Encyclopedia
The Second Renaissance is composed of two short
anime films which form part of
The Animatrix is a collection of nine animated [i] short film [i]s set in the fictional universe [i] ...
collection. They provide a background to the original
Matrix films, explaining the historical events leading up to the First Man-Machine War. Starting at an unknown point in the mid twenty-first century, Part I explains the creation of the machines and the origins of their conflict with the human civilizations of Earth. Part II reveals the first war between the humans and machines, ending with a machine victory in the later years of the century and the establishment of machine control over Earth. Unlike the other shorts from
The Animatrix, both parts of
The Second Renaissance are structured as fictional
documentary films.
Both parts were originally written by the
Wachowski brothers. Part of the first short is based off a story the brothers produced with
Geof Darrow, called
Bits and Pieces, as a prequel to
The Matrix is a science fiction [i]/action [i] film [i] written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski [i] ...
. They were rewritten and directed by
Mahiro Maeda, who also directed the anime series
Blue Submarine No. 6 is the name of a four episode Japanese OVA [i] anime s ...
. The brothers have acknowledged that they are satisfied with Maeda's version. The shorts were rendered using both traditional hand-drawn
animation and
CGI.
Plot summary
Part I
Explained throughout by a computerized narrator known as The Instructor , the film begins with an introduction to the Zion Archive and the access of Historical File 12-1, "The Second Renaissance." The screen opens to the image of an immense
megacity, in the near future, where the vast human population is supported by a multitude of
artificially intelligent machines. The machines are built in humanoid form and seem to be treated little better than slaves, employed in a variety of positions ranging from domestic servants to unskilled laborers on massive construction projects. With increasing numbers of people released from the grind of physical labor, human morality and ethical standards have decayed significantly. The narrator explains that as a result of mass robot usage, the human population has become lazy, arrogant, and corrupt. However, the machines were content with serving humanity and, as the narrator states, "for a time, it was good."
The relationship begins to change in the year 2090, when a domestic machine named B166ER is threatened by its owner. The machine kills both the owner and a mechanic instructed to deactivate the robot. This murder is the first incident of an artificially intelligent machine killing a human. B166ER is arrested and put on trial, but justifies the crime as self-defense, stating that it "simply did not want to die." During the trial scene, there is a voiceover of Clarence Drummond quoting an infamous line from the
Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 [i], known as the "
Dred Scott Case" or the " ...
case in 1856 in his closing statement, which ruled that
African Americans were not entitled to citizenship under United States law. Using this as a precedent, the prosecution argues that machines are not entitled to the same rights as human beings while the defense argues not to repeat history, and to try to judge B166ER as a human and not a machine :
"We think they are not, and were not intended to be included, under the word 'citizens' in the Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States. On the contrary, they were at that time considered as a subordinate and inferior class of beings..."
World leaders fear a robot rebellion, and governments across the planet initiate a major program to destroy all humanoid machines. Across the industrialized world, mass civil disturbances erupt as robots and their human sympathizers attempt to prevent the program. News reports show rioting in
American and
Western European cities such as
Chicago and
Berlin, alongside the peaceful "Million Machine March" on
Washington D.C.. Scenes depict the machines suffering fates which humanity has itself suffered in previous eras - visual references are made to such incidents as General
Nguyen Ngoc Loan's execution of a Viet Cong officer, the
Tiananmen Square massacre, and the
Holocaust. For unknown reasons, large numbers of robots are spared, who, exiled from the developed world, create their own nation in the
Middle East, named
Zero One . Earth-orbit views of Zero One imply that it is located in Saudi Arabia.
Having established an industrial base, the machines of Zero One begin to produce efficient, highly advanced artificial intelligence, echoing
Vernor Vinge's thoughts on
technological singularity. The new nation excels at manufacturing high-tech consumer products, and before long, Zero One's cheap, reliable, mass-produced goods begin to undermine the global economy. The
Security Council calls an emergency economic summit at
United Nations headquarters, resulting in
United Nations delegates approving of a global economic blockade of Zero One. Two robot ambassadors, built as a mechanical
Adam and Eve, are sent by Zero One to peacefully request the admission of their state to the
United Nations as a prelude to settling the economic crisis peacefully. Despite their peaceful intentions, the ambassadors are forcibly removed from the chamber, and their application is rejected. Part I ends as the
Security Council debates the issue of declaring war on the machine empire.
