Thematic motifs of the Matrix series

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There are several recurring thematic motifs in The Matrix series, which generally have no direct impact on the story itself. These repeated elements and references expand the series' literary and philosophical subtext.

Contents 1 Literature 1.1 The Invisibles 1.2 Wagner's Parsifal 2 Cinematic 3 Clothing 4 Ethnicity 5 Philosophy 5.1 Marxism 6 Science 7 See also 8 References

[edit] Literature

The films make numerous historical and literary references, including Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Judeo-Christian imagery about Messianism, Buddhism, Gnosticism and the novels of William Gibson, especially Neuromancer. Gibson popularized the concept of a world-wide computer network with a virtual reality interface, which was named "the matrix" in his Sprawl Trilogy. However, the concept and name apparently originated even earlier in the 1976 serial The Deadly Assassin on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, which featured a virtual reality known as the Matrix. The first writer about a virtual reality, populated with unsuspecting victims, was Daniel F. Galouye with Simulacron Three in 1964.

The earliest precursor story is "They" (1941) by Robert A. Heinlein. A manipulated reality (not explicitly computer driven) is the context, and at one point the protagonist even calls the setup a matrix: "Why the grand scale to the deception, countless creatures, whole continents, an enormously involved and minutely detailed matrix of insane history, insane tradition, insane culture?"

The concept of artificial intelligence overthrowing or enslaving mankind had previously been touched on by hundreds of science fiction stories. Many have commented that The Matrix was inspired by the work of Philip K. Dick, not only dealing with issues of Gnosticism and prophetic visions (VALIS trilogy) but also the war against the machines in a post-apocalyptic world. The idea of a world controlled by machines and all of humanity living underground goes back to the 1909 short story The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster.

The plot of The Matrix bears some resemblance to the basic plot of Gibson's Neuromancer. This is not necessarily surprising, since both The Matrix and Neuromancer are roughly in the same cyberpunk sub-genre of science fiction (a sub-genre which Neuromancer did much to establish and on which it has had a pervasive influence). In both stories a computer hacker is recruited to perform a particularly difficult task. Some of the relevant conventions related to the genre include the tough-guy hacker/cracker hero, his optional female sidekick, and the more-or-less malevolent artificial intelligences.

Several illustrative differences between the two works also exist. For example, Gibson's human Turing Police are tasked to limit the growth of artificial intelligences. The Agents of The Matrix, by contrast, are AIs who curtail human development. Gibson shows humans working alongside the AI Wintermute; their eventual triumph is presented as a victory for the "good guys". Again in contrast, the human-AI collaboration in The Matrix—Cypher defecting to the agents—appears to undermine all that good and right stand for. From this standpoint, some narrative elements of The Matrix can be seen as inversions of those in Neuromancer.

One other connection between the two is the use of a location called Zion. In Neuromancer, Zion is an orbital colony founded by Rastafarians, where the main characters dock before traveling to Freeside, the giant orbital station where the final act of the novel takes place. In The Matrix, Zion is the underground home of the free humans (never seen on-screen in the first movie, but featured prominently in the two sequels). It is possible that this is only a coincidence, and that Zion is used as a generalized metaphor for a mythical city which could be considered to be the last hope for humanity. However, given the obvious influences of Neuromancer on The Matrix, and the appearance of many Rastamen in Zion, it is likely that the name Zion is used both as a metaphor (including its meaning to the Rastafari movement) and as a gesture of homage to Gibson.

In addition, Neuromancer has undoubtedly contributed to the technology seen in The Matrix. In The Matrix, various skills can be loaded into humans jacked into the matrix. This is strikingly similar in concept to the Microsofts used in Neuromancer which also granted a variety of skills to the user. Also, accessing the matrix in both Neuromancer and The Matrix involves the use of a neural interface (a cyberspace deck in Neuromancer and the metal plugs in The Matrix). Furthermore, in The Matrix, the ability for a human's senses to be stimulated while jacked into the matrix resembles how Simstim functions in Neuromancer.

Some resemblances also exist to Frank Herbert's seminal novel, Dune, the concept of a war between humans and machines with religious overtones (Herbert's Butlerian Jihad).

Other similarities can be seen in Matrix Revolutions. Neo is blinded by a murder attempt and after that, Neo can still see, but in a "different way", reminding, again, Paul Muad'Dib in Dune Messiah. Just after that, Neo sees what can be called a "golden path", as is called the path, choice, Muad'Dib from Dune decided not to take, although in Matrix Revolutions, Neo takes this path.

