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Jacob Sundeen Robert O Connor English 333: Fantasy and Science Fiction 25 October 2011 Bending the Spoon: The Effect of The Matrix on American Filmmaking How would you like to be a slave to your toaster? How about your laptop? Probably not very much, and if my computer ever showed the slightest sign of attempting to assume control, then I would promptly ctrl+alt+delete it back into submission. This idea of societys machines usurping their human masters has been a common theme in the science fiction genre since Jack Williamsons The Humanoids, and, consequently, this is the driving concept behind the Wachoswki brothers 1999 sci-fi/action movie The Matrix taken at its most basic level: Machines (and, most specifically, artificial intelligence) have assumed control of the entire human population, trapping our bodies in unpleasant, ooze-filled pods, and harvesting our body heat for their own energy all while we inhabit a computer rendition of 1999 society, blissfully unaware that we are actually laying in giant vats of fluid. The story is incredibly sophisticated and layered for an action flick, featuring philosophical-heavy ideology and overt religious parallels to Christianity, but Ill cut to the chase: What results is a lot of slow motion bullets, kung-fu fist cuffs, trippy explosions, an extremely high body count, some clever one-liners, and a wardrobe mainly limited to black leather, trench coats, and sunglasses; nothing we havent seen in an action flick before, right? Wrong: nothing we havent (mostly) seen in an action flick before 1999, before The Matrix redefined the action genre. The Matrix has left in its wake an immovable legacy that includes many would-be imitators and films that have inevitably drawn

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from the science-fiction masterpiece just as it drew from past films and texts itself. Nothing is completely original anymore; everything borrows from something to an extent, and this isnt necessarily a bad thing: The best always steal from the best. One-liners and indestructible badass heroes have always been a staple of the action film genre (note: see any Schwarzenegger movie to date), but The Matrix changed the game completely with the concept of bullet time: the process of slowing down the action so that even the bullets crawl across the camera in a special-effects splendor. Seeing Neo gracefully bend impossibly backwards to avoid an Agents gunfire or seeing Trinity do her signature kick as the camera rotates 360 degrees around her for the first time had an indescribable effect on many audience members and critics alike, and its true, sometimes something that groundbreaking cannot be replicated. This technique, while incredibly innovative at the time of its inception, has become an almost expected and clich technique of the modern action movie which, as a result, has left todays action genre oversaturated with bullet time sequences almost to the point of parody. In fact, many movies, including Scary Movie, Charlies Angels, and Shrek, all utilize bullet time (the ones mention specifically copy the Trinity kick) for comedic effect to varying degrees of success. However, what eventually results is that the parody becomes a parody of itself: One gag can only go on for so long. In more serious action movie fare, its hard to dissociate any bullet time scene from copying The Matrix, and most movies that boast the most original and innovative action sequences ever! come off as feigned attempts at originality rather than the real thing. One of the most evident examples of this is the movie Equilibrium. Released a mere three years after the first Matrix, the movie was seemingly a near carbon copy of The Matrix: In a bleak, technological oppressive futuristic society, a leather-clad, trench coat-wearing badass hero with

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the ability to utilize bullet time (called gun-kata in this movie) fights to free himself and others from a metaphorical prison of the mind. Sounds familiar, doesnt it? The movies cover even contained the arrogant claim: Forget The Matrix! This movie will blow you away!, so it obviously knows its audience and what movie it is drawing its inspiration from. Unfortunately for Equilibrium, its story paled in comparison to the theological weight of The Matrix despite its beautifully-orchestrated action. Similarly, the gothic-action movie Underworld released a year later in 2003 displays similar influences from The Matrix. Unlike Equilibrium, Underworld does not share much in common with the story elements in The Matrix, but the aesthetics of the protagonist and the direction of the action are clearly linked (see pictured images). Selene, the main protagonist of Underworld (pictured far left), is nearly indistinguishable from Trinity of Matrix fame (pictured on right): both don tight, leather-clad outfits and both are incredibly proficient at ass-kicking. To top things off, the action in Underworld relies heavily on bullet time sequences making this movie akin to The Matrix plus vampires. The story may differ dramatically between the two movies, but a general concept is not lost in translation: both feature a secret world hidden from the main protagonist (the Matrix in The Matrix and the society of Vampires and Lycans in Underworld) in which the main male protagonist is eventually introduced to in a violent fashion. And as it so happens, both Selene and Trinity are the characters that serve as the harbingers of this secret world to their

