#BLUE PILL OR RED PILL MATRIX QUOTE SERIES#

To be “redpilled” came to symbolise being awakened to any number of right-leaning revelations – a “white genocide” being covered up by communists perhaps, or the existence of lizard people.

The meme spread like a virus through the alt-right corners of the internet. For “redpillers” The Matrix’s anti-establishment message inspired a movement that uses the pretext of non-conformity to encourage hate, conspiracy theories and radicalisation. TheRedPill takes as a starting point that famous scene between Morpheus and Neo, only this time the truth revealed is that we live in a gynecocracy, with men as the true victims of gendered inequality. In this grubby digital bunker, The Matrix became a talisman. These groups share a pro-male, anti-feminist agenda and overlap with the alt-right, another motley coalition of lurkers encompassing QAnon, neo-Nazis and anti-vazzers among others. It’s still active today, although in order to access it you need to pass through an ominous “quarantine” page which warns you to beware of “highly offensive material.” This is because TheRedPill is part of the manosphere, a collection of websites run by various acronym-abusing male-centric groups, including men’s rights activists (MRAs), Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOWs), pickup artists (PUAs) and incels. Then, things got weird.Īround 2012, a subreddit called TheRedPill appeared. While the franchise remained influential, audiences were beginning to move on. In 2003, the Wachowskis had released two Matrix sequels which did well financially but received mixed reviews. The alt-right’s favourite memeīy the late 2000s, turn-of-the-millennium optimism had been overshadowed by a decade dominated by 9/11, the War on Terror and the financial crisis. It’s hard to imagine mainstream cinema today without The Matrix. The film’s success encouraged studios to fund other ambitious projects helmed by comic book obsessives, ushering in the era of Marvel and DC.

Darren Aronofsky, Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan are all self-confessed fans, and effects pioneered by the Wachowskis – such as bullet-time and flo-mo – have become genre mainstays cropping up everywhere from Charlie’s Angels to X-Men to Shrek. The film went on to win four Oscars, and to have an incalculable impact on the next generation of action movies. The Matrix’s combination of dazzling design, spectacular actions and an array of references - Alice in Wonderland, Zen Buddhism, Greek myths, martial arts movies - captivated audiences and critics alike.

#BLUE PILL OR RED PILL MATRIX QUOTE SERIES#

Neo, although understandably a bit confused, joins Morpheus’s band of rebels and sets out to fight for the emancipation of humankind in a series of dizzying action sequences. The Matrix is the virtual reality that the machine overlords use to maintain control – as humans lie hooked up like batteries in the “real world,” their minds roam The Matrix, living lives that feel real, but are in fact just simulations. Which is, to put it as simply as possible, that Earth is a dystopia ruled by machines who keep humans as slaves, harnessing their energy for power. Neo, naturally, takes the red pill and discovers the truth. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. You take the blue pill the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. In one of the most famous scenes in cinema, Morpheus presents Neo with two pills and a choice: The film follows Neo (Keanu Reeves), an office drone/closet hacker who spends his nights searching the web for the answer to a question that’s haunted him his entire life - what is The Matrix? When Neo is contacted by legendary outlaw Morpheus (Lawrence Fishburne) he finally gets his answer. Watching The Matrix today is still mind-blowing back in 1999, audiences didn’t know what had hit them. The sisters’ debut feature, 1996’s Bound, had received generally good reviews and performed respectably at the box office, but their follow-up propelled them to new heights. The Wachowskis’ success came from leftfield. At the start of 1999, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was the year’s most anticipated blockbuster by the end, two upstarts had stolen George Lucas’s thunder.

Blue pill or red pill matrix quote