Matrix Essay
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One of my favourite films, ever, is the first Matrix film. I especially like the opening scene as it gives the audience a multitude of cues, to what the film will be about, even before the film has really started.
Overview:
The opening scene is 4 minutes 55 seconds long and it gives the audience a lot of cryptic information. The scene starts with the audience hearing a phone call between an unknown woman and man, whilst code runs on the screen; it then transitions to a policeman holding a flashlight, they are raiding an abandoned building for a girl – they find her. We then cut to outside the abandoned building where 3 new characters are introduced (The Agents); we then cut back to the girl (who we learn is Trinity) who proceeds to kill the cops, as they try to arrest her; she then attempts to escape, this is when she enters a high-speed chase between her and The Agents; the chase follows in and out of buildings, and over rooftops. It ends when Trinity escapes. This scene is key to the entire movie as it sets up not only the plot, but the tone for the movie as well.
(Scene in Question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb6bA4J1Gbg&ab_channel=ABradyMs )
Sound:
Sounds are key to the cryptic essence of the scene. The use of sound starts when the Warner Brothers logo appears, and eerie music can be heard in the background. This instantly puts the audience on edge, as the difference of the music alerts the audience that this movie will be slightly different to other Warner Bros movies, as it subverts the usual Warner Bros sound. Another example of the Warner Bros logo being changed to better fit the movies tone is with The Harry Potter Series, but The Matrix was the first movie to feature the modification of the logos colour. This change doesn’t however subvert the overall Sci-Fi genre, as a whole, as many Sci-Fi films start with this type of music (eerie), For example Ghostbusters or Inception.
Another use of sound is the footsteps over the roof when Trinity is running in the high-speed chase. If you listen to their footsteps Trinity’s and The Agent’s footsteps are more sharp sounding. This directly contrasts the polices’ fumbling footsteps. This is emphasised by the fact Trinity and The Agent's footsteps were edited to highlight the contrast. This shows the audience that both Trinity and The Agent are quicker and better trained then the police as their footsteps sound more efficient in the situation. This use of sound does not subvert the overall genre as little details like this are usually found in Sci-Fi films to hint to further plot points (e.g. ‘Easter Eggs’ known for being found in films like Star Wars and Marvel Movies).
A final use of sound is the backing music used in the scene (sometimes known as Ambient Sound). This is effectively used to emphasise certain actions during the scene, without overpowering and distracting the audience from the action itself. In this scene it is not a constant sound, it fades in and out (e.g. not any music before the action but as soon as the ‘high-speed chase’ starts a crescendo of sounds also start). This doesn’t subvert the Sci-Fi genre as dramatic music is usually used in action scenes.
Due to the nature of the sounds used in the opening scene the audience will expect the film to be centred around Trinity (and her quest) in some way. The use of sound, in this scene, also causes the audience to develop the expectation that a mystery is to be involved in this movie as not only are the agents dressed like the mysterious ‘Men In Black’ but the music within the opening has horror connotations, which will set the audience up to expect not only deaths, but a mystery of some sort.
However, some use of sound in The Matrix does subvert the genre. Sci-Fi films tend to start with a Monologue, to catch the audience up to date with what the ‘law’ is in the film. This can be seen in The Terminator; Star Wars; and Blade Runner, as they all feature their exposition at the start. The Matrix subverts this, as their exposition occurs in act 2, after Neo wakes up in the 'Real World'. The exposition is also not done in a monologue, it is spurred on by Neo asking questions – this is known as enigma codes, and it further draws the audience into the plot. For the first act though you are drip fed information, which ties into the mystery side of the movie.
The talk between Cypher and Trinity is the first dialogue the audience hears, and it also ties into the mysterious or cryptic side of this movie. The dialogue only reveals snippets of information at a time, leaving the audience with questions. For example, "You like him, don’t you?, You like watching him, don’t you?" This is done because it keeps the audience interested and it keeps them asking enigma codes (questions) which they will want to find out the answer to.
Representation:
The first characters we meet are the Lieutenant and The Agents. From the Lieutenant we can gather that The Agents are not liked by many of the police force as they seem to interfere with the policemen's’ work. This is supported by the fact that when the agents arrive the Lieutenant sighs and looks annoyed. This setup makes us instantly assume that they are the good guys who are trying to stop the bad ‘terrorist’ (Trinity). Despite this the reflective sunglasses and the eerie music makes us doubt whether they (The Agents) are the good guys or not. Both characters also fit character architypes. The Lieutenant fits the basic, white, slightly sexist, cop from the 1990s; and The Agents fit the stereotypical men in black, mysterious looking, secret service, agents seen in many Sci-Fi movies. therefore, no stereotypical representation is subverted with these characters.
Another use of representation is with Trinity. Even though the audience are introduced to her killing the police officers, we (the audience) start to sympathise with her, and the audience start to be on her side. The main way this is done is by the use of lighting. Trinity’s face is the first face the audience sees fully; all the cop's faces are dimly lit, or we only have partial shots of their face, but Trinity’s face is well lit, and the audience can see the whole of her face. This causes the audience to then associate her as the most trustful one in the scene. This is because evolution has caused us to not trust those we cannot see the face / emotions of, so because we can see Trinity's whole face and emotions as she is brightly lit, we instantly trust her. The same applies for why the audience do not trust the agents instantly, as the audience first see them wearing reflective glasses, so we (the audience) cannot see their eyes, this makes the audience believe they are hiding something.
The main characters each have a distinctive costume, each gives codes to the audience to help them determine their character. For example, the Agents all wear identical black suits – every piece of the suit is purposely used to show the audience they are the same almost replicas of each other, This helps to further the audiences view that The Agents are the same, this makes it easier when they realise they are computer copies. Trinity’s costume also sets her away from the rest. The directors stated in an interview that they made Trinity’s clothing shiny and latex looking to resemble mercury. This was to represent the fact Trinity can "slip through the matrix’s fingers". Also, the all black, fitted, costume resembles outfits worn by the ‘Badass’ characters in many Sci-Fi and action movies, the genre from which this scene takes inspiration from. Finally, the futuristic appearance of Trinity’s clothes also lets us know she is different in some way and it hints to the fact she is from the future and knows that this (the opening scene taking place in the matrix) is not real.
Gender roles are challenged mainly by Trinity in the opening scene, but they also were challenged throughout the whole movie with the original idea for Switch. Trinity is instantly challenging gender roles as when we first see her from the back it is hard to tell what sex she is. Another way the movie challenges gender roles is when after we find out she is a female she surrenders, this follows the stereotype that women are submissive and passive. However, she then completely switches, and challenges this, when she attacks the policemen and successfully kills them all. This showed that Trinity is unlike the general female characters in film and cannot be put into a specific role. The strong female character is a common character type in Sci–Fi movies (e.g. Ripley from Alien and Eve from Wall-e), however, The Matrix's portrayal of her is unique as she is not just a strong unfeeling masculine character, she has layers. This is shown by her also being the love interest to Neo, and showing a more feminine side with him.
The Matrix was also going to challenge the view of changing gender as Switch was originally going to switch genders when in and out of the matrix. This subverts the genre as many Sci-Fi movies do not challenge sexuality or gender, this is usually left for the more independent movies such as The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of The Desert; which also stars Hugo Weaving.
