By: Michael Francisco

29 May 2003 How Christian is The Matrix? How the Matrix bears familiar names and themes from Christianity that lack essential Christian content.

Can Christ be found in The Matrix? This question will become more and more important as America is bombarded with new Matrix related material this year. As Newsweek observed, 2003 might well be dubbed "The Year of the Matrix." After three years of anticipation, The Matrix Reloaded, was released in May, to be followed by the concluding movie this November. Ever since the surprise smash hit first movie, the many Christian motifs in The Matrix have been the subject of internet articles, youth group discussions and even several books. Without a doubt, the Matrix is a thought-provoking movie. Unfortunately, The Matrix and The Matrix Reloaded are not filled with content that Christians should be excited about. Familiar Biblical names and hollow Christian imagery are used extensively, yet no true Christian message emerges.

The Matrix and Reloaded include themes of resurrection and salvation, names such as Trinity and the Nebuchadnezzar, and musings about faith and the nature of man. But brief analysis of both movies and related commentary from the writer director duo, Larry & Andy Wachowski and the official matrix website should establish how shallow the Christian influences are in the movie.

Salvation
A key theme of the Matrix story is that humans need to be saved from the confines of the computer-controlled matrix. Those who discover that the world they take for granted is illusory thereby obtain a kind of "salvation." The first movie set up The humans are unknowingly trapped in the matrix, allowing the computers to utilize their bodies in the real world for energy. To escape from the computer control the process of transcending the matrix as Morpheus often encouraged Neo, 'it's all in your mind.' When Neo waits for the Oracle he was taught by a child wearing Buddhist attire that "there is no spoon." Then, he finally transcended the matrix when he dramatically gained the ability to stop bullets (that weren't really there). This theme comes out again in Reloaded when Neo makes it very clear to a kid who pesters him: 'I didn't save you kid, you saved yourself.' This self-focused transcendence from the illusion of reality is much closer to Buddhism than Christian salvation. As professor of philosophy at UC Berkley Hubert Dreyfus recently wrote, "In the film, salvation means the absolute opposite of the traditional religious vision."

There is a significant difference between the Christian view of salvation, which depends on the grace of God, and salvation in The Matrix, which merely depends on individual enlightenment. Christians should not be tempted to water down the important doctrine of salvation to make it fit in a film that has been heavily influenced by Buddhist notions of transcendence and self-deception. In a 1999 online chat, the Wachowski brothers were asked, "Did ideas from Buddhism influence you in making the film?" They responded, "Yes, There's something uniquely interesting about Buddhism…that has fascinated us for a long time." The difference in individual transcendence and enlightenment versus individual faith in an omnipotent God are not to be taken lightly. Furthermore, Christians believe that salvation is necessary because of real guilt from sin. Within the Matrix, the individuals controlled by the machines have no guilt from which they must be saved, they are being controlled because of no fault of their own. They are portrayed as unwitting victims of the aggressor computers. Christians believe individuals need salvation because of individual guilt - there is no guilt in the matrix. The matrix is about transcendence, not salvation in the Christian sense of the word.

Death and Resurrection
Perhaps the Christian motif in The Matrix most commonly pointed to is the 'resurrection' of Neo. Some have argued that Neo dying and coming back to life in the first movie was proof positive of the Christian content in the Matrix myth. Again, just as the matrix's view of salvation was not the same as the Christian view of salvation, neither is the matrix's portrayal of Neo's death and resurrection the same as the Christian's understanding of Christ's death and resurrection. Key elements of Christian resurrection are completely absent. Neo did not die for other humans. He died and thus transcended the Matrix only for himself. In fact, Neo's death and 'resurrection' was logically independent from the "salvation" of others in the Matrix. He could only be their example-not their savior. Neo did not die as a propitiation for the sins of others-indeed his death accomplished nothing for the people in the matrix nor did it apply anything to the people in the matrix. As one commentator at the Matrix website put it:

It may look, at the end of the film, as if Neo evades death, but his "resurrection" in the hovercraft is not into a world where death has been overcome by a miraculous divine love, rather, he has been saved by an earthly intervention - a sort of tender CPR - quite within the bounds of physics and chemistry.