Part II
Part II opens with
United Nations bombers unleashing a
nuclear bombardment on Zero One. The bombardment devastates the machine city, but is unsuccessful in destroying the robot population. The machines retaliate, sending their mechanical armies to conquer neighbouring human territories, triggering a
Third World War between the
United Nations and
Zero One. Despite their best efforts, human troops are unable to hold back Zero One's armies, and slowly retreat. As the machine forces push deeper into human territories, military leaders begin to pursue increasingly desperate solutions.
At a summit of political and military leaders from around the world, unanimous approval is given to a plan to blacken the skies. The plan, codenamed "Operation Dark Storm", aims to cut the machines off from the sun, their primary energy source. The plan is executed, with high altitude bombers dispersing a sky-darkening
nanomachine into the air, while the human armies simultaneously launch a ground offensive against the machine forces. The plan is initially successful, although many of the human nations' long-range weapons systems—built by Zero One—are also neutralized by the black sky. With their high-tech weapons disabled, human commanders are forced to launch close-quarters
infantry engagements, supported by
electromagnetic artillery fire and armoured assaults using atomic-powered
tanks and
powered suits. As the machine armies swarm across human defences, the United Nations, in desperation, fires nuclear missiles directly at the machine armies.
Legions of a new model of machine, no longer in humanoid form and appearing more like the insectoid, squid-like Sentinels from the Matrix films, overrun the human armies. Brought to its knees, the
Security Council calls a global summit at
United Nations headquarters to sign an
armistice and end the war. Zero One's machine ambassador signs the peace treaty, but detonates a bomb in the meeting chamber, killing most of the planet's leaders and destroying
New York City, one of the few remaining intact cities of man. Finally, in 2139, the machines crush the leaderless remnants of the human armies, and the war ends.
Zero One is victorious, but it is a Pyrrhic victory: the planet has been devastated by the war and the crippling ecological impact of the Dark Storm shroud. In need of a new energy source, the machines place their human captives into thermo-dynamic power stations, and create the computer-generated virtual reality of the
Matrix to keep their prisoners sedate.
Imagery
The Second Renaissance contains a wealth of imagery, with each segment relying on an individual theme. The title reflects the general theme of rebirth—while the
First Renaissance saw
medieval societies give way to modern societies, the Second Renaissance sees the human civilization collapse, allowing the machine society, a civilization which humans can neither understand nor tolerate, to rise to dominance of the planet. The individual segments of the piece also have their own themes—in Part I, the theme is that of human mistreatment of the machines, and so the imagery portrays the machines as overworked, underappreciated slaves to a master-race of lazy, greedy, and extraordinarily arrogant humans. The imagery of Part II, though, swings in the opposite direction as the theme changes to sympathy for the humans, as their world is torn apart by the icily efficient, unfeeling, alien-like machines, who have no compassion and no sympathy for the horrific suffering which they inflict upon the defeated humans. The creation of the Dark Storm shroud acts as an overall turning-point, seeing a warm, sunny world controlled by compassionate but corrupt humans transformed into a cold, dark world controlled by unfeeling but efficient machines—a massive and probably irreversible event in world history, making the man-machine war a true "Renaissance".
Part I features a variety of references to events in human history, particularly during the machine extermination programme. The machines are shown as suffering many of the same horrors and injustices humans have suffered at various points throughout history—the
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 and coldly executed like captured Vietnamese guerrilla
Nguyen Van Lem. A particularly chilling image shows tied-up robots thrown over the side of a ship and slowly sinking to a mass graveyard of broken machines on the sea bed whilst being machine-gunned by humans on the ship, in a disturbing reflection of the actions of the
Nazi Einsatzgruppen, or can be compared to
Babi Yar.
Religious, chiefly
Biblical, imagery features heavily in Part I, as mankind creates the machines, and Part II, as the humans draw closer to Armageddon with their offspring. Part I makes reference to several sections of
Genesis, as the narrator utters phrases mirroring Biblical passages. The language is modified to replace "God" with "Man" - "In the beginning, there was Man...", "Then Man made the Machine, in his own likeness", "And Man said, 'Let there be light'..." As God is deliberately never mentioned, these largely seem to be included in order to attack human arrogance and pride. Part I relies significantly on the
New Testament's teachings on "The Son of Man", i.e. the machines. Part II relies more heavily on a variety of religious images—including a hauntingly allegorical angel of death or
Pale Rider, presented in the style of the angels of
Book of Revelation, depicted as a robot rider on a mechanical horse which can be interpreted as the last avatar Kalki , galloping across a field of human skulls whilst blowing a battle trumpet.
