the matrix film analysis essay

Film Studies: “The Matrix” by Larry and Andy Wachowski Essay (Movie Review)

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The Matrix tries to bring out the truth, and the reality of issues that affect the world. The film portrays social difference and inequality, through man and the machine. The machines symbolize change through a technological revolution. Man represents dynamism through social structures. A man may be related to social dynamics. The machines reflect the reliance by a man on technology.

The film shows that economic problems may reveal social differences and inequalities in certain cultures. In the world today, certain countries are more economically powerful than others. The Matrix also reveals that cultures, traditions, and beliefs may be linked to many nations. The film evaluates the concept of appearance. The machines are representative of technology.

The Agents have the freedom to control the making of the film and are responsible for all the program’s systems. This study sees the Agents as white men who believe that they are infallible. Competing visions of the characters The Agents see the world as dynamic. They need to compete for the minimal available resources. They tend to be oppressive and want to acquire power by force. Agents can impose their ideas on humans at will.

They can take over the “mental space” of the Matrix’s users. They do not want Neo to acquire knowledge on the Matrix. This aspect brings out their authoritarian characteristics. They want to take over the solar power and use it to access the matrix. Neo and Morpheus see society from a religious perspective.

They want to live in a society that upholds values in spite of technological changes. Morpheus symbolizes rebellion and dishonesty. He views the world as unfair to him. He believes in “hacking” into the Matrix to free captives for his advantage.

How characters build collective movements of individuals to support and enact their vision of society?

The Agents resemble three men who operate as a group for their advantage. They build their power by being together. This aspect enables them to confront Morpheus concerning the main computer in Zion. They manage to fight Neo due to their numerical advantage. They try to prevent him from accessing information on the Matrix. Morpheus and Neo also form a group to protect themselves against the Agents.

Morpheus appears to provide useful insights to Neo regarding the Matrix. The two visit the Oracle together. Morpheus allows the agents to detain him to let Neo and his group escape. Neo and Morpheus represent humans who are opposed to technological domination of the world. Social order is disrupted by the incessant wars between the humans and the machines. Technology seems to compete with the social order in this society.

The machines and the Agents bring disharmony among humans. This paper suggests that technology needs to be adopted with caution because it may be manipulated by man for his advantage. Status and resources belong to the most powerful, like the Agents in this society. Neo and Morpheus only seem to be looking for ways of outdoing the Agents to get power by stealing secret codes.

The characters build their collective movements through the use of language and influence. The Matrix uses cultural persuasions to perpetuate social and technological changes. In the film, the Agents can share their feelings with other characters in a ‘hive mind’ context. This aspect of communication helps the characters to enact their vision of society.

The film presents a society that is free from race, gender, and age barriers. According to fiction, progressive society is that which can adapt and embrace multi social values. This paper presents the aspect of language in the film as a theme of social dynamism. In the film, language brings out an efficient and singular cognitive approach. When machines convert into a Matrix program, they use minimal language and help the Agents to communicate.

The catastrophic destruction in the film happens when the Agents align themselves towards the Matrix. The language is technical and brings out the fact that Neo is likened to the machine. Technology may be used to improve society. This research observes that the society depicted in the film distributes its resources unequally. Few individuals control the media as a resource. Their ideas are capable of influencing many people.

The statuses of wealthy individuals like the Agents allow them to impose their will on others like the killing of Neo by Smith. Neo continuously refuses to program the language. He refuses the name given to him, which is connected to the Matrix. Various forms of technologies and their value

The film mainly features computers and robots. The computers signify programs that replace humans in terms of physical output in various activities. The man commands super humans or robots to perform specific functions. He assumes that robots are easier to work with than real humans. Robots only accept specific commands and may not perform any duties assigned to them (The Matrix, 1999).