Since Neo "died" in the artificial world of the Matrix he had not truly died in reality. This is similar to the heretical "swoon theory" view of Christ's death; that he was given a drug when on the cross and faked death, only to appear to the disciples and then live out the rest of his days. Neo certainly fulfills the literary function of a sacrificial messiah, but unlike the real thing-his resurrection did not redeem all of mankind from bondage.

Trinity
Devotees of The Matrix have invested significant effort in interpreting the symbolic intricacies of the names and numbers used in the movie. Obviously, Christians do not have to search very hard to discover meaningful names. For example, Trinity being a woman is not just a coincidence. As two professors of religion noted on the Matrix website: "Feminists critics can rejoice when Trinity first reveals her name to Neo, as he pointedly responds, "The Trinity?... Jesus, I thought you were a man." Her quick reply: "Most men do." Most evangelical Christians should find this slight-of-character offensive. According to the Wachowski Brothers, the names "were all chosen carefully, and all of them have multiple meanings." The fact that the character Trinity in the Matrix trilogy is not very different from other citizens of Zion should immediately dissociate the movie character from the divine Trinity that Christians embrace.

Neo
Neo is the hero of the Matrix trilogy and clearly the centerpiece of the story. Without a doubt, the first two movies repeatedly reinforce the many parallels between him and Christ. He is "The One" whom the citizens put their hope in, he is treated as a savior by the citizens of Zion. Yet it can be argued that Neo is actually much more of a Buddha figure than a Christ figure. According to two religion professors on the Matrix website, (here) "Neo can be seen as a Buddha. Neo's identity as the Buddha is reinforced not only through the anagram of his name but also through the myth that surrounds him." Because Neo is faced with the problem of what is perceived as being an illusion, as opposed to the problem of human sin, his role is much more like that of a Buddha, who is given extraordinary powers to help humanity become enlightened. This interpretation that Neo is a Buddha figure more than a Christ figure has also been given recently in the Journal of Religion and Film. Many heroes can be construed as messiah figures, making it important to carefully examine the role of the Messiah before declaring that the movie has been influenced by Christianity. In this case, it appears that Neo is far more Buddhist than Christian.

Faith
Christians are called to put their faith in God. The people trapped in the Matrix, to the contrary, must put their faith in themselves in order to gain freedom. When the Wachowski's were asked: "What is the role of faith in the movie? Faith in oneself first and foremost - or in something else?" they replied tentatively, "Hmmmm...that is a tough question! Faith in one's self, how's that for an answer?" In the plot of the Matrix, individuals may hope that that Neo becomes a great warrior to fight the machines, but to save themselves they must first become enlightened - even if they can not reach the same level as Neo. Faith in one's self is diametrically opposed to the Christian faith in God.

Nature of Man
The primary topic of the second movie is the nature of humanity. A power struggle between Neo and the citizens of Zion against "the architect" of the Matrix and the many machine programs continually focuses attention on the "human-ness" of Neo and his followers. In fact, the most objectionable visual scene of Reloaded, the temple celebration spliced with Neo and Trinity having sex, most clearly presents the movies' thesis. The Wachowski's focus on love between two humans establishes that emotion as the crux of that which separates humans from machines. Along the same line, Morpheus gives a stirring speech to the citizens in the "temple" charging them to have a rave-like orgy to celebrate their humanity and hence ability to resist the machines. The movie shows love as a sort of primal animal like passion, and indeed seems to highlight that the Wachowski's believe humans are fundamentally about sexual passion and emotion. It is this that defines humanity, it distinguishes citizens of Zion from the machines. This view of human love is far more pagan than Christian. Christians believe that mankind was created distinct from the animals, and the associated animal passions. Human nature includes being animated with a soul, made in the image of God, and a sin nature and moral responsibility, an intellect and free will. It's not that the Matrix trilogy must include all these aspects - it is a move after all - but to merely portray humans as creatures of sexual passion is far from the mark.

Conclusion
The Matrix and Reloaded include many names and themes familiar to Christians. This is about as far as the similarity goes, however. The names and themes are certainly cribbed from Christianity, but are destitute of essential Christian content. Beyond lacking important details, the themes bear a much heavier imprint from Buddhist ideas than any Christian influence. The movies may be great in terms of entertainment and cinematography, but they are not great Christian movies to be sure.