Writing a review of The Matrix is a very hard thing for me to do because this film means a lot to me and therefore I want to do the film justice by writing a good review. To tell the truth the first time I saw the film I was enamored by the effects. I remember thinking to myself that this was one of the most visually stunning films I had ever seen in my life. Also having always been a comic book fan and a fan of films that were larger than life, the transitional element of the story was very appealing to me and this probably heightened my enjoyment of the film very much. It wasn't until some time later (and after having seen the film a few times more) that I started to think about the film. I recognized the Christian elements quite quickly but it wasn't until I wrote an actual 15-page essay on the film that I tapped into some of the philosophical and religious elements and that made me appreciate the film even more. I won't say that I have recognized all elements because the film is quite literally packed with them.
Acting wise the film works excellently. I won't say that there aren't any issues because there are but overall the acting is pretty flawless. Keanu Reeves plays the main character, Neo, or Thomas A. Anderson and while he is not the perfect actor I think he does a pretty good job in The Matrix (and the sequels). He doesn't have the longest of lines which was probably a deliberate choice from the directors and it works because this gives him a better opportunity to work on posture and facial expressions and I must say that overall his body language is very good. Very clear and well defined. Laurence Fishbourne plays Neo's mentor Morpheus and he does an excellent job of it. His lines flow with a certain confidence and style that makes his character somewhat unique and interesting. Carrie-Anne Moss does a good job as well and succeeds in looking both cool and sexy in her leather outfit. Joe Pantoliano, a critically underrated actor does a brilliant job of bringing his character, Cypher, to life. I can't say much about him because his character is pretty essential to the plot and I certainly don't wan't to spoil it for anyone. Gloria Foster appears in a relatively small role that will have greater significance in the following films and she does a very good job. The best acting is provided by Hugo Weaving, however, in his portrayal of Agent Smith. It is really something to watch him act out the changes in his character. Agent Smith gains some human traits like anger, sense of dread, hate and eventually even a sly sense of humor (mostly in the sequels). Two thumbs way up to Weaving who has created one of the finest screen villains of all time.
Effects wise the film is simply stunning and it deservedly was awarded the Oscar for best effects (and was regrettably cheated out of a nomination in the Best Film category) ahead of even Star Wars. The reason that I think The Matrix deserves the Oscar for best effects is simply that the effects in The Matrix are more innovative than the ones in Star Wars. Just take a look at how many times the effects have been spoofed and you'll probably agree. The effects also help in the symbolism of the film and in creating a very dystopian atmosphere not unlike the one seen in Blade Runner and this works brilliantly. The film looks beautiful at all times and today 6 years later (my God has it already been 6 years?) the effects still hold their ground against new science fiction films. Add the effects to the brilliant editing and you have a visual masterpiece on your hands. Very well done.
The reason that I think The Matrix is more reviewable than pretty much any other film is the story and the philosophical and religious elements of the story because with every viewing I catch something I didn't see the previous time I watched it. Without spoiling the film I think I can mention a few of the more obvious elements. Obviously the film draws on the Messiah myth as Neo is a clear reference to Jesus with the analogy of his name (Neo = one, as in The One) but also hidden in his other name, Thomas A. Anderson. The first part of his last name, Anderson comes from the Greek Andros meaning "man" and combine this with the second part of his last name "son" and add a little creativity you will come up with the combination "son of man" which was a title Jesus came up with about himself. Also the first time we meet Neo a man calls him (and I quote): "You're my Saviour man. My own personal Jesus Christ." It doesn't get any more obvious than that. Aside from the Christianic elements the film also gets its inspiration from Budhism, Gnosticism (Gnosis = knowledge) but is also inspired by Plato and his analogy of the Cave and Jean Baudrillard's essay, Simulacra and Simulations. Explaining these elements would make this review go on forever so aside from mentioning them I will not comment on them further.
