The Matrix: Hollywood Plagiarism?
damian...@my-deja.com
Some months ago, comic-book writer GRANT MORRISON announced that he was
taking a rest from comics, claiming that others were swiping his ideas.
He was particularly upset with the WACHOWSKI BROTHERS, makers of the
box-office smash THE MATRIX. Morrison felt that this film owed more
than just a passing nod conceptually to his DC Vertigo series THE
INVISIBLES. So, in an effort to bring our readers the truth, the JUST
COMICS & MORE team went to work to discover if ...
THE MATRIX & THE INVISIBLES - are the similarities too close for
comfort?
Both the movie (The Matrix) and the comic series (The Invisibles) detail
the efforts of a ragtag group of resistance fighters to liberate
humanity
from agents of total control, who not only rule the world but indeed
have been doing so for quite some time. These 'agents' in both media
take the form of techno-organic parasites.
They maintain their 'rule' and keep humans docile by sustaining the
illusion of modern day civilization as we know it. Humanity dances
precariously along, on puppet strings and is kept docile only until they
are ready to be 'harvested'.
In The Matrix the parasites are 'fed' by the electrical impulses of the
brain whereas humans are often consumed outright in The Invisibles. In
both they take the shape of metal-plated insect-like monstrosities -
tentacled and menacing. They exist in a type of sub-reality from which
they exploit their human hosts from pod-like prisons. Compare the
amniotic cell from which Keanu Reeves emerges in the Matrix to images
presented in The Invisibles Vol 1 #10 "...imprisoned in vampire seed
pods",
" ...egg chambers."
In both the 'aliens' expend a great deal of energy in maintaining their
elaborate lies and to aid them they have a virtual army of human looking
and/or human agents. These are trouble shooters who strive to eliminate
all resistance. They are always dressed in black suits, have perfectly
coiffed hair and have impeccable grammar. In both, these human agents
speak disdainfully of the human race and use the metaphor of an out of
control virus.
The Invisibles #1 Pg 10 - " ...like all viral organisms its one
directive is to use up all available resources in producing copies of
itself."
And in The Matrix - " ...you humans multiply until every natural
resource is consumed ...a virus."
In both the entities aren't always successful in maintaining their
illusions. These failures often manifest themselves in subtle
incongruities in reality or in unusual coincidences. This can be seen
in The Matrix with a 'reality loop' of a cat passing Neo twice - it is
at first explained away as déja vu. In The Invisibles conspiracy
theories and UFO sightings are used to cover them up.
A concept common to both in the use of a palette of backdrops and scenes
that can suddenly change to suit. In The Matrix a computer program
allows one scene to fluidly give way to another from an armory, a city
skyline or a training room. The program is inputted via an outlet at
the back of Neo's head. Similarly in The Invisibles one character has a
metallic implant in her head that allows her to augment latent psychic
talent and create different versions that she can enter into alone or
with others (Lord Fanny). Another (King Mob) places earphones to his
head to enable him to jump to realities in other times, like Neo they
use these talents while in a reclined position. (See also The
Invisibles Vol 2 #13 pg 7 - which again presents the same effect, this
time it is a post-hypnotic suggestion that changes the perceived
reality)
Both the book and the movie detail the training of reluctant Messianic
figures who must tear away the blinders from their eyes so as to
confront the artifice that is the status quo. By doing so they also tap
into pseudo mystical energies that ultimately will tip the balance in
the human's favour.
The similarity of the protagonists Boy (in The Invisibles) and Neo (in
The Matrix) are striking. They are the vehicles which allow us to
explore the respective worlds. We begin as they do, ignorant and
uninitiated until one by one the scales are removed from our eyes and
we are taught the workings of each world.
Both are free spirits and both lead a double life that allowed them to
nurture their innate subversive leanings. Neo is a computer hacker by
night while Boy is a budding anarchist and vandal. Though both the
movie and comic-book are peppered with the elements of a variety of
world views (i.e. Zen, Buddhism and New Age philosophies) one prevails.
The Gnostic world view insists that within each man lies the potential
to be consubstantiated with something transcendent though surrounded
and/or encumbered by mundane modern technological world. Both (on their
respective levels) insist on intuition of the mystery of self as
opposed to the image of self presented to one by the world.
Both storylines push towards a basic experience that is revelatory
...the discovery of the new, the discovery of the unconscious self or
spirit in man which sleeps in him until awakened. Boy's evolution is
gradual, Neo's more abrupt but both manifest external powers at the
acute point of self-knowledge.
