Plato and the Matrix
“The Matrix”, a 1999 film by the Wachowski brothers, adapts a number of new and ancient philosophies about the truth behind reality, but the most central to the overarching framework of the film is adapted from Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. While “The Matrix” mirrors Plato’s allegory almost exactly in structure, its storyline is far more complex and it is effectively adapted to be a modern sci-fi/action movie. The film draws in a modern audience, who can relate to its protagonist, Neo, because we too may have felt disconnected from present society. Not many people in the past one hundred years have been chained to a cave wall watching shadow puppets. Just as the prisoners in the cave, Neo is chained to massive wall where machines harvest his body’s heat to power themselves. Neither the prisoners nor the people in the matrix realize that they are prisoners; they are completely unaware the reality they think they know is false. While explaining the matrix, Morpheus says to Neo, “You are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind.” “The Matrix” adapts the dark cave, where prisoners are literally chained, to become one of a virtual state, where people are not physically bound, but mentally, furthering their belief that they are free though they are not. This prevents them from doing anything about their imprisonment. A central theme in both Plato’s Republic (as well as most of his and his teacher Socrates’ philosophy) and “The Matrix” is the idea of human’s limitations in knowledge. According to Andy Clark, Philosopher and Cognitive scientist, “The Matrix” forces its audience to “ask questions about what the actual limits and bounds of our own behavior are.” “The Matrix” manifests these limitations not only in the characters’ acquisition of knowledge, but also of their ability to break physical limitations that the captive humans are still subjected to. Just as Neo
Cited: Plato. Republic. Trans. C.D.C. Reeve. Dickinson Press, Inc. 2004. Print. Matrix. Dir. Watchowski, Andy and Watchowski, Lana. Warner Bros. Pictures, 1999. Film.