no-one can be told what the matrix is

[muladhara]

u/KayTheToon asked r/movies what their reaction to The Matrix was if they watched it in cinemas in 1999, and, well, read the answers for yourselves. Or possibly not if you like The Phantom Menace because oooo boy the mentions of that are not so nice.

(I have mentioned this previously, but I didn't see it in the cinema (though I did see it in 1999), and I was not sober. I went home and was very paranoid for about a week afterwards).

(I have seen it in a cinema since, however, as detailed in a previous entry).

Comments

[honigfrosch]

That was a fascinating read! I wish I remembered more from the time I saw it in theaters, but I do know that I was blown away, just like most people, by the special effects and the themes of (un)reality & sleepwalking through life. Some took it far enough to think that their own life was a Matrix simulation or that the movie was designed to raise your consciousness. I don't remember falling down that particular rabbit hole, which retroactively I'm glad about because I'm sure it wouldn't have played out so well with my depression coupled with an overactive imagination. You mentioned paranoia and I totally get why you'd feel that way. (Luckily the only change for me was that I used the Matrix screensaver for a while :D)

It also made me realize that some movies, like The Matrix or The Blair Witch Project, could never be done today with the same impact. Not just because of the developments in CGI or cinematic tropes, but also the ad campaigns and trailers would be decidedly different today. Someone would leak the big reveal, or behind-the-scenes pictures would break our immersion. It truly was something that could only happen in that time.

[muladhara]

I remember some of those people. But yeah, I never went as far as to believe it was real either, but it did mess with my head a bit.

I had that screensaver, too!

I remember the marketing for The Blair Witch, and I don't think they'd be able to do what they did back then - which is what you're saying, but I also reckon there'd be SO many people calling it out as fake now or, as you say, something would get leaked. Though then again, I've worked with two people now who think The Fourth Kind is a legit documentary so honestly WHO KNOWS.