The Matrix: The Allegory Of The Cave

Movie critics and philosophers alike agree that the movie "The Matrix" is indeed based upon certain Platonic themes from Book VII of The Republic. In this story entitled "The Allegory of the Cave," he describes a dark underground cave where a group of people are sitting in one long row with their backs to the cave's entrance. Chained to their chairs from an early age, all the humans can see is the distant cave wall in from of them. The shadows of statues held by unseen ‘puppet handlers' reflect on the walls from the light of a fire that is also out of sight of those in the cave. The theme of the allegory is that their reality is a poor copy of the real world. According to Plato, our world is nothing but shadows, imperfect manifestations of the forms. Similar to the prisoners of the cave, the humans trapped in the matrix (the cave) only see what the machines (the modern day puppet-handlers) want them to see. They are tricked into believing that what they hear in the cave and see before them is the true reality that exists. Furthermore, they accept what their senses are telling them and they believe that what they are experiencing is all that really exists--nothing more. The movie not only incorporates these same ideas, the story line of the movie parallels that of the allegory.
The most important character is who Plato calls the
Plato calls the ones holding those in the cave captive the puppet handlers. They represent the influential, powerful members of society. In "The Matrix," the puppet-handlers are the machines spawned from AI (Artificial Intelligence.) Basically, the puppet-handlers in both cases use artificial surroundings as a way to control and manipulate the information that the prisoners receive. The prisoners that we speak of are all the citizens of this society whose minds have not yet been freed. Thomas Anderson was a prisoner in the cave before he became