The Red Pill

The idea of a home is something that every human can relate too, most animals as well. We all have our territories. Protection of said territory is one of the most primal instincts we have and can be one of the most emotional experiences one can have. Because of this, many forms of art and entertainment have used protection of home as a plot point. I will be discussing two films in particular that do not really stand high on scholarly ground. But rather are given breath by a large cult following.

When The Matrix premiered in 1999 audience had seen not much like it. Sci-Fi was not new but the cyber aspect of it was still in its infancy. The internet was only emerging from the fringe and was still foreign to many people. Beyond being a story about the weary's of technology and control, The Matrix is battle for home. After a cybernetic revolution, humanity has become the fuel for these new hyper-intelligent machines. With the majority of humans being supplanted in the simulated reality known as The Matrix while being hooked up to apparatuses, a small collection of humans have formed a resistance against the machines. We see here how humanities own home, earth, has been taken from them by their own creation, and now they are fighting to get it back. We see the deteriorated state humanity is in and how some are so displaced they don't even know what they are fighting for. But we see the certain visionaries that do not give up the idea of home, they are steadfast and unfaltering. And that's what inspires us as viewers.

Fifteen years earlier America had just started the 4th quarter of the Cold War and paranoia was high. The movie Red Dawn is a perfect example of how the fear of losing our home makes it's way into our culture. The film portrays an alternate history of a Soviet-Cuban invasion of American clay. In Colorado a group of teenagers resist the occupation, and much like in The Matrix they are forced to live in destitute conditions. We see in this film that even children will fight for their home when it is threatened. Our home is the most basic unit outside of a family, and we will protect it until our last breath,