The Matrix (1999)
Written & directed by Lilly and Lana Wachowski
Starring (in this scene): Gloria Foster as The Oracle, Keanu Reeves as Neo
Chef’s Note: As many of you know, in the simulated reality known as The Matrix things that look like familiar objects are actually bits of computer code.
So, while the oatmeal cookies the Oracle makes certainly look good and smell good, they are not real cookies, like you & I would know.
Instead, they are cookies –
The term “cookie” was coined by web-browser programmer Lou Montulli. It was derived from the term “magic cookie”, which is a packet of data a program receives and sends back unchanged, used by Unix programmers. The term magic cookie itself derives from the fortune cookie, which is a cookie with an embedded message.
And as such, they help us to make sense of all that follows.
The first thing to note that there are more cookies on the plate than the one he takes.
Who are the other ones for? The most likely explanation is that they are for the other “potentials” that Neo met previously.
Cookies are blocks of data that contain what is known as stateful information – things like user profiles, user interactions, &/or preceding events. Hence, the cookies The Oracle is offering are likely full of information pertaining to The One – the revolutionary savior Morpheus believes Neo to be.
While Neo eats the cookie upon leaving The Oracle’s apartment, the transformation it enacts does not happen immediately. As the information is processed (“by the time you’re done eating it”), it leads Neo to confront his faith in himself (via Morpheus) and discover love (via Trinity) – love he is willing to sacrifice himself for.
This sacrificial death is the system reboot that activates everything the cookie contains, and Neo finally realizes that he is truly The One (“you’ll feel as right as rain”).
Chef’s Note: Happy National Oatmeal Cookie Day!*
* I know, I know – these really look like Oatmeal Raisin cookies, don’t they? I’ve made my opinions clear on raisins, so I don’t want to belabor the point. Still, even a glance at the cookie Neo crunches into seems to give weight to the idea that she put raisins the cookies. What do we make of this? Is it some kind of Yin/Yang thing – you gotta take the good with the bad? I’m flummoxed. And I don’t want to anger or otherwise ignore The Oracle – JUST IN CASE the Matrix is real.