes the vision of Trinity's death. This led Neo to make his decision based on fear instead of reason.
"Then why can't I see what happens to her?" "We can never see past the choices we don't understand." "Are you saying I have to choose whether Trinity lives or dies?" "No, you've already made the choice. Now you have to understand it." "No, I can't do that. I won't." "Well, you have to." "Why?" "Because you're the One."
So, according to the oracle, Neo can't see if Trinity survives because he doesn't understand the choice he made. This is because Neo doesn't know the truth yet. He has to meet the architect first. This shows that even this supposed premonition is limited to that knowledge, yet another piece of evidence that points to everything being part of the system of control.
"What if I can't? What happens if I fail?" "Then Zion will fall." The oracle presents the division between saving Zion or Trinity. This is more than an illusion because she knows that the path of the One will lead Neo to the architect, who also knew which decision he was going to make because of the predication of love. This is why when Neo mentions one to the other, they both have the same sarcastic response.
"If I am the father of the matrix, she would undoubtedly be its mother. The oracle." The architect reacts this way because the notion of the oracle is just an act used by the intuitive program, as he can also foresee the future. The oracle's purpose was to understand human behavior, but they are both equally as important in maintaining the humans under control. They are two sides of the same coin. They are father and mother of the matrix. The architect smugly classifies themselves as such because there is a human stereotype that sees women as nurturing and emotional, while men are seen as analytical and cold. The architect represents this archetype of a rational father, and the oracle of a protective mother. They abide by these symbols in order to keep humanity in check.
"Seems like every time we meet, I got nothing but bad news." "I'm sorry about that. I surely am. But for what it's worth, you've made a believer out of me. Good job, killer." What did the oracle mean when she told Neo that he made a believer out of her? It means that the oracle may have developed an emotional attachment towards humanity. She now believes that Neo can actually bring about peace between the humans and the machines. Perhaps the oracle cannot function beyond her purpose, which is to help control the humans, but that does not mean she then become fond of them over time.
The point must be made: the oracle is the most manipulative and Machiavellian character in the entire Matrix universe, and we hope to see her again in Matrix 4. But do you agree? Is the oracle good or evil? Altruistic or malevolent? For Matrix Explained, please leave a like and subscribe, and thank you for visiting the desert of the real.