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156-460: The Matrix is an American cyberpunk media franchise consisting of four feature films, beginning with The Matrix (1999) and continuing with three sequels, The Matrix Reloaded , The Matrix Revolutions (both 2003), and The Matrix Resurrections (2021). The first three films were written and directed by the Wachowskis and produced by Joel Silver. The screenplay for the fourth film

312-456: A cyberpunk story of the technological fall of humanity, in which the creation of artificial intelligence led the way to a race of powerful and self-aware machines that imprisoned humans in a neural interactive simulation — the Matrix — to be farmed as a power source. Occasionally, some of the prisoners manage to break free from the system and, considered a threat, become pursued by

468-414: A simulated reality called The Matrix. The virtual reality world simulated by the Matrix resembles human civilization around the turn of the 21st century (this time period was chosen because it is supposedly the pinnacle of human civilization). The environment inside the Matrix is practically indistinguishable from reality (although scenes set within the Matrix are presented on-screen with a green tint to

624-442: A summary judgement for the defendants , Judge R. Gary Klausner stated "The basic premises of The Matrix Trilogy and The Immortals are so different that it would be unreasonable to find their plots substantially similar." What we were trying to achieve with the story overall was a shift, the same kind of shift that happens for Neo, that Neo goes from being in this sort of cocooned and programmed world, to having to participate in

780-431: A troubled future is often called the antithesis of the generally utopian visions of the future popular in the 1940s and 1950s. Gibson defined cyberpunk's antipathy towards utopian science fiction in his 1981 short story " The Gernsback Continuum ", which pokes fun at and, to a certain extent, condemns utopian science fiction. In some cyberpunk writing, much of the action takes place online , in cyberspace , blurring

936-518: A 10-disc set of the films on DVD. It included the trilogy of films, The Animatrix , and six discs of additional material, including the documentary film The Matrix Revisited , the live-action footage shot for Enter the Matrix , and a promotional compilation of The Matrix Online . For this release, The Matrix was remastered under the supervision of the Wachowskis and the trilogy's cinematographer , Bill Pope , to improve its picture quality and make its color timing closer to that of its sequels. At

1092-479: A 2011 documentary about bullying, and Philomena —which has two instances of the word—released in 2013, were originally given R ratings on grounds of the language but the ratings were dropped to PG-13 after successful appeals (albeit Bully needed some cuts). The King's Speech , however, was given an R rating for one scene using the word fuck several times in a speech therapy context; the MPAA refused to recertify

1248-533: A PG-13 rating. More than one occurrence will usually incur an R rating as will the usage of such an expletive in a sexual context. Known as the "automatic language rule", the rule has been applied differently depending on the subject matter of the film. For example, All the President's Men (1976) received a PG rating after appealing it from an R, despite multiple instances of strong language, likely because of its historic subject matter. The automatic language rule

1404-671: A PG-13 rating. Nudity that is sexually oriented will generally require an R rating. Since 2006, films have been flagged by the MPAA for carrying nudity. In 2010, the MPAA flagged three films specifically for " male nudity ", precipitated by parental pressure in response to Brüno . In 2018, MPAA Ratings Chair Joan Graves clarified the MPA's position by stating that "we don't usually define [nudity] as male or female ... usually, we just mention partial nudity, [or] graphic nudity." The MPAA does not have any explicit criteria for sexual content other than excluding sex scenes from G-rated films. Prior to

1560-433: A central role in many story lines. The films Johnny Mnemonic (1995) and New Rose Hotel (1998), both based upon short stories by William Gibson, flopped commercially and critically, while The Matrix trilogy (1999–2003) and Judge Dredd (1995) were some of the most successful cyberpunk films. Newer cyberpunk media includes Blade Runner 2049 (2017), a sequel to the original 1982 film; Dredd (2012), which

1716-507: A free screensaver for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X, which simulates the falling " Matrix digital rain " of the films. The screensaver was reported to have a password security problem. The "Matrix digital rain" also inspired the creation of many unofficial screensavers. Cyberpunk Comics exploring cyberpunk themes began appearing as early as Judge Dredd , first published in 1977. Released in 1984, William Gibson 's influential debut novel Neuromancer helped solidify cyberpunk as

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1872-423: A genre, drawing influence from punk subculture and early hacker culture . Frank Miller 's Ronin is an example of a cyberpunk graphic novel. Other influential cyberpunk writers included Bruce Sterling and Rudy Rucker . The Japanese cyberpunk subgenre began in 1982 with the debut of Katsuhiro Otomo 's manga series Akira , with its 1988 anime film adaptation (also directed by Otomo) later popularizing

2028-543: A hybrid genre combining neo-noir and science fiction or cyberpunk. The Japanese cyberpunk subgenre began in 1982 with the debut of Katsuhiro Otomo 's manga series Akira , with its 1988 anime film adaptation , which Otomo directed, later popularizing the subgenre. Akira inspired a wave of Japanese cyberpunk works, including manga and anime series such as Ghost in the Shell , Battle Angel Alita , and Cowboy Bebop . Other early Japanese cyberpunk works include

2184-607: A look I had never seen before." Authorities in Washington invoked a municipal ordinance that would have prevented any minors from seeing the film, threatening theater owners with arrest if they did. Meacham insinuated that the board had succumbed to pressure from Warner Brothers, which had spent $ 10 million, more than twice its original budget, making the film; an X rating would have seriously limited The Exorcist ' s commercial prospects. New Yorker critic Pauline Kael echoed his criticism. "If The Exorcist had cost under

2340-427: A major influence on Hollywood films such as The Matrix , Chronicle , Looper , Midnight Special , and Inception , as well as cyberpunk-influenced video games such as Hideo Kojima 's Snatcher and Metal Gear Solid , Valve 's Half-Life series and Dontnod Entertainment 's Remember Me . Akira has also influenced the work of musicians such as Kanye West , who paid homage to Akira in

2496-538: A million or been made abroad," she wrote, "it would almost certainly be an X film. But when a movie is as expensive as this one, the [board] doesn't dare give it an X." In 1974, Richard Heffner took over as president of the board. During his interview process, he had asked to screen recent films that had sparked ratings controversies, including The Exorcist . "How could anything be worse than this?" he recalled thinking later. "And it got an R?" After he took over as head, he would spearhead efforts to be more aggressive with

2652-407: A near-future Earth , rather than in the far-future settings or galactic vistas found in novels such as Isaac Asimov 's Foundation or Frank Herbert 's Dune . The settings are usually post-industrial dystopias but tend to feature extraordinary cultural ferment and the use of technology in ways never anticipated by its original inventors ("the street finds its own uses for things"). Much of