The superhumans want access to solar power to exercise their freedom, that eventually destroys the world. Humans view life from a religious perspective. Morpheus relates to the religious world. Religion and technology seem to be competing against each other. The machines’ “orientation” is remarkable. In the film, the machines build the viewers’ trust in language and the Matrix’s program, which influences how man sees the technological world.

According to the film, a person has only one belief system which can change depending on external influences. Neo believes that humans have a combination of several ideologies, spirituality, and beliefs. Currently, the human belief system is a combination of religion, spiritual, cultural, and traditional beliefs.

This combination of different view structures operates as a suitable foundation for the marginalized people in the film. The different views and ideas can lead to the isolation of people, the and this perspective demonstrate how social inequality and differences operate in society. Machines can dictate an authoritarian belief system in humans.

The film examines a crisis between perspectives of determinism and autonomy. Neo and humans symbolize liberty, which binds, their spiritual realm. Smith and the machines represent the physical manifestation of determinism. Neo, who is presented as the ‘One’ in the film, signifies various unique people. Smith as a character, can replicate himself severally but symbolize only one ideal and value of life.

Neo’s continuous refusal to use his skills to select different ideas signifies that many people may not be willing to question social beliefs. The Matrix film is a precise and incisive presentation of media in the modern day world. The characters represent the social differences and inequalities in terms of race, class, and ideologies experienced by main and marginalized groups (The Matrix, 1999).

Man can always resolve cultural and economic challenges. This paper observes the need for harmonization of the two conflicting parties, as in the case of Smith and Neo. Man can use the media as an efficient tool of education in society if well managed. He can also use it as a way of disintegrating society by creating conflicts and crises.

Technology should be used to reconcile and not to set people apart socially and economically. The paper thus succeeds in evaluating the sociological perspectives of social change and technology.

Works Cited

The Matrix . Dir. Joel Silver. Perf. Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fish, Carry- Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Joe Pantoliano. Warner Bros, 1999. DVD.

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IvyPanda. (2020, March 16). Film Studies: "The Matrix" by Larry and Andy Wachowski. https://ivypanda.com/essays/film-studies-the-matrix-by-larry-and-andy-wachowski/

"Film Studies: "The Matrix" by Larry and Andy Wachowski." IvyPanda , 16 Mar. 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/film-studies-the-matrix-by-larry-and-andy-wachowski/.

IvyPanda . (2020) 'Film Studies: "The Matrix" by Larry and Andy Wachowski'. 16 March.

IvyPanda . 2020. "Film Studies: "The Matrix" by Larry and Andy Wachowski." March 16, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/film-studies-the-matrix-by-larry-and-andy-wachowski/.

1. IvyPanda . "Film Studies: "The Matrix" by Larry and Andy Wachowski." March 16, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/film-studies-the-matrix-by-larry-and-andy-wachowski/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Film Studies: "The Matrix" by Larry and Andy Wachowski." March 16, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/film-studies-the-matrix-by-larry-and-andy-wachowski/.

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The Matrix : From Plato and Descartes, to Eastern Philosophy">The Philosophy of The Matrix : From Plato and Descartes, to Eastern Philosophy

in Film , Philosophy | March 31st, 2017 3 Comments

Do you take the red pill or the blue pill? The ques­tion, which at its heart has to do with either accept­ing or reject­ing the illu­sions that con­sti­tute some or all of life as you know it, became part of the cul­ture almost imme­di­ate­ly after Mor­pheus, Lawrence Fish­burne’s char­ac­ter in  The Matrix , put it to Keanu Reeves’ pro­tag­o­nist Neo. That film, a career-mak­ing suc­cess for its direc­tors the Wachows­ki sis­ters (then the Wachows­ki broth­ers), had its own elab­o­rate vision of a false real­i­ty entrap­ping human­i­ty as the actu­al one sur­rounds it, a vision made real­iz­able by the finest late-1990s com­put­er-gen­er­at­ed spe­cial effects. But the ideas behind it, as this Film Radar video essay shows, go back a long way indeed.

