The Matrix is, in this sense, a perfect cinematic embodiment of our fears of
modernity, the efficiency achieved by technology and science that turn
against us when humans are reduced to energy sources for the machines. For
Zizek, The Matrix is the ultimate American paranoia: to find out that the
world in which we live is false. Paradoxically, in Zizek’s opinion, the function
of this state of paranoia is to preserve our ideology, to keep everything under
control. He views The Matrix, not as an original and revolutionary film, but as
a late capitalist version of the concept that it tries to enact (Zizek, 1999: 3).
The best way to understand a film such as The Matrix is to be conscious of
the implication of its (hidden) consumerist message without blocking its value
as a very useful medium to examine the effect of technology on the confusion
between reality and unreality. Indeed, the control exercised by products such
as The Matrix is denounced by the film itself, as The Matrix represents a
programme created to maintain everything under its control. Neo, then, can
be read as an apt metaphor of the situation of western societies: he lives an
unreal life but is unaware of his real life, immersed in a pod in a destroyed
environment. As with the many other humans beings located in pods, he is
forced to believe a certain reality. The conclusion is that understanding of
the technology we create and develop is absolutely necessary if we want to
be aware, and in control, of our reality.
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