The Matrix

Computer hacker Thomas Anderson has lived a relatively ordinary life--in what he thinks is the year 1999--until he is contacted by the enigmatic Morpheus who leads him into the real world. In reality, it is 200 years later, and the world has been laid waste and taken over by advanced artificial intelligence machines. The computers have created a false version of 20th-century life--the "Matrix"--to keep the human slaves satisfied, while the AI machines draw power from the humans. Anderson, pursued constantly by "Agents" (computers who take on human form and infiltrate the Matrix), is hailed as "The One" who will lead the humans to overthrow the machines and reclaim the Earth. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/plotsummary)


The Matrix can be seen as one of the most important films of our generation. This is because it was not only great at its time but by the evnets that have occurred because of the film. The new techniques that were shot in this film are new seen in a large majority of films and even video games of today. It it was not for The Matrix these new ideas and techniques could have never been implemented within our society. The film also brings to question to the viewer the idea about reality. What is reality and how are we able to view it. The Matrix shows the audience a world that is completely made up and fake but this world looks just as our does. How are we able to tell the difference. What if the reality we are seeing now is not real. These are the ideas and questions that the matrix brings within the viewers mind. The film is one of the greatest films in the sense of what it has done for films that have followed it. The Matrix changed the way films are created and viewed.

The Truman Show

In this movie, Jim Carrey is Truman, a man whose life is a fake one... The place he lives is in fact a big studio with hidden cameras everywhere, and all his friends and people around him, are actors who play their roles in the most popular tv-series in the world: The Truman Show. Truman thinks that he is an ordinary man with an ordinary life and has no idea about how he is exploited. Until one day... he finds out everything. Will he react? (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120382/plotsummary)

The Truman Show is one of Jim Carrey's great films. He is able to create this character who is beloved by the world and is watched 24/7. This film allows the view to question what is reality. To Truman his reality was in fact fake but he did not know this until an event occurred that allowed him to step out of his world and see something else. Once this happened he started to question his whole life and what was really going on within it. This allows the viewer to question what is their own reality. Is it real or is it just what someone else wants us to see and think. Truman allows this question to be brought to the view and then the viewer is able to see the glory behind taking hold of your own life. Truman does this and in the end becomes free. The audience must make the same decision that Truman does, what to do within our life and how to deal with the events that are occurring. What is reality and how are we able to view it.

Johnny Mnemonic

In 2021, the whole world is connected by the gigantic Internet, and almost a half of the population is suffering from the Nerve Attenuation Syndrome (NAS).Johnny with an inplanted memory chip in his brain was ordered to transport the over loaded information from Beijing to Newark. While Pharmakom Industries supported by yakuza tries to capture him to get the informaiton back, the Low-tech group led by J-Bone tries to break the missing code to download the cure of NAS which Johnny carries (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113481/plotsummary)

Johnny Mnemonic is a film that also deals with the question of memory. This film allows the viewer to see what is possible within the human mind and what can happen when an individual looses part of their memory. Johnny chooses to dump his childhood memory in order to store data within his own head. By doing this he has lost part of himself and is not the person he was before the memory chip was implanted. The film allows the viewer to understand the importance of memory and how it is able to shape us into the person that we are. Johnny lost part of his memory in order to make money and have a job but was it worth it to him? He no longer had any part of his childhood and once you loose part of your memory you are no longer to same person. Our memories help to make us into the person that we are, they help to create our personalities and by taking these memories away we are no longer the same person. So is Johnny still Johnny once his memories are gone?

Total Recall

The year is 2084. Douglas Quaid is a construction worker, every night Doug has been having horrible nightmares about the planet Mars and it has become very obsessive for Doug. Doug goes to "Rekall INC" a company that sales false memories of ideal holidays. When Doug has a false memory of a holiday on Mars implanted, it all goes terribly wrong. Doug has lost his memory and he is being chased by a group of assassins and his beautiful wife Lori is a agent who claims his whole life is a fake and he isn't who he is. After discovering he is Hauser, a former Mars Intelligence agent, Quaid goes to the colony on Mars, in hoping of finding answers. Where he meets a woman named Melina who is working for rebels and the assassins are working for Vilos Cohaggen, the colony's corrupt administrator. As Doug sets out to discover who he is and why Cohaagen is after him, Doug not only is finding answers, he also begins to question reality. Is the events of Rekall INC, being chased by assassins and going to Mars really happening? or Is it all a dream?(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100802/plotsummary)

Total Recall brings into question what makes up an individuals memories and how we are able to preceive them. By looking at this film the audience is able to start to question their own ideas about memory and what makes a memory. The film is allowing the audience to question if it is a dream or if it is a reality. To me the film is a dream. This can be seen in a few different instances. One is when the doctor comes into Quaid's mind and tells him that this is a dream and that he has taken control of the dream himself. By having Quiad in complete control of the dream and then choses to see the bead of sweat drip down the doctor's face. Quiad made this happen. Another instance is when they say he will have total recall but this never happens. This is because Quiad did not pay for all of the memories that Hauser would have. It just comes down to that he did not pay for those memories and that is why he never gained them. Total Recall allow the viewer to come to grips that our reality is only what our mind and memories make of it.