The Matrix's Many Metaphors, Explained

this video is brought to you by mubi a curated streaming service that premieres a new film every day no one can be told what the matrix is you have to see it for yourself what does the matrix really symbolize it's a question we've been debating for over 20 years as fans and critics argue over which is the best or most meaningful interpretation of the matrix's story whether that's the religious significance of neochrist escaping the capitalist matrix that's enslaving us all and turning us into drones modernizing plato's allegory of the cave about the need to think for oneself and face reality getting free of the artificial gender binary or the alt-right co-opting of taking the red pill you take the red pill you stay in wonderland and i show you how deep the rabbit hole goes so which one is right or most useful for understanding the matrix and our world it's the question that brought you here it's a testament to how much meaning the matrix holds for audiences that it both contains and supports so many metaphorical interpretations here's our take on which interpretations offer the most insight how the matrix makes meaning and what it can teach us about the fundamental nature of art [Music] if you're new here be sure to subscribe and click the bell to get notified about all our new videos despite its hyper-modern aesthetic and high-tech concept the matrix draws heavily on one of the oldest and most powerful stories in western literature you're my savior man my own personal jesus christ like jesus neo arrives to fulfill a prophecy and bring salvation the oracle prophesied his return that his coming would hail the destruction of the matrix he sacrifices himself to save others and is reborn with godlike power in the final scene he even ascends to heaven morpheus serves as a john the baptist initiating neo's journey with a spiritual as well as literal baptism neo wakes up in a tub of water and rises into a bright white light as choral music plays before watching the student become the master he is the one you could also read morpheus as god the father with neo as the sun and trinity completing the divine trinity as the holy ghost who resuscitates neo the film provides neo with a judas figure as well like judas cipher is a member of the inner circle who betrays neo to the authorities for personal gain the two even drink from the same cup an echo of jesus's last supper that claims he who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me the ship's name nebuchadnezzar evokes the book of daniel and its name plate refers to mark 3 11. whenever the unclean spirit saw him they fell down before him and shouted you are the son of god agent smith too is a reference to a line from the bible isaiah 54 16 which is explicitly called out in the license plate of his car see it is i who have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and produces a weapon fit for its purpose i have also created the ravager to destroy neo dies in room 303 and stays dead for 72 seconds before he resurrects a nod to the three days between crucifixion and rebirth even neo's matrix name contains hints ander comes from the greek word andros or man so anderson means son of man a common epithet for jesus though the matrix leans hard into the connection between jesus and neo jesus it doesn't limit itself only to christian references even if the film nods to ideas of christian sin with cipher's stake or the woman in red the central dichotomy of the film reality vs illusion is far more associated with the philosophies of buddhism platonism and even gnosticism a heretical sect of christianity obsessed with spiritual knowledge which couldn't be obtained through the material world the matrix evokes these other religious traditions with symbols and names as well neo learns about reality from morpheus named for the greek god of dreams and from a little boy whose outfit evokes the saffron robes of buddhist monks there is no spoon the rebuilding of his body relies on acupuncture needles and his plug points appear to align with ancient chinese meridians while the oracle is a clear reference to the greek myth of delphi bingo the parallel also tells us how we are supposed to view neo as a superhuman who is still fundamentally human in christianity jesus is god in human form subject to the weaknesses of the flesh and to human emotions like doubt likewise the film is telling us that neo is just like us filled with doubt and fear and weakness what's this happening to me he overcomes these human flaws by embracing the divine virtues of faith and love so neo's journey provides a road map to how viewers can embrace their own divinity within i'm going to show them a world without you a world without rules and controls without borders or boundaries even more central to the matrix's specific story neo as jesus also helps drive home the dangers of technology after all if neo is divinity then the machines he's fighting against becomes satanic the film makes this explicit with the agents trying to tempt neo away from the righteous path just as the devil tempted jesus in the wilderness of judea we're willing to wipe the slate clean give you a fresh start to achieve true freedom we must turn away from the ease and comfort offered by a life of dependence on machines and embrace a world of challenging but more satisfying human connection it's clear that truly great art inspires countless interpretations so we're thrilled mubi is presenting multiple double bills from innovative