The first and by far the most respect­ed of the tril­o­gy, The Matrix  “large­ly inter­prets Pla­to’s Alle­go­ry of the Cave. Imag­ine a cave. Inside are peo­ple who were born and have spent their entire lives there, chained into a fixed posi­tion, only able to see the wall in front of them. As far as they know, this is the entire world.” The Wachowskis ask the same ques­tion Pla­to does: “How do we know what our real­i­ty real­ly is?”

When they have Mor­pheus bring Neo out of his “cave” of every­day late-20th-cen­tu­ry exis­tence, they do it in a man­ner anal­o­gous to Pla­to’s Anal­o­gy of the Sun, in which “the sun is a metaphor for the nature of real­i­ty and knowl­edge con­cern­ing it,” and the eyes of the fear­ful few forced out of their cave need some time to adjust to it.

But when one “unplugs” from the illu­sion-gen­er­at­ing Matrix of the title — a con­cept now in con­sid­er­a­tion again thanks to the pop­u­lar­i­ty of the “sim­u­la­tion argu­ment” — a longer jour­ney toward that real­ly-real real­i­ty still awaits. The sec­ond and third install­ments of the tril­o­gy involve a dive into “reli­gious phi­los­o­phy from the East,” espe­cial­ly the idea of escape from the eter­nal soul’s rein­car­na­tion “into oth­er phys­i­cal forms in an infi­nite cycle where the soul is left to wan­der and suf­fer” by means of a spir­i­tu­al quest for “enlight­en­ment, by unit­ing body and mind with spir­it.” This leads, inevitably, to self-sac­ri­fice: by final­ly “allow­ing him­self to die,” Neo “is reunit­ed with spir­it” and “becomes the true sav­ior of human­i­ty” — a nar­ra­tive ele­ment not unknown in reli­gious texts even out­side the East.

These count as only “a few of the philo­soph­i­cal ideas the Wachowskis explore in the Matrix tril­o­gy,” the oth­ers includ­ing Robert Noz­ick­’s “Expe­ri­ence Machine,”  Descartes’ “Great Deceiv­er,”  and oth­er con­cepts from Kant and Hume “ques­tion­ing real­i­ty, causal­i­ty, and free will, not to men­tion the obvi­ous com­men­tary on tech­nol­o­gy or a sub­mis­sive soci­ety.” Of course, philo­soph­i­cal explo­ration in  The Matrix involve count­less fly­ing — and grav­i­ty-defy­ing — fists and bul­lets, much of it per­formed by char­ac­ters clad in reflec­tive sun­glass­es and black leather. Per­haps that dat­ed­ness has prompt­ed the recent announce­ment of a  Matrix reboot : though the styles may change, if it hap­pens, the ideas would no doubt remain rec­og­niz­able to Pla­to him­self.

Relat­ed Con­tent:

Are We Liv­ing Inside a Com­put­er Sim­u­la­tion?: An Intro­duc­tion to the Mind-Bog­gling “Sim­u­la­tion Argu­ment”

Philip K. Dick The­o­rizes The Matrix in 1977, Declares That We Live in “A Com­put­er-Pro­grammed Real­i­ty”

Daniel Den­nett and Cor­nel West Decode the Phi­los­o­phy of The Matrix

The Matrix : What Went Into The Mix

Free Online Phi­los­o­phy Cours­es

Based in Seoul,  Col­in Mar­shall  writes and broad­casts on cities a nd cul­ture. He’s at work on a book about Los Ange­les,  A Los Ange­les Primer , the video series  The City in Cin­e­ma ,   the crowd­fund­ed jour­nal­ism project  Where Is the City of the Future? , and the  Los Ange­les Review of Books’  Korea Blog .   Fol­low him on Twit­ter at  @colinmarshall  or on  Face­boo k .

by Colin Marshall | Permalink | Comments (3) |

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Comments (3), 3 comments so far.

