The System of Oppression is Still in Place at the End of Each "Matrix" Movie

o, directly opposing Rebekah Simpkins’ assertion that “By removing the control, Neo sets the prisoners free,” the first film ends with those controls still in place.45 At the end of The Matrix, after all, Neo does not awaken everyone to “the real,” but instead exploits the continued functioning of the Matrix, leaving the illusion intact so that he can fly. As Žižek writes, “all these ‘miracles’ are possible only if we remain WITHIN the VR sustained by the Matrix …: our ‘real’ status is still that of the slaves of the Matrix.”46The words “system failure” may flash on the Matrix’s “screens,” but the system still continues to work. Neo’s attack in effect supports the continued existence of the exploitative structure itself, which is why he leaves the final “choice” to this dominant structure.

Indeed, as we learn in Reloaded and Revolutions, this act of reproduction (or “revolutions” in the circular sense) could actually be one of Neo’s intended roles. The “free will” that the Oracle, in her role as a program for the Matrix, injected into the ideological system in order to make it function properly occasionally introduces anomalies in the system, of which Neo, and the “ones” who came before him, are the culmination; fail safes are therefore set into the system in order to ensure that Neo keeps the program running. And, at the end of the trilogy, when the Matrix itself is overtaken by the viral Agent Smith in a virtual coup over the control of the governing AI, Neo does in fact restore the program’s “balance” (a continual theme in the final film). Destroying Smith by sacrificing himself, Neo does not eradicate the Matrix, but instead allows the program to evolve into a new stability (a “Neo”-conservative protection of the system, perhaps). This may mean “peace” for the human inhabitants of Zion, but it most assuredly does not mean freedom. If Morpheus is correct when he states, in the first film, that “as long as the Matrix exists, the human race will never be free,” then the Architect’s promise to the Oracle at the end of Revolutions, to free those who “want out,” rings hollow. Indeed, the Architect and the Oracle may not even be talking about freeing the humans, but instead about freeing such independent programs as the girl, Sati (Tanveer Atwal). This suspicion seems especially true given the Architect’s question in the same sequence, asked in a sinister tone, “Just how long do you think this peace is going to last?” The Oracle’s response, “As long as it can,” is met by the Architect with only a scoffing laugh.

The Matrix makes many, very clear references to Black oppression. All of the antagonists are white men wearing business suits. Morphius tells one, "You all look the same to me." Later, Morphius is bound and gagged in a historically-evocative fashion.

At the same time, Neo is a white savior. In the end of each film, the oppressors remain in power. The Matrix is never dissolved and its victims remain trapped. The system of oppression remains in place.