directors whose movies we could analyze for days right now they're featuring work by john carpenter werner herzog terence malik leda luxendi and many more as a special gift to our viewers mubi is offering 30 days free so click the link in the description below to start streaming now if you're anything like me these days you may be totally uninspired and stuck when it comes to figuring out what to watch next subscribing to movie completely fixes that their team of curators handpicks every film they show so there's always something new to discover they seriously love movies as much as we do so their recommendations are always top notch while neo's story draws power from an ancient religion the structure of the matrix itself resonates with many of the scarier aspects of our modern world echoing the communist manifesto's claim that under capitalism people are daily and hourly enslaved by the machine the matrix imagines a world where humans are literally having the lifeblood sucked out of them by the system the human body generates more bioelectricity than a 120 volt battery still capitalism slash the matrix is victims are so brainwashed that they resist any challenge to the institutions that are destroying them and reducing them to drones and many of them are so nerd so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect it the film emphasizes this connection between the matrix and the economic system by tying neo's job to the larger artificial world neo's boss and the agents are the only people in the movie who call him mr anderson and they share a predilection for dark suits and flat affect you have a problem with authority mr anderson as you can see we've had our eye on you for some time now mr anderson the company itself is called metacortex which suggests a mind that governs other minds as the machine mind of the matrix does neo's boss reinforces this interpretation by reminding neo that employees are essentially cogs in the machine of the company every single employee understands that they are part of a whole the agents play into the capitalism metaphor as well defining neo's life within the matrix by his job and financial identity you're thomas a anderson program writer for a respectable software company you have a social security number you pay your taxes the ability of capitalism to turn human workers into machines is even made literal with the agent's ability to take over human bodies agents can harness anyone for their needs and then leave them a lifeless husk when they've served their purpose like the religious metaphor this anti-capitalist imagery helps the audience approach the story more deeply by tying it to a major cultural force that would be familiar to a late 90s audience and today even more so the matrix came out in the same year as other iconic films that highlighted capitalism's vacuous viciousness including office space the talented mr ripley american beauty and fight club advertising has us chasing cars and clothes working jobs we hate so we can buy [ __ ] we don't need the film also tapped into tech culture which started as an anarchic communitarian space but by the 90s had coalesced into the capitalist.com bubble and monopolistic behemoths like microsoft now anyone who buys a pc automatically gets microsoft spreadsheets word processors and other programs whether they want them or not the anti-capitalist messages of the film also help to highlight what the film really values human connection trust and self-fulfillment escaping the matrix means losing the benefits that capitalism tempts us with but the movie recognizes those benefits are not all they're cracked up to be the machines may have all the power in the world at their fingertips but they are still no match for love you can't be dead you can't be because i love you the wachowskis make clear the dichotomy between capitalist and humanist values in back-to-back scenes of characters eating cipher's meeting with agent smith has all the trappings of wealth fine wine expensive steaks crisp white tablecloths and even a harp yet the lack of connection is palpable the two characters sit on opposite sides of the table agent smith is masked by dark lighting and sunglasses and he refers to cipher only by his formal matrix name mr reagan even the camera emphasizes disconnection nearly every shot shows only one character often pushed to the edge of the frame and the few shots with both characters include at least one object blocking the line between them this contrasts starkly with the scene immediately after it here you go buddy breakfast of champions neo eats unappetizing goo in a cramped metallic box but the scene is full of life and humor and almost every shot includes at least two or three characters the crew of the nebuchadnezzar might not have steak but they have each other not all metaphors are on purpose one of the most resonant and resilient meanings of the matrix in american culture has been its co-option by men's rights activists incels and the alt-right starting in 2012 a small sub-community on the website reddit began to use the term red pill to refer to the belief that feminism was destroying society this reactionary ideology metastasized in the 2010s and spread to both traditional conservative circles and the more libertarian tech world in 2020 elon musk tweeted take the red pill and ivanka trump enthusiastically responded taken while the wachowskis have largely resisted commenting on other interpretations of their film you want people to dialogue about it you don't want them