The ‘Matrix’ film was of a pop­u­la­tion as ‘pris­on­er’s because they were all liv­ing with­in a real­i­ty and a ‘body’ both of which weren’t real. In oth­er words, you are essen­tial­ly a pris­on­er specif­i­cal­ly because your body and your real­i­ty are FAKE. You are then in effect noth­ing more than a ‘shad­ow’ on the wall of a fake real­i­ty.

As the entire basis of the ‘Matrix’ arti­fi­cial real­i­ty type rests on the premise that your cur­rent body is fake then you’d imag­ine that a search for:

‘Pla­to’s cave two bod­ies inter­faced togeth­er Matrix real­i­ty’

… would return more than a hand­ful of pages.

I’ve also nev­er seen men­tioned in any Pla­to’s cave matrix arti­fi­cial real­i­ty com­par­i­son dis­cus­sions and par­tic­u­lar­ly on phi­los­o­phy ori­en­tat­ed web sites that a fake real­i­ty would have both the MOTIVE as well as the oppor­tu­ni­ty to direct­ly manip­u­late it’s res­i­dents and would per­haps par­tic­u­lar­ly do this when the res­i­dents of a fake real­i­ty are dis­cussing the pos­si­bil­i­ty of whether they are liv­ing with­in a fake real­i­ty or not!!!

Some reasoned/rational ‘Matrix’ real­i­ty spec­u­la­tion pages can be found on clivehetherington.com

The cave and the Matrix both have the Motive to con­trol its res­i­dents if they ate liv­ing in a fake real­i­ty or a liv­ing

We live in two spaces, the feel­ing space cen­tered in our organs, and the think­ing space cen­tered in our brain. The first one works in quan­tum time, the sec­ond in lin­ear time. Child amne­sia is when the sec­ond takes the lead because our soci­ety favored it. The fab­ric of our life is made of feel­ings and we only have that. A feel­ing or affect has a tridi­men­sion­al struc­ture: body ten­sion, body acti­va­tion and pro­to-rep­re­sen­ta­tion of bel­ly malaise or bel­ly well-being which will give “it’s bad” or “it’s good” and the cono­ta­tion of all the con­cepts ( on side of the def­i­n­i­tion of the dic­tio­nary). the rea­son is for sur­vival: at any time we need to know if our sit­u­a­tion is good or bad, to cope with the sit­u­a­tion and have our body ready to fight or flee or freeze. The feel­ing space is an on-going mon­i­tor­ing process which com­pute all the stim­uli from the out­side and inter­nal in no time, and resume them in a feel­ing. Remem­ber the last time you jump back while you want­ed to cross the street but did­nt see the motorcycle…your on-going mon­i­tor­ing process is here for you to thank. The gut feel­ing that saved it all but nev­er rec­og­nized for what it is. The free will that fleet­ing moment where you will have the pre­cip­i­tate of a feel­ing as good or bad. Most of us, bor­der­line, have cut the bridge between the two spaces because we did­n’t receive our count of uncon­di­tion­al love as infant, and the big mon­ster anger inside us was so fright­en­ing as all pow­er baby who could destroy the world and kill the care­givers. That the eter­nal inter­nal con­flict most of us drag on, until you rec­og­nize that low­er­ing the anger allows you to get self-con­fi­dence. then, you become more dif­fi­cult to manip­u­late and to keep in the matrix. It hap­pens that medi­a­tion is a way to renew the bridge: put the ten­sion as low as pos­si­ble, don’t move, let you think­ing stop. no words because there is none in the feel­ing space. With your true self aside of your feel­ings: have anger, no more angry, You don’t blur with your feel­ings no more, as you don’t blur with the words.I could devel­op more, but I only want to add, we are safe from the AI as long as they don’t have feel­ings (not imi­ta­tion). Truth is, I don’t know what a quan­tum com­put­er is capa­ble of. The cri­sis we are going on with the mil­i­taro-indus­tri­al com­plex and deep­state and CB, is cen­tered around quan­tum com­put­ers, but far from our eyes. Last time they orga­nized the death camps with IBM machines, no they hope the all plan­et with become a death camp where they can decide who lives and who dies. I hope you are awak­en, it is fright­en­ing but also excit­ing time to be alive. Cheers!

