The Marxist Theory
The machines have a pretty sweet set-up going--enslaving an "inferior" race to their own benefit, using them to further their domination. It's a world built on exploitation. What we have in the Matrix is domination without coercion. That's the real beauty of what the machines have done--not only are we exploited as power plants, but we take it on the chin like good subjects should. So what can we do? Karl Marx has some answers. "Let the machines tremble at Zion's revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains." And in the final installment, it's time that Morpheus, Neo and the bunch cut the pseudo-philosophic rhetoric and get down to business. The machines established their dominance through violence; the only way to overthrow them is to return the favor. Luckily, this revolution is televised.
--Jon Schnaars
The Christianity Theory
The Matrix films are allegories of the Biblical story of salvation, formerly known as "The Greatest Story Ever Told" until Disney copyrighted the phrase for Finding Nemo.
The Christ figure is Neo, the reluctant savior who--prophesied to redeem his race--overcomes death while leading a small crew of devoted followers. Morpheus comes before Neo, just as John the Baptist preceded Jesus. Agent Smith represents Pontius Pilate, the skeptical Roman potentate who helps to preserve the old order. The similarities continue, if one is willing to take some textual liberties. The Keymaker is a surrogate for Alex, the quiet, Asian disciple; the Oracle for Gus, the clairvoyant and motherly second wise man. And anyone can see that the Architect of the matrix represents God, famous for speaking impenetrably and dressing like Colonel Sanders.
--Paul Crowley
The Feminist Theory
The Matrix defies conventional Hollywood technique by not shamelessly thrusting its female lead's robust silicone breasts in viewers' faces as its primary marketing strategy. Unlike her female butt-kicking, crime-fighting counterparts in movies like Charlie's Angels and Tomb Raider, Trinity does not wear five-inch stilettos and full makeup to the battlefield. Instead, you can find her with a catsuit, sunglasses and a manly haircut. She is more qualified to be a masculine on-screen icon than a traditional, doting companion, looking pretty while she stands by her man. Her attractiveness is potently virile: the clothes, the power and mystery, the thrill of danger--and she's even a computer nerd. She played the role of Prince Charming and brought her man back to life with a wet one on the lips. Gloria Steinem could do no better.
--Jen Wei
The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy Theory
When the Matrix debuted in the waning days of the Clinton administration, it did so at a time of intense political turmoil. As first lady Hillary Clinton so aptly laid out to America, a vast right-wing conspiracy was assembling the forces of evil to bring down her husband's Presidency. "This is a battle," she said to Katie Couric that fateful morning, clad in her prototypical black trenchcoat. "I know Kung Fu." Like the Matrix's Neo, Clinton emerged from a life of ordinary mediocrity and illicit nighttime activities to open our eyes and rescue our world from the suffocating machinery of right wing conspiracy: Ken Starr, Linda Tripp, Paula Jones. Her own trilogy--First Lady, Senator, President--now nears completion. For a struggling Democratic party bereft of hope, she is prophesied to be The One.
--Dean Chapman
The Eastern Religion Theory
Religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism view existence in multiple states, where actions in one state can affect fate in another. Enter the matrix, a virtual state of being that is separated from the real world--but one in which programmed death still leads to real death, just as death in the real sense erases a person from the matrix. In the climactic end of the first film, Neo finally achieves his supercool potential as The One when he lets loose and follows his instincts like a good Daoist. What's more, throughout the movie many mantras are repeated to help calm the characters--mantras are definitely easternly religious. Lastly, there are the kung fu scenes that rock out, and we all know that kung fu was perfected and practiced in its most hardcore form by Buddhist Shaolin monks.
--Mimi Zhang
The Queer Theory Theory
"What is 'real?'" Morpheus poses to a bewildered Neo. "How do you define 'real?'" Like the social constructs that bind us to conventional ideas of "sex" and "gender," the matrix itself holds automatous humanity in paralysis--captive to a truth that proves a mere illusion. "Man," "woman"--these labels distract us from the obvious reality, if only we would awaken to see it. Fortuantely, we have Neo, our well-dressed, gender-busting hero who takes on the forces of heterosexist conformity with his trademark sexually-ambiguous style. Strikingly, in the films' lone sex scene, the bodies of Neo and Trinity are each covered with deep incisions, symbols of the holes in our own definitions of sexuality. Like the stubble on a drag queen's face, the Matrix shows us that beneath the exterior lies the hidden truth of sex, gender and identity.
--Dean Chapman
The Historical Allegory Theory
Did Hitler serve the Third Reich orgasm-inducing desserts to garner their loyalty? Probably not, yet just as the people in the matrix believe their world to be real, tyrants throughout history have convinced their subjects that their aberrant constructions of truth are in fact legitimate. In reality Hitler was much shorter and chunkier than Agent Smith, and Mussolini had none of the slippery charm of Merovingian, but the subliminal parallels are not to be missed. Don't forget the destruction of a sky scraper by a few lone warriors. Like history, the plotline can get messy, and we're not always sure who's on whose side. And so we ask--will the final installation clear things up? Historical precedent tells us not to hold our breath.
--Gillian Barnard
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