The Matrix = huge Neuromancer rip off

[RiDylan (Dylan G)]

Well this is the off topic section right?

I’m almost finished reading the book Neuromancer and I’m a hardcore fan of the movie The Matrix. But now I realize that the matrix is just a huge rip off of Neuromancer. The story lines are very different but The Matrix borrows a lot of ideas from Neuromancer. Like the idea of a network you can jack your brain into called well… The Matrix! Not only that but the character Trinity from the matrix is almost an identical character to Molly or Razor girl from Neuromancer. Also in the Matrix there’s a place called Zion where all the non captured people live and the two black guys in the matrix are from there. In Neuromancer they go to a space ship called Zion which is inhabited by Rastafarians and one of them is to assist the main charactor by piloting a space “yacht”. I just thought I’d share this here because I’m sure a lot of you are nerdy enough to have read this book.

[elmex]

Yea, lots of ideas in Matrix seem to come from there, and also other books like that. Movies usually build upon
earlier art and ideas just like music or other forms of art. Matrix was a big hyped thing back then, which died
down quickly for me with the sequels…

If you finished Neuromancer, be sure not to miss the other books from the Sprawl triology, like “Count Zero” and “Mona Lisa Overdrive”. They are not as new and groundbreaking as Neuromancer was, but they sure are an entertaining read.

[Kyle]

Also check out “Burning Chrome”, it includes the novel the movie “Johnny Mnemonic” is based on. Very cool stuff

[MarcC]

I’ve heard people say The Matrix is based on the allegory of the cave, too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave

[lowkey]

The Diamond Age and A Lodging of Wayfaring Men are really worth reading if things like Bitcoin intrest you.

[kuato]

It was obviously a big inspiration, but cyberpunk in general, along with many other SF and martial arts tropes seem to be involved as well…Gibson himself said the movie was probably the ultimate cyberpunk statement. Read Alfred Bester, or watch Escape from new York again, and you will see that Gibson did not work in a vacuum either. Great book though, still one of my favorite SF books of all time, and a personal favorite of Gibson.

@Dylan G

Well this is the off topic section right?

I’m almost finished reading the book Neuromancer and I’m a hardcore fan of the movie The Matrix. But now I realize that the matrix is just a huge rip off of Neuromancer. The story lines are very different but The Matrix borrows a lot of ideas from Neuromancer. Like the idea of a network you can jack your brain into called well… The Matrix! Not only that but the character Trinity from the matrix is almost an identical character to Molly or Razor girl from Neuromancer. Also in the Matrix there’s a place called Zion where all the non captured people live and the two black guys in the matrix are from there. In Neuromancer they go to a space ship called Zion which is inhabited by Rastafarians and one of them is to assist the main charactor by piloting a space “yacht”. I just thought I’d share this here because I’m sure a lot of you are nerdy enough to have read this book.

[RiDylan (Dylan G)]

@kuato

It was obviously a big inspiration, but cyberpunk in general, along with many other SF and martial arts tropes seem to be involved as well…Gibson himself said the movie was probably the ultimate cyberpunk statement. Read Alfred Bester, or watch Escape from new York again, and you will see that Gibson did not work in a vacuum either. Great book though, still one of my favorite SF books of all time, and a personal favorite of Gibson.

Yeah for sure you guys! I’ll have to read the rest of gibson books and the other one’s you’ve suggested. I was always a huge fan of the matrix and although I knew about the Cyberpunk genre I never really looked into it. Although I have to say just for the record that I really like the second and third Matrix as well!

[NER]

@Dylan G

Well this is the off topic section right?

I’m almost finished reading the book Neuromancer and I’m a hardcore fan of the movie The Matrix. But now I realize that the matrix is just a huge rip off of Neuromancer. The story lines are very different but The Matrix borrows a lot of ideas from Neuromancer. Like the idea of a network you can jack your brain into called well… The Matrix! Not only that but the character Trinity from the matrix is almost an identical character to Molly or Razor girl from Neuromancer. Also in the Matrix there’s a place called Zion where all the non captured people live and the two black guys in the matrix are from there. In Neuromancer they go to a space ship called Zion which is inhabited by Rastafarians and one of them is to assist the main charactor by piloting a space “yacht”. I just thought I’d share this here because I’m sure a lot of you are nerdy enough to have read this book.

I don’t know about it being a rip off, but it certainly has similarities.
The film Existenz, which was also released in 1999, is very similar to The Matrix as well. Nothing is totally original.

[chunter]

Everything ripped off Neuromancer and Snow Crash. The Matrix just put religion elements in, which I respect, but I knew enough about the source religions that the blending of ideas didn’t do as much for me as it should have. I would have preferred The Matrix as a short film that ends with a pill being swallowed, all after left to the imagination of the viewer.