You didn't pay attention to the Matrix ;) (Destiny)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Wednesday, September 27, 2017, 15:10 (2454 days ago) @ Cody Miller

As far as the Matrix is concerned, you're glossing over the point where the Oracle tells Neo that he is not "the one". Neo leaves his meeting with her believing he is just another guy. What happens next? He chooses to do the right thing, no matter the cost. He chooses to sacrifice himself in the hope of helping his friend. He stands up to the forces of evil/darkness/whatever you want to call it, and rather than run like everyone else does, he confronts it head on (this is spelled out quite literally, in his confrontation with Agent Smith).

In doing all this, Neo BECOMES the One. Heroic actions cannot take place if the hero knows they can't lose. If that's the situation, then they aren't a hero. Neo is put into a situation where he is fully aware of his vulnerability, but he chooses to act like a hero nonetheless.

I realize it's easy to forget they made sequels, but Reloaded and Revolutions make it clear Neo was 'always' the One. He didn't become the One because of that choice.

Heh, this is where getting bogged down in the literal or dogmatic details of a story can get in the way of understanding the deeper meanings ;)

Yes, Neo was always "the one". But in what sense? Let's set aside the very well thought-out fan theory that Agent Smith, not Neo, was "the one". Let's instead ask, what does it mean to say that Neo was always "the one"? What's the line that Morpheus says? "She told you exactly what you needed to hear". The way I see it, Neo was always "the one" in that he always had the ability to be a hero inside him. But as I said above, acting without fear of defeat, or pain, or death, cannot be heroic. So the Oracle strips Neo of any lingering hope of invincibility, so that his true character can emerge. And Neo responds by showing that deep down, he possesses the character of a hero.

The rest of that movie is quite opaque with its metaphors. Almost every major religion in the world incorporates the idea that pain & suffering are inescapable forces in life, and for good reason. Every single one of us faces hardship after hardship. What defines us in many ways is our ability to stand up to those hardships, weather them, and go on in life despite them. What makes a person able to stand against hardship? To survive suffering? Neo shows his willingness to stand up against darkness/evil/corruption in a way that nobody else does. He attacks Smith head on. He can't kill Smith (because you can't rid the world of pain and suffering... it is eternal), but he is able to face it and meet it knowingly, willingly. This is what formidable people do. And what happens next? Neo gets shot up like a piece of swiss cheese. Again, a very blunt metaphor. Morpheus and Trinity watch Neo go something that they know would kill them, something that should kill anyone, but Neo suffers the injury and is then transformed by it. Bullets can no longer hurt him. Again, the lesson is clear; accept your troubles, face them head on, and you will grow stronger.

You are also forgetting what the Oracle told Trinity regarding Neo (this is in the first movie).

I have a tough time placing Trinity into any significant role in the story of the Matrix, aside from that of the typical "love interest". It could be that they were going for a "father/son/holy spirit" dynamic between Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity, aside from her name it doesn't fit all that well as far as I can tell.

As far as what the Oracle told her, that just falls under the category of "telling people what they need to hear". For all her dedication to the cause, Trinity is a bit more of a skeptic than Morpheus. At the very least, she isn't as quick to make a leap of faith. This is a common trait; many humans are hesitant to believe the incredible, and would rather dismiss it or "reason it away". So the Oracle drops that little bit of info on Trinity to help give her a nudge in the right direction when the time comes. She knew that despite all of Trinity's time and effort helping Morpheus find The One, Trinity would be hesitant to believe it when she actually found him.

And I did mention that very thing in my original post, because yes, it made the drama and catharsis of the story way better.

True, but there is more to it than that, I believe (as I already described)