Films and TV

The Matrix and its Inspirations

Virtually everyone I’ve talked to has seen The Matrix (Andy/Larry Wachowski, 1999) however few of them have read William Gibson’s Neuromancer, which in my opinion is one of the film’s biggest influences. In fact, when you look at the two in comparison to each other, Neuromancer does a lot better in many regards, so much so that it’s a shame the film, due in 2009, is not being given the lavish budget it deserves. Looking at the two alongside each other:

The Matrix

1. Neo is a washed up hacker, in danger of losing his job and with few prospects - he leads a double life and is introduced to the ‘Matrix’ by a leather clad woman named Trinity.

2. People exist in the The Matrix, a virtual reality designed to mimic real life, where sensory perceptions are simulated yet indistinguishable from those in the real world.

 

3. The biggest problem is Artificial Intelligence; humanity is enslaved by it and those who are free actively resist it.

4. Trinity is a trained killer, a warrior with trained reactions and experience with weaponery; she is romantically involved with Neo, the protagonist. She dresses in black and often wears leather and mirror shades.

5. Bullet time is used to show percieved time and almost instantaneous reactions.

6. Zion is the last human city - the refuge of the only humans not enslaved by artificial intelligence.

7. Neo makes a deal with the Artificial Intelligences - to end the life of Smith in return for the freedom of humanity.

8. Neo dies while in the Matrix, but miraculously comes back to life.

9. ‘Agents’ are artificial intelligences coded specifically for the purpose of protection against freed humans, inside the matrix

Neuromancer

1. Case is a washed up hacker, whose former employers burned his ability from him with a Russian Micotoxin. He meets a leather clad woman named Molly, who introduces him to a man who can repair the damage to his nervous system.

2. Users jack in to a sensory representation of cyberspace; they interface with it in a percieved physical sense. ‘Simstim’ allows users to jack into the sensory system of another individual, experiencing the world through their eyes (and ears, and touch…)

3. AIs are not trusted by society, and are restrained heavily by the ‘Turing Police’ - they are one of the main causes of death in cyberspace.

4. Molly is a razorgirl - a street samurai with artificially souped-up reactions. She is a trained killer and dresses in black leather, and she has mirror shades surgically inset into her eyes. She is sexually involved with Case - and a love interest is suggested towards the end of the novel.

5. The view from Molly’s eyes is described as being as if in slow motion.

6. The Zion Cluster is a refuge of Rastafarians, from which Case - the protagonist - performs various runs in the Matrix.

7. An artificial intelligence hires the help of humans in order to free itself from human constraints.

8. Case frequently suffers ‘braindeath’ whilst in cyberspace, and flatlines - only to miraculously emerge back into life moments later.

9. Assassins are vat-grown for the protection of people of elevated rank.

The matrix has its roots in primitive arcade games…Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts… A graphic representation of data abstracted from banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding into the distance…

If you’re a fan of The Matrix and haven’t read Neuromancer - do so now. It’ll be one of the best books you ever pick up.

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