In 1999 Larry and Andy Wachowski wrote and directed an American science fiction action film called The Matrix. The movie depicted a future where many humans might perceive is real, is actually a simulated reality. The Wachowski brothers made many explicit references in their film based on the work of French sociologist Jean Baudrillard. In Jean Baudrillard’s essay entitled “Simulacra and Simulations” he mentions in his essay how society has replaced all reality and meaning with representation of symbols and signs.
Baudrillard starts off with an example of Borges tale, “cartographers of the Empire draw up a map so detailed that it ends up exactly covering the territory (but where, with the decline of the Empire this map becomes frayed and finally ruined)” (365). He is explaining how there is an impeccable map rotting whereas the territory on the map still remains. He goes on to explain “it is the map that engenders the territory and if we were to revive the fable today, it would be the territory whose shreds are slowly rotting across the map” (366). This story is to point out that our modern society is playing the role of the map, which is self-destructing and the territory is representing the simulation. He clarifies that simulation is “the generation by models of a real without origin or reality: a hyperreal” and “hyperreal: the simulated generation of difference without any distinction between the real and the imaginary” (Lecture slides 3/6/12).
One very obvious scene in particular that clearly shows the existence of Baudrillards’s argument being incorporated into the film is at the beginning of the movie where Neo opens a copy of Baudrillard's “Simulacra and Simulation.” The place where Neo keeps his black market software ...
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Works Cited
Baudrillard, Jean. "Simulacra and Simulations." Ed. Julie Rivkin and
Michael Ryan. Literary Theory: an Anthology. 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2004. 365-77. Print.
Vartan P. Messier . ”Baudrillard in The Matrix: the Hyperreal, Hollywood, and a Case for
Misused References.” The Film Journal. 2004-2006
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Wikipedia “Watergate Scandal”
Jim Rovira, Drew University. “Baudrillard and The Matrix Trilogy” Subverting the
Mechanisms of Control: ©2003
IMDB “The Matrix” < http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/synopsis>
Sparknotes < http://www.sparknotes.com/film/matrix/section1.html>
In one of Plato’s works called The Allegory of the Cave he goes over what it means to get higher knowledge and the path you have to take to get to this higher knowledge. Plato also goes over how this higher knowledge or enlightenment will affect people and how they act. He ties this all together through what he calls the cave. Plato tells Glaucon a sort of story about how the cave works and what the people within the cave have to do to get to the enlightenment. A while down the road the Wachowski siblings with the help of Warner Brothers Studios made a movie titled The Matrix. This movie follows the came concept that Plato does in the cave. With saying that the world that Neo (the main character) was living in was in fact not real but a made
For the common moviegoer and book aficionado, the movie, The Matrix and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? are bizarre and peculiar. These works are not the usual themes of normal movies and books. These works have a lot of elements in common. Both works have matrices. The movie and the book stress the idea of reality. In both works the idea of what s real and what s not is the central theme.
The purpose of this paper is to expose some of the stereotypes present in the film The Matrix, directed by Andy and Larry Wachowski. In order to accomplish this we shall see that although The Matrix is considered to be a film about rebellion, it contains several stereotypical portrayals, which actually make it a film that supports the status quo. We shall also see that the African American characters in The Matrix (the Oracle, Tank, Dozer, and Morpheus) are all depicted in the stereotypical servant roles. Furthermore, the women (Trinity and Switch) in this film are portrayed stereotypically; that is, they are either reduced to a caring/nurturing role or they simply help make up the background (they do not have a voice). Finally, Morpheus’ initial power and leadership is stripped away leaving him to play the stereotypical supporting and buddy role.
The 1999 film, The Matrix, shows many philosophical instances. Comparing this film to Plato’s The Republic: The Allegory of the Cave, and Descartes’ First Meditation on Philosophy allows one to gain a deeper understanding of the work. Reality is a concept that may be vague to many people due to their given circumstances. The environment and the mind a person is in allows for different perceptions of reality. The power of reality falls in the eyes of the beholder. As shown in The Matrix, Neo was not the One until he believed he was, which can percept into everyday life; how someone thinks can affect how someone is.
...tands the test of time, thanks only to its screenplay; the effects, score and sets can all be outdated, but a good script will never date until dealt with. Many of the influential screenplays, hence films, have risen from the sci-fi genre and they will undoubtedly continue to do so as long as the genre keeps re-inventing itself visually. This is something the Wachowski bros have done; they’ve started a new chapter in the history of cinema and sci-fi, one which has already spawned the likes of ‘Pitch Black’ ( Ian Thorburn and David N. Twohy , 2000), ‘Minority Report’ ( Steven Spielberg , 2002) and of course, the next two Matrix sequels.
