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Essay / Interpretation of Plato's Cave Allegory in The Matrix
Table of ContentsIntroductionPerception of RealityConclusionIntroductionWhat is real?Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The world we live in is not fake and hides the true reality from us, but it is human beings' perception of reality. to keep them away from the real truth. When humanity realizes that there is something beyond appearances and attempts an approach towards a different world, different from the world it has lived until then, it inevitably matures a new consciousness; as when waking from a deep sleep, he has the desire for knowledge and discovery. It is therefore impossible to access the truth without undertaking this inner transformation. For the same reason, any man who does not perceive the true reality is skeptical about the testimonies of those who seek it: the truth is an interior, individual discovery, which each must make by their own means. No one can convince a man to deprive him of this experience. One of the films that had a strong impact on the way films were produced was The Matrix, written and produced by Andy and Lana Wachowski. Released in 1999, this masterpiece revolutionized not only the spectacular performance of the actors but also its philosophical exposition and interpretation. Matrix broadly interprets Plato's Allegory of the Cave. Imagine a cave and inside are people who were born there and have spent their entire lives there, chained in a fixed position, only able to see the wall in front of them. As far as they know, it's the whole world. The Wachowskis ask the same question as Plato: “How do we know what our reality really is?” ". Perception of realityNeo, the protagonist, has for some time been haunted by questions to which he cannot give satisfactory answers. It's as if, inside himself, he warns that in every atom of reality that surrounds him, there is something that doesn't fit. "He was then contacted by Morpheus, a famous "virtual hacker" wanted by the "Agents", who appear to be federal investigators, but are sensitive computer programs that patrol the Matrix, eliminating any threats to the Matrix. Morpheus is convinced that Neo is different from any other man and that he is an extraordinary human being, destined to save all humanity from all the tragedy that afflicts it. What is the tragedy about? Morpheus has contact with Neo because he is convinced and believes that Neo is the Chosen One. He tells Neo while he is still part of the Matrix that he is only alive because "they" don't know what he knows. The entire human race is subject to machines, which were once under the control of humanity; but after the machine rebellion, the roles were reversed. Machines exploit men to survive and keep them chained, using their energy. According to our perceptions, the world we see every day is real in our eyes but in reality, it is an imposture, it does not exist. There are only these virtual images sent to our brain by machines that keep us in slavery. The machines, houses and roads around us are nothing more than virtual images sent to our brains to be dominated by machines. The whole world is a program (Matrix), a deception designed by the artificial intelligence that controls us. Even though Neo had the perception that there was something wrong with the "world" he lived in, he couldn't believe it at first. What a gift, free from what, what truth and how; these are the first questions that Neoasks Morpheus and the answer is simple but hard to believe. Morpheus explains to "the One": "As children, we do not separate the possible from the impossible, which is why the younger a spirit is, the easier it is to free itself whereas a spirit like yours may be very difficult; It’s that feeling you’ve had your whole life. This feeling that something was wrong in the world. You don't know what it is but it's there, Like a thorn in your mind, driving you crazy, leading you to me. But what is it? The Matrix is everywhere, it is all around us, right here in this room. You can see it through your window or on your TV. You feel it when you go to work, go to church, and pay your taxes. It is the world that has been placed over your eyes to blind you from the truth. You are a slave, Neo, like everyone else, was born into slavery and locked in a prison where you cannot smell, taste or touch. A prison for your mind.” Neo is at first unsure of everything but eventually collaborates with Morpheus and returns to the "real world" to fight against the machines and free humanity from the chains. Morpheus encourages Neo to take a tablet, with a formidable effect: Neo frees himself from the chains he was a part of and ends his life as a slave, he opens his eyes for the first time. What he had seen before was nothing more than virtual images perceived by his intellect and not by his eyes: "Neo asks Morpheus why his eyes hurt and the answer is that he didn't have them. never used before. Neo accepts the new condition and along with other free people like him who were blind, he fights to bring freedom back to the entire human race, but it is not an easy process. To defeat the machine, they must re-enter the Matrix and destroy the evil virtual program. At the end of the film, Neo and Morpheus have succeeded in the mission and humanity is finally free. The Matrix is characterized by philosophical conceptions. The film revolves around the opposition between the real world and the fictional world, taken for the real world. The opposition between truth and lies, between truth and appearance, is a dualism throughout Western philosophy up to Nietzsche. Matrix is considered a representation of Platonic and political thought, the Greek philosopher had already distinguished the real world (the world of ideas) and the fictional world (the sensible world in which we live). The Matrix represents nothing else from Plato's cave. Inside the cave, the slaves are chained to a rock and forced to look toward the back of the cave. Outside the cave stands a wall behind which walk hidden men, carrying statues on their shoulders. Behind these men a fire burns which projects the shadows of the statues at the bottom of the cave; the slaves, unable to turn their backs, exchange the shadows that appear on the cave wall for true reality. If a slave could escape, Plato said, he would at first be blinded by the light of day, but he would finally be able to see the truth, whose shadows are only a copy of reality. If he then wanted to return to the cave to reveal the truth to the other slaves, he would not be believed and would actually be killed. Neo represents the man-philosopher who comes out of the cave (Matrix) and finally sees true reality. . At first he is blinded by the light but once he recognizes the truth, he returns to the cave, into the Matrix, to free the other slaves. The truth, however, is scary and not all men have the courage and interest to accept it. The main similarity between Plato's Cave is "the acceptance of the truth about themselves that Neo and the freed prisoner must face." They must accept this truth before.