Movie Musings: The Matrix and Me
A note to our readers—
Going forward, Delia and I will be contributing to Reel Late Reviews directly from this account, instead of our personal accounts like we’ve done in the past. We’ll always let you know who is on the other end, typing away furiously in the name of entertainment. We also are going to start posting on Facebook and Twitter, so feel free to follow us there. Love, Rebecca.
And now, I give you The Matrix.
The Essentials: Category: Action, Sci-Fi| Writer/Directors: The Wachowski Brothers | Actors: Keanu Reeves, Lawrence Fishburne, Carrie-Ann Moss, Hugo Weaving
It’s 1999.
I am 13 years old and impressionable.
Keanu Reeves stars in the role he was born to play: Neo, aka Thomas Anderson. By the time high school rolls around, I’d seen this movie more times than I care to admit.
It’s 2004.
For my senior yearbook quote, I quote The Matrix.
There is no spoon.
Present Day: April 2016
In my life, all roads lead back to The Matrix, because it’s my favorite movie of all time and the greatest movie ever created.
Let us take a stroll down memory lane.
Special Effects
In the early 2000’s, I don’t think there was a soul who didn’t go berserk about the bullet-dodging scene with Neo and the Agent.
Apparently, it was that scene that popularized what’s known in the film industry as “bullet time”.
Bullet time was actually a technique created by Michel Gondry, the film director who wrote Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind and The Science of Sleep (watch if you haven’t).
I also give The Matrix credit for the cell phone they used to first connect Morpheus to Neo. It was super cool in 1999, and it’s still cool today.
What other pre-Y2K movies have technology that’s still enviable 17 years later?
Characters
My Name is Neo
Fun fact: Will Smith, Nicolas Cage, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Val Kilmer were all sought out to play the role of Neo.
All declined.
Like I said, it’s the role Keanu was born to play.
Morpheus
Morpheus is such a great character, and Lawrence Fishburne captivates me every time with his creative choices.
As a father figure to everyone on the ship, Morpheus is strong, not only physically but mentally. He’s self-sacrificing and steadfast on his beliefs. He is patient and protective, and eager to pass along the wisdom he’s collected over time.
“You think that’s air you’re breathing?”
MORPHEUS!!! YASS.
The Oracle
I love what The Oracle is to this film: a straight-up liar.
This is okay, because along with the lie she tells to sad Keanu comes a cookie, and according to my calculations:
Lie (-1)+ Cookie (1)= 0.
Would he still have been The One if she told him he was the one??? The world may never know. And yes, that really bakes my noodle.
Trinity
Carrie-Ann Moss should have been a spokeswoman for leather jumpsuits after the release of The Matrix. Bonus points for participation in Chocolat.
The Agent
Hugo Weaving does a great job as Agent Smith, a character that remains highly-quotable to this day (“it’s the smell!”). He’s also master-elf, Lord Elrond, and always worthy of a shoutout.
Overarching Themes
Consciousness and the Dissolution of Self
Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world, and the real world?
Synesthesia is a neurological phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway (wikipedia). So with sensory synesthesia, someone might be able to feel or smell a sound.
This NPR article recounts a recent study on the concept of ego dissolution. Ego dissolution enables the confusion and inclusion of the self with surrounding environments.
So Neo isn’t just Neo, he is the mirror, and he is the room. This altered state of consciousness is the fundamental awesomeness of The Matrix.
Principal cast and crew were given required reading, Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard, which is a postmodern perspective on how our reality has been replaced with symbols and signs that are altogether void of meaning.
Unsurprisingly, The Matrix makes several allusions to Alice in Wonderland. Neo is told in the very beginning to follow the white rabbit, and with the famous red pill/blue pill proposal, Morpheus offers to show him what exists further down the rabbit hole.
Even the name of the company Thomas Anderson works for is Metacortex, which means “transcending” + “the outer layer (boundary) of gray matter surrounding the brain”.
And once consciousness is perceived, it can be questioned.
Dissolution of the ego, this “complete loss of subjective self-identity”, is the way to Neo’s enlightenment. It opens the door to humility and self-sacrifice and allowed him to fully develop conviction in his abilities. These convictions came from a place deeper than someone else’s opinion of him, because they lived at the core of who he was.
Choice and Fate
Morpheus explains:
There’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.
The Oracle presents concepts of control and fate, emphasizing the power we give away to our own doubts and insecurities. We want to feel the security of knowing everything, but allow anxiety about the future or past to control what we do in the present.
What the Oracle tells Neo becomes a bit of a paradox: it is a disappointment that strips away all expectations imposed by himself and his peers, but it also allows him to focus on his own version of reality — one in which he could at least save Morpheus and prevent him from dying in vain.
In the end, what the Oracle tells Neo seems both essential and altogether insignificant.
Perceptions of Desire
Be suspicious of what you want.
-Rumi
It is a fascinating aspect of human nature that we can be so adamantly righteous in the validity of our desires. Frequently we bind ourselves to our desires with such inflexibility, yet our knowledge of what’s in our own best interest can be staggeringly limited.
Neo’s initial desire and his claim, so to speak, was to be the One. Abandoning this desire in a timely manner is what allowed him to act constructively in a new direction without fear or doubt hindering him. Like the rooftop jump scene!
While we can never truly divorce ourselves from our desires, seeing those desires as mere perceptions allows us to embrace disappointment with grace and resilience.
The Matrix received Academy Awards for film editing, sound effects editing, visual effects, and sound, and was inducted into the National Film Preservation Board in 2012. It grossed $463M at the box office worldwide and paved the way to a formidable trilogy franchise with The Matrix Reloaded ($738M) and The Matrix Revolutions ($427M).
Thank you!
It has been a real treat writing the Movie Musings this month! There are a ton of Matrix fans out there — from the people I spoke with in advance about my topic, to random commenters on blogs and videos I came across this week — enthusiasm for this movie is everywhere. I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have.
-Rebecca
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