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"The Matrix" is a visually dazzling cyberadventure, full of kinetic excitement, but it retreats to formula just when it's getting interesting. It's kind of a letdown when a movie begins by redefining the nature of reality, and ends with a shoot-out. We want a leap of the imagination, not one of those obligatory climaxes with automatic weapons fire.

I've seen dozens if not hundreds of these exercises in violence, which recycle the same tired ideas: Bad guys fire thousands of rounds, but are unable to hit the good guy. Then it's down to the final showdown between good and evil--a martial arts battle in which the good guy gets pounded until he's almost dead, before he finds the inner will to fight back. Been there, seen that (although rarely done this well).

Too bad, because the set-up is intriguing. "The Matrix" recycles the premises of " Dark City " and " Strange Days ," turns up the heat and the volume, and borrows the gravity-defying choreography of Hong Kong action movies. It's fun, but it could have been more. The directors are Larry and Andy Wachowski , who know how to make movies (their first film, " Bound ," made my 10 best list in 1996). Here, with a big budget and veteran action producer Joel Silver , they've played it safer; there's nothing wrong with going for the Friday night action market, but you can aim higher and still do business.

Warning; spoilers ahead. The plot involves Neo ( Keanu Reeves ), a mild-mannered software author by day, a feared hacker by night. He's recruited by a cell of cyber-rebels, led by the profound Morpheus ( Laurence Fishburne ) and the leather-clad warrior Trinity ( Carrie-Anne Moss ). They've made a fundamental discovery about the world: It doesn't exist. It's actually a form of Virtual Reality, designed to lull us into lives of blind obedience to the "system." We obediently go to our crummy jobs every day, little realizing, as Morpheus tells Neo, that "Matrix is the wool that has been pulled over your eyes--that you are a slave." The rebels want to crack the framework that holds the Matrix in place, and free mankind. Morpheus believes Neo is the Messianic "One" who can lead this rebellion, which requires mind power as much as physical strength. Arrayed against them are the Agents, who look like Blues Brothers. The movie's battles take place in Virtual Reality; the heroes' minds are plugged into the combat. (You can still get killed, though: "The body cannot live without the mind"). "Jacking in" like this was a concept in "Strange Days" and has also been suggested in novels by William Gibson ("Idoru") and others. The notion that the world is an artificial construction, designed by outsiders to deceive and use humans, is straight out of "Dark City." Both of those movies, however, explored their implications as the best science fiction often does. "Dark City" was fascinated by the Strangers who had a poignant dilemma: They were dying aliens who hoped to learn from human methods of adaptation and survival.

In "Matrix," on the other hand, there aren't flesh-and-blood creatures behind the illusion--only a computer program that can think, and learn. The Agents function primarily as opponents in a high-stakes computer game. The movie offers no clear explanation of why the Matrix-making program went to all that trouble. Of course, for a program, running is its own reward--but an intelligent program might bring terrifying logic to its decisions.

Both "Dark City" and "Strange Days" offered intriguing motivations for villainy. "Matrix" is more like a superhero comic book in which the fate of the world comes down to a titanic fist-fight between the designated representatives of good and evil. It's cruel, really, to put tantalizing ideas on the table and then ask the audience to be satisfied with a shoot-out and a martial arts duel. Let's assume Neo wins. What happens then to the billions who have just been "unplugged" from the Matrix? Do they still have jobs? Homes? Identities? All we get is an enigmatic voice-over exhortation at the movie's end. The paradox is that the Matrix world apparently resembles in every respect the pre-Matrix world. (I am reminded of the animated kid's film " Doug's 1st Movie ," which has a VR experience in which everything is exactly like in real life, except more expensive.) Still, I must not ignore the movie's virtues. It's great-looking, both in its design and in the kinetic energy that powers it. It uses flawlessly integrated special effects and animation to visualize regions of cyberspace. It creates fearsome creatures, including mechanical octopi. It morphs bodies with the abandon of "Terminator II." It uses f/x to allow Neo and Trinity to run horizontally on walls, and hang in the air long enough to deliver karate kicks. It has leaps through space, thrilling sequences involving fights on rooftops, helicopter rescues and battles over mind control.

