The Matrix and Verticality

End scene from The Matrix (1999), showing the character Neo flying. The writers are using flight as the pinnacle of Neo’s powers. Image © Warner Bros Pictures.

I was watching the first Matrix (1999) movie a few days ago, and the ending scene stuck with me. It features the main character Neo, flying high above the city. Neo is a character that transforms into a God-like figure throughout the movie, and the end scene represents him realizing his full potential. What struck me was the writers’ choice to encapsulate this moment by showing him flying.

Flight is something we humans dream of. It represents a conquering of earth’s gravity, and a release from our confinement to earth’s surface. In the moment when Neo is shown to have superpowers, the writers chose flight as the best embodiment of this. It goes to show how powerful verticality is for us, and what we think of when we consider a character to be superhuman.

Scene from The Matrix (1999), where flight or levitation is used as a superpower. Image © Warner Bros Pictures.

Elsewhere throughout the movie, characters levitate in various ways. They aren’t as powerful as Neo eventually becomes, but their ability to levitate signifies their status as superhuman in the Matrix. When Neo fights his teacher Morpheus (pictured above), Morpheus levitates high above Neo at one point, symbolizing his power and ability in the Matrix, which he then teaches Neo how to harness.

I previously wrote about superhero movies and how they use verticality to express the God-like status of their characters. The Matrix is doing the same thing. It uses verticality to cement Neo’s status as a superhuman, and the writers chose flight as the pinnacle of his powers.