The Matrix - Entering the Construct

The Matrix is a cyberpunk sci-fi classic written, produced and directed by the Wachowskis. A young man named Neo, by day a computer programmer, by night a hacker, is eager to find out more about the elusive “Morpheus”. Upon meeting Morpheus, Neo faces a terrible truth – that the world he knows is simply a simulation, and humanity is an enslaved energy source for artificial intelligence. Further, he is considered to be “The One”, the man prophesied to bring an end to the Matrix and free humanity from the machines.

Welcome aboard the Nebuchadnezzar, named after the biblical king who had a dream he couldn’t interpret. Much like Neo, he searched for an answer, only to be faced with an uncomfortable truth. The world as he knew it would soon end, with another civilisation rising to power. Several empires would fall before God would create an everlasting kingdom. The hovercraft represents the pinnacle of human innovation, which we are told was overthrown by the machines. Many versions of the Matrix emerged and collapsed, but with The One, there was hope of a new, eternal peace. Who is “The One?” Well, this plaque gives us a clue – Mark 3:11 states “Whenever the impure spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, ‘You are the Son of God.’” We are repeatedly told that Neo is The One, but this isn’t the only similarity he has with Jesus. Neo’s coming is foretold in a prophecy, his waking from his pod is reminiscent of the Virgin Birth, and his death and resurrection enable him to fulfil his role as the saviour of humanity.

Just as Neo embodies the Son, Morpheus represents the Father, the source of wisdom, guidance, and salvation. Additionally, his name is a direct reference to the Greek God of dreams, who not only sculpts dreams but also communicates through them. Finally, completing the trio, the aptly-named Trinity encapsulates the Holy Spirit, as only through the Spirit could Jesus be resurrected.

Upon entering the Construct, a hand gesture is briefly shown – originally this was a Christian symbol of the Holy Trinity, but is now widely recognised as the Illuminati triangle. This may have been included as both a link to Christianity and a reference to the Illuminati’s ideals of total control over the masses, foreshadowing the message Morpheus is about to share with Neo.

Subtle clues link the Construct to the Matrix, solidifying our understanding that the Matrix isn’t real. While in the program, Morpheus and Neo are dressed in green and black, the same colours as the program’s code. In fact, any time the group are in a false world, the scenes are colour-graded green to appear more artificial. Conversely, scenes in the “real world” have a blue tint, to form a more realistic, though cold and unfriendly, atmosphere. Morpheus is also wearing his iconic sunglasses – a form of protection from the Agents. Sunglasses evoke a sense of anonymity, which is vital to survival within the Matrix, and these highly reflective lenses mirror how we see the world around us. Alice in Wonderland is heavily referenced throughout the film, and mirrored sunglasses really bring another meaning to the phrase “through the looking glass”.

The first objects of note in the Construct are two chairs - the very same ones Morpheus and Neo sit in when they first meet. The replication of these chairs is not only an indication to Neo that the Matrix is both fabricated and malleable, but a sign to the audience of the futility of pursuing wealth and status. The lions symbolise sovereignty and power, creating an image of a seat of glory. In their time, these ornate chairs would have been expensive, but now they are old, tattered remnants of a lost civilisation. Money has no worth in this new world.

The choice of TV was also no accident. “Deep Image” poetry seeks to explore deeper ideas that may be beyond our consciousness. This Deep Image TV from the mid-1950s is used to show Neo the reality that, until now, was beyond his consciousness. The fact that Morpheus enters the Construct to show Neo footage of the real world encourages the audience to look deeper, especially when they are then shown to be inside that footage. Why didn’t he just show Neo the real world outside the ship? Is this “reality” shown inside the Construct even a reality? This is just one of many of the film’s subtle nods to the idea that the “real world” we are introduced to may be another Matrix in itself. A dream within a dream. Just how deep does this image go?

The Matrix was heavily inspired by the book Simulacra and Simulation written by philosopher Jean Baudrillard. Baudrillard explores the ideas of a simulacrum – something that replaces reality with its representation, and hyperreality, where we are unable to distinguish between reality and simulation. In fact, sometimes the line between them is so blurred that the simulation becomes the reality. Here, the Matrix itself is the simulacrum, and is symbolic of the hyperreal world we live in. We accept TV soaps as a largely accurate representation of reality, our standards of beauty have become unattainable with the rise of Instagram models, and we invest so heavily into fictional characters that they feel real, to us at least. Here we hit the heart of postmodernism – our individual truths are just as valid, just as real as anyone else’s. The prominent representations of the world around us have become so ingrained into society that the reality in which they are based is crumbling away. The true world has become a barren wasteland, a forgotten world left to decay. Neo finds himself awakened to this reality, while the rest of humanity sleeps, blissfully unaware, in their simulacrum.

The first shot here opens on the eyes – the window to the soul. It starts with a baby, the smallest, most innocent representation of humanity, then widens to show the machines farming multitudes of people. The dirty pods allude to the decay of humanity’s collective womb. Natural, organic processes have become obsolete, and man’s sovereignty has ended. Once a society driven by consumerism, we are now, ironically, the products.

In 1999, the internet was new, and technology was rapidly evolving, faster than people could contend with. This led to the fear of the “millennium bug” where the world’s computer systems would purportedly malfunction upon entering the year 2000, causing unimaginable chaos. Preying on those fears, the first machines we see are spiders, crawling over the unborn children in their pods. We briefly see larger robots transporting the pods with long, mechanical arms, reminiscent of the tripods from H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds, one of the earliest and most iconic sci-fi stories.

The design of these robots and their mechanical domain is a stark contrast to the sleek, minimalist spaceships shown in Star Trek, the Death Star of Star Wars, and the vibrant colours of Tron. The Matrix shows its audience the potential for a dark, gritty dystopia. With each human battery encased in thick, black metal and endless mud-covered cables, this apocalyptic world invokes images of cyborgs from Terminator, or even the sinewy flesh of the creature seen in Alien. This mirrors another major influence: Ghost in the Shell, an animated movie which also deals with concepts such as reality and what it is to be human or machine. In fact, many sequences in the Matrix, especially fight scenes, are directly copied from Ghost in the Shell, as is the green text forming the Matrix’s code.

Another key impact on the cyberpunk aesthetic was the artist behind the graphic novel, Hard Boiled. The Wachowskis were so captivated by Geof Darrow’s artistic style that they actually hired him to consult on the set design for this mechanically driven dystopia of a “real world”. Together they ended up creating a storyboard for the entire movie before production.

The power and dangerous nature of artificial intelligence was partially inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey, where a machine gained sentience and overthrew his human masters. The concept of slavery and the resulting power struggle is not a new one, but the Matrix has expanded on the story of a robot uprising and flipped the narrative yet again as we watch Neo revolt against the machines. The humans were the oppressors, became the oppressed, and rose again to regain control. In the 1927 sci-fi classic, Metropolis, the underclass work to operate the machines that power the city for the wealthy. A robot is given a human likeness in order to infiltrate the workers and prevent a rebellion. Similarly, the Matrix agents are given a human disguise, allowing them to avoid suspicion while hunting down those who know too much. They dare not risk being discovered as it would jeopardise the entire purpose of the Matrix – to “distract and pacify the masses.” Guy Debord said this when talking about his notion of the Spectacle, the relationship between people and the media. Just as the Matrix manipulates its victims, so too does the commodifiable nature of our capitalist society. The Matrix is not just an entertaining film about realism, but also a commentary on how we, in our hyperreal worlds surrounded by adverts and manipulated media, have become fuel for the ruling elite. We buy what we’re told to buy, say what we’re told to say, and value what we’re told to value. We are in our own Matrix.