>>>I would really recommend to try to understand plato's view of form and ideas, so you can really appreciate

the idea of
the cave. I'll give you a quick summary.
Plato believed that the world as we see it, is not real but a mere illusion, a copy of the real world to be more precise. Take
for example if you look at rose or at a woman and you think they are both beautiful, it is actually aphroditi (godess of
beauty) that's manifesting herself in those object, so the godess is the idea (in this case pure beauty). So according to
plato we are not really living in the real world, when we look at a rose or at a woman we are only seeing at a copy of real
beauty. Plato believed that the only way we can look at pure beauty, is trough the mind and intellect. Take for instace
when you took geometry in high school the teacher would draw a circle and then ask you to find a certain measurement. If
you try to measure the circle with measuring tape or a ruler you are not going to get a reasonble answer, the circle is
probably drawn inperfect, the only way by seeing the real circle is by understanding pi. In fact Plato found it essential for
his student to be aqcuainted with math especially geometry in order to start seeing the real world.
So when plato wrote about the cave, he said that man is chained in such a manner that they face only the shadows of
anything that is passing by outside the cave. Because the man has only seen these shadows, he will take it as the real
things. So if the man sees the shadow of a tree, bacuse that's the only thing he has seen he will think it's a real tree. The
only way to becom unchained Plato thought, was to begin to see the real nature of things through the mind's eye. But
Plato belived that no one could be taught, they had to see reality for themselves, at most they could only be directed by
people who had already been there. Plato continues that when someone sees the real world for the first time, it will be to
bright for the person and will be confused, but only after spending some time his mind like the eyes will adjust to the
light(truth). In the movie this is more or less what happens to Neo, he is trapped in an illusion, he thinks it's real because
that's the only thing he has seen. He cannot be told what the matrix is he has to see it for himself, when he first sees it he
cannot believe it, but eventually accepts it, and so forth.
>>>Both Plato and the Matrix contend that given everyday world is illusionary. Plato because for him the real world are
the form beyond the senses and everyday experience are just shadows on the cave wall. The Matrix presents an
substratum a real world ope rationing underground. So Matrix is more political than mystical as in Plato vision. Both
Plato's Cave and the Matrix play with the question are we awake? Both contend that humanity is asleep.

Both link liberty with consciousness. However, Plato would consider all that Kung Fu wasted effort his solution is
education on the transcendental nature of truth. In the Matrix the One gains the power the transcend the system's
programming. the One is a Postmodernist not a Platonist. Like most PostModernist His concern is break the bondage of
societies codes and signs that restict human freedom,
>>>
Interesting analogy!
I'd never thought of it that way, but now I think about it, it is actually the same.
In plato's cave, the captives saw only shadows on the wall, made by others. They believed this was reality.
In the matrix, people live inside a computer programme, made by others, which they believe is reality.

When you pull a person out of the cave, they're blinded by the light but then see it's the real reality.
When you pull a person out of the Matrix (an unprepared one) they're unwilling to believe it's reality, at first, (like the
person you pulled from the cave doesn't want to believe it's reality) but then they see this reality (the one outside the
matrix) is real and they were only seeing shadows or computer images of reality.
>>>
I think the both of them are witty illusions designed in literature and in celluloid. Both are like the magician on the stage,
they trick you into thinking on a subject matter that is irrelevant in our lives.
We are real and to believe otherwise is to be living in a world of delusion.
>>>
maraa,

I can help you out. In Plato's Cave, the prisoners are bound with chains, hand and foot under bondage. In fact they have
been within this very cave since Childhood, which much like matrix people are seen as in reality being bound within a pad
where by they are feed images/illusions which keep them in a dreamlike state and they have been in this bondage by
virtue of the virtual reality pads in the fields since their youth and like the allegory of the Cave they are completely
unaware of such an predicament since in regards to the Cave they have become conditioned to the shadow's that dance
upon the wall and do not see the true forms of which the shadow is a mere non-substantial pattern of. In the Matrix, within
the person of the virtual world, it is a non-substantial pattern of the world, it is reflective of the real world, it is a shadow in
its form and nature being a simulation of the world at a particular point in history. Like the prisoners in the cave, those who
are prisoners in the system of matrix are held in their calm state by reason of the illusion that stimulates them and tricks
them into remaining asleep or rather into being ignorant of the fact that they are prisoners in pads so the machines can
feed from their bio-energy. The shadows on the wall which are reflective, is to keep the prisoners on the Cave unaware of
the fact that they are prisoners, that they are under bondage and have never truly seen life outside of the Cave. The
shadows on the walls are by puppets, perchance puppeteers. They could be seen as the agents, whom within the Matrix
being programs are to maintain that the humans asleep in the matrix remain in their comatose state, they are to support
the illusion, by keeping man actively ignorant of what is truly happening, so they never wake up. The puppeteers of the
puppets which are seen on the wall to keep the mind of the prisoners stimulated so they never realize that they are
chained, and only have a vision that is straightforward, which is basically saying their minds are only subjected to a single
perspective and they are blind to the degree of seeing within other perspectives, broader perspectives and this in and of
itself is a limitation.

In the Cave is some Light, the fire which cast the shadows of the puppets on the walls. This Light can be seen as an small
aspect of the sun, small aspect of the Truth. It can be said, that there is Truth beyond the illusion, as its source is the
Light. The same in the Matrix, the source of the Matrix is in the real world, only difference is that people are the Light of
the matrix since they created it.

