Plato's Allegory In The Matrix

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The movie I chose for this paper was, The Matrix. While watching this movie not only did the special effects and fight scenes interest me and make me think it was a good movie, but, additionally I noticed a lot of philosophical parallels. It's easy to see that The Matrix is based off of Plato's allegory, the cave. The cave is about a prison that people are trapped in and can't get out, they are seeing these images and shadows in front of them, but they are not aware that the real images are behind them. Plato had the idea, what if one of these prisoners were freed and saw the light, what would happen then? The freed person would be blinded to the light and no longer believe that the shadows they once were seeing were real. The prisoners don’t …show more content…
During the day he is just a normal computer programmer, but then at night he is a computer hacker, known as Neo. The Matrix follows Neo through his journey or transformation, really, from being normal to being exposed to the 'real world' and seeing the light. What Neo thought was the real world was actually The Matrix. The Matrix is a computer program made by machines to use humans as batteries. Morpheus thinks that Neo is the chosen one and tries to enlighten him of the potential he sees in Neo to free the rest of the people from the Matrix. After training and several programs being downloaded into Neo's head, teaching him martial arts and other special effects Neo will need along the way, he starts on this journey with Morpheus, while being pursued by agents who are trying to isolate and remove everyone involved in hacking the Matrix. In the end, the Matrix remakes itself and whoever wanted to be freed was free. Neo was wounded from a battle and it's not clear in the end if he is dead or …show more content…
However, we will never be awakened to the world around us or enlightened of the real world if we are not open to learn about it. In The Matrix, Neo is open to undergo this change. His curiosity to find out about the real world is the reason Neo was able to finally see the light. If we are not curious and do not pursue the answers to the questions we have about life and the world around us we will continue to live in the darkness forever. Why live in a world you are blinded to? Take off the blindfold. Ask questions. Explore. Be

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