Also, Neo decides to sacrifice himself giving himself to the machines in order to save mankind, much alike to Paul Muad'Dib abandoning everyone to go to the desert in the Dune Messiah in order that his empire doesn't cause more deaths throughout the universe. The Matrix is only one of several pieces of fiction that have been influenced by this book.

[edit] The Invisibles

The film also shares many similarities with the first volume of Grant Morrison's counter-culture comic book The Invisibles, of which the Wachowski brothers have professed a familiarity (Morrison has gone so far as to claim that the Wachowskis have plagiarised the book).[2]. These similarities are as follows:

• Like Neo, the principal character in the early issues of The Invisibles (Dane MacGowan) is a young rebel who regularly breaks the law. They are both wanted by two opposing sides of an ancient conflict for their innate abilities (Dane's psychic; Neo has skills within the Matrix) and because they are predestined to be important in the war.
• Like Neo, Dane's initiation involves taking a drug to commit himself to the "true" reality, then leaping from the top of a tall building.
• One of the recurring elements in The Invisibles is the magic mirror, a strange, seemingly living substance similar to liquid metal, that can act as a doorway to reality. A similar magic mirror is touched by Neo in The Matrix. Like the mirror in The Matrix, the magic mirror can run all over the body of whoever touches it, seemingly consuming them but actually allowing them passage to other planes of reality/false reality.
• In The Invisibles, the "evil" side controls the false reality that humanity is trapped in, and takes the form of figures of authority, including agents wearing black sunglasses and suits.
• Meanwhile, the rebels - the only ones who are aware of what reality really is - are a rag-tag bunch of oddballs wearing highly stylised clothing who are forced to act as terrorists, striking back with their own reality-warping powers to free humankind. They also take up codenames after joining the rebellion. Both sides are similar to those in The Matrix.
• The leader of the rebel cell (King Mob) that locates Dane is a bald man wearing round spectacles - similar to Morpheus in The Matrix.
• The climactic arc of volume 1 of The Invisibles sees King Mob kidnapped and tortured by the enemy in order to make him give up the aliases and locations of the Invisible army. As a result, the other Invisibles in his cell - including Dane - must break in and free him.

Grant Morrison comments on how he thinks this movie is no good and the similarities in the interview linked to above, saying: "The truth of that one is that design staff on The Matrix were given Invisibles collections and told to make the movie look like my books. This is a reported fact. The Wachowskis are comic book creators and fans and were fans of my work, so it's hardly surprising. I was even contacted before the first Matrix movie was released and asked if I would contribute a story to the website.

"It's not some baffling 'coincidence' that so much of The Matrix is plot by plot, detail by detail, image by image, lifted from Invisibles so there shouldn't be much controversy. The Wachowskis nicked The Invisibles and everyone in the know is well aware of this fact but of course they're unlikely to come out and say it."

[edit] Wagner's Parsifal

One of the real-world philosophers whose influence can be seen in the Matrix series is Arthur Schopenhauer (whose book Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung is glimpsed briefly in The Matrix Reloaded), who was also a major influence on the German author and composer Richard Wagner.^[1] There are a number of parallels between The Matrix and Wagner's Schopenhauerian opera Parsifal (1882)[3]:

• Both Parsifal and Neo are the subject of prophecies
• Both Parsifal and Neo are "awakened" by a woman's kiss
• Both Parsifal and Neo see through illusions to underlying reality
• Both Parsifal and Neo stop weapons in mid-flight
• Both Parsifal and Neo end up as Christ-like saviors

[edit] Cinematic

The Matrix reused some of the film sets from Dark City, a movie filmed shortly before that was similar in plot and style but was not yet released long enough to have influenced the movies as The Matrix had already entered post-production by the time Dark City was released theatrically. The Matrix incorporates many other cinematic influences, ranging from explicit homage to stylistic nuances, some of which have been acknowledged by the Wachowski brothers.^{[citation needed]}

Its action scenes use a physics-defying style drawn directly from martial arts films, integrating Hong Kong-style wire work and kung fu (under the guidance of Yuen Wo Ping). The hyper-active gun fights recall the work of directors such as John Woo and Ringo Lam, while the shot composition during the build-up to Neo's climactic duel with Agent Smith is reminiscent of clichés of Western films (featuring close-ups of hips and complete with modern-day tumbleweed).

In the film Total Recall (based on the short story We Can Remember It for You Wholesale by Philip K. Dick) Arnold Schwarzenegger's character is offered a red pill to return to reality, in precisely the same way that Neo is, while the action scenes of Strange Days take place in virtual reality. The premise of characters being trapped in a computer-generated world has also been used in the Red Dwarf novel Better Than Life, among others. The Matrix also uses a common science fiction setting in which a dystopian Earth has formed through a struggle between humanity and machinery or AI, in which a small human "resistance" must fight to save humanity.

