The matrix is a classic because it took a basic philosophical idea (Plato’s cave) and told an interesting story out of it. The visuals and zeitgeist are what took it from a nerd movie to one of the most iconic films ever made. The visual language of it is still used. A political movement over a decade after the movie came out named themselves after a scene in the movie. People still talk about the ideas behind it and will say they’ve “left the matrix” as a way of describing a less than zen “enlightenment”. By combining an idea the average person could get their head around, but might be a bit heady for some of them, and a modern for the time fear (these computers seem to be more and more controlling us rather than us controlling them) it got people discussing it and remembering it.
I’d argue the other Wachowski masterpiece, sense8, was also so good because it took philosophy 101 (you can only truly know yourself) and told a story around it (but what if some people could know each other as well as themselves), it just had the misfortune of being kinda boring for the first few hours.
I think a lot of screenwriters could take a hint from that. Rather than trying to just tell a story, try to write a story that is built on ideas that you want to talk about or have people talk about. Try to create a harmony of aesthetic and plot with the point. And producers need to not try to shove these stories into easily marketable shapes. No story is great without risking being bad
The matrix is a classic because it took a basic philosophical idea (Plato’s cave) and told an interesting story out of it. The visuals and zeitgeist are what took it from a nerd movie to one of the most iconic films ever made. The visual language of it is still used. A political movement over a decade after the movie came out named themselves after a scene in the movie. People still talk about the ideas behind it and will say they’ve “left the matrix” as a way of describing a less than zen “enlightenment”. By combining an idea the average person could get their head around, but might be a bit heady for some of them, and a modern for the time fear (these computers seem to be more and more controlling us rather than us controlling them) it got people discussing it and remembering it.
I’d argue the other Wachowski masterpiece, sense8, was also so good because it took philosophy 101 (you can only truly know yourself) and told a story around it (but what if some people could know each other as well as themselves), it just had the misfortune of being kinda boring for the first few hours.
I think a lot of screenwriters could take a hint from that. Rather than trying to just tell a story, try to write a story that is built on ideas that you want to talk about or have people talk about. Try to create a harmony of aesthetic and plot with the point. And producers need to not try to shove these stories into easily marketable shapes. No story is great without risking being bad