| Summary: | In this article I will try to interpret changes in Neo, the main character in
The Matrix Trilogy, against the background of the ideas of Plato and
Descartes, as well as Hegel’s from his Philosophy of History and The
Phenomenology of Spirit. Although “philosophical” The Matrix Trilogy is not
long-winded and boring film: instead of talking endlessly, the characters are
working ceaselessly, and that work is changing them. Contrary to widespread
opinion, this interpretation does not find the presence of Descartes’
hyperbolic doubt in the first part of trilogy, but first film sees as a pure
Platonism. Nevertheless, there are the Cartesian motifs (e.g. dualism,
freeing mind from preconceived opinions, acquiring different habits of
belief). The result of the first film is the position of Hegelian unhappy
consciousness. This is just a preparation for the key moment of whole Trilogy
that is the dialogue between Neo and Architect. Neo’s decision to chose to
save Trinity is interpreted in Hegel’s terms of the infinite right of the
subject to satisfy himself in his activity and work; because of that, this,
sixth Neo is new. After showing the differences in the objectives of Neo and
Agent Smith, and transformations of the objectives of humans, the third part
of the article analyzes the very end of the Matrix Revolutions, using Marx’s
ideas, with some references to Plato and Nietzsche.
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