Screenplay by Syd Field

Author:Syd Field
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9780307423269
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2007-12-18T10:00:00+00:00

We’re looking for the Plot Points at the end of Acts I and II.

In The Matrix, the opening scene shows us that this is no ordinary action sequence of flying fists, fired shots, and a few explosions. This is a totally unique sequence; it pits Trinity, a lone woman, against several armed policeman, all wearing bulletproof vests. Right before our eyes, in the most amazing physical feats, Trinity leaps up, is suspended in midair, then runs up walls and across ceilings in order to escape. She leaps from rooftop to rooftop, building to building, totally disregarding gravity as she flies through the air to reach the other side. From there, it’s a race against a huge garbage truck to reach the ringing telephone. She makes it in the nick of time and answers the phone just as the truck slams into the telephone booth.

Whoa ... if that’s not a grabber, I don’t know what is. In terms of information, we don’t know who Trinity is, whether she’s a “good guy” or a “bad guy,” nor do we know what the story’s about, or how she managed to escape the way she did. But as an opening this inciting incident certainly grabs our attention.

At this point, we don’t know what the story is about or who it’s about. We need some exposition here, defined as the information needed to move the story forward, and that’s exactly what we get next. Neo, the main character, wakes up to the words “Follow the white rabbit” on his computer screen. There’s a knock on the door; it’s a girl with a white rabbit tattooed on her shoulder. He follows her to a club. There he meets Trinity and asks her about the Matrix. But she doesn’t explain anything; she only warns him that he’s in danger: “They’re watching you.” And, she stresses, “The truth is out there, Neo, and it’s looking for you and will find you, if you want it to.” Then she’s gone.

What is the Matrix? Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) explains later that we’re inhabiting a parallel universe and the Matrix is a state of virtual reality, an illusion that we’ve all been programmed to accept as real . The truth, the “real” world, has been destroyed and re-created by a race of machines, artificial intelligence, and computers into a form of virtual reality.

So begins the heroes’ journey. Morpheus, the rebel leader, is dedicated to waging war against the Matrix to reveal “the truth,” liberating humanity from the bondage of the machines. Morpheus believes in the prophecy that their only hope of winning is by finding “The One,” a human being endowed with godlike powers who will lead them in their war of liberation. And he believes Neo is “The One.” As Morpheus tells Neo, the mind and body are intertwined, and even though they are separate entities, if you can control your mind you can control reality, and thus control your destiny.

That’s an ancient teaching from Eastern philosophy, brought into a contemporary situation, futuristic in thought and execution.

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