To all the people who doubt the profound nature of The Matrix I can only give one advice: Free your mind and watch the film again. You won't regret it. If I had to choose a favorite all time film my choice would probably fall on either The Matrix (obviously I don't expect people to agree but if they do thats great) or The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and I recommend it to all fans of sci-fi and people who like philosophy.
楼主你移花接木了,被加冕为神圣罗马帝国皇帝的是奥托一世。查理大帝是因为给基督教作出了伟大贡献而被教皇加冕为罗马人皇帝,只是荣誉称号,他的实际职位是法兰克王国国王。法兰克一直是个王国并非帝国。查理死后法兰克王国分裂成三部分—今天的法国意大利和德国。德国也就是东法兰克王国奥托大帝建立了神圣罗马帝国。--分割线-- (时隔两年我发现我错了)。查理曼是法兰克国王,因为功绩大,支持教廷,被教皇加冕为“罗马人的皇帝”,这开启了教皇为日耳曼君主加冕的传统。因为罗马帝国早已灭亡,东罗马虽以罗马正统自居但与教皇所统治的西方教会(后称天主教)不和,所以事实上并不存在一个罗马帝国,然而却有日耳曼人君主被教皇承认为罗马人的皇帝,这只能认为教皇把古罗马统治者的权威正式授予了新兴的日耳曼世俗君主作为教俗的一个联盟,这种奇怪的现象被称为“皇权转移”。查理曼死后,教皇为皇帝加冕的传统一直延续到16世纪,这期间的大部分时间都有被教皇加冕过的”皇帝“存在。法兰克王国分裂后统治意大利的中法兰克不久也四分五裂,因此一段时间里“罗马人的皇帝”这一光荣称号一直授予意大利的一些小王公。直到963年(大概)东法兰克(后来的德意志)国王奥托一世获得了教皇的加冕。此后皇冠一直在的意志流传下去直到1806年末代皇帝被拿破仑逼迫退位。
奥拓加冕后的东法兰克,初期叫“罗马帝国”,中期叫“神圣罗马帝国”(12世纪末开始),后期叫“德意志民族神圣罗马帝国”(16世纪)。现代人一般叫他神圣罗马帝国以与古罗马区分。你只要明白称帝只是一个形式就好理解了,在西欧中世纪,皇帝只是个荣誉称号,皇帝一开始都是国王,要被教皇加冕后才是皇帝(东罗马不同,不详述了)。因此可以既是国王又是皇帝,况且国王在成为国王前也一般是公爵呢。
我们平时所说的帝国,可以分成称谓意义上的帝国和影响力意义上的帝国。在称谓意义上,只要一国君主自称皇帝,并被外国认可,就可算是帝国。如明治早期的日本,力量并不强大,但在称谓上也叫日本帝国。又如20世纪的埃塞俄比亚,虽然弱小,受英,意等国欺凌,但也是帝国。
在影响力意义上,只要一国足够强大,并实行君主制,就可称帝国。如,对俄国的沙,若干伊斯兰国家的苏丹和哈里发,匈奴的大单于或蒙古大汗,乃至古代亚述,波斯,马其顿的君主们,这些君主并不使用皇帝的称谓,但后人认为他们的制度和影响力符合帝国和皇帝的资格,也可称他们为帝国和皇帝。
1 中国的皇帝