In a less known fashion, The Matrix also draws heavily on inspiration from David Cronenberg's 1981 sci-fi movie Scanners. The concept of psychic fights is crucial in both movies ; and the hero in Scanners is actually able to talk to computers, using phone booths very much like in The Matrix . Most importantly, the black and green Matrix source code that has become the movie's trademark are literally the same as those in the end credits for Scanners. It is also worth noting that Agent Smith looks eerily like Michael Ironside, and that in both movies, psychic fights between good and evil end with exhanges of bodies but not of the minds.

The Wachowski brothers have cited Japanese animation as a strong source of inspiration; producer Joel Silver has stated that before making the first film, the Wachowskis showed him Ghost in the Shell^[2] and then stated "We wanna do that for real".^[3] The title sequence, the scene late in the movie where a character hides behind a column while pieces of it are blown apart by bullets, and a chase scene in a fruit market where bullets hit and burst watermelons, are practically identical to shots in Ghost in the Shell. There is a website that contains screenshots of similar scenes from both movies. Also, the movie borrows the idea of Ghost hacking, which was featured in the Ghost in the Shell movie.

Every scene occurring within the Matrix has a green tint applied to it, to add to an electronic, code-like feel.

Mitsuhisa Ishikawa of Production I.G., which produced Ghost in the Shell, has commented, "I think [the visuals] inspired the Wachowski brothers a lot. That's probably because cyberpunk films are very difficult to describe to a third person. I'd imagine that The Matrix is the kind of film that was very difficult to draw up a written proposal for to take to film studios. That's one of the reasons why they used the video of Ghost in the Shell, because our film had already gained a certain recognition in America at that time. They used it as a promotional tool because the visual quality was very high."^[4]

A scene near the end of the movie, in which Neo's breathing seems to buckle the fabric of reality in the corridor around him, as well as the "psychic children" scene in the Oracle's waiting room are evocative of similar scenes from the 1980s anime classic Akira.

The extremely fast martial arts seen in the fighting scenes, particularly in the massive "Burly Brawl" between Neo and the Agent Smith clones in The Matrix Reloaded are very similar to the martial arts style depicted in the Japanese anime Dragon Ball Z.

The general concept of a computer world that exists in connection to the real world is similar to the movie Tron as well as the anime series Serial Experiments Lain.

The franchise's close relationship with animé continued with The Animatrix.

[edit] Clothing

Trench coats and sunglasses play a significant role in the Matrix cinematic feel and have largely inspired a similar subculture. This style seems to be generally influenced by the descriptions of characters in 1980s cyberpunk fiction (in which mirrorshaded lenses were an especially prominent icon), and more particularly by the iconic wardrobe of Chow Yun-Fat in John Woo's classic film A Better Tomorrow. Furthermore, it can be noted that in the first matrix film, Smith's sunglasses were rectangular, and Neo's were round. In the second film, Agent Smith's sunglasses were a sort of round shape with more angles, suggesting a strong connection between character and sunglass shape. Viewers know whether a character or situation is being played out within the Matrix if central characters are wearing their characteristically dark clothing, complete with sunglasses of little use in the sunless realm of the real world. Sunglasses are worn whether it is day or night within the Matrix, adding to the sense of detachment from reality, the dark cyber atmosphere, and also the artificial, industrial environment that the characters live in. Symbolically, this may reflect the degree of vulnerability of the characters; many characters (Morpheus, Agent Smith) lose (or even break) their sunglasses during major battles, or discard them: a symbolic disposal of the tough, emotionless image.

Not all characters within the Matrix wear glasses, but as a general rule, the rebels wear sunglasses with rounded lenses, and adversaries such as Agents wear 'evil-looking' glasses with corners or angles. Notably, Cypher, the rebel who betrays Morpheus to the Agents, wears rectangular sunglasses, thus signifying his role as a "bad guy". Agent Smith's sunglasses change after his transformation in The Matrix Reloaded from the square Agent-style into lenses shaped similarly to the protein capsule of certain viruses. It is also notable that Agent Smith's sunglasses and Neo's look strikingly similar except for the jagged versus curved designs. The sunglasses used in this movie were custom-made on the set, although replicas are widely available. See the article about Agent Smith for the stylistic genealogy of the Agents.

Generally, secondary characters seem to follow the alternative fashion of the 1990s, particularly the Indie and Rasta subcultures. It should be noted that the Rasta look seems to be very common of the humans in Zion, if we consider the concept of Zion to be part of the Rastafari movement.

