Matt Desert

Would You Take The Blue Pill Or The Red Pill?

If you are going to enter the Matrix this Halloween, be sure to dress in a Matrix outfit that you can either construct or purchase. In a Matrix costume you can turn into Neo, Morpheus, Trinity, Agent Smith or even the albino Twins.

The Matrix Trilogy leads us on a voyage that may sometimes make you incredulous, but, in fact, is really based on myths and philosophy. There have been several books written about what the Matrix means on a philosophical level and one of them is based on Advaita Vedanta. The Matrix makes us question whether what we experience in our daily life is in fact real. How do we know it’s not a dream or merely brain activity? The Matrix is like the Indian concept of Maya or illusion. We need to free our minds from Maya in order to realize the Truth.

It is indubitably a thought provoking conception and for many quite a difficult one to appreciate let alone understand. You don’t need to think about the philosophy to enjoy the Matrix films. They’re great entertainment and full of action – my kind of movie.

Keanu Reeves plays a character who leads two lives in the film, one as Neo the hacker and one as Thomas Anderson, a respectable computer programmer in a normal job. Neo has a sense that something is amiss. He doesn’t know what but he has heard of the Matrix and wants to know what it is. When he meets Trinity and Morpheus he’s given the opportunity to either stay in the world that he is familiar with or to find out what the Matrix really is. Neo looks very cool in his black shades and long black trenchcoat. In this outfit, you can imagine you’re Neo and evading some bullets. If you have a partner, she could dress as Trinity with a long black vinyl coat and black shades. Then, of course, there is the mysterious Morpheus with the obligatory long black coat and black sunglasses but you can add a pair of black pants and black dress shirt with a lime green tie. If you’re more into villains, Agent Smith is the obvious choice or perhaps the Albino Twins.

If you want to read some more about the philosophical ideas behind the Matrix, you could try reading “The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real (Popular Culture and Philosophy)” edited by William Irwin. Another possibility is “Like a Splinter in Your Mind: The Philosophy Behind the Matrix Trilogy” written by Matt Lawrence.

For some more ideas, drop by my Matrix costume site and check out the costumes there.

Iced Earth – Desert Rain (Matt Barlow)