There are striking similarities between the film The Matrix and Plato’s allegory of the cave. These similarities are briefly highlighted in this article. “Like anyone else you were born into bondage. Born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison… for your mind.”
Real film connoisseurs will know: the above passage comes from the film The Matrix . While thunder and rain dominate the outside world, Morpheus and Neo are kept dry inside. There Morpheus says the above to Neo. The chilly weather outside underlines Morpheus’s dark message: the world around us is not real, but an illusion that conceals the real world. In the same scene, Morpheus gives Neo a choice: between a blue and a red pill. The blue pill gives Neo the illusion that the make-believe world (the Matrix) is the real one, the red pill shows him the true world. Naturally, Neo chooses the red pill, and in the process he gains insights about the great theater – the Matrix – in which everyone lives.
Plato’s grotto
The Matrix is a beautiful film with interesting dialogues, impressive action scenes and a compelling storyline. However, what many viewers often do not get is the striking analogy with Plato’s allegory of the cave – the cave comparison. In Plato’s dialogue State he describes a row of prisoners in a cave, who have been there all their lives. The cave is connected to the outside world by a corridor that is so long that daylight no longer enters the cave. The only source of light available to the prisoners is a fire that they cannot see because it burns behind them. In addition, the direct light of the flames is blocked by a man-high wall, which the prisoners cannot see over. The only thing the chained men can see is the glow of the fire on the wall in front of them.
Now it turns out that the prison is not as boring as it seems: a kind of puppet show is performed above the prisoners’ heads .(1) The puppets of this puppet show form shadows in the glow of the fire, causing projections to be seen are on the wall for the prisoners. The statement that Plato makes in this cave comparison is that the prisoners will see these projections as reality, because they have never seen anything different (after all, they have been in the cave all their lives). However, this does not alter the fact that the projections are in fact only reflections.
The philosopher
Building on this scenario, Plato supposes that one of the prisoners would shake off his chains. His limbs would be cramped from all the years of chains. This person would then – driven by his curiosity – undertake a journey to the outside world. If the escaped prisoner were to see how the fork was really in the handle all this time, he would be overwhelmed and long for the world he does understand: that of the shadow projections. Once accustomed to the outside world, he would begin to understand everything and gain more insight into reality.
Now suppose that this same person were to return to the cave and he were to tell the prisoners – who are still there – about reality. According to Plato, they would not believe him, see him as a danger, and even become a threat to his life.
Interpretatively, one can say that Plato’s escaped prisoner symbolizes the enlightened philosopher. According to Plato’s aristocratic views, these enlightened philosophers are the ones who must save the people (the prisoners?) from their own ignorance.(2)
Cave/Matrix comparison
Imagine a person trapped in the Matrix. A person who would suspect that something is wrong. A person who – driven by his curiosity – is looking for reality . A person named Neo .
Now suppose this person finds a way to fight off his chains: he takes the red pill. Arriving in the real world, the bitterness of his fate begins to become clear to him: the real world does not seem as rosy as he had imagined it to be. He longs for his old life, where he still worked as an employee at a respectable software company. After a while he gets used to the conditions in the real world. He even gains a sense of duty: he sets himself the task of freeing all the inhabitants of the Matrix from its terror. However, this must be done with the greatest care: the system will detect him as a danger and kill him if he is not careful!
Plato’s message
If one now compares the previous two paragraphs, one will notice that there are insurmountable similarities: this can no longer be a coincidence! Where the Matrix is Neos’s enemy, the cave is that of the philosopher. But why do the Matrix and the cave have to be fought? What evil does the Matrix and the cave represent? Here Plato’s view on the imperfection of our world comes to the fore. According to Plato, there must be a perfect authentic world that our world mirrors. This abstract world is the basis of the theory of ideas: Plato’s view that every earthly form has a kind of primordial form that is unchangeable. Every object on earth has some kind of soul, says Plato. This soul is the core of an object that we all actually know, but cannot always name.(3) These archetypes from the world of ideas are, according to Plato, the perfect. The philosopher must always have the irreducible desire to search for this.
Nuts
- According to Plato’s descriptions, people carry all kinds of stone and wooden figures in the shape of people, animals and objects on their heads. These figures then protrude just above the wall.
- Plato was against democracy. According to him, it was better to select a small group of enlightened souls for government, who had much better insights than the ordinary people.
- For example, everyone knows what a chair is, but it is in fact impossible to include all types of chairs (sun loungers, folding chairs, etc.) exclusively (without other objects such as sofas falling within the definition) under one denominator.
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