Why did The Matrix become such a huge hit?
Dystopian future films have become hugely popular in the last couple of decades. I figure it’s because we’re already there, and this is a way to explore what’s happening without truly acknowledging it’s happening.
Do many already feel like we’re in The Matrix?
A simulated reality where we’re kept complacent and subjugated.
Perhaps our body heat is already being harvested, think about it, corporations plotting to make us fatter because obese people produce more body heat.
Maybe they’ve brainwashed people into having phones or tablets with them at all times so they’ll produce more electrical activity.
Is it easier to just live on our computers, cell phones, tablets, and so on, looking at pictures of kittens, tragedies, recipes, hoaxes, optimistic quotes that looking around at what we’ve done?
So where is our Neo come to free us from this dream world we’re plodding through on our cellphones, laptops, Google glasses, tablets, etc.? And do we even want to be saved from the distraction?
The Wachowski Brothers, now called The Wachowskis (Larry Wachowski is now Lana) wrote this cyberpunk standard with the works of Philip K. Dick whispering in their ears. The paranoia, power, mental discomfort, a ruined world. The Matrix is the ultimate exile from ourselves.
Or maybe it’s so loved just because the awesome effects, the wire fu techniques, the anime-like feel, action scenes, great cast, and cool outfits.
The Matrix contains incessant references to: mythology, religion, philosophy, literature, and pop culture.
Johnny Depp was first choice, also Will Smith and Nicolas Cage both turned down the part of Neo. Smith turned it down to do Wild Wild West. No comment. But come on, we’re expected to believe Nicolas Cage turned down a part?
Epic shot where Keanu Reeves (Thomas Anderson/Neo/The One) hits the ground, bounces back up again is meant to look like Wile E. Coyote? Evil super genius ordering from an omnipresent evil corporation ACME who sends weapons to an address in the desert, great, but where’s the tiny umbrella?
The numbers 1 and 3 are everywhere in this movie. Neo means new; it’s also an anagram for One. Trinity, 3. Neo is called Thomas in the beginning when he is doubting.
A matrix in mathematics, is a rectangular arrangement of numbers, symbols, or expressions, ordered in columns and rows. Distinct items in a matrix are called its elements or entries.
The Matrix is green, not ecofriendly, but shot with a green filter for the parts inside The Matrix.
The scene with Neo and pins. Those pins were actually in his head. For realism. It worked.
The government lobby shootout took 10 days of filming and didn’t use CGI. The Wachowskis staged everything you see on the set, even the explosions and water pouring in.
Sci-fi flicks always produce conspiracy theories. How about this one, note the date on the passport.
The actors were put through their paces on this movie, they had to be able to do stunts, wire fu, fight, process weighty philosophical discourses, etc.
The end, the last line in Neo’s monologue gave the studio and audiences options, “Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you.”. I would’ve been satisfied with The Matrix, it was enough. In the 15 years since it’s release few have matched it.
Definitely a cautionary tale that allowing oneself to the plugged in all the times can rob us of reality, truth, and any meaning to life.
yadadarcyyada 
Great post!
I came late to the Matrix movies. They had been out for some time before I caught the first one on TV one night. I loved it. Then my son informed me he had the rest in his room on DVD. Marathon session.
I took it to be a Messianic message. And yes, we are living in the dystopian times depicted. Very often we don’t see the signs because they do not appear to us exactly as depicted. A bit like 1984. But as for our Nemo, the one. I think we are it. Although people are ‘hiding’ behind their technology in many ways, there is, like here, the opportunity for undead brains to be the collective consciousness. The one.
I might go and watch it again to remind myself of all the connotations. And just because it was a marvellous movie.
Was it made before 9/11? I don’t recollect. But if so, wow!
Love posts like these. 🙂 x
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Made in 1999. It was great. Writing this made me want to rewatch it. Thanks for the kind words. 🙂
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How weird is that? i can hardly believe when things like that happen. There’s a shiver down my spine now. Really, smashing post.x
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I’m sure it had more to do with all the ones (1s) they were using throughout the movie, but conspiracy theory-wise it’s pretty weird. Thanks again, you’re too kind. 🙂
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Not at all. There’s method in all the madness. If we can but figure it. 😉 x
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🙂
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Reblogged this on scottishmomus and commented:
Don’t you just love stuff like this? I do. Kinda freaky and hopeful all at the same time. 🙂 x
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Thanks for the reblog. 🙂
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Great film, but I hadn’t looked at it this way. Thanks.
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Brilliant post on this challenging dystopian film. Yes, I feel shades of “Matrix” and “Brave New World” every day in our society. We are being brainwashed with all the technology and the political tactics to divide our world into two distinct fields…..the have it alls and the don’t have anything…..until we reach the master/slave level. Scary?
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Terrifying, more so that people aren’t recognizing what’s happening. That you for your insight and your kind words. 🙂
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Firstly – wow 15 years???? I loved this movie. It came out just as I was embarking on a new phase in life that had a lot of blind jumps involved (including a potential film-making career). This movie spoke to me about having the potential to do anything if you really put your mind to it and not having to blindly accept what I was told or as we used to say ‘sticking it to The Man’.
Great post, I’m gonna have to go back and relive a bit of my youth and unplug for a while. Thanks 🙂
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Isn’t it amazing how films, books, etc. reach us in different ways at different times? Go, be young again and thanks for dropping by. 🙂
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I actually used to use the Matrix in a first year uni class about the ways in which we construct and study religion- and therefore the ways in which we create and study our realities.
Another great post about another great film that stands the test of time!
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Thanks. I love films that have so many layers and interpretations. Sounds like a cool class. 🙂
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THE MATRIX is an excellent show…. so many great action scenes, and the cast is really cool. This is one of those movies, I must say it is a great movie to watch…
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