Blog 4: Ignorance, Bliss, and Knowledge in Oedipus the King and The Matrix.

     There are many similarities and differences in the movie "The Matrix" and the play "Oedipus the King." The Matrix, a movie released in 1999 is about a post apocalyptic, world, in which machines use a simulation to keep the human mind under control as they use their bodies as batteries. This simulation is an alternate reality called the Matrix. Oedipus the King is a play about a man named Oedipus who is told by a prophet that he will become king. kill his father, and have sex with his mother. The play is mainly about him discovering truth and trying to prevent the prophecy from occurring. Obviously both stories sound completely different, however they are similar as well in many ways. 2 major themes occur in both productions : Ignorance is bliss and the search for knowledge.

     In the Matrix, ignorance can be a good thing, or a bad thing. Cypher, a character in the matrix, betrays Neo the protagonist because he would rather live a "comfy" life in the Matrix, rather then know the truth, that the world is run by machines. In this case for Cypher, he would rather be ignorant to the truth. In Oedipus the King, there is a similar  but opposite connection between Oedipus and the oracle, Tiresias. Oedipus wants to know the truth about who he really was, and in doing so, he realizes that even though the truth is horrible, and has ruined his life. He would not accept not knowing the truth, or in other words, he could not live with himself  being ignorant to who he really was.

     In the search for knowledge, Neo, the Main character in the movie The Matrix, tries to understand his exact purpose. Whether he was the "One" or not. Throughout the movie, instances where "If this was gonna happen, would it still happened if you knew?" This paradoxical question points to Neo's search for knowledge  and whether knowing "the future" would change or not change the outcome. This similar question is asked in Oedipus the King, when the Prophet divulges information to Oedipus. Would he have still done these horrible things if he didn't know what the prophet told him?

     Despite being a movie about machines from 2199, and a play about a king from 1000 BC, the two works have very similar connections in the themes of knowledge, the search for truth and ignorance.