The Matrix Movie Analysis

The Matrix film is a 1999 American science fiction action movie written and directed by The Wachowskis’, it is unique and intriguing hence it is known for popularizing a visual effect known as "bullet time", in which the heightened perception of certain characters is represented by allowing the action within a shot to progress in slow-motion while the camera's viewpoint appears to move through the scene at normal speed. In the film there several crucial perspectives of how the world is viewed and some of these being the concepts of two different worlds that are in contrast with one another, this essay shall explore more of these ideas and issues that are portrayed in the film by means of sequence analysis, film form and style.

Christopher Nolan is credited as being an illusionist in the way that he directs his films. Inception and The Prestige are two of his films that will keep you pausing and rewinding for the duration while you try to keep up with the complex story lines and mind bending conclusions. Both films share a dark and sinister vibe,putting them amongst the neo noir genre of films, and The Prestige being set in an ominous, turn of the century London, and Inception based around extracting thoughts from the depth of minds it is no wonder they follow such shadowy themes.

When humans created artificial intelligence, the machines believed they were superior than humans and rebelled. They survived by imprisoning the humans, thus believing that their lifestyle and culture was superior to the humans. This “slavery” of the humans is similar to the slavery that happened in the nineteenth century, where some people believed they were superior to others. Once the machines in the movie believed they did not need to labor to the humans.

The matrix, as presented in the eponymous film, operates as an Althusserian Ideological State Apparatus (ISA). The Matrix1 presents a world in which "the state [as] a 'machine' of repression" is made literal where robots rule the land (Althusser 68). It is true that they rule by force (sentinels and agents) and these constitute the Repressive State Apparatus, but their primary force of subjugation is the matrix, their ISA. The film traces the path of one man, Neo, in his painful progress from the ideology of the matrix to the "real world," or the ideology of the "real."2

The storyline of the movie throws audiences immediately into the mystery behind “the matrix” from an objective person’s perspective. Neo, or Mr. Anderson as the evil Agents call him, is searching for an answer to a question he’s looked for all his life. He wants to know “what is the matrix?” Neo later learns from two new mysterious friends that the matrix is “the world pulled over your eyes.” In time,

The Matrix, written and directed by Lary and Andy Wachowski, is a 1999 science-fiction action film that has been regarded as one of the most igneous and highly imaginative films of all time. It depicts the complex story of a dystopian future in which the reality perceived by most human beings is actually a simulated one created by AI machines who use the suppressed humans as energy sources. Though the main characters of the story have freed themselves from the matrix, one character named Cypher (a.k.a. Mr. Reagan) regrets learning the truth and wants to return back to the dream world. Cypher is an example of antagonist Agent Smith's belief that "as a species, human beings define their reality through misery and suffering" as he believes

They are literally imprisoned by the program; plugged in like a socket. The disruption of natural order in the world has stifled nearly the maturation of the human species. Neo is shocked when Morpheus reveals the true condition of the planet, “There are fields, endless fields where human beings are no longer born. We are grown.” Technology has annihilated their nature habitat and replaced it with their mechanical breed. Through the war against AI and humans, machinery replaced natural resources and Earth became a barren wasteland. This is a slow building mimic of the world today. Machines and technology control the natural resources in the world: water flow, electricity, and natural gas. If and when there is a major failure, society has become so dependent upon the technology that controls these resources that the result would be catastrophic.

The main plot of The Matrix is that Artificial Intelligence has taken over humanity. These human-created machines now harvest humans in crops in order to provide energy for them to survive. It is known that the human body cannot survive without the mind, so the Artificial Intelligence has designed a computer-generated world in which the human mind can live and survive. This computer-generated world is known as the Matrix. "It is a computerized simulation of life as we know it, or we imagine we know it. What the movies postulates is a version of virtual reality so vast and tentacular as to encompass the entire globe."3 The story line of this film suggests that humans are not really living a "real" life. It suggests that no human has every used their eyes, ears, muscles, or any other sense. As Laurence Fishburne’s character, Morpheus, puts it; "the matrix is a computer-generated dream world built to keep us under control, in order to change a human being into [a battery]."4 Realizing that the main characters of this film are a few of the only humans functioning in the real world as we know it now, there must be some form of artificially created authority. These authority figures are known as agents and the main agent in

Millions of people flock to the movie theater year after year on a quest to be entertained. Even a mediocre movie has the ability to take the audience to another place, escaping the realities of their own life, even if for just a few short hours. Some movies are simply pure entertainment. And then, there are those movies that provoke conversation long after the film has been viewed. Despite the popularity of the recent films The Hunger Games and Divergence, the dystopian theme in film is not a new one. The Matrix shows a society where humans exist without any freedom. The film, not only entertaining but thought provoking as well, paints a world with two different dimensions, a world very much like today’s when the film is closely examined. The Matrix questions the benefit of technology and influence over society.

For thousands of years man has tried to determine what is fact and what is fiction in the world. The Matrix movie conveys what man has been trying to do in a cinematic masterpiece. The creator’s main influences to making The Matrix were Karl Marx and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave (Who Inspired). Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto tries to highlight the social inequalities that have occurred during the industrial revolution between man and machine while Plato’s Allegory of the Cave tries to help inform people that they need to become more self-aware of their oppressors. The film The Matrix combines these two ideas into one experience.

In The Matrix, many themes contribute to the greatness of this film. The theme of freedom is expressed in many ways. When Neo takes the red pill instead of the blue pill he had set himself free from the Matrix, a simulation designed to keep humans trapped so machines can use them as batteries; this shows that Neo chooses the harder path of freedom rather than the easier, yet ignorant path of imprisonment. Another example is when Neo dies at the end of the film and his mind has not been set free and he is still being restricted to the things he could do in the Matrix, but when Neo brings himself back, his mind has been completely freed and he became capable of inhumane things, such as being able to move at incredible speeds and being able to stop bullets in midair. Another theme in The Matrix is the theme of man versus machine, which is portrayed all throughout the film. A battle breaks out between the machines and the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar, a hovercraft that the crew uses in the real world, but for the crew to stay alive, they need to use an EMP, but they cannot

In contrast to a utopia, according to the power point provided in class a dystopia is “an imaginary place where people live dehumanized and often fearful lives.” The movies The Matrix, 1999 and Avatar, 2009 overall seem to me as dystopian films. To show how each film portrays the different aspects of perspectives on the future, and a dystopia, I’m going to use the settings, actions, and outcomes of each film.

The Matrix is a film about the enslavement of humankind by artificial intelligence, sentient beings, with mechanical bodies, created by people to service humanity, and the discovery of a person, Neo, that possesses abilities that can defeat the Artificial Intelligence and manumit humanity. The majority of human beings have their consciousness/minds trapped within the Matrix, a computer simulated world in which their minds are born, live in, and die, while their bodies are connected to it via cerebral connection but, remain in a dormant slumber and are never used. While they are connected to the matrix, their bioelectricity is harvested, powering the artificial intelligence. Neo, with the help of Morpheus (the leader in the resistance

The film “The Prestige” is one of many masterful Nolan films that walks the line between being a meta film about the film industry, and being focused on immersing the audience in the actual content of the film. At a close inspection, comparisons to the film industry can be seen, but they are not so obvious to distract the audience from the central conflicts that are at the forefront of the film. The subject of the film could most easily be defined as surrounding the topics of obsession or fame. More specifically, the obsession of fame, and the illusion of happiness that fame projects. The main characters of the movie both urn for the fame of being the world’s most successful entertainer, even if for different reasons.