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When the film ?
The Matrix
?
debuted in
1999, it captivated audiences far and wide with
its slow
-
motion gunplay, dazzling special effects (including the much lauded and oft imitated
?Bullet Time?) and exciting and well
-
choreographed fight scenes. The film
was highly
successful and quickly
becam
e a cultural phenomenon
.
However, the most important points of
the film were often unnoticed by casual moviegoers.
The Matrix
contains a great deal of religious
and philosophical parallels which have been noticed by philosophers and academia and the
film
i
s still being closely studied to this day. While many may appreciate
The Matrix
for its over
-
the
-
top fight scenes, there is much
to be gained from the film on both
intellectual and
philosophical
level
s
.
Classical Greek philosopher Plato?s
Allegory of the C
ave
has many parallels with
T
he
Matrix
.
Plato presents the idea that the world we see is a mere shadow of what truly exists and
that we have never seen the world for what it really is. In
The Matrix
, this idea is integral to the
film?s plot and setting. As
the Matrix is a computer program that humans are plugged into, the
world they view as ?real? is not what it appears to be
.
In reality,
those living within the Matrix
have never seen the real world that exists beyond their perception. Only those who have b
een
?unplugged? or removed
from the Matrix
have ever truly seen the real world.
In the film,
it is suggested that people
should
be unplugged before they reach a certain
age because there are some who will never be able to accept the reality of the world around
them.
In another allusion to the
Allegory of the Cave
,
it is stated that
?If the prisoners remain in
the cave, or are not r
escued when they are young, they will never know a higher Good?
(Ferguson).
If
an individual is
too old or otherwise set in their manner of thinking, it is highly unlikely that they will be capable of
understanding and
believing that everything they have
g
rown to
perceive
as real has been nothing but an elaborate
façade.
The Matrix
is
in itself another form of reality. Despite its existence as a simulation, the
actions people perform within the Matrix are perceived by th
e mind as real. Thus, i
f you are
kil
led within the Matrix, you
will
die in the real world as well because the mind perceives what
occurs within the Matrix as ?real?. In another allusion to Plato?s Cave Allegory it is stated that
?What exists is reality, like the shadows dancing on the wall i
n Plato?s cave. Knowing influences
what and how things are viewed and can lead to a richer experience of life? (Stewart). The mind
views the actions taking place within the Matrix as real, and despite the fact that the characters
have the ability to bend t
he laws of physics to perform superhuman feats because they know that
the Matrix is a simulation, they cannot defy the mind?s perception of personal injury or death.
The Matrix
also parallels t
he works of African American
sociologist
W.E.B. Du Bois and
his
concept of the ?double consciousness?. The character Neo is an excellent example of the
concept in that
,
from the beginning of the film, he struggles with leading a double life. In one
life, he is Thomas Anderson, a w
hite collar computer programmer
and in
another
life; he is Neo,
an accomplished computer hacker who seeks the answer to the question, ?What is The Matrix?.
?
This duality can be rel
ated to ?double consciousness,?...
?Double consciousness? is explained as
two selves existing inside the same soul, w
hereby African Americans are ever mindful of
perceptions of them in a racist society? (Boyd).
When Morpheus presents Neo with
the choice of two pills, this can be interpreted as
recognition of Neo?s double consciousness and his acceptance of the red pill
is the first step
towards becoming a singular individual. Near the end of the movie, Neo has a climactic hand
to
hand fight with Agent Smith
who has
consistently
insisted on referring to Neo as ?Mr. Anderson
?
.
During a moment in which it appears Agent Smit
h will be victorious
, Neo takes hold
of
him
and triumphantly exclaims ?My name is Neo!? and momentarily defeats Agent Smith. In
this moment, Neo has chosen which life to embrace and has discarded the Thomas Anderson
persona of his previous life.
F
ollowing
the
climactic fight scene in which Neo goes toe to toe with Agent Smith and
realizes that this is a fight he cannot win, he rushes to find the nearest exit from the Matrix.
At
the end of
th
is pursuit,
a matter of feet away from the exit,
Neo is ambushed b
y three Agents
and
shot, presumably to death.
This bears many
similarit
ies to the Crucifixion of Jesus.
Neo
?dies?
but
is
resurrected
moments later
as
?The One?
.
He now possesses
the ability to bend the laws of
physics
within the Matrix
to his will, stopping bullets
in mid
-
flight by merely willing them to do
so
.
After Neo effortlessly defeat
s
Agent Smith, the film ends shortly thereafter with Neo leaving
a
short message for the machines.
Afterward,
Neo
is seen flying into the
sky
, similar
to the
Christian belief of Jesus? ascension
into Heaven
.
Most notably, the similarities between the prophecy behind ?The One? and biblical
prophecy are made immediately apparent. In
The Matrix
, it was believed that long after the
uprising of the machines
, there
was
a man
who was
born into the Matrix that could bend the
rules of the Matrix itself and rebuild it as he saw fit. He freed the first people from the confines
of the Matrix program and long after his death he was said to be reincarnated some time
in the
future
,
coinciding with the belief of
the
?Second Coming of Christ.?
Throughout the film is the notion that we as peo
ple have grown too dependent on
machines in our everyday lives. At some point in the early 21
st
century,
prior to the beginning of
t
he film, humans created the first truly independent artificial intelligence. This artificial
intelligence gave rise to the very machines that would later incite a war with
,
and eventually enslave
,
mankind. ?
What would we do without machines? On the rare oc
casions that my
computer goes down at work, I feel lost for however long it takes our IT staff to get it back up
and running
? (Elliott).
With this in mind, the underlying concept of
The Matrix
can be seen
as a
reminder that we rely on machines far too much and
shows us
possible
consequences of said
reliance.
After all that has been presented, it is abundantly clear that
T
he Matrix
contains a great
number of
parallels
with
the ideas of
many philosophers, b
oth modern and
classical and
many
biblical concepts and beliefs
.
It is clear that there are a great deal of ideas within
The Matrix
that
can foster both intellectual and philosophical interpretation and discussion.
On a purely
cinematic level, The Matrix e
xcels as a highly artistic and thematically brilliant film but its true
brilliance exists within its philosophical
merit.
While the masses may have seen this film for
what it was marketed as, an intense action movie, many have read between the lines and
di
scovered that there is
much
more to this film
than
its
special effects
and cinematic gunplay. |
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