to rely on somebody to tell them what it is lily wachowski made a special exception for this particular analysis responding to ivanka trump's retweet with a succinct yet clear both of you journalist lori penny one of the foremost chroniclers of the alt-right has observed that the movement embraces stories in which they finally get to be the hero on terms they recognize as the rugged frontiersmen battling gamely against a world gone rotten this description fits the matrix like a glove and it's no surprise that alt-right supporters connect to thomas anderson when the film codes him as a mid-30s middle-class white male who gets radicalized on the internet if thomas anderson presents alt writers with a portrait of who they are neo presents them with a fantasy of who they believe they should be you are the one the world doesn't acknowledge mr anderson as anything special you believe that you are special that somehow the rules do not apply to you obviously you are mistaken but neo truly is better than everyone else and all he needs to tap into infinite power is to believe in himself while these connections make it easy to understand the appeal it's important to note how completely this metaphor misses the story's point the heroes of the film are a harmoniously integrated mini society following the leadership of a black man neo arguably isn't even white since keanu reeves is mixed race of chinese hawaiian english irish and portuguese descent despite a clear military bent and hierarchical structure the diverse ragtag crew of the nebuchadnezzar feels far more like a leftist hippie commune that is opted out of capitalism and brews their own kombucha than the homogenous polo shirt frat aesthetic of the proud boys and their fellow western chauvinists in fact it is no coincidence that all forces of control authority and cruelty in the film are white and male you give me that juror is my addiction crap you can cram it up your ass unlike them neo listens thoughtfully to women and people of color and prioritizes the needs of others even at great cost to himself the source of his power isn't resentment or ego it's openness care and love the irony of the alt-right's embrace of neo is that the film already has a character that encapsulates alt-right ideology cipher is a white dude who's sick of being bossed around all i do is what he tells me to do he opens the movie resentful of being replaced by a woman you weren't supposed to relieve me and his reaction to a social movement fighting for freedom is to focus only on himself making everyone else suffer so he can secure personal privileges he pines after a beautiful woman taking offense at her interest in a chad the incel term for an attractive man like keanu reeves i don't remember you ever bringing me dinner when trinity is stuck in the matrix he even violates her bodily autonomy you're a beautiful woman trinity and unlike neo who resists specialness cipher demands recognition and i want to be rich you know someone important in fact while the alt-right as we know it today had not yet lurched into the cultural zeitgeist in 1999 the wachowskis even named their encapsulation after a republican idol do we have a deal mr reagan despite how dismissive the matrix is of the ideology of the alt-right the movement clings to it because this metaphorical interpretation makes a major cultural touchstone into a portrait of how cool they are by aligning with neo the alt-right can frame themselves as champions of the real welcome to the real world they take up the mantle of truth tellers fighting supposed lies like political correctness even while spreading misinformation even better the movie offers the perfect justification for why so few people actually support this extremist right-wing ideology these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy the fact that they are abhorred is proof of their righteousness but the final piece that makes the matrix metaphor so attractive to the alt-right is also what makes it particularly dangerous the film's action sequences suggest a terrifying solution that members of the alt-right have already adopted leading to tragedies like portland charlottesville and the january 6th insurrection [Music] guns lots of guns the metaphor of the alt-right is not the only interpretation that came into public consciousness long after the movie's release after lily and lana came out as trans critics and writers began to notice that the matrix a movie obsessed with transcending a literal binary and freeing people to be their true selves might have something to say about trans identity like the matrix gender roles pervade every aspect of our lives even when we don't realize it you can feel it when you go to work when you go to church when you pay your taxes the matrix visually appears as the ones and zeroes of binary code as often used in computers echoing the sense of an artificial binary and forcing control on organic analog beings that are far more complex than a reductive either or most people don't mind this system they even depend on it but some people can feel something is wrong even before they realize what the problem is you don't know what it is but it's there like a splinter in your mind driving you mad the imagery of the story supports this idea as well the red pill neotake shares its color with the hormone pill premarin used by trans women in the 90s and for the part of the film set prior to neo's transition out of the matrix costume designer kim barrett gave neo clothes that don't fit right a metaphor