And it has performances that find the right notes. Keanu Reeves goes for the impassive Harrison Ford approach, "acting" as little as possible. I suppose that's the right idea. Laurence Fishburne finds a balance between action hero and Zen master. Carrie-Anne Moss, as Trinity, has a sensational title sequence, before the movie recalls that she's a woman and shuttles her into support mode. Hugo Weaving , as the chief Agent, uses a flat, menacing tone that reminded me of Tommy Lee Jones in passive-aggressive overdrive. There's a well-acted scene involving Gloria Foster as the Oracle, who like all Oracles is maddeningly enigmatic.

"The Matrix" did not bore me. It interested me so much, indeed, that I wanted to be challenged even more. I wanted it to follow its material to audacious conclusions, to arrive not simply at victory, but at revelation. I wanted an ending that was transformational, like "Dark City's," and not one that simply throws us a sensational action sequence. I wanted, in short, a Third Act.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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The Matrix (1999)

Rated R For Sci-Fi Violence

135 minutes

Joe Pantoliano as Cypher

Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus

Gloria Foster as Oracle

Keanu Reeves as Neo

Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity

Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith

Written and Directed by

• Andy Wachowski

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• The Matrix Summary

by The Wachowskis

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Thomas Anderson is the main character and narrator of the movie. He is an hacker in the disguise of a software programmer, and he is contacted by Morpheus and Trinity . Morpheus is famous and Thomas knows he has to find Morpheus as quickly as possible, though he is slowed by some people that come across him, also looking for Morpheus. They torture Thomas before he manages to get free and in conversation with Morpheus.

Thomas is given news he had no way of preparing for: his life and the world he is living in is not real. He is living in the Matrix. Thomas is offered two pills, one that will show him reality and another that will let him continue living peacefully in the Matrix. Thomas chooses the pill that leads him to wake up in a box, beside a lot of other sleeping people.

Thomas doesn't understand what is happening to him, but is met with Morpheus and his team. They explain that robots have taken over the world and that they are breeding humans in order to gain energy. Thomas, as is explained, is supposed to save the world.

When Thomas starts training, an oracle predicts that he isn't the one that is supposed to save everyone, and Morpheus is captured by a betrayer. Thomas manages to save Morpheus, which means that he is the one after all, and he kisses Trinity in the ending scene.

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The Matrix Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Matrix is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

What is outside the Matrix?

The "new " reality which is actual reality is a dystopian world rule by Artificial Intelligence. Humans are enslaved in cocoons for their raw energy. Waking up puts you in a strange post-apocalyptic world of metal and robots.

Elements of the film

What kind of elements are you referring to? Narrative, CGI, cinematography?

Computers or AI (artificial intelligence) control reality hence they control the world.

Study Guide for The Matrix

The Matrix study guide contains a biography of The Wachowskis, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About The Matrix
• Character List
• Director's Influence

Essays for The Matrix

The Matrix essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Matrix by The Wachowskis.

• Jean Baudrillard’s Concepts of Simulacrum and Hyper-Reality Across Media: Strange Days, The Matrix, and White Noise
• Philosophy in Film - The Matrix

Home — Essay Samples — Entertainment — The Matrix — Analysis Of Structuralism In The Matrix

Analysis of Structuralism in The Matrix

• Categories: Science Fiction The Matrix

About this sample

Words: 1563 |

Published: May 14, 2021

Words: 1563 | Pages: 3 | 8 min read

Table of contents

Introduction, film analysis, bibliography.