2808-524: A new status quo is established in the Matrix's place in humankind and machines' conflict. This was further explored in The Matrix Online , a now-defunct MMORPG . During production of the original trilogy, the Wachowskis told their close collaborators that, "at that time they had no intention of making another Matrix film after The Matrix Revolutions ". In February 2015, in promotion interviews for Jupiter Ascending , Lilly Wachowski called

2964-716: A news article: "I think it distorts and ruptures the intent of this voluntary film ratings system. All R-rated films are not alike." John Fithian, the president of the National Association of Theatre Owners, also said that the cards can be harmful. He noted in a news article for the Christian Science Monitor that the R rating is "broad enough to include relatively family-friendly fare such as Billy Elliot and Erin Brockovich (which were both rated R for language) along with films that push

3120-617: A novel called Dr. Adder in 1972 that, Dick lamented, might have been more influential in the field had it been able to find a publisher at that time. It was not published until 1984, after which Jeter made it the first book in a trilogy, followed by The Glass Hammer (1985) and Death Arms (1987). Jeter wrote other standalone cyberpunk novels before going on to write three authorized sequels to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? , named Blade Runner 2: The Edge of Human (1995), Blade Runner 3: Replicant Night (1996), and Blade Runner 4: Eye and Talon . The term "cyberpunk" first appeared as

3276-564: A novel in 1995 called Headcrash , like Snow Crash a satirical attack on the genre's excesses. Fittingly, it won an honor named after cyberpunk's spiritual founder, the Philip K. Dick Award . It satirized the genre in this way: ...full of young guys with no social lives, no sex lives and no hope of ever moving out of their mothers' basements ... They're total wankers and losers who indulge in Messianic fantasies about someday getting even with

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3432-492: A now popular cyberpunk trope for human computer interfaces. It also influenced one of the genres most well known cyberpunk novels, William Gibson 's Neuromancer . Philip K. Dick's novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? , first published in 1968, shares common dystopian themes with later works by Gibson and Sterling, and is praised for its "realist" exploration of cybernetic and artificial intelligence ideas and ethics. Dick's protege and friend K. W. Jeter wrote

3588-415: A promotional item for The Matrix , but Warner Bros. recalled it due to its mature content. Most of them were later republished by the Wachowskis' Burlyman Entertainment , along with some new stories and updates with color to some of the existing ones, in two printed trade paperback volumes in 2003 and 2004 and a deluxe hardcover twentieth-anniversary edition in 2019. The Matrix official website provided

3744-529: A rape, some strong sexual content, nudity and language." By the early 2000s, the MPAA began applying rating explanations for PG, PG-13, and NC-17-rated films as well. Depictions of violence are permitted under all ratings but must be moderated for the lower ones. Violence must be kept to a minimum in G-rated films and must not be intense in PG-rated films. Depictions of intense violence are permitted under

3900-401: A rating or is an uncut version of a film that was submitted, the labels Not Rated ( NR ) or Unrated ( UR ) are often used. Uncut/extended versions of films that are labeled "Unrated" also contain warnings saying that the uncut version of the film contains content that differs from the theatrical release and might not be suitable for minors. If a film has not yet been assigned a final rating,

4056-474: A reboot, remake , or continuation , remarking that he was working on stories set in the pre-established continuity . Potential plotlines being considered by Warner Bros. Pictures included a prequel film about a young Morpheus , or an alternate storyline with a focus on one of his descendants. By April 2018, Penn described the script as "being at a nascent stage". Later, in September 2019, Jordan addressed

4212-528: A return to The Matrix "a particularly repelling idea in these times", noting studios' tendencies to "greenlight" sequels, reboots , and adaptations, in preference to original material. Meanwhile, Lana Wachowski, in addressing rumors about a potential reboot, stated that "...they had not heard anything, but she believed that the studio might be looking to replace them". At various times, Keanu Reeves and Hugo Weaving each confirmed their interest and willingness to reprise their roles in potential future installments of

4368-434: A sense of rebellion, suggesting that one could describe it as a type of cultural revolution in science fiction. In the words of author and critic David Brin : ...a closer look [at cyberpunk authors] reveals that they nearly always portray future societies in which governments have become wimpy and pathetic ...Popular science fiction tales by Gibson, Williams, Cadigan and others do depict Orwellian accumulations of power in

4524-416: A stagnant formula. In 1986, he edited a volume of cyberpunk stories called Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology , an attempt to establish what cyberpunk was, from Sterling's perspective. In the subsequent decade, the motifs of Gibson's Neuromancer became formulaic, climaxing in the satirical extremes of Neal Stephenson 's Snow Crash in 1992. Bookending the cyberpunk era, Bethke himself published

4680-572: A subsidiary. Valenti revised the Code to include the "SMA" (Suggested for Mature Audiences) advisory as a stopgap measure. To accommodate "the irresistible force of creators determined to make 'their films' " , and to avoid "the possible intrusion of government into the movie arena", he developed a set of advisory ratings which could be applied after a film was completed. On November 1, 1968, the voluntary MPAA film rating system took effect, with three organizations serving as its monitoring and guiding groups:

4836-402: A term that encompassed both punk attitudes and high technology. He described the idea thus: The kids who trashed my computer; their kids were going to be Holy Terrors, combining the ethical vacuity of teenagers with a technical fluency we adults could only guess at. Further, the parents and other adult authority figures of the early 21st Century were going to be terribly ill-equipped to deal with

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4992-556: A term used for a New Wave pop music movement that had just occurred in Britain, but this term did not catch on. Bethke later paraphrased Michael Swanwick 's argument for the term: "the movement writers should properly be termed neuromantics, since so much of what they were doing was clearly imitating Neuromancer ". Sterling was another writer who played a central role, often consciously, in the cyberpunk genre, variously seen as either keeping it on track, or distorting its natural path into

5148-637: Is Bad Education (2004), an NC-17 foreign-language film that grossed $ 5.2 million in the United States theatrically (a moderate success for a foreign-language film ). In 2000, the Directors Guild of America called the NC-17 rating an "abject failure", for causing filmmakers to re-edit films to receive an R rating, rather than accept an NC-17 rating. They argued that this was "not only compromising filmmakers' visions, but also greatly increasing

5304-516: Is a collection of nine animated short films intended to further flesh out the concepts, history, characters, and setting of the series. The objective of The Animatrix project was to give other writers and directors the opportunity to lend their voices and interpretation to the Matrix universe; the Wachowskis conceived of and oversaw the process, and they wrote four of the segments themselves, although they were given to other directors to execute. Many of

5460-412: Is a set of comics and short stories based on the series and written and illustrated by figures from the comics industry; one of the comics was written by the Wachowskis and illustrated by the films' concept artist Geof Darrow . The comics and stories were originally presented for free on the Matrix series' website between 1999 and 2003. One of them was printed in 1999 to be given away at theaters as

