“The Matrix Resurrections” Calls on Us to Care
Latest film in the Matrix franchise poses vital philosophical questions
The latest movie in the Matrix franchise, “The Matrix Resurrections,” is packed full of philosophical themes and self-referential commentary on the relationships between humans and media, stories and technology.
Although elements of the film’s technical and artistic execution have received valid criticism, these shortcomings in its delivery do not diminish the relevance of the movie’s underlying commentary. Its appeal to reconnect with our sense of humanity remains urgent and powerful, particularly in the context of the political and environmental issues facing society today.
The overall premise and setting of the film is familiar to those who have seen the earlier Matrix movies — “Resurrections” takes place in a fictional future in which machines have taken over the world, and are harvesting energy from human bodies. Meanwhile, the humans’ brains are plugged into the simulated, coded world of the “Matrix,” unaware that this simulation isn’t “real life.”
Despite the familiarity of this premise, however, “Resurrections” is complicated, and sometimes confusing. Even returning Matrix viewers may have trouble getting their bearings towards the start of “Resurrections,” in which the protagonist, Neo is living a relatively mundane life as a successful video game designer, under his old name, Thomas Anderson. He believes that his past memories of the Matrix were the result of a psychotic breakdown.
Even as Neo starts to doubt the nature of his mundane reality, goes off of his medication and escapes the prison of the Matrix, this initial setup leaves the movie open to the interpretation that all of the subsequent fantastical events of the movie are the result of another mental break.
In addition to this new layer of context, the film introduces several new characters, including Bugs — a young captain in the human rebellion against the Machine Cities — and The Analyst, the franchise’s new antagonist who at the start of the movie, is acting as Neo’s therapist in order to gaslight him and keep him trapped within the simulated Matrix.
Beneath all this complexity, “Resurrections” poses a vital question: How can we reshape our perspectives and rebuild our sense of humanity? This question underlies several interrelated themes in the film, including the limitations of binary perspectives, and the interconnectedness of humans and technology.
Questioning Binary, Polarized Perspectives
As several other articles on “The Matrix Resurrections” have noted, the movie repeatedly challenges binary, analytical ways of understanding the world. In the middle of the film, Agent Smith, the old antagonist from previous Matrix movies, says to Neo:
“Look how binary is the form, the nature of things. Ones and zeros. Light and dark. Choice and its absence.”
And yet, the film itself suggests that Agent Smith’s polarized perspective is outdated. Ones and zeros, for instance, are the basis of the constructed world of the Matrix, not an inherent property of human nature and reality itself. The presence of “choice and its absence,” too, can’t really be broken down so simply — as Bugs says to Neo, “choice is an illusion. You already know what you have to do.”
These warnings of the limitations of polarized perspectives are certainly relevant, considering the real-life “Matrix” of social media algorithms and one-sided newsfeeds, and the way that these feed into online radicalization and political polarization.
Humanity’s Relationship with Technology
“The Matrix Resurrections” questions binary perspectives as a whole, but in particular, the “good” humans, “bad” machines dichotomy of earlier Matrix movies.
Several moments in the movie highlight how technology in itself isn’t “bad.” Neo’s first view of the hidden underground city of Io, for instance, shows a vast, glowing “bio-sky,” filled with dark, swirling clouds made from some type of technology that provides the city with light and hydrates the air. In contrast with representations of Machine City technology, which appears dark and dead, this dynamic “bio-sky” emanates a sense of aliveness and hope at the possibilities of harmonious interactions between humans and technology.
In another scene soon after his entrance into Io, Neo visits the city’s Garden, in which programs and machines (or “synthients,” as they are called in the movie) are working alongside the human rebels to convert digital code from the Matrix into plant DNA, including strawberries. Within the mostly monochromatic darkness of a machine-run world, Neo holds a tiny, bright red strawberry that seems to symbolize hope for the renewal of life and nature.
This hope is only made possible through combining the efforts of humans and machines, highlighting how Io is founded on a new vision of the future, unlike the old, human city Zion, which was “stuck in the past. Stuck in war.” Stuck in a binary worldview.
In other words, the newest Matrix movie recognizes the interconnectedness of humans, technologies and environments. These interactions hold the potential for healing and rebuilding, not only for the post-apocalyptic world of the Matrix, but for addressing the climate crisis and environmental destruction in our own world.
However, “Resurrections” acknowledges that it is neither easy nor painless to become conscious of the distressing state of the world, and to work to restore our relationship with it. As the Analyst says, many people within the matrix “don’t want freedom or empowerment. They want to be controlled. They crave the comfort of certainty…[of being] unconscious and alone.”
This seems to be a not-so-subtle acknowledgement of escapist tendencies within our current society. In seeking comfort and security, it can be all too easy to withdraw into the numbing isolation of virtual distractions. However, doing so comes at the cost of our freedom, hope, and ability to connect—in other words, everything that makes us feel alive and human.
In short, “Resurrections” communicates the urgency of fully recognizing our interconnectedness with the environment, and working with technology to heal this damaged relationship.
Resurrecting What is Real
These messages repeated throughout “Resurrections” could be criticized as obvious and unoriginal. The movie itself seems to have anticipated these criticisms, and its response is that the fact that these ideas are “self-evident” does not make them any less important.
In “Resurrections,” the truths about Neo’s story, and about reality are fully available to the public in the form of a video game. Yet even though this video game is widely recognized by people within the Matrix as brilliant and mind-bending, even though it challenges its players to reflect on some of the deepest, most pressing questions facing humanity, it is still dismissed as nothing more than a game. Brilliant, but not real.
In this way, the Matrix drowns the truth of what really matters and trivializes it. Still, what matters to us can be buried but not lost. Towards the start of the movie, when Neo is doubting his own sanity, and then later, his ability to recover his old powers, he is able to find confidence and motivation in his love for Trinity. As Morpheus says to Neo, referring to this love for Trinity:
“[The Matrix] made you believe their world was all you deserved. But some part of you knew that was a lie. Some part of you remembered what was real…[what] still matters to you.”
What matters to the humans in “Resurrections” includes an unflinching curiosity and embracing of the truth, love and faith in each other, and a new vision for rebuilding humanity. “The Matrix Resurrections” is a plea, asking humanity to remember everything that truly matters to us, what we still care about, what is truly real.