Big Essay DRAFT 3

(still have alot of work to do but this is all i have so far)

A trope is a familiar theme that continuously occurs in many stories and films as figurative language/image that can be portrayed through the characters, plot, or setting. A few examples of tropes are: the arrogant authority figures, sympathetic people, eccentric detective, smart but dorky sidekick, happy endings, struggle between good versus evil, heroes always defeat the villains. Many tropes combined lead up to a revelation mega-trope. A revelation is realizing that everything is not what it seems. An enlightening revelation changes your outlook/ perspective on life. Revelation reveals the unknown and is like an epiphany that begins the process of starting with your newfound insight. Some crucial elements that make up the revelation mega-trope consists of a prophet (who is the revealer and usually comes before disciple), the disciple, an unacceptable situation, life changing views, insight/enlightenment, learning to think for yourself. Many times something big must happen to the revealer for it to process the disciple. Other times there is resistant to the message. Those that oppose the revealer and the message tend to be portrayed as the ‘bad guys’. Throughout time the adaptations of tropes and revelation mega-tropes have been used to convey a message to the audience. Revelations offer the audience life-changing experiences, overcoming unacceptable situations, self-reliance and self-discovery. Sometimes the revelation will cause the disciple to fight society norms. Revelation mega-tropes can be found in films and different types of literature.

Our first introduction to a revelation through literature is The Emperors New Clothes, by Hans Christian Anderson. Two scoundrels trick the Emperor into believing that they are tailors who can make the Emperor a beautiful suite made of extraordinary material. The suite is so special that it appears invisible to those that are stupid and incompetent. Once the suite is completed the Emperor looks into the mirror and sees himself naked but doesn’t say anything because he doesn’t want to see incompetent. The Emperor holds a parade to show off his new clothes and wants to see who else in the village is incompetent. Although no one sees anything but the naked Emperor, they decide to keep their mouth shut because they don’t want to seem incompetent. The only one to speck up is a little child who shouts out that “the Emperor is naked”, and soon the rest of the villagers admit that the Emperor is naked. The Emperor thinks that everyone in the village is stupid and incompetent and he continues on with the parade. In this story the two scoundrels are the messengers trying to portray the idea that people deny the truth even though it is right in front of them. No one wants to appear incompetent in front of the other so no one speaks the truth.

In the film Foxfire a mysterious drifter named Legs enters a high school chemistry class. While in the class the teacher is forcing a student, Rita, to dissect a frog. Legs stands up to the teacher and lets the frog go free and then leaves through the same window. Later when the girls are in the bathroom, Rita says that the teacher sexually abuses her and so Legs says that they need to stick together, “If it could happen to one of us, it could happen to all of us”. Legs, Rita, Maddie and Violet decide to teach the teacher a lesson. In this film Legs is the revealer and the message is to stand up for each other and stick together. In the bathroom scene there is a group of cheerleaders that oppose the message that the teacher sexually abuses Rita. Since it has never been done to one of them, they decide to blindly believe that an authority figure would never do that.

When analyzed closely the Gospel of Mark, The Matrix and Star Wars follow the steps of the revelation mega-trope; the ignorant folks are in an unacceptable situation when a prophet shares a message of redefinition and redemption. Despite opposition and betrayal, people must choose between the status quo and revelation. Thus lives are changed as a result (Snyder). In many cases a pre-revealer comes before the prophet and introduces the message to the prophet. In the Gospel of Mark the pre-revealer is John the Baptist, in the Matrix the pre-revealer is Morpheus, and in Star Wars the pre-revealer is Obi-Wan Kenobi.

In the Gospel of Mark the pre-revealer, John the Baptist is given the task of preparing the way for the prophet, “1 The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, [a][b] 2 as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way’ [c] 3 ‘a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for your Lord, make straight paths for him,’” (the Gospel of Mark). Jesus’ first revelation occurred after he was baptized by John and learned that he was the Son of God, “10 Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased,’” (the Gospel of Mark). Jesus is given the ability to heal and help others. Jesus chooses his first disciples who will accompany him throughout his journeys: Simon and his brother Andrew, and James son of Zebedee and his brother John. The ignorant masses are those that oppose and disbelieve Jesus’ message, but they are given many parallel revelations that lead them to believe he is the Son of God. The first revelation takes place in Capernaum when Jesus goes to the synagogue during Sabbath to teach and a man is possessed by an evil spirit, “ 24 What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are- the Holy One of God!”. Jesus orders the evil spirit to leave the man and it obeys. The people were so amazed and astonished, “What is this? A new teaching- and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him” (the Gospel of Mark). Soon word spread and Jesus began to heal the sick and those that were demon-possessed. When Jesus heals a paralyzed man and says ‘his sins are forgiven’, many people think to themselves “Who can forgive sins but God alone?”. Jesus knew that many in the crowd doubted his power and asks, “Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier” to say to this paralyzed man ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘get up, take your mat and walk? 10 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.’ So he said to the man, 11 ‘I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home” (the Gospel of Mark). Subsequently the man gets up and walks home with his mat and the people are amazed at this sight. The Gospel of Mark continues in this manner where Jesus preaches to people and they are given revelations to believe that the Son of God has been sent at their aid to teach, help and heal. In the end Jesus is killed like many prophets are and the disciples continue to preach, “ 19 After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. 20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it” (the Gospel of Mark).

