The Concept of Change in the Wachowski Brothers' Film "The Matrix"

Descartes wonders what else that he can know by using this same logic, but first must establish the idea of God and that God is not deceiving him. He reasons that God exists because he as a mortal could not create the idea of such a powerful being, and only a being as powerful as God could have caused an idea of a God that is perfect. Descartes goes on to reason that because God is perfect, then God would not deceive him about anything. It’s not that Descartes is being deceived, but rather his lack of knowledge or understanding about the matters at hand is causing the problem he is facing.

Millions of people flock to the movie theater year after year on a quest to be entertained. Even a mediocre movie has the ability to take the audience to another place, escaping the realities of their own life, even if for just a few short hours. Some movies are simply pure entertainment. And then, there are those movies that provoke conversation long after the film has been viewed. Despite the popularity of the recent films The Hunger Games and Divergence, the dystopian theme in film is not a new one. The Matrix shows a society where humans exist without any freedom. The film, not only entertaining but thought provoking as well, paints a world with two different dimensions, a world very much like today’s when the film is closely examined. The Matrix questions the benefit of technology and influence over society.

When the film The Matrix debuted in 1999, it was an instant box office success that captivated many viewers. However throughout the featured famed actors, costumes, special effects and fight scenes, many viewers failed to notice the philosophical issues. Plato and Descartes, just like the characters in the movie are faced and driven to extreme measures to understand the world around them. They are compelled to seek knowledge in understanding what is real, evaluating the mind-body problem, and are left wondering if there is any good. These philosophical features of the movie have raised questions and have made it an interesting film to watch. While many viewers can agree that The Matrix is highly action packed, not all can truly appreciate

Because of how we live, true reality is not obvious to most of us. However, we mistake what we see and hear for reality and truth. This is the basic premise for Plato抯 Allegory of the Cave, in which prisoners sit in a cave, chained down, watching images cast on the wall in front of them. They accept these views as reality and they are unable to grasp their overall situation: the cave and images are a ruse, a mere shadow show orchestrated for them by unseen men. At some point, a prisoner is set free and is forced to see the situation inside the cave. Initially, one does not want to give up the security of his or her familiar reality; the person has to be dragged past the fire and up the entranceway. This is a

Millions of people flock to the movie theater year after year on a quest to be entertained. Even a mediocre movie has the ability to take the audience to another place, escaping the realities of their own life, if only for a mere two hours. Some movies are simply pure entertainment. And then, there are those movies that provoke conversation long after the film has been viewed. Dystopian themes are not new, and have historically provided a template to gage the course of human existence. The Matrix portrays a society where humans exist without freedom. The film is not only entertaining, but also thought provoking. It paints a world with two different dimensions, one with the mind numbing

Plato describes the state of mind and state of living of the prisoners. He also notes that everyone is in a cave of darkness surrounding knowledge at some point or another. Plato’s

The prisoners have been in these conditions since their earliest stages of life. The cave, the wall, and the chains are all the prisoners have ever known. Behind the prisoners, there was a raised path. Above the walkway was a platform, where there was a fire burning, and in front of the fire, was a parapet, which as Plato described it , was like that of the screens Puppeteers use to hide themselves and have the puppets be visible . Each and every day, the prisoners see nothing, but the shadows of the objects and people passing between them and the fire. For their entire lives, the prisoners are exposed to nothing but those images and the sounds made by those walking around. These shadows are all they have ever known, in essence; these shadows are their only “reality”. As time passed, the prisoners would grow accustomed to these sights, later on the prisoners would match the objects with names and the familiar sounds to the images of the shadows (514; Appendix A). In discussing the allegory with Glaucon, Socrates toys around the concept of what could happen to a prisoner should they be released after having lived their lives in the cave, with the only knowledge the possess of the world, are the images and sounds by the wall.

Plato describes the vision of the real truth to be "aching" to the eyes of the prisoners, and how they would naturally be inclined to going back and viewing what they have always seen as a pleasant and painless acceptance of truth. This stage of thinking is noted as "belief." The comfort of the perceivement, and the fear of the unrecognized outside world would result in the prisoner being forced to climb the steep ascent of the cave and step outside into the bright sun.

