"Red Pill" Internet Conspiracy
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This is not the internet conspiracy blog post you are looking for, this is not a blog post commenting on the horrors of modern day feminism and the oddity that is the Internet's fascination with the movie "The Matrix" as a metaphor for men's rights.
That's not this Red Pill Internet Conspiracy Blog Post.
This Blog Post is about the origins of the Red Pill and how fake news on the internet can seriously confuse the hell out of people.
After watching a classic sci fi movie I came up with my own "Red Pill" internet conspiracy theory. The conspiracy is that the Wachowski brothers/sister were Arnold Schwarzenegger fans and kind of took ideas from the movies he stared in to come up with an "original" idea for a movie called "The Matrix."
And I am not talking about the obvious parallel in James Cameron's Terminator Franchise. I am talking about the movie Total Recall.
"The Red Pill" as a metaphor is kind of an Alice in Wonderland like journey out of a simulated reality and into "The Real World" in which machines have overtaken everything and humans live near the earth's core. And by taking the "Red Pill" you go on a that journey of self discovery and begin seeing reality as it is and not how others want you to.
Or something along those lines.
But this idea down to color of the pill comes form one scene in a Hilton Hotel room on Mars.
Red Pill in Total Recall
For Hollywood old timers this is probably where "The Red Pill" originated considering the complexities that was the making of Total Recall.
Apparently it went through 40 different scripts, took 16 years to be made, was filmed over a long period of 6 months, and at the time was one of the most expensive movies ever made with a budget between 50-80 million dollars.
The metaphor got reversed and expanded upon in The Matrix, and then the internet did the same and compared it to feminism.
But for all intense and purposes people could just ignore all that complexity and just watch Total Recall instead. Because to be honest I can't unpack the intricacies of the internet conspiracy known as "The Red Pill" in the context of the Matrix and feminism/transgenderism/poltiical correctness. I just don't think my brain is smart enough to figure out that mess of mental illness.
But I can watch Total Recall and enjoy it as a movie and see its symbolism a little. For example, "The Red Pill" in Total Recall is "A symbol of your desire to return to reality."
But Arnold ends up killing Sharon Stone's character and the psychiatrist who handed him the pill and told him to swallow it. Why?
Because he figured out what reality was, that he was existing in reality with the bead of sweat that dripped down his face. As one man he put himself on a course to change the world by giving it some air, the world being Mars.
The point being is that the internet is actually completely wrong about the origins of the "Red Pill" and the metaphor and the need to take it. In Total Recall taking the "Red Pill" would have resulted in death because it is poison. Instead it is better to exist in the reality in which you live in and do your best to help as many as you can, to play the hero of the story as opposed to the villain.
Even though in the movie Total Recall, Arnold is both the villain in some ways and the hero in the same body because he is suffering from an identity crisis of being both Douglas Quade and Carl Hauser in need of help remembering things and gets that help from psychics. (haven't we've all been there before)
The real life metaphor we can take from this character is that we are both the heroes of our own story at times, but also the villain at times. Everybody might identify themselves as the hero of their own script, but if you think of the "Red Pill" as a symbol of reality, the truth is that we also sometimes play the role of the villain. Every hero needs a villain to fight, and within our own brains sometimes that fight is between the angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other. (but that's from Animal House, a different movie)
As far as Total Recall being a metaphor for feminists and men's rights, which is less in your face and more metaphorical in the movie "The Matrix" is more direct and to the point in Total Recall.
For example, in the movie Lori (Douglas Quade's wife) played by Sharron Stone has an assignment and a job. She plays Susie Homemaker to keep an eye on Carl Hauser/Douglas Quade. She also tries to kill her make believe husband who has an implanted love story that only exists in his head.
The point being is there are probably some Susie Homemaker's out there who sometimes are not viewing a relationship in 100% reality and have some fantasized make believe love story going on in their head about their husbands, and probably may also sometimes joke about wanting to kill their husbands.
This is a traditional trope based on a traditional gender role but fantasized and played out in a science fiction Hollywood movie.
Later on in Total Recall the movie gives it the Matrix Treatment when the evil villain in the movie Cohagan tries to turn the prostitute/resistance fighter into a loving and obedient housewife a.k.a Ms. Susie Homemaker by plugging her into some kind of mind control machine.
There is a clever little line in the movie after Melina is rescued and is asked if she is still her. She responded with
"I'm not sure dear, what do you think?"
Which is a clever little throwback to a traditional gender roles, I would bet there have been more than a few housewives over the years who have stolen that line or something similar when talking to their husbands. Responding to some random question their husband asks them with "I'm not sure dear, what do you think?" or something similar is probably fairly common in households.
The metaphor here is that the Recall Machine can sometimes be like the internet/society/capitalism/religion/a college education/take your pick, which sometimes can give us artificial beliefs and ideas about our identity and who we are as a person and what our role should be, and the point being is that we should fight against them if we can, but also come to terms and accept them when necessary.
In that finale scene Arnold saves the day by fighting against returning to his inner unconscious evil villain self the alter ego Carl Hauser. He enjoys being the artificial version of himself Douglas Quade and takes the best from his old life to forge a new one and change the world by being the hero and saving the planet by turning on the machine that terraformed Mars.
And then the odd part of this entire movie, is that the ending of the movie has the viewer convinced it is "Real". But if you re watch the movie and look back to the beginning when he is at Recall you will recall, that the ending.
Is the exact program and story that he goes to Recall for, he plays the secret agent role, kills the bad guys, gets the girl, and saves the entire planet.
My theory on the movie "Matrix" is that the Wachowski brothers/sisters had some beers and spent a weekend and watched Total Recall for an absurd amount of time over a weekend and decided t write a script for something that was kind of like it.
But that is an unsubstantiated internet rumor I'm writing for this blog post.