The Matrix is pretty obviously is a science fiction film because it takes place in the future, new technologies, and the threat of robots taking over the world and killing all the humans. A few other notable science fiction films to come out in 1999 include Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, The Mummy, The Iron Giant, Galaxy Quest, eXistenZ, and Bicentennial Man. In this image from the film a sentinel is cutting into their ship with a laser beam. The fear of the “unknown” is a common theme in science fiction films, and this theme is central in The Matrix.
The reason I said before that this film would be put off as another B-Movie if it was made during another time is because all the themes in the movie were all happening and being dealt with in real life during those times. The idea that computers would crash and we would be sent back to the Stone Age was a big deal in the late nineties. We started to realize how reliant we were on computers, and realized the unknown that came with that. The Matrix took that idea and ran with it. In the film the computers have become so powerful that humans now live in a fake world and without them ever knowing they are turning into batteries for the robots.
The overall feeling of the film is pretty dark, and the mise-en-scene reflects that. The matrix world is always pretty bright and shot during the day time, but when the go back to the real world and on the ship, it is always very dark and the contrast reflects the film makers views on the impending turn of the millennium. It shows how the computers world is bright and good, and the real human world is very dark, dangerous, and just a place we would rather not be. “The narration therefore indicates that the sight of unearthly phenomena no longer elicits the reverence and wonder of ‘biblical times’, but suspicion and fear.” (1) Cornea is talking about War of the Worlds but this idea relates to The Matrix as well. Even though there are many biblical references in the film, with computers controlling everything, it takes out the whole possibility that god exists.
The Wachowski brothers directed the film and they also made V for Vendetta and Speed Racer. The Matrix was their first movie and they seem to try and stay in the science fiction genre. In “Science Fiction Cinema” Cornea talks about the effect Metropolis had on the genre, “Metropolis had a huge impact on science fiction that followed…” (1) The Matrix could be talked about in the same way, after this film the genre would never be the same. The bullet time camera effect has been used to death already.
The Matrix is a film that very directly reflects the happenings of the time in which it was made. If it was made in a different time it would not have done nearly as well simply because no one would be able to relate to it. As it were, it dealt with the new millennium and the fear of how much we rely on computers and technology.
(1) Cornea, Christine. Science Fiction Cinema. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press 2007