However, the practical reasoning behind the use of sunglasses in the filming on the movie is that the natural reaction of a person is to blink when the eye views the muzzle flash from a firearm. Sunglasses were used in the film so the audience does not see the actors blinking during gunfight scenes. The glasses also provided limited eye protection from the flying debris of the first movie's "Government Lobby" shootout.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Ethnicity

As seen in all three of the movies, the cast is multiethnic. Nonetheless, there is a particular angle to this which is interesting to explore with regard to the humans of the city of Zion. Most of the free-born people (as opposed to those who have been freed from The Matrix) here tend to be mixed-race. This aspect is rather accurate in depicting demographically what a small secluded population would be like. Racial diversity would progressively die out with inter-racial couples forming constantly. Another interesting example of this was portrayed by director Simon Wells in the 2002 remake of the movie The Time Machine, where the Eloi, the last surviving humans in a post-apocalyptic world, are all of a non-specific mixed-race.

[edit] Philosophy

Elements of philosophy, theology and ontology are heavily present in The Matrix. Students of Gnosticism will notice many of its themes touched upon. There are also many references to Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Christianity, with concepts of Maya, enlightenment, nirvana and rebirth.

References to Buddhism and Hinduism include the free will versus fate debate, the use of the Hindu mantras in the movie's soundtrack, perception, the concept of Karma and various ideas about the nature of existence. Maya is the world of separate objects and people, which creates for some the illusion that it is the only reality. The Indian influence in Matrix Revolutions was also heard in the rock version of Vedic chanting in its end credits.

A human-controlled underground city in the Matrix series is also called Zion (The Matrix) based on the land described in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). ^[5]

There have been several books and websites written about the philosophy of The Matrix. One of the major debates arising from the film is the philosophical question, is our world reality or is it merely an illusion which is billions of years old? Similar questions have also been raised in other science fiction films such as eXistenZ and The Thirteenth Floor (both of which were released the same year as The Matrix, receiving relatively less attention in box office sales and ratings), Total Recall, The Truman Show and Abre los ojos (remade as Vanilla Sky). This theory had also been developed by the philosopher Nick Bostrom, ^[6]

The Matrix follows all phases of the Campbellian monomyth arc with near-literal precision, including even minor details like the circular journey, the crucial battle happening underground, and even the three-headed immortal enemy (the three agents).

The character of the Oracle is strongly similar to that of the Oracle of ancient Greek legend. In particular, her warning to Neo that he is faced with a choice between saving his own life, or Morpheus' is very reminiscent of the warning that the Oracle gave to King Leonidas when setting out for the Battle of Thermopylae. In the Greek legend, she warns Leonidas that either his city will be left in ruins, or that a Spartan king must die, thus Leonidas is left with the choice of his own life or the survival of his city. It could be further argued that had Neo chosen to save his own life, Smith would have gained the access codes he needed from Morpheus and the city of Zion would have fallen. Thus, ultimately, Neo's choice was the same as that of Leonidas: his own life, or the fate of a city. Greek mythology also mentions Niobe, on which the nomanclature of Niobe (The Matrix) may have been based.

The ideas behind The Matrix have been explored in old philosophical texts on epistemology, such as Plato's allegory of the cave and Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy. In a well-known Solipsistic thought experiment, the subject is a brain in a vat of liquid; in the Matrix, Neo is a body in a vat. The idea of a choice whether or not to take the red pill and accept reality also resembles a famous thought experiment posed in the 1970s by American philosopher Robert Nozick.

Postmodern thought plays a tangible role in the movie. In an opening scene, Neo hides an illegal minidisk in a false copy of Jean Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulation, a work that describes modern life as a hyperreal experience of simulation based upon simulation. Interpretations of The Matrix often reference Baudrillard's philosophy to demonstrate that the movie is an allegory for contemporary experience in a heavily commercialized, media-driven society, especially of the developed countries. Nevertheless, Jean Baudrillard himself rejected the assimilation of his work with the Matrix series and refused to work with the Wachowskis[4].

The famous quote by Morpheus "pulled over our eyes to blind us from the truth" is a direct copy of Charles Peirce statement[5].

[edit] Marxism

Some academics have argued that the Matrix series is consistent with a Marxist analysis of society. Professor Martin Danahay and then PhD candidate David Rieder co-wrote a chapter of the book The Matrix and Philosophy, edited by William Irwin, in which they argue that the movie gives a visual image of Marx’s ideas, particularly in the scene where Morpheus tells new recruit Neo that the computers have reduced him to nothing more than a battery.

