Lesson 3: The Matrix I: What is this movie trying to say?
We'll start to look at The Matrix, a wonderful combination of many traditional stories and themes. We'll look at Neo as savior, as well as other characters who may have Biblical parallels.
The Matrix: Christian, Buddhist, Gnostic, or Existentialist?
A quick search on the internet will provide a whole gamut of web sites and chat sites dedicated to analyzing the many symbols, metaphors, and literary and religious parallels of The Matrix movies.
Chances are, you’ve already heard the Neo is the savior figure – “neo” meaning “new,” signifying a new man. Neo is also an anagram of the word “one.” The name Trinity certainly sounds Biblical as does Nebuchadnezzar.
As well, many have found themes that resonate with Eastern philosophy. Certainly the martial arts in the movie are part of this, as is the idea that reality we see around us is not the true “reality.”
Others have found enough Western philosophical concepts to write entire Ph.D. theses on the trilogy. If you really want to dive deep, try reading French social theorist Jean Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation. This is the book where Neo hides his hacker programs in the first movie. He has the chapter “On Nihilism” dug out to hold them.
Others see gnostic themes in the movie. We’ll look more at the meaning of gnosticism in Lesson Six, but one feature of many gnostic scriptures is the idea that those that will be “saved” are privy to special knowledge (thus the term “gnosis,” meaning knowledge). None of the humans plugged into the Matrix know that they are in a false reality. Only the few hundred thousand that live in Zion are aware of this. Only those few, of course, are “saved” in the sense that they have escaped that Matrix.
These themes are the source of many arguments about the influences and intentions of the creators of The Matrix films, the Wachowski brothers. The following lessons are not meant to be an all-encompassing analysis of the film. They are not even meant to be an all-encompassing analysis of the Christian themes. Nor are they an analysis of the filmmakers’ own choices. Their intention is simply to use the films as a springboard to discuss scriptural themes. All three Matrix films – much like The Lord of the Rings trilogy – are rich in symbolism and mythical themes and can be analyzed time and time again with repeated viewings. In fact, The Matrix films provide a fundamental lesson for writers, screenwriters, and anyone telling a story: use characters, themes, and plots that resonate with people. The mythical structure of the hero’s adventure, the idea of a savior figure, the spiritual element to Eastern martial arts, the themes of sacrifice, star-crossed lovers, masters and apprentices – all of these elements create universal and epoch-old resonations in audiences. Lucas of the Star Wars trilogy and, of course, Tolkien and Peter Jackson of The Lord of the Rings trilogy have used these themes as well. What have all these directors and writers done? They have looked to the old enduring stories for their inspiration. The great thing about these stories, as with other old stories, is that they can inspire conversations about important truths in our own lives. All that being said, we don’t want to take The Matrix, or any of these films, too seriously. Many of the ideas probably came from a poolside chat somewhere in the Hollywood Hills after a two-martini lunch.
