The Matrix
The
Matrix is a modern science fiction movie, however
it is based on ancient philosophical ideas from The Allegory of the Cave
by Plato. The philosophical question asked
by Plato and The Matrix is, how do we
know what is real? Both stories deal
with “questions on the nature of reality” and “the hypothesis… that the world
we see, hear, and feel might be an illusion” (Irwin 123).
The
Matrix is similar to Plato’s allegory, where the
metaphor of prisoners in a cave is used to explain how people in the world are
enslaved by ignorance (Plato). Plato showed
how most people cannot see the truth about the world. This is similar to Morpheus explaining to Neo
that, “Like everyone else you were born into bondage… A prison for your mind”
(Matrix). When people are freed from the
lies and illusions that have been forced on them by society, then, like Plato’s
prisoner or Neo, they can see the truth that has been hidden from them.
In Plato’s allegory, the prisoners in the
cave have no idea about the outside world except for some distorted sounds and
shadows. They do not know that there is
something much better than their small world.
When one of the prisoners is freed from the cave, it is just like Neo
taking the red pill, which “allows one to see reality as it is, rather than to
see only the simulated reality of the Matrix” (Yeffeth 168). Like Plato’s prisoner, Neo realizes that
everything he has ever experienced in his life was a lie. When Neo escapes from the Matrix, he is able
to see the true reality instead of the fantasy world he had spent his whole
life in. However, when Plato’s escaped
prisoner and Neo tried to tell people the truth, they could not believe them. Even if a person tries to tell them the truth,
the people who are still enslaved cannot understand it.
When Plato’s freed prisoner looks at the
prisoners who are still living in ignorance, he feels sad for them because of their
meaningless lives. Plato asks, “Do you
think he would feel any desire for these prizes? Would he envy those who were respected and
powerful there?” (Plato). Similarly, people
in the Matrix cannot realize that they live in a dream world. Neo feels pity for these people and has no
desire to ever go back to it. For people
who have been freed from their prison of the mind, the goals and ambitions of
the people who are still asleep are meaningless.
Plato describes how “anyone who tried to set
them free… if they could somehow get their hands on him and kill him, wouldn’t
they do just that?” (Plato). Describing people still trapped in the Matrix,
Morpheus says, “many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the
system, that they will fight to protect it” (Matrix). The character Cypher represents people who
don’t want to face the truth, and instead want to “flee the facts and remain in
a ‘dreamworld’” (Irwin 124). Cypher is a
“Judas-like character” who is willing to betray Neo so that he can go back to
the Matrix (Yeffeth 168). Cypher says
“Ignorance is bliss,” however he does not realize that the Matrix’s dream life
of lies can never truly be happy.
Both Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and The
Matrix can be seen as examples of Joseph Campbell’s description of the
hero’s journey, which includes “separation, initiation and return” (Stroud
423). However, The Matrix is more fascinating to modern people because it is a
“technological hero quest” (Stroud 416).
The separation occurs for Neo when he takes the red pill and leaves the
Matrix. After that, Neo’s path to
initiation is to discover his own inner power.
However, he cannot be taught about it, but instead has to find it on his
own. This is shown when Morpheus tells
him, “I’m trying to free your mind, Neo.
But I can only show you the door.
You’re the one that has to walk through it” (Matrix). Because of his desire to save Morpheus’s life
against impossible odds, Neo finally finds the inner strength to take his
hero’s journey of self-realization. This
is a common process in the hero’s journey, where “the supreme ordeal is
encountered by the hero, at which point he gains the ‘elixir’” (Stroud
423). After he saves Morpheus and tries
to tell him that he is not really “the One,” Morpheus tells him that he is, and
that “There’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path”
(Matrix). However, it is not enough for
the hero to wake up to the truth. “The
final stage of the hero quest is that of returning to the hero’s original
society” (Stroud 423) in order to save the people still in prison there. As Neo says to the Matrix agents at the end
of the movie, “I'm going to show these people what you don't want them to see…
A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries” (Matrix).
The Matrix also has Christian ideas, with Neo
being a Jesus-like character (Oreck).
This is shown in the idea of the Oracle’s prophecy that Neo is “The
One,” and in his death and resurrection, like Jesus, at the end of the movie. This makes him able to perform miracles like
stopping bullets, so that he can fight evil and save the world (Oreck).
The
Matrix is also similar to a Buddhist’s efforts to attain
enlightenment. According to Buddhism,
the world around us is “samsara, the interdependent and imprisoning web of
karmic impressions from which Enlightenment brings release” (Yeffeth 168). By spending years meditating and training, a Buddhist
can eventually become enlightened like the Buddha. After a person becomes enlightened, they are
free from the illusions of the world.
The
Matrix also deals with postmodernism, which is the
“zeitgeist, the condition of living at this particular time among the
technological, political, economic, and social changes that are occurring”
(Stewart 37). While modernists would say
that progress is always good, postmodernists “question the modernist assumption
that technology in and of itself is the answer to all human problems” (Stewart
37). The
Matrix can also be seen as a “powerful myth for alienated and disempowered
individuals in technologically driven communities” (Stroud 416). In The
Matrix, the technology that is supposed to make life better for humankind
in the end has instead enslaved it. In
addition, the movie criticizes modern society when Agent Smith says that human
beings are a “virus” who “grow and spread, destroying the planet they inhabit”
(Stewart 42). This shows the postmodern
view that humanity is destroying our environment, and that the technology and
progress that we put our faith in could eventually destroy us.
The
Matrix can be analyzed from the perspective of
Plato’s philosophy, postmodernism, Christianity or Buddhism. This shows “how flexible The Matrix can be as a metaphor… according to the views of the
writer” (Yeffeth 169). The Matrix is an important movie because
it makes us question the reality that we live in and take for granted. We live our lives thinking that everything in
our world is normal, but in reality our lives may not be what they seem to
be. If we can question what we accept
about our society and our world then, like Neo or Plato’s prisoner, we can
eventually find the truth that is hidden beneath what we are told is true.
Works
Cited
Plato. The
Republic. Trans. A.D. Lindsay. London:
David Campbell Publishers Ltd., 1992. Print.
The
Matrix. Dir. Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski. Perf.
Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving. Warner Bros
Pictures, 1999. Film.
Irwin, William, ed. The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real. Chicago: Open Court, 2002.
Academic Search Complete. Web.
Oreck, Josh. Return to Source: Philosophy & ‘The Matrix’. Perf. Donna
Bowman, David Chalmers, Peter
Chung. Warner Bros Pictures, 2004. Film.
Stewart, Edward. The Matrix: A Secondary
Postmodern Primer. Art Education 56.3
(2003): 36-43. JStor. Web.
Stroud, Scott. “Technology and Mythic
Narrative: The Matrix as Technological Hero-Quest.” Western Journal of Communication 65.4 (2001): 416-441. JStor. Web.
Yeffeth, Glenn, ed. Taking the Red Pill: Science, Philosophy and Religion in The Matrix.
Dallas:
Benbella, 2003. Academic Search Complete. Web.
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