Being slaves to the machine, "[h]umans in The Matrix must produce electricity to run the machines that enslave them, just as workers in Marx’s analysis must produce surplus value through their work," Danahay explained. "Also, the rebels in the movie liberate Morpheus from an office, and they rescue Neo from his white-collar job. The rebels are trying to get workers to wake up and realize they are being exploited, which is one of Marx’s aims, too." ^[7].

Danahy and Rider also argue that rebellion against the machines' domination is an analogy for the modern-day workplace with the evil agents dressed like corporate executives, and Neo escaping from his cubicle to escape them. When he ambushes the evil agents later in the movie, they are in an office high-rise complete with impersonal decor. (Source: Arlington Star-Telegram, June 10, 2003).

Similarly, the Maoist International Movement has adopted the Matrix as one of its favourite films asserting that they "could not have asked for more in a two and a half hour Hollywood movie" and views it as an exercise in dialectics in which a new mode of production is explored, the "battery mode of production". ^[8]

There are also elements of conspiracy theories. Similar to John Carpenter's They Live, the Matrix is presented as the 'System', which secretly controls everything and which, according to the theorists, will eventually consume everyone. In the Matrix, high positions in companies and organisations are held only by those who are part of the System (programs, like Smith or Ramakandra). The Agents are those who uphold the 'order' and keep the 'conspiracy' safe, like the Men in Black of pop culture.

Furthermore, the city of Zion may be seen as a socialist city as it must be in order to allow the humans to survive. No form of money or commerce is ever seen, the public has access to food and facilities. The citizens share tasks and labor is volunteered as seen by Zee's shell making and no entity steals the labor of others. This could be seen as a form of primitive communism or possibly anarchist communism.

See also: the philosophy section of the Official Matrix website.

[edit] Science

Although sunlight could only dimly penetrate the atmosphere in the movie, it should be noted that the reason given in the movie for computers enslaving humans is unlikely from a thermodynamic (physical) point of view. Technically speaking you can at best only obtain the same amount of energy as you invest. The chemical energy required to keep a human being alive is vastly greater than the bio-electric or thermal energy that current technology could harvest. Human beings are not energy sources, but rather energy consumers. Using todays technology it would be vastly more effective to burn the organic matter to power a conventional electrical generator. The future view of organic energy is for secondary purposes. That would be feeding waste products to living organisms and then harvesting the converted bio-energy.

Today, we are improving and developing more practical power sources such as nuclear power, geothermal power, tidal power, fusion reactors or any other not yet imagined sources.

The use of these power sources is also more sensible from a military perspective; it does not make sense why the machines would use humans as a power source when there was a very real threat that humans could leave the Matrix and attack the machines. The machines could have wiped humans out completely, ending the constant war that had plagued Earth for centuries.

Some people have pointed out the possibility that the laws of thermodynamics could work differently in real life than in the Matrix (to make it harder for people to suspect they are being used as a power source), or that the machines have technology not yet imaginable by humans, and thus the known laws of science are impossible to apply in this situation (Morpheus mentions that the human power source is "combined with a form of fusion"). Another possibility is that of the exploitation of latent electrokinetic abilities in human beings as demonstrated by Neo's destruction of a Sentinel in The Matrix Reloaded. On the other hand, Morpheus speaks of physical laws like gravity applying both to the real world and within its simulation, and the scenes we see within the real world are certainly consistent with physical laws as we know them. Entropy, however, can't be the machines' invention, because if it did not exist in their world, or if the direction of energy flow was sometimes concentrated instead of dissipated, the machines either could not exist, or would not require a constant source of energy to operate, mutually exclusive to the idea that humans blocked most sunlight from Earth to cut them off from their primary source of power.

Critical fans have speculated that the machines were actually using the humans' brains as components in a massively parallel neural network computer, and that the characters were simply mistaken about the purpose. A massively parallel neural network computer based on human brains might also be more energy-efficient to run than equivalent computer components, solving the thermodynamic paradox associated with the use of human bodies over conventional electrical generators. The characters' error would then be reflected in the "Zion Historical Archive" of "The Second Renaissance". In fact, this was very close to the original explanation. Because the writers felt that non-technical viewers would have trouble understanding this explanation, they abandoned it in favor of the "human power source" explanation. The neural-network explanation, however, is presented in the film's novelization and Neil Gaiman's short story "Goliath", featured on the Matrix website and in the first volume of The Matrix Comics.

It is also established later in the trilogy that the machines and humans are interdependent for reasons more philosophical than technological.

[edit] See also

• Sigmund Freud
• Simulated reality

[edit] References