that resonates powerfully with the experience of many trans people the film also plays with gender throughout i just thought um [Music] most guys do in fact the original script has the character switch played by actors of different genders in and out of the matrix to represent the disconnect with her residual self-image executives at warner brothers nixed this idea but the wachowskis kept her name as switch in its honor the director's personal history also informed the fight in the train station agent smith holds neo in front of an oncoming train a chicago loop train just like the one that lana wachowski said she considered throwing herself in front of when she was struggling to accept her own trans identity as agent smith threatens neo he tries to force the name thomas anderson onto him hear that mr anderson and given that mr anderson is a name composed of mr ander from the greek root for man and son he is essentially calling neo man man little man but neo pushes back claiming the true identity that sets him free the power of a story that offers hope to trans people is undeniable they come up to me and say this these movies save my life despite the wachowski's typical resistance to commenting on the film lily wachowski has even supported this reading i i don't know how present my transness was in the the back in the in the background of my brain as we were writing it but it it all came from the same sort of fire and expressed delight that people view the film through this lens i'm glad that it has gotten out that um you know that was the original intention yet while this metaphor is much stronger and truer to the filmmaker's intentions than the interpretations of the alt-right it still doesn't work as a lens through which to interpret every detail of the movie and trying to do so would yield some uncomfortable implications for one thing morpheus is an evangelist i've been looking for you neil i don't know if you're ready to see what i want to show you but unfortunately you and i have run out of time if we take the trans metaphor too literally this risks echoing bigoted fear-mongering about queer people trying to convert everyone furthermore the film's approach to age and escaping the matrix makes no sense when applied to the trans metaphor we never free a mind once it's reached a certain age it's dangerous the mind has trouble letting go lana didn't publicly confirm her transition until she was 45 and lily didn't come out until she was 49 12 years older than neo is in the matrix clearly the wachowskis were not looking to line up the film and metaphor in a one-to-one approach [Music] all four of these metaphors as well as many other interpretations about philosophy technology and reality that we discuss in our multiple videos offer fascinating insights into the matrix this multiplicity reminds us that films don't serve metaphors metaphors serve films the matrix cannot tell you who you are metaphors are a way of shaping words and images in order to influence people and actually that process falls into two distinct categories instructive and constructive the religious and anti-capitalist readings of the matrix are instructive metaphors they use materials the audience already knows to teach them how to get deeper understanding and meaning out of the story parallels to the christ story make the audience care about neo and root for his resurrection i love you now get up the economic metaphor illuminates what it means to battle an abstract concept hey i'm just doing my job instructive metaphors seek to draw out what's already there in the film via analogies so both readings one and 2 ultimately lead toward revealing the importance of love belief and connection the central takeaways of the matrix's portrait of what it means to be human while instructive metaphors use concepts and narratives in the world to shape our interpretation of a film constructive metaphors use the film to shape the world they enable real world movements to draw on a film's power to support their own agenda whether that's channeling collective love for the matrix among a target demographic to smuggle in a noxious agenda or giving people hope of transcending a world that's rigidly limiting in both cases communities build on and reinforce the matrix's place in the cultural landscape making it an even stronger platform for the next constructive metaphor that comes along where we go from there is a choice i leave to you the wachowskis have always recognized that the many meanings of the matrix give it power and they have encouraged this multiplicity by largely staying out of the conversation to let the movie inspire people to think about it and inspire dialogue the results helped make the movie a cultural touchstone that 20 years later is still inspiring us and challenging us to find our truth in this story i didn't say it would be easy to you i just said it would be the truth the take is now available as a podcast we're just getting started so take us with you [Music] you

Channel: The Take

Views: 84,942

Keywords: the matrix, metaphors, neo, the matrix reloaded, the matrix resurrections, keanu reeves, the matrix revolutions, red pill, christ, religious, metaphor, symbolism, trans, transgender, identity, Wachowski, lana, lilly, cypher, morpheus, switch, trinity, thomas a anderson, tank, niobe, link, agents, explained, ending, 2021, film, hidden, interpretations, key, capitalism, reading

Id: Kd1XdnhVsBA

Length: 22min 17sec (1337 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 02 2021