Is Neo The One? Does It Matter?

This was about the fifteenth time I have seen the Matrix, but it was the first time I had seen it after learning about daoism.  So, this was really like seeing it for the first time.  I found that the subtitles being on really helped me to read it on the first day.  I wish we would have had them on for the second part of the film because without them I did find myself getting into the action a little more and forgetting why we were there.  After viewing the film, I am still pretty sure that I don't understand daoism.  I probably understand the film a lot more than I understand the philosophy.

The key point for our heroic journey is whether or not Neo is the one.  Now clearly he is the protagonist of the film, but does that necessarily make him a hero?  If we view the film like the other stories that we have been reading, we really need to make a decision on our feelings about Neo being the one.  I believe in the realm of the film that Neo is clearly the one.  The oracle never says it specifically, but she pretty much says that if he is not the one now, he will be the one later.  Since we know she told Morpheous that he would find the one, we can extrapolate that Neo is either the one, or Morpheous is going to live for a very long time since Neo will have to be in another life to be the one. 

Now some in class claim that Neo is in another life when he becomes the one since he has died and risen (Matrix Messiah?).  But, I think it is clear to see that this is still our Thomas Anderson.  Neo is the one because he has always been the one.  It is true that he doesn't really achieve his full capabilities as a hero until he believes in himself, but it doesn't change the fact that he was always the one and our hero.  By the end of the film, I am still not sure that Neo believes he is the one, but he clearly believes he has a role to play in saving the world.

Neo's journey is not unlike some of the others we have read in class this semester.  Neo sort of leaves his home and goes on a heroic journey before returning home.  Now for Neo, his original home existed only in his mind and he was never aware that anything else was out there.  I am not sure how he returns to his home knowing what he knows by the end.  Now that he has achieved "knowledge," it would be pretty tough to go home again.  Just like Sir Gawain came home with a badge of failure, Neo seems to have one too.  Although he doesn't project it on how he sees himself in the matrix, he does have the holes in his body where the feeding tubes were connected while he was in an unconscious state.  When he is outside the realm of the matrix, I think he could easily view these as a badge of failure because he never recognized his true existence before Morpheous opened his eyes.

Now that I've established my view that Neo is the one, the next big question is whether or not it matters.  What we don't know from watching the film is the ultimate end game.  Will Neo single handedly awaken every human in the world from their sleep?  Will he succeed in eliminating all of the machines that are running the "real" world?  What is the ultimate end goal?  It certainly seems like Neo has a long way to go if he is going to be the one to lead all people to the truth.  That being said, it is clear that he has more heroic journeys ahead.  The daoists in our other readings generally did not seem to seek that kind of excitement in their lives so I don't know whether they would even approve of Neo trying to be the one.  Perhaps they would have been more comfortable with him taking the other pill.  Ignorance is probably not ever bliss, but it can lead to a happier existence and if the end game for everyone is to live a happy life, then Neo clearly chose the wrong pill.