5616-415: Is also featured prominently in anime and manga ( Japanese cyberpunk ), with Akira , Ghost in the Shell and Cowboy Bebop being among the most notable. Cyberpunk writers tend to use elements from crime fiction —particularly hardboiled detective fiction and film noir —and postmodernist prose to describe an often nihilistic underground side of an electronic society. The genre's vision of

5772-480: Is arguably the rule that can most often be successfully appealed. The ratings board may award a PG-13 rating passed by a two-thirds majority if they believe the language is justified by the context or by the manner in which the words are used. It is sometimes claimed that films rated PG-13 are only able to use the expletive fuck once to avoid an R rating for language. There are several exceptional cases in which PG-13-rated films contain multiple occurrences of

5928-793: Is based on his book, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? . Humans linked to machines are found in Pohl and Kornbluth's Wolfbane (1959) and Roger Zelazny 's Creatures of Light and Darkness (1968). In 1994, scholar Brian Stonehill suggested that Thomas Pynchon 's 1973 novel Gravity's Rainbow "not only curses but precurses what we now glibly dub cyberspace." Other important predecessors include Alfred Bester 's two most celebrated novels, The Demolished Man and The Stars My Destination , as well as Vernor Vinge 's novella True Names . Science-fiction writer David Brin describes cyberpunk as "the finest free promotion campaign ever waged on behalf of science fiction". It may not have attracted

6084-417: Is claimed that, for instance, cyberpunk depicts fantasies that ultimately empower masculinity using fragmentary and decentered aesthetic that culminate in a masculine genre populated by male outlaws. Critics also note the absence of any reference to Africa or black characters in the quintessential cyberpunk film Blade Runner , while other films reinforce stereotypes. Minnesota writer Bruce Bethke coined

6240-499: Is considered by many to be the first cyberpunk novel with many of the tropes commonly associated with the genre, some five years before the term was popularized by Dozois. William Gibson with his novel Neuromancer (1984) is arguably the most famous writer connected with the term cyberpunk. He emphasized style, a fascination with surfaces, and atmosphere over traditional science-fiction tropes. Regarded as ground-breaking and sometimes as "the archetypal cyberpunk work", Neuromancer

6396-410: Is considered have had a profound influence on cyberpunk's development, As evidenced by the term "Ballardian" becoming used to ascribe literary excellence amongst science fiction social circles. Ballard, along with Zelazny and others continued the popular development of "realism" within the genre Delany's 1968 novel Nova , considered a forerunner of cyberpunk literature, includes neural implants,

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6552-435: Is currently in development with Drew Goddard set to write and direct with Lana Wachowski executive producing. The series depicts a future in which Earth is dominated by a race of self-aware machines that was spawned from the creation of artificial intelligence early in the 21st century. At one point conflict arose between humanity and machines, and the machines rebelled against their creators. Humans attempted to block out

6708-559: Is echoed by other critics, including David Ansen , as well as many filmmakers. Moreover, Ebert argued that the rating system is geared toward looking at trivial aspects of the film (such as the number of times a profane word is used) rather than at the general theme of the film (for example, if the film realistically depicts the consequences of sex and violence). He called for an A (adults only) rating, to indicate films high in violence or mature content that should not be marketed to teenagers, but do not have NC-17 levels of sex. He also called for

6864-474: Is more of forging ahead, looking at the new global culture. It is a culture that does not exist right now, so the Japanese concept of a cyberpunk future, seems just as valid as a Western one, especially as Western cyberpunk often incorporates many Japanese elements." William Gibson is now a frequent visitor to Japan, and he came to see that many of his visions of Japan have become a reality: Modern Japan simply

7020-531: Is presented with a color grade that reportedly comes closer to its theatrical presentation than any of the previous home video releases. The set also includes standard Blu-ray copies of the films sourced from the new 4K master, but is missing The Animatrix and some special features. By August 2000, The Matrix DVD had sold over three million copies in United States, becoming the best-selling of all time. By November 2003, The Matrix franchise had generated $ 677 million from VHS and DVD sales, $ 162 million from

7176-416: Is restricted to PG-13 and above. An example of an otherwise PG film being assigned a PG-13 rating for a drug reference (momentary, along with brief language) is Whale Rider . The film contained only mild profanity, but was rated PG-13 because of a scene where drug paraphernalia were briefly visible. Critic Roger Ebert criticized the MPAA for the rating and called it "a wild overreaction". In May 2007,

7332-656: The British rule of Hong Kong , it was an area neglected by both the British and Qing administrations, embodying elements of liberalism in a dystopian context. Portrayals of East Asia and Asians in Western cyberpunk have been criticized as Orientalist and promoting racist tropes playing on American and European fears of East Asian dominance; this has been referred to as "techno-Orientalism". Cyberpunk can be intended to disquiet readers and call them to action. It often expresses

7488-487: The Matrix films, with the stipulation that the Wachowskis were involved in the creative and production process. These comments were made prior to the announcement in August 2019 that Lana Wachowski would direct a fourth Matrix film ultimately titled The Matrix Resurrections . Following the release of Resurrections , producer James McTeigue said that there were no plans for further Matrix films, though he believed that

7644-535: The National Film Registry for preservation. Its first sequel was also a commercial success, becoming the highest-grossing R-rated film in history, until it was surpassed by Deadpool in 2016. As of 2006, the franchise has generated US$ 3 billion in revenue. A fourth film, The Matrix Resurrections , was released on December 22, 2021, with Lana Wachowski producing, cowriting, and directing and Reeves and Moss reprising their roles. A fifth film

7800-728: The TV Parental Guidelines , the RIAA and the ESRB , respectively. In effect as of November 1968, following the Hays Code of the classical Hollywood cinema era, the MPA rating system is one of various motion picture rating systems that are used to help parents decide what films are appropriate for their children . It is administered by the Classification & Ratings Administration (CARA), an independent division of

7956-504: The X rating , and was distributed by their Claridge Pictures subsidiary. Two other films were rated X by the time the MPAA published their first weekly bulletin listing ratings: Paramount 's Sin With a Stranger and Universal 's Birds in Peru . Both films were subsequently released by subsidiaries. The ratings used from 1968 to 1970 were: This content classification system originally

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8112-494: The title of a short story by Bruce Bethke , written in 1980 and published in Amazing Stories in 1983. The name was picked up by Gardner Dozois , editor of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine , and popularized in his editorials. Bethke says he made two lists of words, one for technology, one for troublemakers, and experimented with combining them variously into compound words, consciously attempting to coin