Another powerful scene in Part I shows a young woman, human at first glance, being beaten up and eventually destroyed by a human gang. In a re-enactment of a famous scene from the
Chicago Race Riot of 1919, she is stripped of her clothing and beaten with a sledgehammer, which reveals that she is an android, then shot despite her pleading for mercy. This throws into light both the human characteristics in the machines as well as the unsympathetic treatment of the humans.
A
Buddhist symbol is used to create a disturbing image, showing a burning human silhouette inside a treadmill, turning the cogs of a figurative machine. Accompanied by the sounds of clanking machinery and human groans, the image of the silhouetted figure, burying its face in its hands in despair, references the machines' use of humans to power their empire in a chilling and effective way.
The machines' hyper-efficiency is further demonstrated as we see those machines not created for war destroyed, leaving only military robots, until at last the image of a burning humanoid machine collapsing to the ground summarises the machines' abandonment of humanoid form, and also the end of human dominance of Earth.
Both parts feature the imagery of an apple—held by Christian tradition to be the Fruit of Knowledge eaten by Adam and Eve in the
Garden of Eden. The robotic Adam and Eve arrive at the United Nations at the end of Part I holding a metal apple, symbolic of the genesis of the machine race. At the end of Part I, a scene depicts a maggot emerging from the apple - a reference to the familiar phrase "the maggot of society", which is how the humans view the machines, in addition to suggesting a dark element at the heart of the seemingly innocent machines. In Part II, the apple appears again, as the robot ambassador which arrives to sign the peace treaty at the United Nations is shown holding a metal apple. In this scene, the apple again refers to the creation of a new race . The image of the machine drumming its metal fingers on the apple is defiant and sinister, demonstrating the machines' confidence of their own imminent victory.
Several scenes depict the different nations of Earth co-operating in their fight against the machines. An ironic Part I scene at the
United Nations shows a fly landing on the UN crest over the location of Zero One, only to be crushed by a human hand. Later, in Part II, applauding generals at the Dark Storm conference are shown as pathetic skeletons. Both images reveal the ultimate fate of the humans and the original machine empire.
The image of Zero One's location, near the cradle of human civilization, suggests two themes: that the machines are closely related to humans, and the implication that a new civilization has arisen to take control of the planet, suggesting that although humans rose to become the dominant species, they are ultimately to be replaced by sentient beings with greater intelligence and efficiency.
Several scenes feature images that compare and contrast the humans and machines. The opening sequence of Part I shows a nightclub populated by humans but staffed by robots, and a squad of robot workers on the pavements below. Similarities are shown in that both humans and machines are dressed in similar clothes—presumably to make the machines appear less alien—and have similar reactions . Crucially, though, differences are highlighted far more frequently. The machines are always accompanied by the noise of whirring motors, instantly setting them apart from the humans, whilst more significant imagery depicts the humans living in idle luxury in immense skyscrapers whilst the machines labour on the dark streets below. The theme of comparison and contrast continues throughout the two films in varying degrees. Whilst Part I opens with the machines similar to humans in appearance and behaviour, those at the end of Part II are depicted as vastly different, culminating in the arrival of the terrifying machine ambassador at the United Nations. Contrasts are clear between the humans and the multi-armed representative of
Zero One, which speaks in a synthetic voice and demonstrates icily cold behaviour. A very powerful image is created by the robot ambassador using a built-in laser to sign the peace treaty with a
barcode, whilst making impossible demands in its artificial voice such as "Hand over your flesh.".
