Matrix Musings.

Hobbes · 22-09-1999 1:34pm #1

Carrie-Anne Moss (Trinity) played Liz Teel in the TV series "Matrix" (1993).

In the first minutes of the film during the scene in which Trinity is chased by one of the agents and she leaps from one house to the next, an advertisement saying "GUNS" can be seen on the second building. The gun pictured in the ad is exactly of the same make and model (Israeli Military Industries' Desert Eagle) as the guns used by all agents during the film.

In the movie Higher Learning (1995), Laurence Fishburne's first sentence was: "Welcome to the real world."

Cypher is a play on the name Lucifer - the devil.

As Neo runs through the old lady's apartment near the end of the film, we see an image on the TV of a menacing man in a black suit coat. The image is that of one of the Number 2's from the TV show "Prisoner, The" (1967).

When Neo is calling to get extracted from the Matrix, he says, "Mr. Wizard get me out of here," a reference to the 1960's cartoon Tooter Turtle. Each episode, Tooter would yearn to be something he wasn't and have his friend Mr. Wizard (a lizard) wave his magic wand and make him an astronaut or a scientist or whatever. Inevitably, Tooter would quickly get himself into trouble and call out "Help Mr.Wizard," and the lizard would intone "Drizzle, drazzle, druzzle, drome, time for this one to come home." Tooter would be transported back to his old self and be chided by Mr. Wizard to "be happy with what you are."

The glyphs on the computer screens, with the exception of the call traces, consists of reversed letters, numbers, and Japanese katakana characters.

All of the references to street corners (i.e. Wells and Lake) are real intersections in Chicago, USA, the Wachowski brothers' hometown. The subway train has signs for "Loop," another Chicago reference. The film however is quite obviously not set in Chicago or any other real city (though it was filmed in Sydney).

Neo produces a computer disk from a book titled "Simulacra and Simulation," an actual work of critical theory that deals with issues of what is "real" and what is "simulation or simulacra." When Neo opens the book, he opens to the chapter, "On Nihilism."

Inside the Nebuchadnezzar there is a brief shot of a plaque with the ship's name, above which it says "Mark 3 no. 11." The Biblical verse Mark 3:11 is, "And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out saying, `You are the Son of God.'"

Check out the room numbers for Trinity and Neo. When the cops bust in on Trinity in the opening scene the number is 303 ("trinity," 3) and since Neo is The One the number of his apartment is 101.

Coincidentally (or not), Matrix, Trinity, Morpheus, 303 and 101 are all makes and/or models of music synthesizer.

Almost every line spoken by Neo's "customer" in the beginning of the film ("You're my savior," "You don't exist," etc.) is foreshadowing.

When Neo is meeting with the Oracle, the music playing in the background in her apartment is Duke Ellington's "I'm Beginning to See the Light," a reference to Neo's continued awakening.

When the traitor meets with agent "Smith," we learn that his name is Reagan. He says he wants to be someone important, maybe an actor, and that he wants to "remember nothing"! Sound familiar?

In the Oracle's waiting room, the television is showing Night of the Lepus (1972).

Names of people and objects have historical significance, all related to dreams and illusions. For example, "Morpheus" (film character) was named for the Greek god of sleep and dreams; and "Nebuchadnezzar" (hovercraft in film) was a biblical king who was visited by troubling dreams.

Neo is an anagram for One.

Anderson means "Son of Man," as Jesus is often called.

[This message has been edited by Hobbes (edited 22-09-99).]

TwoShedsJackson · 22-09-1999 2:13pm

And?

I mean Tooter Turtle, like, er what the fu<k. There is such a thing as too much research And such a thing as WAY too much time on your hands Hobbes

I mean, it's a kickass film, we all know that, and anyone with any passing interest in mythology could pick up the Morpheus references and so on, not to mention the constant religous allegories. But it really boils down to GUNS!! LOTS OF THEM!!! PLUS WALKING ON THE WALLS AND STOPPING BULLETS IN MIDAIR!!! AND THE HELICOPTER MINIGUN BIT!!! Make it go BOOM!!!!!!

Man that film ruled the Universe