8268-433: The video game Enter the Matrix (2003), $ 37 million from The Matrix Reloaded: The Album soundtrack sales, and $ 3.5 million from licensed merchandise sales. As of 2006, the franchise has grossed $ 3 billion from all sources worldwide. In acknowledgment of the strong influence of Japanese Anime on the Matrix series, The Animatrix was produced in 2003 to coincide with the release of The Matrix Reloaded . This

8424-598: The " Stronger " music video, and Lupe Fiasco , whose album Tetsuo & Youth is named after Tetsuo Shima. The popular bike from the film, Kaneda's Motorbike, appears in Steven Spielberg ' s film Ready Player One , and CD Projekt 's video game Cyberpunk 2077 . Ghost in the Shell (1995) influenced a number of prominent filmmakers, most notably the Wachowskis in The Matrix (1999) and its sequels. The Matrix series took several concepts from

8580-595: The " White Rabbit ", the "Rabbit Hole" and mirrors, referring to Lewis Carroll 's novels Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871). Matrixism is a new religious movement inspired by the trilogy. Adam Possamai , a sociologist of religion , describes these types of religions/spiritualities as hyper-real religions due to their eclectic mix of religion/spirituality with elements of popular culture and their connection to

8736-445: The "X" rating (or any other symbol or description that was not an MPAA trademark). In 1970, the ages for "R" and "X" were raised from 16 to 17. Also, due to confusion over whether "M"-rated films were suitable for children, "M" was renamed to "GP" (for General audiences, Parental guidance suggested), and in 1971, the MPAA added the content advisory "Some material not generally suitable for pre-teenagers". On February 11, 1972, "GP"

8892-477: The "real punks", but it did ensnare many new readers, and it provided the sort of movement that postmodern literary critics found alluring. Cyberpunk made science fiction more attractive to academics, argues Brin; in addition, it made science fiction more profitable to Hollywood and to the visual arts generally. Although the "self-important rhetoric and whines of persecution" on the part of cyberpunk fans were irritating at worst and humorous at best, Brin declares that

9048-646: The "rebels did shake things up. We owe them a debt." Fredric Jameson considers cyberpunk the "supreme literary expression if not of postmodernism , then of late capitalism itself". Cyberpunk further inspired many later writers to incorporate cyberpunk ideas into their own works, such as George Alec Effinger 's When Gravity Fails . Wired magazine, created by Louis Rossetto and Jane Metcalfe, mixes new technology, art, literature, and current topics in order to interest today's cyberpunk fans, which Paula Yoo claims "proves that hardcore hackers, multimedia junkies, cyberpunks and cellular freaks are poised to take over

9204-510: The 1960s and 1970s, where New Worlds , under the editorship of Michael Moorcock , began inviting and encouraging stories that examined new writing styles, techniques, and archetypes . Reacting to conventional storytelling, New Wave authors attempted to present a world where society coped with a constant upheaval of new technology and culture, generally with dystopian outcomes. Writers like Roger Zelazny , J. G. Ballard , Philip José Farmer , Samuel R. Delany , and Harlan Ellison often examined

9360-548: The 1982 film Burst City , and the 1989 film Tetsuo: The Iron Man . According to Paul Gravett , when Akira began to be published, cyberpunk literature had not yet been translated into Japanese, Otomo has distinct inspirations such as Mitsuteru Yokoyama 's manga series Tetsujin 28-go (1956–1966) and Moebius . In contrast to Western cyberpunk which has roots in New Wave science fiction literature, Japanese cyberpunk has roots in underground music culture, specifically

9516-669: The California case, and thereby breached the Contract. For example, [her lawyers] failed timely to respond to discovery requests or serve discovery requests on the California defendants, failed to depose key witnesses or develop admissible evidence, failed to deny requests for admission, and failed to respond timely to the California defendants’ motion for summary judgment." "Ms. Stewart did not appear for [the 2005] deposition, ultimately twice failing to appear for her deposition; and both times unknowingly, as her attorneys never advised her of

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9672-474: The Japanese punk subculture that arose from the Japanese punk music scene in the 1970s. The filmmaker Sogo Ishii introduced this subculture to Japanese cinema with the punk film Panic High School (1978) and the punk biker film Crazy Thunder Road (1980), both portraying the rebellion and anarchy associated with punk, and the latter featuring a punk biker gang aesthetic. Ishii's punk films paved

9828-434: The MPA. The MPA film ratings are as follows: In 2013, the MPA ratings were visually redesigned, with the rating displayed on a left panel and the name of the rating shown above it. A larger panel on the right provides a more detailed description of the film's content and an explanation of the rating level is placed on a horizontal bar at the bottom of the rating. Film ratings often have accompanying brief descriptions of

9984-406: The MPAA announced that depictions of cigarette smoking would be considered in a film's rating. Anti-smoking advocates stated that the child-friendly PG rating was inappropriate for the 2011 Nickelodeon -animated film Rango , which included over 60 depictions of characters smoking. Nudity is restricted to PG and above, and anything that constitutes more than brief nudity will require at least

10140-613: The MPAA controversially decided to give the film Blue Valentine an NC-17 rating. The Weinstein Company challenged this decision, and the MPAA ended up awarding the same cut an R rating on appeal. Actor Ryan Gosling , who stars in the film, noted that NC-17 films are not allowed wide advertisement and that, given the refusal of major cinema chains like AMC and Regal to show NC-17 rated movies, many such films will never be accessible to people who live in markets that do not have art house theatres. Legal scholar Julie Hilden wrote that

10296-886: The MPAA has a "masterpiece exception" that it has made for films that would ordinarily earn an NC-17 rating, if not for the broader artistic masterpiece that requires the violence depicted as a part of its message. She cites Saving Private Ryan , with its bloody depiction of the D-Day landings , as an example. This exception is troubling, Hilden argues, because it ignores context and perspective in evaluating other films and favors conventional films over edgier films that contribute newer and more interesting points to public discourse about violence. Starting in 2004, GKC Theatres (since absorbed into AMC Theatres ) introduced "R Cards", which parents could obtain for their children under 17 to see R-rated films without adult accompaniment. The cards generated much controversy; MPAA president Jack Valenti said in

10452-416: The MPAA's own website, further mentioning a bias against homosexual content compared to heterosexual content, particularly with regards to sex scenes. Filmmaker Darren Stein further insists that his tame teen comedy G.B.F. , which features multiple same-sex kisses but no intercourse, strong language, violence, or nudity, was "rated R for being gay." The 2011 documentary Bully received an R rating for

