What is Matrix? This is the question that goes through the head of the protagonist, Neo, and the viewer who sees the film for the first time. Today, the Wachowski sisters’ trilogy is well known to the public, as many film analyses have been done and are sometimes used to complete certain philosophy courses.
I will not comment on the complete trilogy, but the first film, because it is usually the most significant and the one that raises the most questions, it is difficult to summarize in a single article all the points worthy of analysis that appear in the feature film. film, so I’ll focus on a global analysis of some of the sensations the viewer has after watching the film, without dwelling too much on a particular problem.
- How do we know if we’re awake? Certainly.
- Many people who have seen the film have asked thes these questions.
- Many of us have felt that we do not act freely.
- Many already think that our actions are by default (or very influenced).
- Or that we live in an eternal constant return.
- Very characteristic of Nietzche; that we are manipulated and controlled.
- And that we are in a dream.
Matrix answers all these questions; it is a kind of contemporary myth, a solution to certain dilemmas of humanity.
The technological advances that were born to make life easier for us finally enslaved us. Increasingly intelligent machines were gaining their own will, reaching and overcoming human intelligence itself. However, energy is depleted, resources are scarce and machines must be fed; thus, after a war, the machines enslaved humans, making them their source of energy.
Then humans were forced to live in a dream, to sleep all their lives connected to machines that now feed on them.
A sad and dark future, which, however, seems less and less reckless. Some humans have managed to resist and live in the only free city, Zion, from where they gain access to the Matrix with the intention of freeing more humans and fighting to get out of slavery.
A science fiction plot, but full of criticism, full of power and capable of making us rethink our own reality. How do I know if I am not living a dream? Do I own my decisions?
First, I will try to answer the question with which we started the article: what is Matrix?Morpheus himself responds to this by saying, “This is the world that has come before your eyes to hide the truth,” that is, the Matrix. it is a lie, a deception for the senses; it’s not real, but we see it as such. This definitely brings us back to the platonic myth of the cave.
Plato said that the senses are misleading, unreliable, for those who do not remember, the myth of caves presents us with humans living with their hands and feet trapped, looking at the bottom of a cavern. a lit bonfire, casting shadows on this background that they contemplate. For these humans, this background is reality, because it is all they know, the only thing they have access to and what they perceive from their senses.
If one of these humans manages to escape will have access to the real world, to knowledge, at first this light will blind your eyes, feel pain and have to adapt, back to the cave, his companions will probably do believe that he is lying and will want to kill him. These colleagues know only one reality and will therefore protect it, because that is their reality and they do not want it to be in danger.
This story reminds us of many past times, such as when he received the discoveries of Galileo and Copernicus. In the Matrix, Neo has a suspicion, an idea that lasts in his head. As in Alice in Wonderland, Neo will follow a rabbit who will lead her to fall into a hole, but in this case she will not reach a fantastic and unreal place, but in the real world, into the world of ideas suggested by Plato.
The interesting thing about the Matrix is that, moreover, the film offers its answer to “reality”, referring to things as everyday as déj vu, giving meaning, shaping the proposed system. Matrix is a kind of virtual reality in which we all sleep and live as if it were real.
Isn’t it true that when we put on virtual reality glasses, although we know it’s not real, our feelings interpret it as if it were?This is precisely what happens in the Matrix: sensations are perceived as real and, therefore, one no longer wonders whether one is awake or not.
On the other hand, neo’s questions about his reality remind us deeply of Descartes, who solved the problem by talking about an evil genius who manipulated and deceived us, just as Matrix machines do, Descartes doubts everything and the Matrix also makes us doubt our senses. .
All this, in turn, takes us to philosopher Hilary Putnam, who suggested something resemble of the evil but renewed genius: How do we know if we are not brains stored in cubes?How do we know we’re not living a shared life?Dream, this is what Putnam suggests and also what we see in the Matrix, a simulation shared by all, without being aware of the nature of what we are living.
If we live in a shared dream that does not belong to us either, we must ask ourselves if there is a destiny and if our actions are really ours, one of the most interesting characters in this regard is the Oracle, because it is he who tells Neo that he has the ability to decide, that only he owns his decisions, and the curious thing is that , precisely, the Oracle is the character connected to the destination.
The film is constantly based on decisions: red or blue pill, knowing the truth or not. This freedom of decision was linked to Sartre’s existentialism.
If there is no destiny, if there is nothing by default, it is we who, with our decisions, shape it, but the film also suggests the possibility of a destination, something already preset and, at the same time, arguments appear. that contradict this.
The Oracle will be one of the most important characters at this stage, but also Morpheus, whose stance does not deny any of the above assumptions: he believes in fate, but also in the power to decide.
Matrix also highlights the problem of knowledge and happiness, where we see that the real world that characters reach coming out of the simulation is not good, there they discover a terrifying truth and find themselves immersed in a world of shadows.
At this point, we must ask ourselves whether all this knowledge is good, if it leads to happiness. Happiness has always been considered a supreme good, the goal to achieve throughout human life.
Cipher is the remorseful character of the film: he wanted to have access to the truth, but when he met her, he decided that he preferred to return to the unreal world, to the fantasy world and ignore reality. Cipher decides that he prefers to live, a life in ignorance rather than know the truth.
The number of philosophical questions posed by the Matrix is broad and allows us, for a few moments, to become judges, observers and question our decisions, our happiness and the world around us.
Without a doubt, Matrix is an inescapable film in philosophy classes, a cinematic work that aims to give an answer, erasing prejudices and opening our minds, doubting everything.