Unde malum ? Le Matrix gnostique
Unde malum? The Gnostic Matrix

Summary/Abstract: Gnosticism is a heretic Christian ideology stating that our world is the imperfect creation of a Demiurge to whom man is actually superior. To put it differently, and according to the radical Gnostic doctrines, hell doesn’t really exist: we are in hell already, and we can only escape it through gnosis, knowledge, or illumination. The Wachowski brothers’ trilogy – The Matrix (1999), The Matrix Reloaded (2003) and The Matrix Revolution (2004) – offers a consistent number of similarities with Gnostic thinking, which we intend to develop in the present analysis. Our approach is inspired by the collective volume The Matrix and Philosophy. Welcome to the Desert of the Real (2002) edited by William Irwing, and also by the interviews that Josh Oreck gathered in the documentary Return to Source. Philosophy & The Matrix (2004), where elements of Buddhism, Platonism and traditional Christianism are generally identified as recurrent themes of the “jazz mythology” in which the The Matrix is based. Gnostic Christianism, however, while closely related to the above mentioned religious and philosophical beliefs, is only briefly mentioned. Our Gnostic interpretation of The Matrix builds on the theoretical foundations set by I.P. Culiano’s work. The first of René Descartes’ Metaphysical Meditations and Jean Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation will also inform our considerations.

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