The two quotes, “Knowledge is power” and “Ignorance is bliss”, are two of the most well-known quotes in history. Generally, a film, text or play, takes either the side of knowledge or of ignorance. The film The Matrix takes the side of “Knowledge is power”. In the film, Neo is contacted by the legendary Morpheus, who offers him a choice; the red pill, or the blue pill. The red pill represents knowledge, and will wake Neo up and show him the truth – that he is living a lie as a slave to machines. The blue pill is ignorance, and will wipe Neo’s memory and take him back to the life he knows. After Neo has taken the red pill, he is graced with the knowledge of the matrix, and joins the fight against the machines to free humanity. From the beginning
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The most notable allusion throughout The Matrix is to the Bible. As the Bible is such a well-known story, the use of this allusion worked heavily in the writers favour. Neo is similar to Jesus Christ, as he is ‘the one’ and seen as a hero. He also died, then came back to life as even more of a hero, just as Jesus was said to in the Bible. Morpheus is seen as God-like, as Neo and other people looking for the matrix think very highly of him. Cypher is connected to two figures from religion; Satan and Judas. He is related to Satan as his name is very similar to Lucifer, another common name of Satan. Cypher’s appearance is also quite similar to some interpretations of Satan. As Christ and God are two of the most worshipped figures in societies history, it automatically results in the audience, by default, trusting Neo and Morpheus more than Cypher, and as Neo and Morpheus are on the “knowledge is power” side, the audience is convinced that is the correct …show more content…
Morpheus says to Neo: “Take the red pill and I’ll show you just how deep the rabbit hole goes”. This alludes to Alice in Wonderland, with the “rabbit hole” saying. Cypher later comments to Neo “cause Kansas is going bye - bye” – an allusion to The Wizard of Oz with the “Kansas” reference. These tell the audience that knowledge is a journey, but once you have all the knowledge you need it is like being in a magical, better world.
Throughout the Matrix, a Plato’s Allegory allusion is present. Plato’s Allegory is about three slaves in a cave. All their life, they have thought that the shadows they see are reality. Then a slave is freed, and he sees that the shadows aren’t real. He returns to the cave to tell the others, but they resist and tell him he is crazy. This relates to the Matrix in the way that, just as the freed slave couldn’t just tell the others, Morpheus can’t just tell Neo about the Matrix. Both parties have to be shown. It sways the audience in “knowledge is power” direction as, in both the allegory and the Matrix, ignorance is like being prisoner. In the Allegory it is being trapped in a cave, and in the Matrix it is being a slave to the machines, and hooked up into a virtual reality
The most notable allusion throughout The Matrix is to the Bible. As the Bible is such a well-known story, the use of this allusion worked heavily in the writers favour. Neo is similar to Jesus Christ, as he is ‘the one’ and seen as a hero. He also died, then came back to life as even more of a hero, just as Jesus was said to in the Bible. Morpheus is seen as God-like, as Neo and other people looking for the matrix think very highly of him. Cypher is connected to two figures from religion; Satan and Judas. He is related to Satan as his name is very similar to Lucifer, another common name of Satan. Cypher’s appearance is also quite similar to some interpretations of Satan. As Christ and God are two of the most worshipped figures in societies history, it automatically results in the audience, by default, trusting Neo and Morpheus more than Cypher, and as Neo and Morpheus are on the “knowledge is power” side, the audience is convinced that is the correct …show more content…
Morpheus says to Neo: “Take the red pill and I’ll show you just how deep the rabbit hole goes”. This alludes to Alice in Wonderland, with the “rabbit hole” saying. Cypher later comments to Neo “cause Kansas is going bye - bye” – an allusion to The Wizard of Oz with the “Kansas” reference. These tell the audience that knowledge is a journey, but once you have all the knowledge you need it is like being in a magical, better world.
Throughout the Matrix, a Plato’s Allegory allusion is present. Plato’s Allegory is about three slaves in a cave. All their life, they have thought that the shadows they see are reality. Then a slave is freed, and he sees that the shadows aren’t real. He returns to the cave to tell the others, but they resist and tell him he is crazy. This relates to the Matrix in the way that, just as the freed slave couldn’t just tell the others, Morpheus can’t just tell Neo about the Matrix. Both parties have to be shown. It sways the audience in “knowledge is power” direction as, in both the allegory and the Matrix, ignorance is like being prisoner. In the Allegory it is being trapped in a cave, and in the Matrix it is being a slave to the machines, and hooked up into a virtual reality