One apparent idea throughout most revelation mega-tropes is the disciple learning that there is more to life than what s/he perceived. A great example of a film that follows the revelation mega-trope is the Matrix. Thomas A. Anderson also known as Neo is a computer programmer/ hacker who wants to decipher the codes on his computer. These codes are the Matrix. Morpheus is a human that realized that the world he lived in was false and ruled by the machines. He is the captain of the Nebuchadnezzar. The Oracle, a human who has the power of foresight living in the Matrix helping fight the machines tells Morpheus that there is ‘The One’ who will come and end the war. Morpheus believes Neo is ‘The One’ and offers Neo a chance to learn what the Matrix is. Morpheus gives Neo a choice of accepting the red pill, which offers the revelation that his known world is a false reality or the blue pill, which allows Neo to continue living his life in ignorance. Neo chooses the red pill and is taken through a process of rebirth. Throughout his journey Neo is introduced to many revelations, big and small that contribute to his journey and his choices as a whole.
Neo’s first revelation is when he learns that the world he has lived in since birth is the Matrix. The Matrix is a false reality that is ruled by machines. In the Matrix the unacceptable situation was the domination of humans by the machines. When the war between humans and machines began, the humans created a dark cloud that prevents the machines from gained solar power. Solar power gives the machines the energy they need and since it has been cut off, the machines depend on humans as their energy source. Morpheus tells Neo he believes that Neo is “The One” that will end the war. In the Matrix, Morpheus is the revealer/prophet and Neo is the disciple. As many disciples; Neo doubts his fate as being ‘the chosen one’. The ignorant masses are the agents/ machines, and all those that reside in the Matrix. During Neo’s first encounter with the Oracle, she tells him that he has the “gift, but appeared to be waiting for something — "Your next life, maybe. Who knows?". Neo interprets this, as he might not be ‘The One’. The Oracle also tells Neo that a time will come where he will be given the choice between his own life and that of Morpheus, and that one of them will die (Neo (The Matrix)). Later on the choice becomes present when Cypher betrays Neo and the rest of their crew. Cypher was part of the awakened humans but chose to go back into the computer programmed Matrix because he believes that “ignorance is bliss”. With Cypher’s help the agents where able to capture Morpheus. Neo chooses to save Morpheus and is successful. Morpheus takes this as confirmation that Neo is the one despite Neo’s doubt. Trinity also realizes that Neo is “The One” because the Oracle tells her that she will fall in love with “The One”. When Agent Smith shoots Neo, Trinity tells Neo this and he is able to get back up and fight, using the super powers the prophecy said “The One” would have and is able to escape.
In the Matrix Reloaded, it is revealed to Neo that there is a Keymaker, a personification of a Matrix program who has access to many backdoors. The Keymaker is the only one that can safely lead Neo to the Source. The Source is the programming heart of the machine world and contains the programs sustaining the Matrix illusion. There are two other power stations that must be disabled and ‘Only The One can enter that door, and only during that time frame can the door be opened,” (Neo (The Matrix)). Once Neo enters the Source he is confronted by a personification of the systems, which creates and design successive versions of the Matrix, known as The Architect. Neo is given a revelation from The Architect that there were five other “One[s]” before him and that he is the sixth “One”. His predecessors where faced with the dilemma of reloading the Matrix and allowing humanity to be destroyed and allowing the machines’ to be reconstructed before Zion (city of the free humans) was allowed to be rebuilt with a handful of freed humans. The Oracle is as much part of that self-perpetuating design as the Architect, Neo is told, and the prophecy of The One is designed to ensure it runs smoothly each time (Neo (The Matrix)).
In the Matrix Revolutions Neo realizes that the Oracle’s prophecy was correct: The One is supposed to return to the Source to stop the war. It was the Architect that altered the prophecy forcing the other five “One[s]” to reload the Matrix and as a result destroying Zion. Neo must return and destroy the Source to end the war and defeat the Sentinels and Smith. Somewhere along the Journey Neo killed Agent Smith causing him to become a virus in the Matrix allowing him to clone himself. In the end, Neo and Smith have a battle until Neo realizes that it will never end and allows Smith to kill him. In doing so, Smith and Neo become one and Neo is able to control Smith’s mind and his clones, ultimately killing them all including himself. In most revelation mega-tropes, the prophet dies to allow the disciple to pursue their fate. Instead in the Matrix, Morpheus is the only remaining crew member alive. Neo is the one who sacrifices himself to allow all the other humans to free from the Matrix. Maybe it is this difference and twist in the revelation mega-trope that makes the Matrix one of the ultimate revelation films.

Many comparisons can be found between the Matrix and the Gospel of Mark. John the Baptist is the pre-revealer that comes before Jesus, as Morpheus is the one that comes before Neo. Although John the Baptist and Morpheus are the ones that bring the revelations to Jesus and Neo, Jesus and Neo are the ones that are meant to bring the revelation to the rest of society and soon become known as the prophets. Also in both situations there is a betrayer; Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus and Morpheus and Neo were betrayed by Cypher because he believes that “ignorance is bliss”.

The Culture of Make Believe is a publication by Derrick Jensen, which offers revelations to the readers. In this situation Derrick Jensen is the prophet revealing the truths hidden in our society. He attempts to redefine our outlook on society with some thoughts on the borderline between the topics of prostitution, rape, and racism.