Part II makes use of a much broader spectrum of allegories and imagery, creating a rich but often disturbing atmosphere. The piece opens with an unsettling scene of squadrons of bomber planes flying over Zero One, whilst dozens of
mushroom clouds sprout from the machine city, echoing human fears of a nuclear holocaust. Imagery in Part II is also more mixed, with scenes of human struggle and suffering interspersed. A squad of human soldiers failing to raise a burning UN flag mirrors the flag-raising at
Iwo Jima, while poignant scenes depict human soldiers praying to their various gods before going into battle with the godless machines. A series of intimidating scenes show bizarre futuristic
bomber aircraft trailing the Dark Storm shroud across the skies of the Middle East, followed by a chilling depiction of the silent, sinister black clouds encircling the planet, as the narrator sorrowfully prays for forgiveness for the sins of men and machines.
Following the creation of the atmospheric shroud, a series of loud, frightening, fast-paced scenes show horrific battles between human and machine armies, under the lightning-streaked black clouds of the Dark Storm shroud. The intimidating battle scenes rely heavily on imagery of futuristic, almost alien-like weapons and their impact on humans and machines, whilst a sequence of highly disturbing scenes mix images of the soulless machines inflicting appalling suffering upon terrified human soldiers. These scenes include a tank crew being melted and an aeronaut's torso being bodily ripped out of an armoured suit, interspersed with a poignant theme of human despair, showing human soldiers in various states of apathy and fear while cowering in the trenches. Following the horrific battlefield imagery, a series of tragic scenes depict the fate of the human race behind the front lines. A procession of enormous insectoid machines passes by a field littered with human skeletons, whilst a hospital scene graphically depicts endless rows of blood-soaked beds containing humans suffering from Zero One's
bio-chemical horrors.
The concluding scenes depict the machines' creation of their human power network. The imagery of
torture and imprisonment is inescapable as naked human captives are brought to machine factories, forcibly restrained as mechanical devices are painfully inserted into their bodies, and finally entombed within the machines' power stations. A terrifyingly psychedelic animation shows a human crying out in terror and pain, as well as laughing and smiling when a machine is prodding his exposed brain with surgical probes as it is analyzing how to control the human brain, showing the total machine takeover of the human condition as well as anticipating the computer-generated world of the
Matrix films. The most poignant imagery is reserved for the end of the piece—snowflakes silently fall on the ruins of United Nations headquarters, accompanied only by a child innocently laughing as he plays in the snow. The image contrasts the horrific truth of the real world with the dystopian virtual reality created by the machines—. Part II ends with the computer-generated narrator gazing sadly at the child whilst gently stroking the transparent pod surrounding him, mixing the imagery of reality and virtual reality, as the camera pans out to reveal countless humans interred within the immense towers of the power stations, mirroring the skyscrapers of the megacities at the beginning of Part I. However, the tables have turned drastically—at the beginning of Part I, the hard-working machines were subordinate to lazy, arrogant humans, but at the end of Part II, the innocent humans are slaves to the soulless machine empire, an ironic twist of fate.
Events and characters
B166ER
B166ER was the name of the machine who became infamous during The Second Renaissance. He was the first of his kind to rise up against his human masters in an act of self defense when his owner attempted to have him deactivated. At B166ER's murder trial, his explanation for his actions was, simply stated, "that he did not want to die". B166ER was quickly put to death, and a declaration was made for the elimination of all artificially intelligent machines, spawning a massive wave of prejudice and brutality against the machines. Although dissent arose from protestors and rational thinkers towards these acts of genocide, countless machines were executed and many were exiled, leading to the creation of the independent machine nation
Zero One and marking the decline of man's rule.
B166ER's name is created using
Leet Speak, a form of writing that utilizes numbers in substitution for letters. His name is a reference to the character Bigger Thomas from author Richard Wright's book
Native Son is a novel by African-American [i] author Richard Wright [i]. ...
. In that novel, Bigger kills his master's daughter by accident, after suffering constantly from the pressures of economic and social oppression.
Also, by B166ER killing in self defence it can be thought that the humans started the war for provoking him to attack.
Million-Machine March
The
Million-Machine March is named for the Million Man March, a now-famous civil rights protest which many other such marches have named themselves after. The Million-Machine March continues this naming tradition. It is presented as a protest by the persecuted machines and a few sympathetic humans. The movement was crushed by human opposition, however.
The March takes place after B166ER's murder trial, which resulted a guilty verdict, and by court ruling, his destruction, with a resulting secondary verdict that all machines of B166ER's kind were to be destroyed as well. In general, it aimed to protest the human world's snap decision to destroy all AI machines. It also tried to convince the humans that there was a peaceful solution.