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respective male counterparts. Equilibrium and Underworld are just two examples of how the action genre has been heavily influenced by The Matrix. There are countless more examples of movies that exhibit such influence and not just in terms of story and special effects but in action choreography as well. Action in your typical Western movie usually consists of the leading characters engaging in fights that are roughly the equivalent of two wild bison ramming into each other (once again: see any Schwarzenegger movie to date). This style of action stood in stark contrast with the elaborate fight choreography being crafted for martial arts extravaganzas in the East by directors such as John Woo. Executive producer of The Matrix Barrie Osborne comments on this difference between Western and Eastern fight choreography: Most American stunt work uses rams or pneumatics to project a person through the air at a certain speed. With wire-stunt work, the stunts are far more controlled and very stylized. It's almost like puppeteering, but using a real person. It takes tremendous skill and finesse" (Godoski). Inspired by Japanese anime such as Ghost in the Shell, the Wachowski brothers wanted to capture this elegant violence of the East and so they hired Woo-Ping, famed Chinese director and martial arts choreographer, to train their lead actors. Their vision paid off: The action scenes in The Matrix are some of the most iconic scenes ever crafted in cinema from Morpheus and Neo training in the dojo room to Neo and Agent Smiths duel in a subway station. Hollywood now had a new standard for action fare and that belonged to The Matrix. Westerners wanted to see more of this fluid, stylized, and over-the-top form of action, so next came the imitators: Blade 2, Night Watch, Ultraviolet, Aeon Flux, Serenity, The One, Rush Hour 2, Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever, The Transporter, Wanted and many more including, once again, Underworld and Equilibrium. Wanted and Night Watch stick out noticeably from the

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aforementioned group, not only because they are both from the same director Timur Bekmambetov, but because they both exhibit a visual style very reminiscent of The Matrix from the stylistic breaking of glass, the slowed-down bullet ballets, and the over-the-top kung-fu duels. The problem with many of the modern imitators is that in their attempt to essentially do better than the action feats accomplished in The Matrix, they often employ a heavy use of computer-generated effects which, ultimately, reduces the effectiveness of the action. Take for example The Matrix Reloaded: It was a direct sequel to the first in

the series, and it is often ironically accused of being a Matrix imitator. The directors clearly wanted to top the action scenes in the first movie, and in some respects, they succeeded (the brilliant weapon room brawl that segues to the highway chase is one of the best action scenes ever put to film). However, they succeeded only when they kept to using real world techniques such as wire stunts and not the digital cop-out, but in their attempts to make everything bigger and better, they took the easy way out and used a lot of computer-generated effects (see picture on the top right as opposed to the image on the bottom left). Computer-generated effects, while holding the potential to broaden a directors artistic vision, immediately detach the viewer to some extent from the proceedings. The sole use of wiring and real stunts in the first Matrix kept the fight still somewhat grounded in reality and gave the combat a more visceral feeling that was,

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ultimately, more memorable. Imitators, including its sequels, need to remember this most important lesson from The Matrix. The Wachowskis dystopian cyberthriller is, as declared by Entertainment Weekly, the most influential action movie of its generation (Vary), and action movies have not been the same since and probably never will be. Current films continue to draw heavily on themes and stylistic approaches from The Matrix including Inception, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, TRON: Legacy, and even the upcoming sci-fi thriller, In Time. Thats not to say that The Matrix isnt without its influences because, as mentioned earlier, the greatest texts draw on the great texts before them. The Wachowski brothers have explicitly stated the Japanese anime Ghost in the Shell served as major inspiration for the ideas driving their film, and the works of William Gibson, Phillip K. Dick, and Jack Williamson undoubtedly held some influence as well. Dark City was released a year before The Matrix, and its ideas on the perception of reality served as a precursor, in many respects, to the Wachowski brothers film. Despite these influences, the main underlying philosophy of The Matrix is in striking accordance with Platos Allegory of the Cave. Platos idea that people are prisoners to their own false perceptions of reality is exactly what the premise of The Matrix is bringing into question: What is reality? What is my identity? There is no spoon, Neo is told by a boy in the office of the Oracle as he contemplates who he really is: Is he Mr. Anderson, Neo, or the One? What is more real: the computer-generated world of the Matrix or the barren wasteland of the real world? How do I know what to accept as real, as reality? These are the questions that the science fiction genre often poses us, but The Matrix already knows its identity: It stands as one of the crowning achievement in science fiction and American filmmaking.

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Works Cited Godoski, Andrew. Under the Influence: The Matrix. Screened.com. Screened, n.d. Web. 12 May 2011. < http://www.screened.com/news/under-the-influence-thematrix/2218/?page=2&sort=first> Vary, Adam B. The Matrix: A Groundbreaking Cyberthriller. Ew.com. EW, Entertainment Weekly Inc. Web. 01 April 2011. < http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20478022,00.html>