中国古代,最早被后世称为皇或帝的,是伏羲,黄帝这些传说中的君主,他们往往拥有神化的形象,死后飞升天界。而在夏商周三代,最高级别的统治者也只拥有"王","天子"这样的称号。此间文献中的"帝",或是指那些远古传说中的君主,或是指"天"或"天帝",很少用来指代当时的君主。
东周年间,王室衰微,诸侯国大多自称为王,本来普天唯一的王这时演化成一大堆诸侯王。因此秦统六合时,为了宣示自己凌驾于以往诸王的最高地位,采用了"皇帝"的称号。这一称号也被后世的朝代所继承,直到最近的袁世凯称帝为止。
历史上自称皇帝的人众多,除了若干大一统王朝,如秦汉明清等的君主称皇帝外,一些分裂期的君主如三国,十六国,隋末群雄,五代十国的君主也自称皇帝。还有一些"儿皇帝",如唐李渊之于突厥,石敬瑭之于契丹,刘豫之于金。至于民间的小规模占山为王或是搞迷信活动自称皇帝的就更数不胜数了。(1949年以后各地自称皇帝宣扬迷信的案件就有百十起)。
对于历史上这无数的"皇帝",谁是够资格的,谁是不够格的,历史学并没有一个统一的标准。如三国时的刘备,后人承认他资格的,称他为汉昭烈帝;不承认的,称他为蜀主。(称号这样的虚名,本来就无所谓,现代人蹲在厕所里自称宇宙大皇帝,也没人干涉)
中国古代并没有"帝国"的说法。西方学者为了方便起见,把中国的规模较大的朝代称为帝国,也无不可。
2 希腊-罗马和天主教的皇帝
亚历山大大帝:欧洲的第一个被尊崇的"皇帝"。但亚历山大并未自称皇帝,在当时通用的希腊和波斯语中也没有"皇帝"一词。"大帝"这一称号其实是数百年后的罗马君主追封给他的。
古罗马皇帝:那个追封亚历山大为大帝的人,则是欧洲第一个传统意义上的皇帝---罗马帝国的屋大维。奥古斯都追封亚历山大的做法,则是为了渲染自己独裁的合法性,正与中国的秦皇汉武登山封禅祭祀黄帝的做法暗合。需要注意的是,屋大维和其后的十几位皇帝,在名义并未废除共和制,其名义上的职务是共和国的首席元老兼执政官兼终身保民官。直到戴克里先皇帝,才完全废除共和制而采用东方式的宫廷君主制。罗马帝国又经历数百年沉浮,在君士坦丁大帝时代,基督教成为国教。但是,在罗马帝国时代,皇帝并不需要罗马主教长(教皇)的加冕,因为皇帝本人就兼任教会的最高首领大祭司,而教皇是皇帝的下属。此后,罗马帝国分裂为东罗马和西罗马两帝国。
法兰克帝国皇帝:西罗马覆灭后,新入主的日耳曼人和罗马教会结合,产生了一系列新的王国。其中最强大的法兰克王国,在查理国王时期迅速扩张,大有恢复古罗马疆域之势,查理王也被教会加冕为罗马人皇帝。查理的儿子虔诚者路易一世和孙子洛泰尔一世继承了帝位。843年帝国分裂为东,西,中三个王国,皇帝只拥有中法兰克的统治权,不久亦灭亡。
神圣罗马帝国皇帝:962年,东法兰克(即德意志)国王奥托一世由教皇加冕称帝,宣布继承西罗马帝国和查理曼大帝的正统,成为罗马天主教世界名义上的最高统治者,开创了神圣罗马帝国。(但神圣罗马帝国这一名称从1157年起才正式使用),和拜占庭的东罗马帝国皇帝遥相呼应。早期的神圣罗马皇帝尚拥有实权,但自霍亨施陶芬王朝(1138~1254)开始帝权逐渐衰落,皇帝也成为摆设。1806年神圣罗马帝国被拿破仑一世解散。从此,正统罗马帝国意义上的皇帝的历史结束了。
19世纪的欧洲皇帝:1806年被拿破仑赶走的神圣罗马皇帝弗兰茨,改称奥地利皇帝,一战后灭亡。拿破仑一世和三世先后建立法兰西第一和第二帝国并加冕称帝,并迅速灭亡。普鲁士建立德意志帝国并加冕称帝,一战后灭亡。纵观19世纪,教会的权力早已衰微,一个君主只要有能力进入罗马,并且不害怕树大招风的话,都可以加冕皇帝,所谓的皇帝已不代表什么正统。