10608-558: The MPAA, the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), and the International Film Importers & Distributors of America (IFIDA). Only films that premiered in the United States after that date were affected by this. Walter Reade was the only one of 75 top U.S. exhibitors who refused to use the ratings. Warner Bros.-Seven Arts ' The Girl on a Motorcycle was the first film to receive

10764-413: The NC-17 rating to be removed and to have the X rating revived. He felt that everyone understood what X-rated means, while fewer people understood what NC-17 meant. MPAA chairman Dan Glickman has disputed these claims, stating that far more films are initially rated NC-17 for violence than for sex, but that these are later edited by studios to receive an R rating. Despite this, an internal critic of

10920-510: The Osiris " with the events of Reloaded , while the online video game The Matrix Online was a direct sequel to Revolutions . These were typically written, commissioned, or approved by the Wachowskis. The first film was an important critical and commercial success, winning four Academy Awards , introducing popular culture symbols such as the red pill and blue pill , and influencing action filmmaking . For those reasons, it has been added to

11076-499: The PG-13 rating, but violence that is both realistic and extreme or persistent will generally require at least an R rating. Snippets of language that go "beyond polite conversation" are permitted in G-rated films, but no stronger words are present. Profanity may be present in PG rated films, and use of one of the harsher "sexually-derived words" as an expletive will initially incur at least

11232-407: The Shell as a source of inspiration, citing it as an influence on Avatar . Motion Picture Association of America film rating system The Motion Picture Association film rating system is used in the United States and its territories to rate a motion picture 's suitability for certain audiences based on its content. The system and the ratings applied to individual motion pictures are

11388-467: The Shell , noted that the anime's high-quality visuals were a strong source of inspiration for the Wachowskis. He also commented, "... cyberpunk films are very difficult to describe to a third person. I'd imagine that The Matrix is the kind of film that was very difficult to draw up a written proposal for to take to film studios." He stated that since Ghost in the Shell had gained recognition in America,

11544-499: The United States, and later released both the original NC-17 and the cut R-rated version on DVD. A Fox Searchlight spokesman said the NC-17 rating did not give them much trouble in releasing this film (they had no problem booking it, and only the Salt Lake City newspaper Deseret News refused to take the film's ad), and Fox Searchlight was satisfied with this film's United States box office result. Another notable exception

11700-466: The Wachowskis used it as a "promotional tool". Similarities to the 1985 anime film Megazone 23 have also been noticed, but the Wachowskis stated they have never seen it. Reviewers have commented on similarities between The Matrix and other late-1990s films such as Strange Days , Dark City , and The Truman Show . The Wachowskis stated Dark City had no influence on the franchise, but commented about it and The Truman Show that they thought it

11856-498: The X rating, especially over violence in films. In 1976, he got the board to give the Japanese martial arts film The Street Fighter an X rating for its graphic violence, the first time a film had earned that rating purely for violence. The NC-17 rating has been described as a "kiss of death" for any film that receives it. Like the X rating it replaced, NC-17 limits a film's prospects of being marketed, screened in theaters and sold in major video outlets. In 1995, MGM/UA released

12012-470: The artificial intelligence both inside and outside of it. The films focus on the plight of Neo ( Keanu Reeves ), Trinity ( Carrie-Anne Moss ), and Morpheus ( Laurence Fishburne and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II ) trying to free humanity from the system while pursued by its guardians, such as Agent Smith ( Hugo Weaving , Abdul-Mateen II, and Jonathan Groff ). The story references numerous norms, particularly philosophical, religious, and spiritual ideas, but also

12168-494: The big-budget film Showgirls ; it became the most widely distributed film with an NC-17 rating (showing in 1,388 cinemas simultaneously), but it was a box office failure that grossed only 45% of its $ 45 million budget. Some modest successes can be found among NC-17 theatrical releases, however; Fox Searchlight Pictures released the original NC-17-rated American edition of the European film The Dreamers (2003) in theaters in

12324-787: The blue tag after the film, with home media releases showing it prior to the film. They feature the rating block and any content descriptors as assigned by the Classification and Rating Administration, the MPA logo, and links to MPA websites along the bottom. Jack Valenti , who had become president of the Motion Picture Association of America in May 1966, deemed the Motion Picture Production Code , which had been in place since 1930 and rigorously enforced since July 1, 1934, out of date and bearing "the odious smell of censorship ". Filmmakers were pushing at

12480-548: The boundaries of the code with some even going as far as filing lawsuits against the "Hays Code" by invoking the First Amendment . Valenti cited examples such as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , which used prohibited language including "hump the hostess", and Blowup , which was denied Code approval due to nudity, resulting in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , then a member studio of the MPAA, releasing it through

12636-539: The cave , René Descartes 's evil demon , Kant 's reflections on the Phenomenon versus the Ding an sich , Zhuangzi 's " Zhuangzi dreamed he was a butterfly ", Marxist social theory and the brain in a vat thought experiment. Many references to Jean Baudrillard 's 1981 treatise Simulacra and Simulation appear in the first film. Baudrillard himself considered this a misrepresentation, although Lana Wachowski claims

12792-435: The construction of meaning to his life. And we were like, "Well, can the audience go through the three movies and experience something similar to what the main character experiences?" So the first movie is sort of typical in its approach. The second movie is deconstructionist, and it assaults all of the things that you thought to be true in the first movie, and so people get very upset, and they're like "Stop attacking me!" in

12948-489: The content and ethos of the cyberpunk literary movement stating: Classic cyberpunk characters were marginalized, alienated loners who lived on the edge of society in generally dystopic futures where daily life was impacted by rapid technological change, an ubiquitous datasphere of computerized information, and invasive modification of the human body. Cyberpunk plots often involve conflict between artificial intelligence , hackers , and megacorporations , and tend to be set in

13104-487: The context of the Wachowskis' transgender experiences. In this case, taking the red pill and living out of the Matrix symbolizes exploring one's own gender identity , starting the transition and coming out as transgender, as opposed to a continued life in the closet . In 2016, Lilly Wachowski acknowledged this analysis by calling it "a cool thing because it's an excellent reminder that art is never static". In 2004, Warner Home Video released The Ultimate Matrix Collection ,

13260-414: The depositions." Stewart was awarded damages totaling $ 316,280.62. Despite the ruling, the case became the subject of "Internet legend", with many sources claiming Stewart had actually won the lawsuit. In 2013, Thomas Althouse filed suit in California federal court alleging that ideas for the sequels The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions came from a screenplay he wrote called The Immortals . In

13416-487: The dilemma of choice vs. control , the brain in a vat thought experiment, messianism , and the concepts of interdependency and love . Influences include the principles of mythology , anime , and Hong Kong action films (particularly " heroic bloodshed " and martial arts movies). The film series is notable for its use of heavily choreographed action sequences and " bullet time " slow-motion effects, which revolutionized action films to come. The characters and setting of

