Historically speaking, the fate of the world has always been in question. The same goes for comments about the state of humanity. “The Wasteland” by TS Eliot is considered by many to be the greatest poem of all time. During Eliot's time, the world was beginning to value pop culture more than high culture. Gone are the days when most knew the works of the greats. The Wachowski brothers' film The Matrix deals with similar themes to "The Wasteland." The sci-fi film is set in a world that has been taken over by machines and focuses on the plight of the unsuspecting hero, Neo and others who have been freed from the computer-simulated reality of The Matrix. Both worlds of “The Wasteland” and The Matrix focus on the struggles the inner self faces when modern society is no longer reliable for spiritual sustenance. It is the lack of spirituality in modern culture that leaves the masses intellectually starved and disconnected from historical high culture. “The Wasteland” begins with The Burial of the Dead. The first part of the poem paints a portrait of a place where even spring is not pleasant. April is a time when “memory and desire stir dull roots with spring rain” (3-4). What should be a time when flowers bloom and people joyfully prosper is not the case. There is an underlying message that people once lived in better times. There is a void that remains to be filled and a desire for something more. It's a scene similar to the opening of The Matrix. The audience meets Thomas Anderson, who later becomes Neo. He leads a seemingly dull and unsatisfying life. He is surrounded by the pollution and corruption of the big city and has no emotional connection... middle of paper ... to current issues, like religion. Eliot argues that without religion we all lack direction and, more importantly, we lack substance in our lives. Without religion we are superficial and that is why we turn to pop culture. Pop culture fulfills what is intellectually enriching. Eliot recognized this and that’s why he wrote “The Wasteland.” Eliot's poem made bold statements about what was really happening in the modern world. Whether or not one disputes Eliot's positions, his work joins the canon of the classic and ironically offers readers the opportunity to connect to something greater. Works Cited Eliot, Thomas Stearns. The wasteland. New York: Horace Liveright, 1922; Bartleby.com, 2011.www.bartleby.com/201/The Matrix. Real. Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski. Warner Bros. Pictures, 1999. DVD.