The movie "Matrix" is drawn from an image created almost twenty-four hundred years ago by the greek philosopher, Plato in his work, ''Allegory of the Cave''.The Matrix is a 1999 American-Australian film written and directed by the Wachowski brothers. Plato, the creator of the Allegory of the Cave was a famous philosopher who was taught by the father of philosophy Socrates. Plato was explaining the perciption of reality from others views to his disciple Aristotle. The Matrix and the Allegory of the Cave share a simmilar relationship where both views the perciption of reality, but the Matrix is a revised modern perciption of the cave. In this comparison essay I am going to explain the similarities and deifferences that the Matrix and The Allegory of the Cave shares.In the Matrix, the main character,Neo,is trapped in a false reality created by AI (artificial intelligence), where as in Plato's Allegory of the Cave a prisoner is able to grasp the reality of the cave and the real life. One can see many similarities and differences in the film and the allegory. The most important similarity was between the film and the Allegory is the perception of reality.Another simmilarity that the movie Matrix and the Allegory of the Cave shares is that both Neo and the Freed man are prisoners to a system. The most important difference was that Neo never actually lived and experienced anything, but the freed man actually lived and experinced life.
The movie, "The Matrix," parallels Platos's Allegory Of The Cave in a number of ways. Similar to the prisoners of the cave, the humans trapped in the matrix (the cave) only see what the machines (the modern day puppet-handlers) want them to see. They are tricked into believing that what they hear in the cave and see before them is the true reality that exists. Furthermore, they accept what their senses are telling them and they believe that what they are experiencing is all that really exists--nothing more.
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction film written and directed by The Wachowskis, starring Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne. It tells a story of a future in which reality to most humans is actually a computer program called "the Matrix”. In "the Matrix” humans are really sleep while their bodies are fed on my machines. The movie while directed to entertain audiences but also gave us many insights into philosophy. Many scenes in this movie reflect Descartes, and his many writings explaining them in a visual manner. In this paper I will show various examples of philosophy within the scenes and give commentary explaining each scene.
Have you ever thought of the motives behind writing the greatest Sci-Fi stories in history? Behind those who wrote the stories of “The Matrix” and the “Harrison Bergeron”. They are stories written which were inspired by the predictions of what will it be like with speculative thinking; typically, dealing with imaginative concepts such as futuristic science, futuristic technology, parallel universes and extra-terrestrial life. The two stories have many different ways of presenting themes that can relate to Joseph Campbell’s theory; which is the “Hero’s Journey”. Choice, Control and Freedom are some of the main debatable topics when it comes to Sci-Fi stories in General. Moreover, this is due to the owing fact that it makes the audience to think otherwise if they have different interpretations of the three themes.
Wheeler, Kip. "Literary Terms and Definitions M." Literary Terms and Definitions "M" Carson-Newman University, n.d. Web. 12 May 2014.
The Matrix is a science fiction movie about artificial intelligence computers replacing mankind. I believe that this movie is a common type of display from the media is common paranoia so that they can get a reaction from people and sell their story. In the case of The Matrix, the movie dazzles people with awesome special effects using modern computer technology, which I find ironic. I find it self-conflicting and hypocritical for the media to use modern computer technology for their own good to show people how bad technology is. Amy Bruckman and Howard Rheingold would probably find this movie interesting in that it disagrees and agrees with certain aspects about their beliefs about the use of computers.
Abrams, M.H., et al. ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. 2 Vols. New York: Norton, 1993.
...The Matrix” and Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave” almost gives the idea that the movies writers may have had a lot of influence from Plato’s allegory. The creation of this movie gives and futuristic prospective of “The Allegory of the Cave” letting the people who have seen the movie think about reality and the truth. In conclusion, Plato’s story of the cave brings up many philosophical points and most significantly, addresses the topic of society’s role in our lives. On some level, we are all influenced by the thoughts and actions of everyone else, but at the same time, we as humans have the ability to question, make our own conclusions, and finally make our own choices.
The culture and philosophy of Ridley Scott (pp. 231-243. United States: Lexington Books, Inc. Pramaggiore, M., & Wallis, T. (2005). Film: A critical introduction to the film.
The Matrix shows the doubts on how reality and truth is or isn’t. How people actually perceive reality, truth, is really different on how other people do. The reality of something can change over time. On how choices affect the timeline of events and the future of yourself and other people. This movie makes philosophy be more understandable and have modern concept, showing how to doubt our reality, how different is the perspective and truth of people, and on how the choices affect our reality.