13572-402: The early workings of the ratings system is film critic and writer Stephen Farber, who was a CARA intern for six months during 1969 and 1970. In The Movie Ratings Game , he documents a prejudice against sex in relation to violence. The 2006 documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated also points out that four times as many films received an NC-17 rating for sex as they did for violence according to

13728-452: The extremes of violence, including Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill ". The film rating system has had a number of high-profile critics. Film critic Roger Ebert called for replacing the NC-17 rating with separate ratings for pornographic and non-pornographic adult film. Ebert argued that the system places too much emphasis on sex, while allowing the portrayal of massive amounts of gruesome violence. The uneven emphasis on sex versus violence

13884-483: The film Blade Runner was adapted) is also seen by some as prefiguring the movement. Blade Runner can be seen as a quintessential example of the cyberpunk style and theme. Video games , board games , and tabletop role-playing games , such as Cyberpunk 2020 and Shadowrun , often feature storylines that are heavily influenced by cyberpunk writing and movies. Beginning in the early 1990s, some trends in fashion and music were also labeled as cyberpunk. Cyberpunk

14040-548: The film on appeal, despite the British Board of Film Classification reducing the British rating from a 15 rating to a 12A on the grounds that the uses of the expletive were not directed at anyone. This was satirized in the 2005 film Be Cool , in which the film producer Chili Palmer ( John Travolta ) says: "Do you know that unless you're willing to use the R rating, you can only say the 'F' word once? You know what I say? Fuck that. I'm done." Often film producers will use

14196-463: The film's open ending meant that could change in the future. In April 2024, it was announced that Warner Bros. was developing a new installment in the franchise with Drew Goddard attached to write and direct following a successful pitch with studio executives. It will mark the first installment to not be directed by either Wachowski sister although Lana will serve as an executive producer. In March 2017, The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Warner Bros.

14352-508: The film, including the Matrix digital rain , which was inspired by the opening credits of Ghost in the Shell and a sushi magazine the wife of the senior designer of the animation, Simon Witheley, had in the kitchen at the time., and the way characters access the Matrix through holes in the back of their necks. Other parallels have been drawn to James Cameron 's Avatar , Steven Spielberg 's A.I. Artificial Intelligence , and Jonathan Mostow 's Surrogates . James Cameron cited Ghost in

14508-527: The film. Among those patrons were many children, not always accompanied by adults. This left many commentators incredulous that the ratings board would have found that a film with disturbing scenes such as a possessed 12-year-old girl masturbating with a crucifix was acceptable for children to see. Roy Meacham, a Washington, D.C., critic who had praised the film while admonishing parents not to take their children to it, recalled those children he did see leaving showings "drained and drawn afterward; their eyes had

14664-522: The films are further explored in other media set in the same fictional universe , including animation, comics, and video games. The comic "Bits and Pieces of Information" and the Animatrix short film The Second Renaissance act as prequels to the films, explaining how the franchise's setting came to be. The video game Enter the Matrix connects the story of the Animatrix short " Final Flight of

14820-478: The first generation of teenagers who grew up truly "speaking computer". Afterward, Dozois began using this term in his own writing, most notably in a 1984 Washington Post article where he said "About the closest thing here to a self-willed esthetic 'school' would be the purveyors of bizarre hard-edged, high-tech stuff, who have on occasion been referred to as 'cyberpunks' — Sterling, Gibson, Shiner, Cadigan, Bear." Also in 1984, William Gibson's novel Neuromancer

14976-456: The first time. A pared-down set dubbed The Complete Matrix Trilogy was also released on HD DVD and Blu-ray (3 discs each), which dropped The Animatrix and some of the special features. The Ultra HD Blu-ray release of The Matrix Trilogy came out in 2018 (9 discs), and presented the trilogy in 4K resolution and high-dynamic-range video , remastered from the original camera negative and supervised by Bill Pope. In this release, The Matrix

15132-399: The fluid social structures of late capitalism . There is some debate about whether followers of Matrixism are indeed serious about their practice; however, the religion (real or otherwise) has received attention in the media. Following the Wachowskis' coming out as transgender women some years after the release of the films, the first film and the pill analogy have also been analyzed in

15288-411: The footage, and a general bias towards the color green), and the vast majority of humans connected to it are unaware of its true nature. Most of the central characters in the series are able to gain superhuman abilities within the Matrix by taking advantage of their understanding of its true nature to manipulate its virtual physical laws . The films take place both inside the Matrix and outside of it, in

15444-481: The game Enter the Matrix was released in North America concurrently with The Matrix Reloaded . The first of three video games related to the films, it told a story running parallel to The Matrix Reloaded and featured scenes that were shot during the filming of The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions . Two more The Matrix video games were released in 2005. The MMORPG The Matrix Online continued

15600-534: The genre has grown steadily since Blade Runner . Several of Philip K. Dick's works have been adapted to the silver screen. The films Johnny Mnemonic (1995) and New Rose Hotel (1998), both based on short stories by William Gibson, flopped commercially and critically. Other cyberpunk films include RoboCop (1987), Total Recall (1990), Hardware (1990), The Lawnmower Man (1992), 12 Monkeys (1995), Hackers (1995), and Strange Days (1995). Some cyberpunk films have been described as tech-noir ,

15756-469: The genre's atmosphere echoes film noir , and written works in the genre often use techniques from detective fiction . There are sources who view that cyberpunk has shifted from a literary movement to a mode of science fiction due to the limited number of writers and its transition to a more generalized cultural formation. The origins of cyberpunk are rooted in the New Wave science fiction movement of

15912-421: The impact of drug culture, technology, and the ongoing sexual revolution, drawing themes and influence from experimental literature of Beat Generation authors such as William S. Burroughs , and art movements like Dadaism . Ballard, a notable critic of literary archetypes in science fiction, instead employs metaphysical and psychological concepts, seeking greater relevance to readers of the day. Ballard's work

16068-502: The initial idea of making a trilogy. The sequels, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions , were filmed simultaneously during one shoot (under the project codename "The Burly Man"), and released in two parts in 2003. They tell the story of the impending attack on the human enclave of Zion by a vast machine army. Neo also learns more about the history of the Matrix and his role as The One. The sequels also incorporate more ambitious action scenes and visual effects. The Matrix

16224-474: The label This Film Is Not Yet Rated is used in trailers and television commercials. The MPA also rates film trailers, print advertising, posters, and other media used to promote a film. Rating cards appear at the head of trailers in the United States which indicate how closely the trailer adheres to the MPA's (and prior to November 2019, the MPAA's) standards. The MPA also creates blue feature tags for theatrical and home media use. Theatrical releases show