• Anon., s.f. 1. https://nypost.com/2014/04/01/15-fun-facts-you-probably-didnt-know-about-the-matrix/. [En línea].
• Anon., s.f. The Matrix 101. [En línea] Available at: http://thematrix101.com/matrix/symbolism.php
• Bainbridge, C., 2013. Film Studies Structuralism, Semiotics, and Auteur Theory. [En línea] Available at: https://prezi.com/jwxdwmtsi3lb/film-studies-structuralism-semiotics-and-auteur-theory/
• Eglen, A., 2014. Stuart Hall’s Reception Theory. [En línea] Available at: https://www.slideshare.net/alexeglen/stuart-halls-reception-theory
• Ripley, H., 2015. Structuralism in the Matrix. [En línea] Available at: https://prezi.com/okatmvg-iyoo/structuralism-in-the-matrix/
• Rowers, A., 2015. [En línea] Available at: Plot structures are recurring story patterns that are a defining characteristic of a genre
• Rowers, A., 2015. [En línea] Available at: https://alexanderowersa2media.wordpress.com/2015/09/27/26-genre-influences-from-structuralism/
• Savnal, A., 2015. [En línea] Available at: http://www.jamuura.com/blog/how-they-shot-the-bullet-dodge-scene-in-the-matrix/
• Smith, K., s.f. 1. https://nypost.com/2014/04/01/15-fun-facts-you-probably-didnt-know-about-the-matrix/. [En línea] Available at: 1. https://nypost.com/2014/04/01/15-fun-facts-you-probably-didnt-know-about-the-matrix/
• Studies, I. t. L. a. C., 2020. Film and Media Studies 2, Münster : s.n.
• The Matrix. 1999. [Película] Dirigido por Joel Silver. EEUU: Warner Bros.

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The Matrix Analysis: Themes of Capitalist Oppression

The Who & The What #002

Watch this The Matrix analysis in my deep-dive video essay, which explores the screenplay’s character development in relation to themes of capitalist oppression.

The Matrix, directed by Lana and Lilly Wachowski, has been widely recognised as a thought-provoking critique of capitalist oppression.

The film delves into complex ideas about dehumanisation, exploitation, and power dynamics, presenting a compelling narrative that challenges the inherent flaws of a capitalist system.

The story engages in discussions about the state of late capitalism at the end of the twentieth century whilst its protagonist, Neo, undergoes a journey of self-discovery, transforming from a passive individual to an active agent of change. 

Through Neo’s struggle and growth, the film communicates the effects of capitalist oppression on the individual. It explores how one can seek truth in a world of deception and lift the veil to break away from a controlled existence. The story also raises questions about the commodification of human labour, the loss of individuality in a hyper-technological world, and the consequences of unchecked consumerism

The screenplay uses a vast range of visual storytelling to highlight the dehumanising effects of capitalism, all of which are uncovered in the above video essay.

The video essay above is a must-watch if you want to see The Matrix analysis from a professional screenplay consultant.

Learn how the story’s theme is interwoven through the primary characters and gain a deeper understanding of the screenwriting craft. 

Also, to check out the rest of my video essay series, click the button below.

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Here’s Why ‘The Matrix’ Is More Relevant Than Ever

One scene reflects the themes — A.I., fake news, transgender lives and Gen X — that make the film a classic.

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By Alissa Wilkinson

Neo, the hero of “ The Matrix ,” is sure he lives in 1999. He has a green-hued cathode-ray-tube computer screen and a dot-matrix printer. His city has working phone booths.

But he’s wrong: He lives in the future (2199, to be exact). Neo’s world is a simulation — a fake-out version of the late 20th century, created by 21st-century artificial intelligences to enslave humanity.

