Goh Pang Hong - 1103926
From what I understand on Plato's Allegory of the cave, it is a cave where there are prisoners chained inside it and they are never expose to the world outside of the cave. Meanwhile, they can only see reflections/projections from shadows made on the wall and they are not able to see the source of the shadow. The source of shadows projected on the wall are actually from a fire pit and there are puppeteers controlling the puppets for the prisoners to see. Thus, all the prisoners will gradually believe what happen with the shadows and what the shadows are doing are the reality. They won't realize that the shadow they saw isn't reality and the only way to escape from this illusion is to get out of the cave and see the truth out of the cave.
THE MATRIX is a movie that have much similarity and fits well with monomyth and Plato's Allegory of the cave. In the movie, the world is an virtual reality created by data and machines. It is intended to make the people believe on what they see, while blinding them from truth, which is similar with the intention and purpose of Plato's Allegory of the cave. In the movie, there is The One that is released from illusion of THE MATRIX and can see the real world, as well as the truth and he freed several people from THE MATRIX. In this aspect, it is very similar to Plato's Allegory of the cave as the prisoners in the cave are able to explore the cave after they are unchained, allowing them to be aware of the cave's truth and then they will realize what they saw from the shadows are not the truth all along. When they walk outside of the cave, they will be able to see the real world, outside of the cave.
At the start of the movie, Thomas Anderson is one of billions of humans connected to the MATRIX, unaware that the world he lives in is a virtual reality. He is a computer hacker who penetrates computer systems illicitly and steals information under his hacker alias "Neo". During his time as a hacker, Anderson has learned about something known only as THE MATRIX. Somehow, Neo has always felt his whole life that there is something wrong with the world he lives in now. After several turn of events, Neo is offered a choice to remain in his everyday life and forget about the Matrix or to learn what THE MATRIX really is, which is the 'call to adventure', one of the stages of monomyth. He then chosed to learn what the Matrix really is, and from here one, the hero's journey begins. He takes a red pill designed to disrupt his body's neural connection to the Matrix, this is the part which is connected to monomyth's 'supernatural aid'. Then, Neo begins his training to become more knowledgeable in many forms of combat and ship operations by having various training programs uploaded directly into his brain. He also receives further instruction from Morpheus on subjects such as "freeing his mind" from the restrictions of the Matrix and the existence of its Agents. I believe this part is the 'road of trials' of monomyth. There is a part where Trinity kiss Neo and he comes back to life as The One, I believe this is the 'death and rebirth' from monomyth. The video below is a video clip from the movie that shows the scene where Neo is reborn as The One and he is finally aware of his own power and then he defeats his enemy with ease.
Therefore, I think THE MATRIX is a movie that fits very well with monomyth and Plato's Allegory Of The Cave.
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