16380-642: The landscape of cyberpunk Los Angeles in Blade Runner to be "Hong Kong on a very bad day". The streetscapes of the Ghost in the Shell film were based on Hong Kong. Its director Mamoru Oshii felt that Hong Kong's strange and chaotic streets where "old and new exist in confusing relationships" fit the theme of the film well. Hong Kong's Kowloon Walled City is particularly notable for its disorganized hyper-urbanization and breakdown in traditional urban planning to be an inspiration to cyberpunk landscapes. During

16536-448: The lawsuit to move forward in 2005, but Stewart did not attend the deposition. In a 53-page ruling, Judge Margaret Morrow dismissed the case, stating that Stewart and her attorneys "had not entered any evidence to bolster its key claims or demonstrated any striking similarity between her work and the accused directors' films." In August 2014, Stewart successfully sued her lawyers because they "failed to provide legal services to Ms. Stewart in

16692-436: The likelihood that adult-oriented movies are seen by the very groups for which they are not intended." As of March 2007, according to Variety , MPAA chairman Dan Glickman had been made aware of the attempts to introduce a new rating, or find ways to reduce the stigma of the NC-17 rating. Film studios have pressured the MPAA to retire the NC-17 rating, because of its likely impact on their film's box office revenue. In 2010,

16848-421: The line between actual and virtual reality . A typical trope in such work is a direct connection between the human brain and computer systems. Cyberpunk settings are dystopias with corruption, computers, and computer networks. The economic and technological state of Japan is a regular theme in the cyberpunk literature of the 1980s. Of Japan's influence on the genre, William Gibson said, "Modern Japan simply

17004-437: The machines' source of solar power by covering the sky in thick, stormy clouds. A massive war emerged between the two adversaries which ended with the machines victorious, capturing humanity. Having lost their definite source of energy, the machines devised a way to extract the human body's bioelectric and thermal energies by enclosing people in pods, while their minds are controlled by cybernetic implants connecting them to

17160-545: The making of the Matrix film series. The Matrix series includes four feature films. The first three were written and directed by the Wachowskis and produced by Joel Silver , starring Keanu Reeves , Laurence Fishburne , Carrie-Anne Moss and Hugo Weaving . The series was filmed in Australia and began with 1999's The Matrix , which depicts the recruitment of hacker Neo into humanity's rebellion against sentient machines. The film's mainstream success had backed up

17316-441: The minimum age for NC-17-rated films was raised to 18, by rewording it to "No One 17 and Under Admitted". The ratings used since 1996 are: Since September 1990, the MPAA has included explanations, or "descriptors", of why each film received an "R" rating, allowing parents to know what type of content the film contained. For example, the descriptor for The Girl Who Played with Fire read "Rated [R] for brutal violence including

17472-401: The movie omits the religious and mythical elements of Dick's original novel (e.g. empathy boxes and Wilbur Mercer), it falls more strictly within the cyberpunk genre than the novel does. William Gibson would later reveal that upon first viewing the film, he was surprised at how the look of this film matched his vision for Neuromancer , a book he was then working on. The film's tone has since been

17628-753: The next century, but nearly always clutched in the secretive hands of a wealthy or corporate elite . Cyberpunk stories have also been seen as fictional forecasts of the evolution of the Internet . The earliest descriptions of a global communications network came long before the World Wide Web entered popular awareness, though not before traditional science-fiction writers such as Arthur C. Clarke and some social commentators such as James Burke began predicting that such networks would eventually form. Some observers cite that cyberpunk tends to marginalize sectors of society such as women and people of colour. It

17784-543: The non-trademarked "X" rating, and it soon became synonymous with pornography in American culture. In late 1989 and early 1990, respectively, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer and The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover , two critically acclaimed art films featuring strong adult content, were released. Neither film was approved for an MPAA rating, limiting their commercial distribution and prompting criticism of

17940-417: The packaging of MPAA-rated films via a settlement that would come into effect by fall that year. The ratings used from 1984 to 1990 were: In 1989, Tennessee state law set the minimum age to view a theatrically exhibited R-rated film without adult accompaniment at 18, instead of 17, and categorized the admission of minors to X-rated films as a misdemeanor . The statute remained in force until 2013, when it

18096-566: The point the reference was making was misunderstood. There are similarities to cyberpunk works such as the 1984 book Neuromancer by William Gibson , who has described The Matrix as "arguably the ultimate 'cyberpunk' artifact". Japanese director Mamoru Oshii 's 1995 film Ghost in the Shell was a strong influence. Producer Joel Silver has stated that the Wachowskis first described their intentions for The Matrix by showing him that anime and saying, "We wanna do that for real." Mitsuhisa Ishikawa of Production I.G , which produced Ghost in

18252-417: The profanity contained within the film, which prevented most of the intended audience, middle and high schoolers , from seeing the film. The film's director, Lee Hirsch, has refused to recut the film, stating, "I feel a responsibility as a filmmaker, as the person entrusted to tell (these kids') stories, to not water them down." A petition collected more than 200,000 signatures to change the film's rating and

18408-533: The rating system's PG classification "no longer matched a notion of childhood most parents in America could agree on." Steven Spielberg , director of Temple of Doom and executive producer of Gremlins , suggested a new intermediate rating between "PG" and "R". The "PG-13" rating was introduced on July 1, 1984, with the advisory "Parents Are Strongly Cautioned to Give Special Guidance for Attendance of Children Under 13 – Some Material May Be Inappropriate for Young Children". The first film to be released with this rating

18564-582: The rating system's lack of a designation for such films. In September 1990, the MPAA introduced the rating NC-17 ("No Children Under 17 Admitted"). Henry & June , previously to be assigned an X rating, was the first film to receive the NC-17 rating instead. Although films with an NC-17 rating had more mainstream distribution opportunities than X-rated films, many theaters refused to screen them, most entertainment media did not accept advertising for them, and many large video outlets refused to stock them. The ratings used from 1990 to 1996 were: In 1996,

18720-606: The real world; the parts that take place in the Matrix are set in a vast Western megacity . The virtual world is first introduced in The Matrix . The short comic "Bits and Pieces of Information" and the Animatrix short film The Second Renaissance show how the initial conflict between humanity and machines came about, and how and why the Matrix was first developed. Its history and purpose are further explained in The Matrix Reloaded . In The Matrix Revolutions

18876-459: The release of The Exorcist at the end of 1973, CARA president Aaron Stern took the unusual step of calling director William Friedkin to tell him that since it was an "important film", it would be rated R and could be released without any cuts. The film drew huge crowds upon its release, many of whom were so horrified by the film they vomited and/or fainted; a psychiatric journal would later document four cases of "cinematic neurosis " induced by

