Introduction
In the era of films filled with special effects, where computers do much of the work, it is hard to find a film, especially in the genre of action, that bears some idea behind the fast sequences of computer-generated graphics. “The Matrix” by Larry and Andy Wachowski, is one such movie, where some of the viewers might miss the point, and the others will find it after the second time. The point is, this movie will never leave the viewer indifferent, although the impressions may vary depending on what aspect of the movie made the viewer think deeper than it initially expected. This paper analyzes the aforementioned film, particularly the first of the trilogy, based on the possible theoretical concepts that can be related to the ideas behind it. Specifically, the paper is addressing the idea of knowledge that is represented in the film, related to Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” in the sense that represents constraints of ideology.
Overview
The film’s main idea is behind a young programmer, Neo, who meets Morpheus, a mystical personality, who tells Neo that the whole world surrounding him is just a data set of visual illusions called the matrix- a simulated reality. In reality, the world is not as it seems where it is seized by machines, which use the people as energy cells. Neo and other rebels form a resistance against the machines to awaken the people.
The allegory of the cave is a dialogue told and interpreted by Socrates and written by Plato in his famous work “The Republic”. The allegory describes a dark cave with chained people who are prisoners there since their childhood. They only can see in one direction, in which they see shadows of puppets of various objects such as plants, animals, and people which are projected from a fire behind them which they cannot see as the fire is on a ledge. The sounds of these puppets are heard as an echo from the shadows they are watching. That is the only reality these people knew and they are competing in guessing and identifying the shadows. When one of the prisoners manages to free himself from the chains as a supposition and climbs to the exit, he will be blinded by the light of the sun. By the time he gets acclimated to the light, he starts to realize the true nature of the objects and the world surrounding him.
Analysis
The basis of the parallel that can be driven from the film is the idea of knowledge and the false reality that can be mistakenly taken as the truth. In the film, this false reality is represented by “the matrix” a created simulation of human life. In the allegory, it’s the cave, wherein in both cases, the people think that this is the ultimate truth, due to the fact that they never had known another one. The pain which Neo suffered when his organs started to operate is like the pain of the light when coming to the cave for the first time. Cypher can represent all the people who chose to return to the cave, as the reality they used to know, although false, they are more adapted to it, as in their situations “Ignorance is bliss”. The puppets in the cave and the agents in the film are similar in their role to keep the people inside.
It can be seen that allegory written thousands of years ago, and the film produced at the end of the last century both represent the state of human knowledge. The informational development and the widespread of the information is the puppets shown to the people in the cave, that can become their matrix. People are already escaping their true reality into created worlds, where video games, especially massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG), and internet social networks, is the most popular in the current generation demonstrate that people willingly prefer to live in the created reality, because the real world as in the case of the film is too cruel and limited, and in the case of the cave, their “eyes” are no more adapted to the light of the real world.
If driving the parallel, to the various internet communities and social networks, it can be seen that nicknames, avatars, profiles, and created personalities are the alter egos that live in the “Matrix”. At the same time the characters chosen in online multiplayer worlds, are preferable to the real limited characters that live in the matrix and have a hard existence.
As outlined in the movie and the allegory, only the chosen can step from their virtuality and identify the puppets. Only a few people can seek true knowledge and take the pain caused by the light. As not all people recognized the ideas behind the action sequences, it takes some time to start recognizing the truth, until the “organs” can fully adapt to look into the light.
Conclusion
The message of the film can be interpreted in the way that if the world continues in the same direction, sooner or later they are going to be prisoners in the cave-in-the-matrix, and unlike the film the one the people created by themselves. The cave where the people are good at identifying the shadows on the wall, and the new reality where people are better than their original selves, can become the ignorance that is bliss; the difference is that there will be no agents. The people willingly will put themselves in battery cells to continue their existence. This time only virtually, in the “Matrix”.
Works Cited
- The Matrix. Dir. Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski. Perf. Keanu Reeve, Laurence Fishburne and Carrie-Anne Moss. DVD. 2007.
- Reeve, C. D. Republic. Boston: Hackett Company, Incorporated, 2004.