Philosophy of Baudrillard Applied to The Matrix

For Baudrillard, all of the United States is a theme park. In this corporate-sponsored illusion, authentic experience is in fact nostalgia. æRealityÆ can only appear in quotes and the original is all but replaced by copies (p. 2).

There is no coincidence to the fact that the Wachowski brothers who direct the 1999 motion picture The Matrix provide one shot showing a copy of BaudrillardÆs Simulacra and Simulation. For The Matrix visualizes a society much like the one depicted in BaudrillardÆs view of American society and the future, one where individuals are so lulled into being the slaves of the corporate generated reality that they do not even know it is not reality. This analysis will address how BaudrillardÆs theories are illustrated by the motion picture The Matrix.

Baudrillard (1986) described the U.S. as a land of signs without referent

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that the world is not what he thinks, but, instead evil forces have successfully concealed reality from humans. He also tells Neo that he is the ôone,ö the messiah-like figure who has been prophesied as the savior of the world. Only Neo can remove the wool from the eyes of human beings and lead them to freedom. Morpheus explains that the world Neo knows is actually the ôMatrix,ö a giant virtual-reality computer that programs every man, woman, and child. Morpheus tries to explain to Neo that when he enters the illusionary world that humans think is real, he must see others as enemies because they are still under the illusion they are in a real reality. As he says, The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is your enemy. But when youÆre inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understandàmany of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it (Wachowski, et al., 1999). Baudrillard (1986) argued the same theory we see visualized in The Matrix, that the ôAmerica surrounding it [Dis
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Approximate Word count = 1820
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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