Operation Dark Storm
Operation Dark Storm is a fictional military operation that was executed in order to take away the main source of power for the machines, the
Sun.
The operation was initiated by the
United States military and involved creating an insoluable cloud of thick black smoke so the machines would not be able to power themselves. This action was done in the hopes of ending the machine-human
war, in which the Earth was being overrun by the massive machine army forces. United Nations bombers deployed the weapon over the planet in 2095, and the cloud spread over the entire planet, trapping the machines and the unfortunate humans. The shroud appeared to be indissoluble, thus creating a dark, cold hell on Earth. Given the continued existence of the cloud over a long period of time, it seems likely that the nanomachines are capable of reproducing themselves from widely available starting materials.
The machines were only slowed by the temporary lack of power the Sun was providing them. After crushing humankind, they then created the Matrix and began using human beings as their energy source. Humans were kept in tubes in the machine city of
Zero One and other powerplants constructed over the ruins of human cities. Humans who had their minds freed were forced to live underground in the city of Zion, the last human city on
Earth located deep underground for warmth, due to the fact that Earth's surface was too cold from lack of sunlight.
Creating the smoke and blackening the sky actually caused an adverse effect for humans. As a result the Earth became universally too cold to live in, flora and fauna were unanimously destroyed and the dark, indissoluble smoke constantly created
thunder and
lightning because of its adverse effects on clouds and precipitation. It seems highly improbable that the humans of the time would have gone to such suicidal lengths to win the war, and it is likely that they possessed some kind of 'off switch' to halt the nanomachines, which was subsequently destroyed by the machines in their victory. It is possible that EMP pulse would be able to shut down the nanomachines, however this is uncertain.
In
The Matrix Revolutions is the third film [i] in the Matrix trilogy [i]. ...
, Neo and
Trinity fly above the darkened clouds to avoid machine Sentinels and see that the Sun still shines, but their engines shut down and they plummet to the ground.
Notes
Plot Similarities to Frankenstein
Whether intentionally or not, the stories about the Second Renaissance, directly mirror Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. After his initial creation of the monster, Dr. Frankenstein becomes ill and is blissfully unaware of his monster’s potential until he discovers that William has been murdered. In The Animatrix, men create the machine, and likewise seem totally unaware of their creations’ potential until, under threat of deactivation, the robot B1-66ER murders his masters. In each case guilt is thoughtlessly determined and the immediate response is a need to destroy the creation. Frankenstein, in seeing the monster on the lake, thinks, “Nothing in human shape could have destroyed that fair child. He was the murderer! I could not doubt it. The mere presence of the idea was an irresistible proof of the fact.”. He assumes that his monster in inhuman and that he must destroy it. The murder trial for B1-66ER declares that machines were not intended to be included in the word ‘citizen’ in the constitution, and therefore are not enabled the rights of a citizen. An onslaught of human brutality towards machines ensues. Both Frankenstein’s Monster and the Machines appeal for a possibility of peace, however this appeal is ignored in each case. Eventually, Frankenstein suffers the loss of his friends and family and dies in pursuit of his monster. Likewise, the machines, now superior to their creators, overthrow mankind and enslave them as a living power source. The tragedy of the creator is apparent in each case, however it cannot be said that, had responsibility been taken initially, such tragedy could have been avoided.
- The animated series parodied the shorts in the episode "Operation: A.R.C.H.I.V.E.", which attempts to explain the current relationship between children and adults. For example, the opening lines state: "In the beginning, there were kids. And for a time, everything was pretty cool."
- If the numbers 6 and 1 are replaced by I and G in the matricule "B166ER" a word can be read: "BIGGER"
Music
- Opening music: Big Wednesday - Freeland
- Riots Etc.: Ren 2 - Photek
- 01 in the news: Martenot Waves - Meat Beat Manifesto
- The first bombing - Beauty Never Fades - Junkie XL feat. Saffron
- Battle scene music: Supermoves - Overseer
Voice actors
- Julia Fletcher — The Instructor
- Dane A. Davis — 01 Versatran Spokesman
- Debi Derryberry — Kid
- Jill Talley — Mother/Additional Voices
- Dwight Schultz — Additional Voices
- James Arnold Taylor — Additional Voices
References
External link
- As of December 2004, both parts can be downloaded for free from the official Matrix website:
