Harry Potter and The Matrix

[Trisha Masen]

Figured since I wasn't sure if this should go here or the main list, I'd
play it safe.  I saw "The Matrix: Revolutions" last night and was blown
away.

Since then I've been trying to figure out why I'm so fascinated by movies
like "The Matrix" and books like the Harry Potter series.  I think I've come
to the conclusion that the main reason is because, in some ways, both seem
so plausible.  They take reality and tweak it.  Both take "the world as we
know it" and then show us that we really don't know it at all.

"The Matrix" shows us that our illusion is just that - we are plugged into a
central mainframe and used as batteries.  Everything we think we know is
just a construct most humans are duped into believing and living within.

Harry Potter shows us that there are those who can create illusions to
baffle and confuse us Muggles.  But, there is a whole world that run roughly
parallel that does not follow the "rules" that we know at all.  Just think
of Ron's amusement at the way Muggles function sometimes.

I think I'm jealous.  In both, the reality we know is not really reality.
In the alternate place (either mentally "released" from the mainframe in
"The Matrix" or in the wizarding world in Harry Potter), people are able to
perform amazing feats and are released - to some extent - from the
contraints placed upon us.

~Trisha Masen