Written & Directed by Larry & Andy Wachowski

Cultural Context:

Electronic Culture based on modern day society and a possible social setting of the future. Technology reigns supreme and humans based in the Zion mainframe (or the "natural" human society) are battling the Sentinels (aka the Machines or AI - artificial intelligence) who have taken over the "real" world.

Main Cultural Values / Issues:

• Control: "What is the Matrix? Control." As one of the major issues in the movie, control is embodied in the Agents and their role in the Matrix (keeping humans in submission and preventing them from discovering the true nature of their "surroundings"). From control arises a sense of superiority and arrogance. In contrast, when control of the Matrix and the human race is passed on Neo, he relinquishes this control and gives them "a world where anything is possible".
• "Human beings are a disease.
  You are a plague. And we...are the cure"
• 

  "They are the gatekeepers...
  they are guarding all the doors,
  they are holding all the keys..."

• 
• Responsibility: Neo's role as The One inevitably places a heavy responsibility on him to free the human race from the grip of the machines and the Matrix itself. Although he does not realise the importance of his existence until the very end, he does take on the responsibility of saving Morpheus when he is faced with the decision that the Oracle prophecised to him earlier.
• "You believe that you are special -
  that, somehow... the rules do not apply to you..."
  

• Freedom: This issue is conveyed mostly through the element of war - Humans vs. Machines (the Agents). The Machines and Humans exist in a dangerously symbiotic relationship based on the needs of each race and in this sense, neither race is free because of their dependency on one another. As the programs placed inside the Matrix to prevent the human minds from being freed, the Agents are the most powerful force that Morpheus and his Nebuchednezzar crew must battle. The outcome of this quest to be freed from the social constructs of the Matrix is ultimately left to Neo to decide after the Agents are vanquished.
  
  "As long as the Matrix exists,
  the human race will never be free."
• Conformity: Conformity exists in the movie in the form of the Agents. Dressed alike, behaving the same way with the same mannerisms and attitude as well as sharing a common goal, the Agents are programs written into the Matrix to embody conformity.The social setting within the matrix is also one of conformity with businessmen and women dressed alike. The opposing issues to conformity are freedom and faith and these are embodied in the humans.
• 
  "To deny our own impulses is to
  deny the very thing that makes us human."
• Faith: Morpheus is Neo's biggest believer. His faith in Neo is so strong that he is even willing to sacrifice his life for him, for humankind. He believes that Neo can save the human race and restore society to its former state. Others, however, are not so sure...Neo is like a Godly figure and the faith Morpheus places in him is extremely strong and in some cases, he relies on this faith to overcome hurdles like the Agents.
  
  "We don't have to hope. I know it.
  I believe he is the One."
• Reality: "What is the Matrix?"
• What is real and what is not is often distorted and constantly discussed in the movie. In some ways, the Matrix can be more real than the Real World. It can provide many things the real world cannot, and it is through this provision that reality becomes distorted. In actuality, the Matrix is a neural-interactive simulation, or a computer- generated world in order to keep humans in a state where their energy can be exploited by the machines, as though they were batteries.
• 
• "It's there...like a splinter in your mind..."