From “Alice in Wonderland” to Christianity, to Plato’s Allegory of the Cavethe “Matrix” takes the viewer through an intricate ride condensed with literary, religious, and philosophical symbolism. Its allusive wealth allows for the engagement of a wide range of viewers as well as for a gamut of interpretations. This variety of allusions and symbols are explicitly and subtly embedded in the movie’s plot and there is room for interpretations done from various theoretical perspectives. Viewed from this lens, one could see how the movie substantially draws on Plato's Allegory of the Cave.
Movie’s major character experiences a drastic change in his perception of reality as perceived by him and as it really is. Likewise, Plato's famous cave prisoner is able to comprehend the reality of the cave (where he has been living up to the pivotal walk which leads him out of it) and the real one outside of the cave.
T. Anderson lives in world which is controlled by the matrix agents just like Plato's prisoner lives in a world (cave) controlled by the form holders. They both manage to escape from the world as they know it and come to know the world as it really is: Anderson, with some help from Morpheus, comes to realize that the life he as been leading so far is nothing but the life of a slave, shaped under the control of the Matrix, protected by the agents. Plato's prisoner comes to realize first that the shadows he is looking at are not the truth, they are just shadows cast on the wall by the formholders. He sees the fire and as he follows the path which leads outside of the cave, he sees the sun and everything else illuminated by it. The respective characters, simultaneously experience shock and then a feeling of awe when they first perceive what is real. Neo (the name he assumes after the experience) is able to see how humans are "grown", hooked on wires, an element which symbolizes control just like the chains which tie the prisoners in Plato's cave.
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