Christianity is a religious tradition that is practices in almost all parts of the world. Whenever anything religious oriented happens in the world, people tend to link it with the happenings in the history of their beliefs. It is from this point of view that some people believe that the movie, The Matrix is a messianic movie. This is due to the fact that there are a lot of Christian ideas in this movie therefore leading to conclusions that indeed, there is a Christ like figure in it, Neo, who has a mission that he is supposed to accomplish, which is serving as a savior to his people who are held in bondage. It is therefore true to say that, in the Matrix, the protagonist, Neo, represents a Christ like figure due to the origins of his existence, his goal throughout the film, and the characters that support or oppose him.
There are several characters that support neo and give him the Christ like position that he has been given. From another angle, these characters can be likened to the disciples of Jesus Christ back in the day. One such character is Morpheus. He is the one that gets Neo out of the comfortable life that he was leading in the Matrix. He goes on to show him the truth and tells Neo that he was the one who they had been looking for and waiting for. He believes in him even in circumstances where Neo has proven to be imperfect. There are times when he is willing to give up and even die and Neo to take up after him and he serves as a father figure to him. It is not only Morpheus who completely trusts him but The Oracle, Trinity and the rest of the Nebuchadnezzar crew. At the end of the day their support, belief and trust in this one man is in essence an epitome of the position that Christ has taken in the lives of Christians where people have complete trust in him and belief that he is the only one who can deliver them from this world. This does not only apply to the present day Christians but also the followers of Christ after his ascension who believed that “Christ would come to deliver them from the bondage and the tight grip of the Roman Empire” (Fielding 220).
There are also other characters who oppose Neo and the rest of the members who are in support of him. In the film as a whole, Agent Smith is one of those characters and together with other agents; their role is that of policing and maintaining stability in the Matrix. He and other agents are supposed to eliminate potential threats and in this case, the red pills and Neo is such threat. Smith is depicted as a very high handed, single minded individual who is determined and “focused on finality” (Stucky 87). He goes on to say that he despises the Matrix and its inhabitants as well. One other reason he may not have liked Neo is the fact that he says that dislikes humans because of their weakness of the flesh. He sees the likes of Neo as a virus that constantly replicates itself uncontrollably therefore making them their major threat. His dislike for Neo is clear when he chases and Kills neo. He hates Neo so much that he even acknowledges that watching him die gave him a certain amount of satisfaction.
At some point in the movie, Neo dies by being killed by the authorities but three minutes later he resurrects. It is believed that Jesus Christ died but in his case he resurrected three days later. In a movie, it may not have been possible to take the three full days and therefore had to shorten them to three minutes. This is the point at which the ‘303’symbol comes into being in the movie. This signifies the importance of the numerical number ‘3’in Christian circles. This momentary death is symbolic of the death of Christ in the bible who resurrected three days after his death. The force behind Neo’s resurrection is love. Trinity brings herself down to neo and kisses him. This is also symbolic of the kiss of life or the kiss of the breath of life which The Holy Trinity, upon creation breathed into man according to Christianity and which gave man life. Trinity tells Neo to get up and it is assumed that these could be the same words that God said to Jesus, and this catapulted him back to life. In a way, “their stories, that is, Neo and Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection are more or less the same” (Kapell & Doty 164).
Indeed, Neo will be given literal justice if one concluded that he was elevated to a Christ like figure in the film because of all the events and happening that revolve around his life. Just like Jesus who had a common enemy, he had to fight through the challenges and he always came out the winner, the likes of agent Smith are just representations of the devil and they also act just like the devil did during the times when Jesus was on earth. Smith tries to tempt Neo by telling him that the Matrix life was a reality “because he was paying taxes, had a job and was helping the landlady a clear indication of the things that happen in the real world” (Kapell & Doty 162. He goes further and tells him that his ‘hacker’ life was a life that was only existence in computers. The contrast of all the lies is that the life he led, -paying taxes and having a job was a life that he led in computers and the hacker life is in fact a reality. Smith is an epitome of the scenario that was there about Jesus Christ and Satan more especially in the story about the temptation that Satan gave Jesus in the bible.
All in all, the Matrix and its sequels use religious connotations and can be alluded as symbolizing Christian mythology and belief. The film is a reflection of Christian doctrines though in a superficial manner that can be related to the American pop culture. The film was even released on the Easter weekend of 1999 maybe to symbolize its connection to this great Christian celebration. By doing so, it could create a good impression of how serious the film is about Christian belief exactly at a time when the life, death and resurrection of Christ were being celebrated. Neo was born into the world from a “womb like incubator the same way Jesus was born into the world through the womb of the Virgin Mary” (Mazur 309). The sanctity of virginity is seen through the sac like incubator in such a way that the story of the birth of Jesus Christ is documented. The Matrix may be a computer program and not real life, but there is a lot more than meets the eye. The storyline borders the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is therefore without doubt that, Jesus and new be looked at in the perspective of them representing one and the same thing, which is, the biblical story that gives birth to Christianity, its beliefs and doctrines. Indeed Neo represents a Christ like figure due to the origins of his existence, his goal throughout the film, and the characters who support or oppose him.
Works cited
Fielding, Julien. Reassessing the Matrix/ Reloaded. The Journal of Religion and Film. Vol. 7, No. 2. New York: Routledge. 2003
Kapell, Matthew & Doty, William. Jacking into the Matrix. New York: Continuum. 2004
Mazur, Eric. M. Encyclopedia of Religion and Film. Santa Barbara: ABC- CLIO. 2011
McNulty, Edward. Faith and Film: A Guidebook for Leaders. Louisville: Presbyterian Publishing. 2007
Stucky, Mark. He is the One: The Matrix Trilogy’s Postmodern Movie Messiah. The Journal of Religion and Film. Vol. 9, No. 2. New York: Routledge. 2005
The matrix. Film. 1999
