566: Matrix Revisited

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Matrix Revisited

Title text: I actually remember being entertained by both the sequels while in the theater. They just don't hold up nearly as well in later comparison.

Explanation

In the movie The Matrix, all of humanity lives in a computer simulation. Many years ago, robots took over the real world (not the simulation), and placed humans into the simulation while their body heat generated power for the robots. A few characters (Morpheus, male with glasses; Neo, male without glasses; and Trinity; female) have escaped from the Matrix, and are on a mission to free the human race from the robots. In this comic, a number of famous scenes from The Matrix have been parodied:

1. Morpheus wants to explain the Matrix to Neo, but says it can't be explained (you must see it for yourself to understand). In the comic, Trinity tells Morpheus that he is wrong, and the Matrix is in fact easy to explain.
2. Morpheus shows Neo two pills, one red and one blue, and tells Neo that he can either take the blue pill and wake up, never to hear about the Matrix again, or he can take the red pill and leave the Matrix, and "see how deep the rabbit hole goes" (a reference to "Alice in Wonderland"). In the movie, Neo takes the red pill, and is then briefed on what will happen to him by Morpheus. In the comic, he mixes the two pills (snorting them like cocaine) and winds up in a non-existent dimension.
3. Neo and Trinity must save Morpheus, so they obtain many guns and load them into trenchcoats. Neo is stopped at a security checkpoint in a building in the Matrix. A security guard tells him to remove any metallic items, such as keys, and place them in a bin, then walk through the scanner. In the movie, he opens his trenchcoat, revealing a myriad of weapons. In the comic, Neo opens his trenchcoat, and it is implied that he has no other clothing underneath, to which the guard replies, "eww."
4. There are two sequels to The Matrix, but they are widely regarded as inferior to the original, with some fans pretending they don't exist.

Transcript

Today was the ten-year anniversary of the release of "The Matrix". I sat down to watch it again.

Woman: Holy Fuck, ten years ago?

[Replay of various scenes from The Matrix.]

[Scene 1.]

Morpheus: Unfortunately, no one can explain what the matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.

Trinity: Sure you can. It's a computer simulation in which you live, thinking it's reality.

Neo: Oh.

Trinity (to Morpheus, who is glaring at her): ...What? Look, maybe you just suck at explaining.

[Scene 2.]

Morpheus (to Neo): ...Or you take the red pill, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.

[Neo takes BOTH pills from Morpheus.]

[Neo crushes both the red and blue pills into purple powder on a table top.]

[Neo snorts the purple powder.]

[Morpheus and Neo are shown upside down in a frame with inverted colors, i.e., black background with white lines.]

Morpheus: NOW look what you've done.

Neo: Where are we?

Morpheus: I have no idea.

[Scene 3.]

[Neo, wearing the long black trench coat, at a metal detector, is accosted by the security guard.]

Guard: Please remove any keys, metallic items, weapons-

[Neo opens his trench coat, his back to the reader, towards the guard, who is facing the reader. The reader can't see what Neo has under his coat.]

[Same scene as above, but side view: Neo, on the left, is opening his coat toward the guard, who is on the right. Nobody speaks.]

[Side view again.]

Guard: Eww.

[End of scene replays.]

[View of room, where three characters have obviously just finished watching The Matrix. Cueball is sitting on the floor nearest to the TV. Megan is sitting on the floor, farther from the TV. A friend is sitting on a chair, farthest from the TV.]

Cueball: I forgot how good that movie was.

Friend: Wanna put on the other two?

[Cueball has turned to face Woman. They exchange looks without speaking.]

[View of room, which is now empty, as is the chair.]

Crash Wham

Friend: Ow! Ow!

[Cueball and Megan are back in the room, but the chair is still empty. Friend is nowhere to be seen.]

Cueball: I forgot how good that movie was.

Megan: Too bad they never made any sequels.

Cueball: True.

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Discussion

In panel #9, the characters are upside-down and the colors are inverted. Films are produced on negatives, which invert the colors, and are threaded through the projector upside-down (the lens turns the image right-side-up again when projected). This could mean that, instead of merely being in a "non-existent dimension," the characters have gone WAY out of the Matrix and now see themselves to be what they truly are: images on film. (If this was Randall's intention, he might have made it more clear by including the sprocket holes.) Shanek (talk) 12:08, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

Regardless of the lack of sprocket holes, I think this is an excellent insight and I will add it to the explanation. 108.162.219.223 00:41, 11 January 2014 (UTC)

I believe that, if one were to take both the red and blue pills, they would wake up the next morning with no memory of the encounter, then they would be removed from the matrix.HisHighestMinion (talk) 20:47, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

Panels 12-13 could also suggest that Neo can't comply with the "please remove any metallic items" instruction because he has metal balls. Saibot84 (talk) 08:35, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

The opposite of what I replied to Shanek. 108.162.219.223 00:41, 11 January 2014 (UTC)

I wonder if the sequel bit implies of how the entire movie is supposed to make you just accept things as they are no matter how messed up, and people voluntarily ignore the existence of the sequels, which is the exact opposite of the philosophy that the movie encourages. AndyZ

Actually the Matrix was all about remaking the originals.

Something Holywoodland does every 5 or 10 years. They can even slip history 80 to 120 degrees west if they think the audience is really stupid.

I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait (talk) 15:05, 30 January 2015 (UTC)

Can someone explain panel #16? What exactly is happening offstage here? 108.162.221.93 23:04, 21 June 2015 (UTC)

Ostensibly the two people are inflicting violence upon the person who suggested putting the other two Matrix movies on (hence why his seat is empty in the last panel). He probably should have just stuck with The Second Renaissance. -Pennpenn

108.162.250.162 06:51, 10 August 2015 (UTC)

Since I don't know how to add wikipedia links, could someone link to the wiki page on exhibitionism for that 'flashing' part? I feel like it should be added. -- Prongs95 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Pink powder? I thought red and blue make purple! (It does look purple to me)173.245.54.20 19:38, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

Looks like magenta to me, which is the result of full red and full blue in the RGB color space.162.158.72.89 22:13, 26 May 2016 (UTC)

Was there a decision concerning TvTropes vs AllTheTropes? I remember that there was a discussion of which one should be used 173.245.54.77 00:05, 27 May 2016 (UTC)

So the 20 years just passed. Seems a little bit less futuristic now, but still awesome. --Lupo (talk) 12:55, 23 April 2019 (UTC)

Why is the paragraph about 1978: Congressional Testimony included in this explanation. It does not seem to be relevant. 108.162.212.161 23:07, 10 December 2019 (UTC)

It is a quite weak link, I agree. I personally would put it into trivia, and also do a link of the comics the other way round. 1978 doesn't mention this one at all. --Lupo (talk) 07:10, 11 December 2019 (UTC)