When we first saw Neo, though, it really was 1999. The idea of A.I. feeding on human brains and bodies seemed like a thought experiment. But the movie’s warnings about A.I. — and everything else — have sharpened over time, which explains why it’s been harnessed by all kinds of people in the years since: philosophers, pastors, techno-boosters and techno-doomers, the alt-right. Judged solely on cultural relevance, “The Matrix” might be the most consequential release of 1999.

The genius of the movie — what makes it incredibly rewatchable 25 years later — is that the writer-directors Lilly and Lana Wachowski didn’t try to control the meaning. Instead, they seeded symbolism throughout.

Look with me at how one introductory scene manages to draw together many thematic threads, explaining why in today’s world of pervasive internet, A.I., fake news and extremism, “The Matrix” feels more relevant than ever.

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Movie Analysis of the Matrix essay

The movie Matrix was a trilogy science fiction-martial arts-action film that was first released in the year 1999. The film was written by a multi-talented screenwriter and was directed by the brothers in the entire American Movie industry namely Larry and Andy Wachowski or better as “The Wachowski Brothers.

” The well known sci-fi trilogy also stars a list of all time great Hollywood actors and actresses headed by Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne who has played as the leading characters in the movie as “Neo” (a computer programmer who has left his life solving the mystery behind the Matrix) and “Morpheus” (the leader of a mysterious group that neo has later joined).

Together with them were Joe Pantoliano (Cypher), Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith – the villain) and Carrie-Anne Moss (Trinity) who were all equally responsible for the prestigious and sensational outcome of the movie that has captured as well as satisfy the standards of the ever-changing taste of the movie viewers. The Matrix was first released in the year 1999 on the 31st day in March. For its debut, the movie is already named as the greatest of all films in its kind.

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In the flow of the movie, the sequence of event is seen to be a depiction of nuisance, conflict and struggle wherein the picture about the battle of supremacy between the machines and the humans were widely evident. Likewise, the film also encloses numerous positions with regard to hacker subcultures, cyberpunk, religious ideas and philosophical aspect. Certainly, the tools that were being used in movie making were seen to matter in the most positive way in order to depict the theme and rendered the needed emotions in every scene in the movie.

For instance, for a movie like “The Matrix” wherein most of the scenes and the sequence of events were pictures of battle and struggle between two different parties which entails two different goals and aims, the consistent flow of speed and transitions from frame to frame that were done in the editing was seen to be effectively managed by the editors of the movie wherein motion and progress of events in the movie was able to sustain consistency. On the other hand, the lighting on the movie was also seen as reliable and a critical factor that was used by the makers of the movie in supplying the needed emotions and clarity in the movie.

For instance, most of the scenes in the movie have happened indoor or in closed doors, the lighting of the movie was seen to be effective such that it supplies the needed emotions and clarity in terms of the movements of the characters and renders lucidity to show the facial expressions of the artists, more especially in those scenes that were intense and emotional. For the scenes wherein the energy was high, the movie uses high beam lighting in order to sustain and render liveliness as per the requirement of the particular event in the movie.

While for the scenes that have happened indoor and during the night, the low key lighting was used strategically to render certain details in the scene such as clarity of the progress of events and precision in terms of the facial expression of the artists. Likewise, the camera angles have also done a special part in depicting the theme and the actual occurrences in every scene. The camera angles for the movie were seen to be properly managed through exact directions wherein each shot was strategically situated according to the blockings of the main characters in the scene.

Thus, camera angles have worked well in depicting the theme of every specific scene as well as for the entire movie as the shots were accurate in capturing these. In the end, it can be said that “The Matrix,” as already regarded to be the greatest of all in its kind, was indeed a film that was worth watching wherein the directors and the filmmakers were seen to have done a great job in utilizing the tools in making a movie in order to depict and render details to theme of the film. Works Cited The Matrix – 1999. IMDb. com, Inc. 28 November 2008 < http://www. imdb. com/title/tt0133093/

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The Matrix: An Analysis In Film

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