3 东正教系列的皇帝
拜占庭帝国皇帝:395年罗马帝国分裂后,东罗马一支的皇帝,1453年被奥斯曼苏丹灭亡。
俄罗斯沙皇:1547年,伊凡四世加冕为沙皇,1917年灭亡。俄罗斯一直认为自己继承了东罗马帝国的正统。
4 其他皇帝
古印度经历了多次统一和分裂的过程。中国的史书一贯习惯把印度君主称为"王",如孔雀王,戒日王,阿育王,阿克巴王等,但根据其疆域,军事和文化的影响力,这些君主在西方也被称为皇帝。在这里,王和皇的差别,只是一个梵-汉-英互译中出现的问题。
大英帝国(British Empire)是指一个以英国为中心的大帝国,在20世纪初达到鼎盛,大约有4到5亿人口,占当时世界人口的四分之一,领土约3300万平方千米,是有史以来领土面积最大的国家,也是最大的环球殖民帝国(指在世界的各大洲都有殖民领地的环球霸权),傲视全球长达一个多世纪之久。
到20世纪中期,尤其是第二次世界大战结束之后,随着全球民族主义运动的兴起,英国殖民统治发生严重危机,在这种情况下,英国被迫允许广大的殖民地独立或半独立,为了继续在前广大殖民地地区发挥重要影响力,英国政府倡议督导建立了一个和平组织——“英联邦”,前英国大多数殖民地独立而成的国家加入了该组织。
大英帝国的形成是300多年来贸易、移民与武力征服的结果,期间也有和平的商业外交活动和帝国的萎缩。帝国的领土遍及包括南极洲在内的七大洲、四大洋,被形容为“日不落帝国”,它在1890至1914年间达到最高峰。
帝国在全世界范围内协助传播了英国的技术、商业、语言和管理模式。帝国霸权帮助英国实现了惊人的经济成长,并使其在国际政治中拥有更大的发言权。英国殖民地人民无法决定其自己的命运,英国本土的资本主义却在继续发展。
事实上,英国的殖民化是完全以其自身利益为优先考量。英国为殖民地留下了更好的基础设施,但那主要是为了方便这些殖民地的货物能够更方便地出口到英国以满足其本土的需要,或是让英国的工业品更方便地运送到殖民地市场。白人的自治领大多能够进一步发展基础设施,以取得经济生产上的平衡,但是在拉美、非洲和东南亚的帝国殖民地却往往只是工业所需原材料(或单一农业产品)的供应者,这对这些国家独立后的经济发展并无帮助。另外,为了确保其统治的稳定,英国采用了“分而治之”的殖民政策,鼓动殖民地内不同民族、语言或宗教的人们相互内斗,使得像爱尔兰、印度、津巴布韦、肯尼亚、苏丹、乌干达、伊拉克、圭亚那、巴勒斯坦和斐济这些国家在独立后面临着不同程度的种族冲突。
“大英帝国”一词的最早使用者相信是伊丽莎白一世女王的占星师兼数学家约翰·迪伊(John Dee)。
大英帝国全盛时期
一八三七年,年仅十八岁的肯特郡主维多利亚登基为英国女王,直到她在一九○一年逝世。维多利亚女王在位的六十多年当中,英国控制全球海权,主宰世界贸易,其广阔的殖民地遍布各大洲,“日不落帝国”俨然“可以与世界抗衡”。在维多利亚时期,英国涌现出牛顿以来最伟大的科学家麦克斯韦,莎士比亚以来最杰出的文学家狄更斯,自由主义政策的先锋格莱斯顿和大名鼎鼎的外交家帕默斯顿,可谓人才济济。
维多利亚帝国的统治地位在一八六五年帕默斯顿逝世之际达到了顶峰:“北美和俄罗斯的平原是我们的谷仓;芝加哥和敖德萨是我们的矿区;加拿大和北欧半岛为我们种树;澳大利亚为我们牧羊;还有阿根廷为我们养牛;仳鲁送来白银,南非进贡黄金;印度人和中国人为我们种茶,地中海是我们的果园;至于我们的棉花种植园正在从美国南部向地球一切温暖的地方扩展。”