簡要分析電影《黑客帝國》中的宗教象征符號

馬文娟

【摘要】作為一部成功的商業片，黑客帝國因為其炫目的特效而吸引無數觀眾，然而它還因其深邃的思想而著名。這篇論文以電影符號學的角度分析黑客帝國中的象征符號及其象征意義。在黑客帝國中，每個角色的命名，不同的符號和很多場景都是宗教的隱喻，這些宗教包含了基督教，佛教和諾斯替教。而本篇論文主要分析引起廣泛討論的與基督教有關的象征符號。

【關鍵詞】黑客帝國 宗教符號 象征學

【Abstract】As a very successful science fiction， The Matrix is famous for its deep ideas apart from the computer-generated special effects. This paper aims to analyze the symbolic signs and its symbolic meaning in the movie from the perspective of semiotics. In The Matrix， every character， every symbol and .many scenes have sorts of metaphor and allusion of religion， including Christianity， Buddhism and Gnosticism. While this paper mainly focus on the symbols of Christianity， which has attracted widespread discussions.

【Key words】The Matrix； Religious symbols； symbology

The Matrix，a science fiction thriller that full of tension， excitement and intelligence， is a very successful movie by using elements like gunfights， shadows， slow motion and quick cuts to excite the audience eyes and quicken their pulse. But what really makes The Matrix stand out in its field is its rich connotation of religious and philosophical thoughts. This essay will look at the religious symbolic aspects of the first movie of The Matrix， though it is a trilogy. As the last two films focus more on the philosophical aspects， only the first Matrix film will be concerned in this paper.

The holy scripture of Christianity is the Bible， which has two sections： Old Testament and New Testament. The Old Testament is what the Jews believe to have happened， they call it the Torah； it is their accounts of their history and of their God； it is the events before Christs coming. The New Testament is the accounts of Christs birth， death and resurrection and His revelation. The orthodox Jews do not believe in Christ as Lord God as Christians do； they are still waiting for their Messiah to come. But Christians believe in both Old and New Testaments and their prophecies and revelations. The importance of this is that The Matrix refers to Old and New Testament facts and events to drive their story of Neo being the savior， relating him to Jesus.

The film is about a futuristic world where the machine has controlled human. To keep them incarcerated， the AI created the Matrix， which is basically a computer program controlled by the machines， to which the humans are connected to through their brain. Within the Matrix there is a computer programmer Neo who is not satisfied with his existence and he is groping for an answer. Then Morpheus and Trinity find him and explain to him that the world he is used to is a fabrication. They believe that Neo is the One and he will free the mankind from the machine finally.

The Matrix is related to Christianity in a variety of ways. One example is that they talk about Neo as the ONE. This can be seen in the Old Testament where God foretold about the coming of the Messiah， Jesus of Nazareth. Neos name in the Matrix is Thomas Anderson. Thomas means “twin”， implies about his double roles. And Anderson means “son of man” in Hebrew language， which is a messianic tile， and “son of man” is another name for Christ. There is also a scene when Neo has to decide whether to find out the truth of the Matrix or be blissfully ignorant， he chooses the red pill. The choosing of the red pill represents Eves choosing to eat from the fruit of the forbidden tree （the tree of knowledge）.

Films real world can be related to our real world， too， and the concept of Heaven. Humans are trapped in the Matrix as we perceive the same， and going up to heaven is like being freed from the Matrix. Another corresponding example is when Neo is finally freed from the Matrix， he comes out naked and through a canal， representing the birth canal and， thus， rebirth. Biblically when you receive Christ as your Savior you are considered born again. Neos way of leaving the Matrix represents him finding the truth as it does in Christianity.

In film， the characters drive the plot and the characters in this film had impacting symbolism accompanying them. For the first powerful character there is Morpheus， captain of the hovercraft Nebuchadnezzar. Morpheus believes in The Oracle's prophecy， and he believes he will finally found the One. He acts as Neo's mentor and is the one of the persons who never doubts Neo as the One. We can find the same character in the Bible as John the Baptist that John never doubted Jesus as the Messiah. And when Morpheus chose to give his life as a sacrifice to Neo， we can see that John did the same thing for Jesus.

With Trinity being the prominent female figure， there is also a correlation to the Bible. It is said Jesus had a love interest with his disciple Mary Magdalene. And Trinity was the one who was the first to see Neo come back to life， Mary Magdalene was the first to see Jesus when He rose from the dead. As for her name trinity， the reference here is to the biblical trinity—God the Father， God the Son， and God the Holy Spirit.

Agent Smith， the main adversary to Morpheus' plan， is a sentient program in the Matrix； Smith is able to do almost everything Neo can. Agents are supremely powerful， and no one has ever survived before except Neo. Agent Smith could possibly symbolize Satan who is the enemy of Christ and thus the enemy of Neo. In the beginning of the film he tricks Neo into believing that Morpheus is a criminal that should not be trusted. But Neo doesnt fall for this deception. Yet this can be correlated to Christ roaming through the desert for 40 days and nights， being tempted by the devil， but rejecting him. Agent Smith is the antagonist throughout this film as Satan is throughout the Bible.

Cypher is the classic betrayer， the Judas Iscariot. The word refers to a mathematical symbol denoting an absence of quantity， a zero and someone with no value， a nonentity. It's also potentially related to Satan as it is a shortened version of “Lucifer”. Cypher also has a goatee and wears red early in the film， which relate to the popular images of Satan. So this character represents the Judas betrayal of Christ

As the story goes along we confirm more illustrations connecting the film and Christianity， so more works should be worked on. More semiotic elements are reflected in the film like Platos Allegory of the Cave， Edwin Abbotts Flatland， the experiment of Brain in Vats hypothesis， Descartes Evil Genius and Nietzsches Overman and so on. The combining of philosophy and religion is always a great challenge for a movie. In this movie， the characters， dialogues and even the scenes are sorts of metaphor and allusion of philosophy and religion. Thus its rich symbols will inspired more and more people to examine this movie.

References：

[1]Grau，Christopher.Philosophers explore The Matrix[A].London：Oxford University Press.2005.

[2]Irwin，William.The Matrix and Philosophy：Welcome to the Desert of the Real[M].Pub Group West.2002.

[3]Return to the Source：Matrix and Philosophy[Z].http：//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_matrix.