Plato's Cave and The Matrix

Question

Compare Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” with the film “The Matrix”. Cite specific examples and draw parallels from both.

I. You should demonstrate command of the following Platonic concepts from our study of “The Cave”:

-Matter versus Form (The nature and properties of matter and form, how they relate and how they differ)

-The realm of Form versus the physical world

-The nature of reality

II. You should directly parallel the following aspects of the film with their counter-aspects in

“The Cave”:

-Morpheus

-Neo

-Cypher

-The Agents/The Machines

-The Matrix

-The Desert of the Real

-The red pill and blue pill

If you could give any information please leave an answer.

Answer 1

I.

Plato's The Cave is an allegorical tale that explores themes of truth, reality, enlightenment, and education.

The "Matter" is the physical world of shadows and prisoners, which represent imperfect, changing illusions. The "Form" is the puppeteers' objects and the Sun, which are reality. The realm of "Form" is the real, physical world unconcealed by the illusion of "Matter." The way to conquer "Matter" is to go on a journey of enlightenment and grasp "Form" through reason and knowledge, not sight and senses.

Plato believes the truth lies in eternal, unchanging abstract concepts, rather than in sight and senses. Sight and senses are eternally changing with surroundings, age, and situations, while abstract concepts remain constant. Plato believes education is an escape from the imprisonment of "Matter" or of false realities. One must be open to education and the pursuit of knowledge if they wish to live in truth and reality.

II.

The parallels between Plato's famous concepts from The Cave and the iconic 1999 movie The Matrix. The core theme that is shared is the exploration of "truth" and the subjectivity behind a person's perspective on reality.

To examine it on a plot level, there are also similarities. Both stories are contained within a simulated reality or 'world' with the cave in Plato's story and the Matrix in the movie. Both realities are controlled by outside forces, with the cave controlled by shadow puppets and the Matrix being controlled by alien machines. The goal of the controllers is to warp the realities of the imprisoned to keep them contained, complacent, and ignorant. Much like how the prisoners inside the Cave mistake the shadow puppets as real and thus, as 'truth', the prisoners in the Matrix believe the fake world the alien machines create as truth as well.

The Protagonists of each story possess the same goal: escaping and revealing the truth. The enlightened prisoner of the cave sees the fire and is afraid and desires to return to his ignorance, but is dragged out into the harsh, blinding real world. Plato says that the enlightened prisoner does not usually escape on their own volition, but they are taken out by chance or through force. In the Matrix, Neo is given the option by Morpheus on whether to take the blue pill and return to the false reality or take the red pill and see the truth. Neo chooses the red pill and awakens from the false world into the harsh, dystopian true world known as "The Desert of the Real." Although Neo is more willing to go into the real world, their reactions to the truth are the same. At first, they are terrified, but they slowly adapt and even embrace their new reality.

The enlightened prisoner and Neo come to the same conclusion: the others must know the truth. The enlightened prisoner returns to the Cave, but his eyes cannot adjust back to the darkness. The prisoners mock him and ridicule his enlightenment, not knowing that he knows the truth. Some even wish harm upon him. A similar fate befalls Neo, who must face the Agents that wish to keep the world in darkness. Although the threats that Neo faces are more physical, both the enlightened prisoner and Neo must fight against a false reality in hopes of revealing the truth to the entire world.

The character of Morpheus represents the force that takes the enlightened prisoner out of the Cave. Plato does not go into extreme detail about the prisoner's escape in his original story, but in his philosophical view, education is how the unenlightened become enlightened. In the context of the Matrix, Morpheus is the teacher and vehicle of education who guides and reveals the truth to the prisoner (Neo).

A key difference between Plato's The Cave and The Matrix is the medium and time in which it is told (Plato's story being told via words and imagery in ancient times, while The Matrix is a movie set in the modern era). The Matrix also follows a revolution with Neo being a 'Chosen One' rather than an 'Enlightened prisoner.' It is implied in The Cave that other prisoners could become enlightened if they are taken out, but it does not detail or describe it, unlike The Matrix, which has an entire rebel alliance of individuals who have learnt the truth.