Though the escapee has seen the outside world and gained experience the others do not have; when the prisoner returns to the cave, the others do not believe him. The escaped prisoner is said to be a metaphoric character for a wise man or philosopher, and the prisoners are supposedly metaphoric for people in society who only see what they want too. Plato creates a metaphor that a man has wisdom and knowledge of reality, but others do not want to believe in reality, but in their own idea of what is

When the prisoner begins his journey, he is reluctant, like Montag. “And suppose once more, that he is reluctantly dragged up a steep and rugged ascent, and held fast until he 's forced into the presence of the sun himself, is he not likely to be pained and irritated? When he approaches the light his eyes will be dazzled, and he will not be able to see anything at all of what are now called realities.” This shows that like Montag, the prisoner has ideas of what he will encounter. As the Allegory continues, the prisoner thinks back on his past life, in the dreary cave, chained up and begins to pity those he left behind. “And when he remembered his old habitation, and the wisdom of the den and his fellow-prisoners, do you not suppose that he would felicitate himself on the change, and pity them? Certainly, he would.” Both characters realize it is a privilege to be in the situations they are in, even if they are alone. They're grateful to know rather than be stuck in their past, ignorant ways, like those stuck in the city and the cave. In both texts, the sun is a cause of sudden realization. In the Allegory of the Cave, the prisoner realizes there is more to the world than the shackles and the shadows he was accustomed to, while Montag realizes that time continues with or without you. Both realizations are vital to the path of enlightenment both characters

The whole point of the allegory is to represent to journey to enlightenment. The prisoners represent either the unenlightened that have not had enough experience to gain great wisdom or the uneducated that have not learned enough to gain great intelligence. And being thrown out of the cave into the outside world represents the process of becoming enlightened. Once enlightened they would of course not want to leave and to make them go back into the Cave would be cruel, as is noted by Glaucon. But as is explained they must be made to descend again among the prisoners in the den, and partake of their labors and honors, whether they are worth having or not” (873). Plato claims that these enlightened have a moral responsibility to bring their wisdom to the common people in order to help them learn more so everyone can benefit from the knowledge of an individual. This is certainly an agreeable prospect and one that is not seen enough in the real world. Once

In the "Allegory of the Cave," the chained down prisoners are limited with their perception on reality. At

Socrates’s anecdote of the cave presents a ghastly image: people who “are in it from childhood with their legs and necks in bonds so that they are fixed, seeing only in front of them, unable because of the bond to turn their heads all the way around” (193). Also inside the cave is a “fire burning” which allows certain objects (out of sight and controlled by others) to project shadows (193). Consequently, the prisoners believe that the shadows are the most real things. When a prisoner is released, he experiences pain due to the light of the fire. In time, he recognizes the truth and becomes accustomed to it. He is then “dragged out into the light of the sun” (194). After a few moments, he tolerates its rays. Most importantly though, he grasps “the sun itself” (195). Finally, the escapee is not content with keeping this

If I were given Neo’s position, I would have swallowed the blue pill at moment’s notice with no hesitation to think about the red pill. From our class discussion, we’ve learned that free will is more probable for Neo to become “The One” rather than by fate, so I conclude that I can’t possibly act according to Neo’s qualities to achieve the supernatural abilities I need to protect myself and others from the agents in the Matrix; an incompetent person is who I’d become in Neo’s body. Besides being powerless, I strongly agree with the Judas of the story, Cipher, that “ignorance is bliss”. I admit as a coward, I would love to live comfortably sheltered away from the ugly truth of the Matrix because though I’m being lied I wouldn’t mind since I

In contrast to a utopia, according to the power point provided in class a dystopia is “an imaginary place where people live dehumanized and often fearful lives.” The movies The Matrix, 1999 and Avatar, 2009 overall seem to me as dystopian films. To show how each film portrays the different aspects of perspectives on the future, and a dystopia, I’m going to use the settings, actions, and outcomes of each film.