THE MATRIX
Introduction
The Matrix Trilogy (1999-2003) is fashioned structurally on Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. Because it takes only the framework and basic concepts of Allegory of the Cave, it is considered an adaptation under the term described by Rachel Malchow as radical homage (2001). Constructing a film adaptation based off of structure alone is further evidenced by Gerard Genette's concept of architextuality, which is when "an adaptation is structurally connected to a source text" (in Cartmell and Whelehan, 2010).
In Allegory of the Cave, Plato explores the idea that reality is an illusion (2008). When a prisoner escapes his shackles, he sees how he has been fooled into believing the shadows projected on the cave walls, which he has been forced to observe all his life, are simply an illusion (John Partridge in The Matrix: Revisited, 2009). He heads towards the daylight that filters in from the mouth of the cave (John Partridge in The Matrix: Revisited, 2009). This escape and new knowledge, Plato claims, is the path to enlightenment (2008).
Figure 1. Allegory of the Cave Illustration (Jackson, 2007).