The Matrix

The Garden of Eden story has been superimposed on The Matrix as well with the implication that just as Adam's and Eve's awakening to knowledge makes Christianity possible, so too, Neo's awakening will lead to the salvation of humanity by a Christ-like figure. Others have picked out connections with Joseph Campbell's monomyth concept where the hero must depart from the familiar world, go into a netherworld and return morally transformed. There is also the Platonic interpretation where the passage toward the light from the famous cave allegory is read into the awakening process of The Matrix: "The theme of appearance versus reality is as old as Plato’s Republic.

And while perhaps no writer or artist has improved upon his cave allegory in presenting this theme, the Wachowski brothers’ The Matrix might be as effective an attempt as any since Plato, in cinematic history anyway". Buddhism and its notion that reality is illusion appears as an equally convincing model for reading The Matrix. Even Gnosticism has been used as an interesting semiotic framework for the film.  

In Plato’s philosophy there is the well known allegory of the cave and the theory of a priori knowledge. The allegory of the cave could be seen as a theme in several alternative reality films. The fundamental story is that of a person (prisoner) with other prisoners who are chained with their backs to the fire. These people only see shadows and thus their knowledge of the real world is limited to the shadows. One day one of the prisoners is unchained and taken outside. Once he/she is used to the sunlight, the world is seen as totally different. He/she now sees the shadows on the wall as dark forms of sentient beings blocking the light. He/she comes back in the cave and tries to tell the others what the world is really like and they refuse to believe him/her. Neo, the protagonist of The Matrix Trilogy is one who realizes the truth of the world, but cannot yet convey it to the others, who still reside in the energy pods.

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