The Characters in The Matrix
The Matrix (Wachowski & Wachowski 1999) is a battery powering an unending chatter of thought, images, productions, and discourse. In the film, a stabbing needle penetrates the black plug mounted on the back of a human skull, and the mind is overwhelmed by the matrix, an extensive simulacral world that, to its unknowing inhabitants, is in every way the same as reality, and to those merely passing through, is a sinister, green-tinted prison. The film sets, by dialogue and symbolism, a place for analysis, theology, theory, philosophy, and criticism that accommodates any stance within a language of freedom, choice, perception, reality, simulation, mind, computer code, and body. Rationalizations of and within these terms get a place at the table. This setting incites discussion as it limits it. For instance, we have a ready means to discuss what knowing a thing really means, but we are in less of a position to discuss how such paranoia gets off the ground. However, the accessible philosophical vocabulary everywhere present in the film ought not overwhelm our resources to move amongst the dimly legible codes and technologies of the cinematic body and world – the stylized sequences of events that produce the reactions in a viewer that give the film meaning. In this capacity for aesthetic indulgence – and contrary to the theoretical window dressing of the script, The Matrix makes an audio-visual presentation that reformulates agency as a matter of effect rather than choice.
Thinking it
Everyone knows the movie is full of really captivating philosophical questions. Why is it that, when you’re hurt in the virtual world, you bleed in the real world? Very heavy stuff. The film is easy to transla...
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... visible when at a computer than in everyday non-solitary life.
Your mother is not watching.
[11] In a sense, this pre-9/11 movie set the stage for a kind of sympathy Americans had
with terrorists who they could not call cowards. The appeal of a boldness to do
what they said out of nowhere and going nowhere is revealing of what disciplines
such style juxtaposes itself to.
[12] Or machines or computers to bring back the specter of “the place of technology” in
the matrix. Idealized guns, though, are what make the movie go. Guns that never
jam, are always beautiful, and are better tossed than reloaded. They are the
almost the only way to kill anyone, they are always stylish and specifically
chosen, and they make the same comment on how to get your way that the characters
do: threats and violence.
In their film, The Matrix, Andy and Larry Wachowski have included many literary allusions and symbols to enhance the appeal of this groundbreaking science fiction film. As incredible as the special effects and cinematography are in this film, the Wachowski brothers have significantly bolstered the appeal of The Matrix by an elaborately constructed story spanning time and reality. These allusions and symbols include references from infamous writers such as Lewis Carol, Jung, John Bunyan and Descartes. However, the most meaningful and abundant references come from The Holy Bible.1
Therefore, although the film appears to send a revolutionary message of a rage against ‘the machine’ or the matrix and its oppression, ...
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.
The Matrix, directed by the Wachowski brothers, a film about the journey of Neo discovering the real and simulation world, revolves around how he is “The One” destined to save mankind. As critics may say that The Matrix is either an action packed movie containing philosophy or a philosophical movie containing action, critics also miss the fact that it could possibly be considered as a religious themed movie because it contains a plethora of Biblical references, such as symbolic evidence. In Gregory Bassham’s article, “The Religion of The Matrix and Problems of Pluralism”, he discusses how the film contains Christian themes, non-Christian themes, and lastly, religious pluralism. The rhetorical
The Matrix, directed by the Wachowski sisters, is a film that discusses free will, artificial intelligence and poses a question: ‘How do we know that our world is real?’ This question is covered in the philosophical branch of epistemology. Epistemology is a component of philosophy that is concerned with the theory of knowledge. The exploration of reality is referenced in the film when Neo discovers he has been living in an artificial world called ‘The Matrix’. He is shocked to learn that the world in which he grew up is a computer program that simulates reality. The questioning of knowledge and its irreversibility provoked by The Matrix invites the audience to wonder whether their own world is an imitation of true reality, thus making it a
An allegory is a kind of a story in which the things that are happening are compared to something else that is similar and unstated.”The Matrix”, dated back to 1999, is a film by the Wachowski brothers that adapts a number of new and olden philosophies about the truth behind reality. However the most important part to the framework of the movie is adapted from the Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. These two films tend to reveal the truth on the ongoing question about what reality is and the question whether we are living in the real world or an illusion of the world? In the Matrix, Neo, the main character is held in a false sense of reality created by machine software while in the Plato’s Allegory of the Cave; a slave is used as the main character and is presented as being able to comprehend the reality of the cave both inside and outside.
