The Matrix, According to Nietzsche

THE MATRIX

I am going to analyze the movie Matrix with Nietzsche way of understanding. According to Nietzsche, the objective of truth is critical. Since he states that there is not a single truth, the concept of truth becomes more comprehensive.

In the movie, there are two different lives of Neo. When we examine the life of the character Neo. In one life he is Thomas Anderson who is a software programmer. On the other one, he is Neo, the One, who is curious about to find the answer of what the Matrix is. However, which one of them is the reality is a suspicious concept. According to Nietzsche, reality changes from the point of view, changes by the time people are living in, changes by the situation people dealing with. That’s why the leading character, Neo, is constantly looking for an exit. The life as Thomas Anderson does not satisfy him. He has a job that he is not pleased, he does not enjoy his friend and it is possible to say that he is alone in the crowd.

As he gets closer to an answer, the main metaphysical theme, that appearances can be deceiving, is impossible to miss. It is the very premise of the whole matrix deception. Morpheus raises the big metaphysical questions when, in the construct program, he asks Neo: "What is real? How do you define real?"

Plato's ideas are expressed in his Allegory of the Cave. He writes to imagine a cave where people are chained up with their backs to the entrance. They cannot turn or don't want to and because of this they can only see shadows of the real world cast onto the back wall of the cave. They watch shadows of people walking past and, because they don't know any better, think that the shadows they see are the real thing.

The one that can see the truth/reality in his own eyes is the “Übermensch (superior man or being / superman)” of Nietzsche. Well, in the movie, the “Übermensch” is Neo and the rest of the crew who have risen for the oppression of the machines to freedom. Plato's Allegory of the...