‘The Matrix’: Mind-Bending Mirror to Real-World Geopolitical Structure

We are all familiar with the film franchise “The Matrix” known for its Men in Black-type villains and a complex simulated world generated by the machines to keep humans emotionally stable. While in the real world ruled by machines, humans are used to generate energy for machine empire, and your usual prophetic hero is trying to save humanity. This is the shortest version of the whole film franchise, and most of the general audience was too focused on the CGI, visual effects, and action sequences. In the midst of all this, there is a hidden message in the franchise, which I believe is now quite related to our current real-world environment.

We are all familiar with the term “establishment,”, a political term referring to selective individuals including politicians, government bureaucrats, defense officials, intelligence officials, and, in recent years, corporate entities. Individuals and organizations that have deeply penetrated into the political system of a nation, holding both the power and influence to even maneuver the ruling government, Examples can include our good old Uncle Sam (USA), the Russian Federation, the People’s Republic of China, South Korea, North Korea, India, Pakistan, and any country that happens to be a regional, great power, or superpower with a strong military or a strong economy, and in good cases, even both. Now you must be wondering what the link is between the plot of the Matrix franchise and the real-world geopolitical structure. Well, my dear readers, the reason is quite simple, especially for those who are hardcore fans of the Matrix film franchise and familiar with the geopolitical structure of our world.

You see, in Matrix Reloaded, our main hero “Neo” happens to meet an advanced AI known as “Architect” the creator of the simulated world “The Matrix”. According to the architect, in order for the Matrix system to be stable for humans, several versions were created earlier, each ending in failure where the entire system crashed. In order to cope with the human requirement to be in control and the problem of independent decision-making, the machines decided to create one final version where a balance was achieved. By using the concepts of rebellion and revolution, the machines introduced a rogue human city within the machine world known as the city of “Zion” and its free human inhabitants, who will be given a fighting chance to free other humans connected to the simulation. The machines eventually figured out a way to control the human race by giving them the illusion of freedom, independent thinking, and the ability to resist. The machines created a controlled environment similar to the concept of “feedback control,” where both in the simulated world and in the machine world, humanity is given the illusion of having a fighting chance and having the ability to make their own decisions.

Now, the method developed by machines to control the human population is quite relevant to today’s geopolitical structure of our world. The idea that we can resist government policies, have the freedom to speak against the system, and have the right to hold our leaders accountable is just an illusion generated both in the democratic world and, to some extent, even in totalitarian regimes. The Global Establishment is similar to the machines in the Matrix films, and like the machines that started facing some irregularities in the system in the form of “Neo” or “The One”, the current global establishment also faces irregularities from time to time in the form of rogue nations, politicians, revolutionary leaders, etc. Look at the USA: former president Donald Trump, who for many white conservative American’s is an anti-establishment figure fighting against the woke culture generated by the American establishment. Trump’s insurrection back in 2021 at Capitol Hill gave the public the illusion of having the ability to cause anarchy and to be in control. This backfired in spectacular fashion since, for the US establishment, former President Trump became an irregularity in the system, and in response, mass arrests were made in return. This is just one of the examples I have given, whereas those who are reading this article can come up with multiple examples of other cases around the globe.