The Matrix series is much more than an action-packed sci-fi thriller. After one view of this film for the second and third time, we start to notice a great deal of symbolism. This symbolism starts to paint a completely different picture than the images of humans battling machines. It is a religious story, with symbols deeply set in the Christian faith. The Matrix contains religious symbolism through its four main characters, Morpheus, Neo, Trinity and Cypher. In that each character personifies the “Father,” the “Son,” “Satan,” and the “Holy Spirit” of the Christian beliefs only shown through the amazing performances of the actors. A critic by the name of Shawn Levy said "The Matrix slams you back in your chair, pops open your eyes and leaves your jaw hanging slack in amazement."(metacritic.com)
This student of Philosophy now sees the movie The Matrix in a whole new way after gaining an understanding of some of the underlying philosophical concepts that the writers of the movie used to develop an intriguing and well thought out plot. Some of the philosophical concepts were clear, while others were only hinted at and most likely overlooked by those unfamiliar with those concepts, as was this student when the movie first came out in theaters all those many years ago. In this part of the essay we will take a look at the obvious and not so obvious concepts of: what exactly is the Matrix and how does it related to both Descartes and Plato, can we trust our own senses once we understand what the Matrix is, and how Neo taking the Red Pill is symbolic of the beginning of the journey out of Pl...
...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.
Stimulating deep philosophical thought, The Matrix depicts a world in which all human brains are programmed to believe a fabricated reality. Some humans, like the protagonist of the film, Neo, were recused from this mirage and shown the truth about their perceived reality. Some found great discomfort and refused to live with the truth and they returned to live in the illusion. Others however, chose truth over comfort and happiness. After watching this film I soon began to question many aspects of my own life. Is it possible that the world I deem real is a fabricated dream? What if everything around me was designed and that my actuality is simply a perception? These looped questions consume my though and lead me to realize that my reality to
The Matrix is the war between man and machine, and the possibility that reality is a deception. In a sense, the Matrix is a constant struggle of identity and reality. This struggle of identity and reality is based around the character of Thomas Anderson, an ordinary person living a mundane life.
In the video game world anything is possible, and if your player dies you can always play again. The videogame industry is exploding in the market place; it's far from child's play and far from the days of pong. In the most recent issue of Entertainment Weekly (December 6, 2002) there is an article, Video Game Nation, discussing a new video game experience being touted as the wave of the future, The Real World meets The Matrix. In this virtual world called The Sims Online, people "live" in a virtual environment peopled by avatars created by thousands of other gamers. Neal Stephenson envisioned this future ten years prior with his release of Snow Crash. Stephenson describes a computer-generated "metaverse" where the logged-on could take on "avatars" hang out, and walk around, meet other "avatars" and perhaps fall in love. These artificial realities offer millions of people a chance to step out of our world and enter another dimension where anything can happen. The setting may be artificial in nature, an electronic stream of data creates this artificial world for the player back home, but the interaction and the emotional appeal for the players are very real. When Neo is "reborn" we see where technology has taken us; it has enslaved us and uses us humans as a power source. Why not see that for what it is: a warning. We see computer gaming as nothing more than just escape. This is what technology offers people escape -- from this world, but is something being given up? Perhaps we should look at the nature of the beast and realize we are already enslaved. We are already there linked together in a Marxist fashion struggling for power, shelling out time and money to find solace inside the World Wide ...
However, we can wonder if the pleasures that derive from necessary natural desires are what actually brings us happiness, since having a family, friends, a good job and doing fun things seem to bring the most joy in life. Plato’s ideas on life are even more radical, since he claims that we should completely take difference from our bodily needs. Therefore it seems that we should only do what is necessary for us to stay a life and solely focus on the mind. Although both ways of dealing with (bodily)pleasure are quite radical and almost impossible to achieve, it does questions if current perceptions of ‘living the good life’ actually leads to what we are trying to achieve, which is commonly described as
Aristotle feels we have a rational capacity and the exercising of this capacity is the perfecting of our natures as human beings. For this reason, pleasure alone cannot establish human happiness, for pleasure is what animals seek and human beings have higher capacities than animals. The goal is to express our desires in ways that are appropriate to our natures as rational animals. Aristotle states that the most important factor in the effort to achieve happiness is to have a good moral character, what he calls complete virtue. In order to achieve the life of complete virtue, we need to make the right choices, and this involves keeping our eye on the future, on the ultimate result we want for our lives as a whole. We will not achieve happiness simply by enjoying the pleasures of the moment. We must live righteous and include behaviors in our life that help us do what is right and avoid what is wrong. It is not enough to think about doing the right thing, or even intend to do the right thing, we have to actually do it. Happiness can occupy the place of the chief good for which humanity should aim. To be an ultimate end, an act must be independent of any outside help in satisfying one’s needs and final, that which is always desirable in itself and never for the sake of something else and it must be
Happiness can be viewed as wealth, honour, pleasure, or virtue. Aristotle believes that wealth is not happiness, because wealth is just an economic value, but can be used to gain some happiness; wealth is a means to further ends. The good life, according to Aristotle, is an end in itself. Similar to wealth, honour is not happiness because honour emphases on the individuals who honour in comparison to the honouree. Honour is external, but happiness is not. It has to do with how people perceive one another; the good life is intrinsic to the...