Notably when one of The Invisibles prepares himself to confront the
illusion around him (Invisibles #13) that unreality first manifests
itself as 'liquid looking-glass'. One of Neo's first encounters with the
frightening true world around him is the morphing of a mirror into a
watery type substance.
Both Neo and Boy as part of their training are made to make a dramatic
'leap of faith' off a skyscraper, both fall in love with a member of
their respective groups and both suffer the consequences of a traitor
in the ranks of their respective teams, both find themselves in
dialogues so similar they are almost interchangeable.
In The Matrix - "Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure
was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream, Neo?"
In The Invisibles #1 Boy is told by one of the alien agents - "Do you
have dreams, my boy? Do you ever ...see things ..." "...it's not good
to wake up, best sleep."
In The Matrix, Neo's eyes hurt after being 'woken' from the alien's
lies.
Morpheus says it's because he has never used them before. In The
Invisibles #3, Boy says, "It's like the first time. It's like somebody
washed everything" when he finally sees the truth behind the lies.
Invisibles #1 -
"panic ...his eyes are opening!" At one point his eyes actually bleed.
Other less than superficial visual similarities abound. Both the movie
and the comic series feature a bald leader (Morpheus and King Mob) who
are identical in all but skin tone, is a master of hand to hand combat,
and is almost never seen without his distinctive pair of Raybans -
these stylish sunglasses provide a stylish motif to highlight the whole
theme of sight blindness and the subjectivity of the perceived reality
around us in both film and comic. (Why does Trinity waste time putting
on her shades in the middle of a fierce gunfight? Why does King Mob
even take his sunglasses with him when he time travels? Isn't he aware
of the danger of anachronisms?) These two leaders are also the only
ones with unwavering faith in their new recruits.
The clothing in both is stylish yet functional, usually dark and dowdy,
and women sport close cropped or military buzz cuts. (Morrison has
always pursued an androgynous aesthetic).
One would be hard pressed not to appreciate the similarities between
several key scenes in both the comic-book and the movie.
One outstanding example: In The Invisibles Vol 2 #7 and in the
climactic scenes of The Matrix, members of the respective resistance
groups are held captive, bound to a chair and brutally bludgeoned for
information. The settings are almost identical. The torture scene tales
place in a high rise in front of a large
glass window. A violent rescue attempt ensues amid much gunfire.
Though both storylines feature characters that grope toward
transcendence, they have no hesitation to resort to violent gunfights
and well choreographed hand to hand combat. This is because both groups
are paramilitary in nature and seem to have particular fetishes for
machine guns.
What else do you need besides a Messiah and promises of enlightenment?
"We need guns ...lots of guns." - Neo in The Matrix.
With a sparkle in his eyes King Mob says before an attack, "We've got
the guns ..." - Invisibles Vol 2 #16
Spent shells fall like pennies and characters in both media are not so
much shot at as shot apart.
Invisibles writer Grant Morrison attempts a sort of pop culture collage
in his series. He uses elements of the 1950's paranoia, the subversive
spirit of the 1960's, the martial arts craze of the 1970's, the
cyberpunk genre of the 1980's and the alienation of the 1990's. They
are prominently featured in separate storylines. Not surprisingly they
are also crucial elements of The Matrix.
Both strive to overwhelm the reader/viewer with a sensory onslaught
probably designed to engender what Rimbaud called "a systematic
derangement of the senses."
The Matrix is the false world that has been pulled over your eyes to
blind you from the truth. In The Invisibles' events in the real world
are used as props to stage manage and sustain the appearance of
independence and order in the world.
The Matrix, like The Invisibles, depends on frenetic pacing. Neither
seem to permit reflection on their confusing expositions. In both,
moments of menace and claustrophobia are punctuated with scenes of
visual wit, if not always of consistency and intelligence. Both offer
literary and/or obscure references (in The Matrix - 'Alice in
Wonderland' and the 'Wizard of Oz' are referenced, while Morrison runs
the gamut from the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Kama Sutra) in an attempt to
transcend their genre limitations. But both movie and comic are never
truly the sum of their parts.
One reviewer provides fuel to the debate when he commented that The
Matrix plays like "an exceptionally well-written comic-book."
Somewhere Grant Morrison is either smiling quietly with some measure of
knowing pride.
Or gnashing his teeth with envy.
- Ricardo Premchand
*************************************************
For more wide ranging and entertaining commentary on all aspects of the
comics industry, check out issue #2 of JUST COMICS AND MORE! Onsale the
first week of October, for only $1.50!! Or check out the
Website at www.justcomicsandmore.com , soon to have articles and info
not available in the published version.
***See the Pipeline review at www.comicbookresources.com***
Just Comics and More, Quality you can afford!!
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.