Faller says that Zion is presented as a contrast to the Matrix , " The racial constituency of Zion is much less European and Anglo than present-day America . We are shifting the paradigm from the racially charged medium of the Matrix , where the subtext is so clearly contrasted in the extremes of black and white , to the imagined world of Zion , which is dominated by people of color . " One chapter in '' The Matrix Trilogy : Cyberpunk Reloaded '' writes , " Black spirituality is evoked in the '' Matrix '' films ... by the use of Zion for the underground city of free humans populated primarily by black people , suggesting the dream of Christianised slaves to find a safe haven in ' the promised land ' and the Rastafarian belief in an utopian society . " Another chapter writes , " '' The Matrix Reloaded '' displays black ' life ' in a scene reminiscent of countless Hollywood jungle melodramas when the predominantly black population of Zion engages in frenzied dancing to the pounding rhythm of drums . In Hollywood , the war between artifice and reality is drawn along racial lines . " Adilifu Nama writes in '' Black Space : Imagining Race in Science Fiction Film '' , " The racial politics of Zion appears to be based on a multicultural model of racial equality and participation . In the Zion setting , a racial utopia is presented where blacks , whites , and other people of color live and work together , and in many cases whites are subordinate but not subservient to blacks . " '' The Matrix in Theory '' writes that after the September 11 attacks , the narrative shifts from confronting in the 1999 film the Matrix to saving Zion in the 2003 sequels . It writes , " '' Reloaded '' and '' Revolutions '' plays out this conservative fantasy with Zion as the beleaguered site of humanist values and machines with their terrifying weapons of mass destruction threatening finally to destroy the last remnants of human independence . "
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Zion (The Matrix)