Ideology and Reality in the Movie, The Matrix Essay -- Movie Film Essa

Ideology and Reality in the Movie, The Matrix The matrix, as presented in the eponymous film, operates as an Althusserian ideological State Apparatus (ISA). The Matrix1 presents a world in which the state as a machine of repression is made literal where robots rule the land (Althusser 68). It is true that they rule by force (sentinels and agents) and these constitute the Repressive State Apparatus, but their primary force of subjugation is the matrix, their ISA. The film traces the path of one and only(a) man, Neo, in his painful progress from the political orientation of the matrix to the real world, or the political orientation of the real.2 The matrix, unlike the ideology of the real, is explicitly defined along Althusserian lines as an ISA. Althusser identifies ISAs as a certain itemise of realities which present themselves to the immediate observer (Althusser 73). Just as the machine of the state is taken literally, ideology as reality is taken literally. Any discuss ion of the ISA must(prenominal) include both a brief discussion of the State and Althussers use of the term ideology. For him, the State has no meaning except as a figure out of State power and as such, the State is the repressive State apparatus (71-72). The State Apparatus (SA) is in turn comprised of the Repressive State Apparatus and the Ideological State Apparatus. The RSA will be discussed in further detail later, but to understand how the matrix serves as an ISA, a brief discussion of ideology is called for. Althusser defines the ISA as those private institutions that operate by ideology instead of physical repression. Ideology, as a term, has two aspects for Althusser. The first is that ideology represents the imaginary relationship of individuals to their ... ... amount of judgment of conviction that passed between The Matrix and The Matrix Reloaded.2 To be concrete about the difference between the matrix and the real world, I will refer to one as the matrix and th e other as the ideology of the real. The quotes are necessary as the ideology of the real is still a fictional ideology. Furthermore, it must be remembered that Althusser saw ideology as inescapable and a necessary feature of society (there is no practice except by and in an ideology) (Althusser 93). Therefore, referring to the world outside of the matrix as the real world is insufficient and inaccurate. The ideology of the real (as Morpheus says, welcome to the real) serves to enforce the nonion of Neo not as rejecting ideology in favor of reality, but rather moving from the ideology of the machines (the matrix) to that of Morpheus (the ideology of the real).