The prisoner who lives the cave, comes into the sun and their eyes are blinded by the light. The same can be seen when
neo first came out of the matrix and said my eyes. I can't see.. And was told that's because you have never used them
before. In the Cave the prisoners never used their eyes truly, they were always in the darkness where they could not see
behind themselves to see what was the source of the shadows, in fact their eyes were only adjusted/conditioned to the
dimness of the Cave to the degree that when one of the prisoners left the cave and saw the outside their eyes were
blinded, having never seen it before, or in the matrix having never used their eyes before.

When said prisoner returns to the Cave his eyes have to readjust to the illusions of the cave, since it is much darker there.
The same can be seen in perception when Neo first comes back into the matrix after having been freed, and looks around
from the car and has to come to terms with the fact that his whole life in their was lie. He mentions how he used to eat at a
certain restaurant and how it served good noodles, which was only an stimulus illusion in his mind. And he ask what does
it mean. And Trinity responds that the Matrix can't tell you who you are. He has to come to terms with the shadows/illusion
with the actual reality of things and himself. And when this prisoner who has seen outside of the cave attempts to tell the
prisoners of course no one believes him, they have never seen it before, so it relative to their experiences, from which
side they see truth. In the Matrix no one would believe that they are in a computer programmed to keep them sleep.
Which is why in the matrix they only try to awaken those who have potential to be awakened, and have come to question
things on their own. The prisoners in the Cave don't even know each other, they know each other by their voices, not what
anyone looks life, because their perspectives is only forward, a very limited spectrum of life do they see. So anything to
them that does not correlate to this very limited spectrum of life is not real or of low regard. Often you will recognize that
people who come into the truth they have to begin from stretch as they have to reevaluate their previous nature and
perspective. Often times this can be seen as taking steps back, which to others it would appear as if you are lower than
them, or crazy, or not as intelligent.

Another aspect of the shadows, those men who walk across the walk way with their cattle and such, and the prisoners
count the shadows as the real thing, and they believe that the voices are coming from the shadows. The essential aspects
they believe are supported by the shadows, that the illusion is the substantial reality rather than a reflective allusion. I
think it could rather be called an ALLUSION then a illusion. It's an Allusion since it alludes to the true forms. Interesting
enough in this allegory, Light is form.

So far that's all I can think of.

Plot
Thomas Anderson is a computer programmer who maintains a double life as "Neo" the hacker. Another hacker named
Trinity contacts Neo and informs him that a man named Morpheus can tell him the meaning of "the Matrix", a phrase
that Neo has encountered repeatedly online but does not understand.

However, three dark-suited Agents, led by Agent Smith, are determined to prevent Neo from finding out the true
meaning and purpose of the Matrix. Neo eventually meets Morpheus, who warns him that once he shows Neo the
Matrix, he will not be able to "go back".
Neo accepts his offer by choosing the red pill; his reality soon disintegrates and he abruptly wakes, naked and weak, in a
liquid-filled vessel, finding himself as one of billions of people connected by cables to an elaborate electrical system. He
is rescued and brought aboard Morpheus's levitating ship, the Nebuchadnezzar.
Morpheus explains that in the 21st century, humans waged a war against intelligent machines they had created. When
humans blocked the machines' access to solar energy, the machines instead turned to harvesting the humans'
bioelectricity as a substitute power source, while keeping them trapped in the Matrix, a shared simulation of the world
as it was in 1999, in which Neo has been living since birth.
Morpheus and his crew belong to a group of rebels who hack into the Matrix and "unplug" enslaved humans, recruiting
them as rebels.
The rebels' understanding of the true nature of the simulated reality allows them to bend its physical laws, granting
them seemingly superhuman abilities. Neo is warned that fatal injuries within the Matrix will also kill one's physical
body, and that the Agents he encountered are powerful sentient programs that eliminate threats to the system. Neo's
skill during virtual combat training lends credence to Morpheus's belief that Neo is "the One", a man prophesied to end
the war between humans and machines.
The group enters the Matrix to visit the Oracle, a prophet who predicted the emergence of the One. The Oracle implies
to Neo that he is not the One, and warns that he will soon have to choose between his life and the life of Morpheus's.
Before they can leave the Matrix, the group is ambushed by Agents and tactical police.
Morpheus allows himself to be captured to let Neo and the rest of the crew escape; however, their getaway is hindered
by Cypher, a crew member disillusioned with the harshness of the real world, who has secretly betrayed them to the
Agents in exchange for a return to comfortable life within the Matrix. Cypher disconnects first and murders several of
the still connected crew members as they lie defenseless, before he is killed by Tank, a crewman whom he had left for
dead.
In the Matrix, the Agents interrogate Morpheus in an attempt to learn his access codes to the mainframe computer in
Zion, the rebel humans' refuge in the real world. Believing that he is not the One, Neo proposes returning to the Matrix
to rescue Morpheus, and Trinity insists she accompany him. They succeed in rescuing their leader, and in doing so, Neo
gains confidence in his abilities, performing feats on par with those of the Agents.
Morpheus and Trinity exit the Matrix, but Smith ambushes and kills Neo before he can leave. In the real world,
"sentinel" machines attack the Nebuchadnezzar, while Trinity stands over Neo and whispers to him that the Oracle told
her that she would fall in love with the One.
She kisses Neo, and he revives with newfound power to perceive and control the Matrix. He effortlessly destroys Smith
and leaves the Matrix in time for the ship's electromagnetic pulse weapon to destroy the attacking sentinels.
Some time later, Neo makes a telephone call in the Matrix, promising the Machines he will show their prisoners "a world
where anything is possible". He ends the call and flies into the sky.