19032-512: The request of the Wachowskis, as they explain in a written statement that accompanies the boxset, each of the three films is accompanied by two audio commentaries , one by philosophers who liked the films, and another by critics who did not, with the intention that viewers use them as reference points to form their own opinion. The compilation includes 35 hours of bonus material, but some of the extras from earlier, standalone, releases are missing. A Limited Edition of The Ultimate Matrix Collection

19188-583: The responsibility of the Motion Picture Association (MPA), previously known as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) from 1945 to 2019. The MPA rating system is a voluntary scheme that is not enforced by law; films can be exhibited without a rating, although most theaters refuse to exhibit non-rated or NC-17 rated films . Non-members of the MPA may also submit films for rating. Other media, such as television programs , music and video games , are rated by other entities such as

19344-414: The rumors of his involvement by saying he was "flattered", but without making a definitive statement. In October 2019, Penn confirmed the script he wrote is set within an earlier time period than the first three films in the franchise. This section includes characters who will appear or have appeared in two or more installments in the series. The following is a list of crew members who have participated in

19500-636: The same way that people get upset with deconstructionist philosophy . I mean, Derrida and Foucault , these people upset us. And then the third movie is the most ambiguous, because it asks you to actually participate in the construction of meaning. — Lana Wachowski , Movie City News , October 13, 2012 The Matrix films make numerous references to films and literature, and to historical myths and philosophy, including Buddhism , Vedanta , Advaita Hinduism , Christianity , Messianism , Judaism , Gnosticism , existentialism , obscurantism , and nihilism . The films' premise resembles Plato 's Allegory of

19656-449: The segments were produced by notable figures from the world of Japanese animation . Four of the films were originally released on the series' official website, one was shown in cinemas with Dreamcatcher , one was shown on MTV, MTV2, MTV3, MTV4, and Syfi, and the others first appeared with the DVD release of all nine shorts shortly after the release of The Matrix Reloaded . On May 15, 2003,

19812-497: The similarity of the films' central concept to a device in the long-running series Doctor Who has also been noted. As in the film, the Matrix of that series (introduced in the 1976 serial The Deadly Assassin ) is a massive computer system which one enters using a device connecting to the head, allowing users to see representations of the real world and change its laws of physics; but if killed there, they will die in reality. The first Matrix film features numerous references to

19968-432: The specifics behind the film's content and why it received a certain rating. They are displayed in trailers, posters, and on the backside of home video releases. Film rating content descriptors are exclusively used for films rated from PG to NC-17; they are not used for G-rated films because the content in them is suitable for all audiences even if containing mild objectionable content. If a film has not been submitted for

20124-496: The staple of many cyberpunk movies, such as The Matrix trilogy (1999–2003), which uses a wide variety of cyberpunk elements. A sequel to Blade Runner was released in 2017. The TV series Max Headroom (1987) is an iconic cyberpunk work, taking place in a futuristic dystopia ruled by an oligarchy of television networks. Computer hacking played a central role in many of the story lines. Max Headroom has been called "the first cyberpunk television series". The number of films in

20280-412: The story beyond The Matrix Revolutions , while The Matrix: Path of Neo allowed players to control Neo in scenes from the film trilogy. The Matrix Online was shut down in 2009. The Matrix official website also provided several original Adobe Flash -based browser games . An interactive technology demonstration, titled The Matrix Awakens , was released on December 9, 2021. The Matrix Comics

20436-474: The subgenre. Early films in the genre include Ridley Scott 's 1982 film Blade Runner , one of several of Philip K. Dick's works that have been adapted into films (in this case, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? ). The "first cyberpunk television series" was the TV series Max Headroom from 1987, playing in a futuristic dystopia ruled by an oligarchy of television networks, and where computer hacking played

20592-478: The term in 1983 for his short story " Cyberpunk ", which was published in an issue of Amazing Science Fiction Stories . The term was quickly appropriated as a label to be applied to the works of William Gibson , Bruce Sterling , Pat Cadigan and others. Of these, Sterling became the movement's chief ideologue, thanks to his fanzine Cheap Truth . John Shirley wrote articles on Sterling and Rucker's significance. John Brunner 's 1975 novel The Shockwave Rider

20748-419: The three instances of fuck in the musical to qualify it as PG-13 under MPAA guidelines. A study of popular American teen-oriented films rated PG and PG-13 from 1980 to 2006 found that in those films, teenaged characters use more and stronger profanity than adult ones in the same movies. However, the study found that the overall amount of such language had declined somewhat since the 1980s. Drug use content

20904-474: The time of writing the novel Gibson did not know the location of Chiba and had no idea how perfectly it fit his vision in some ways. The exposure to cyberpunk ideas and fiction in the 1980s has allowed it to seep into the Japanese culture. Cyberpunk anime and manga draw upon a futuristic vision which has elements in common with Western science fiction and therefore have received wide international acceptance outside Japan. "The conceptualization involved in cyberpunk

21060-481: The way for Otomo's seminal cyberpunk work Akira . Cyberpunk themes are widely visible in anime and manga. In Japan , where cosplay is popular and not only teenagers display such fashion styles, cyberpunk has been accepted and its influence is widespread. William Gibson's Neuromancer, whose influence dominated the early cyberpunk movement, was also set in Chiba , one of Japan's largest industrial areas, although at

21216-534: The word fuck : Adventures in Babysitting , where the word is used twice in the same scene; Antwone Fisher which has three uses; Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour , which has four uses (six in the "Taylor's Version" cut); The Hip Hop Project , which has seventeen uses; and Gunner Palace , a documentary of soldiers in the Iraq War , which has 42 uses of the word with two used sexually. Both Bully ,

21372-417: The word for a scene of gravitas or humor and then bleep out any further instances with sound effects. Some forms of media are cut post-release so as to obtain a PG-13 rating for home media release or to feature on an Internet streaming service that will not carry films rated higher than PG-13. In 2020, a recording of Hamilton was released on Disney+ after cuts by Lin-Manuel Miranda to remove two of

21528-481: The world through almost-magical computer skills, but whose actual use of the Net amounts to dialing up the scatophilia forum and downloading a few disgusting pictures. You know, cyberpunks. Primary figures in the cyberpunk movement include William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, Bruce Sterling, Bruce Bethke, Pat Cadigan , Rudy Rucker , and John Shirley . Philip K. Dick (author of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? , from which

21684-407: The world". The film Blade Runner (1982) is set in 2019 in a dystopian future in which manufactured beings called replicants are slaves used on space colonies and are legal prey on Earth to various bounty hunters who "retire" (kill) them. Although Blade Runner was largely unsuccessful in its first theatrical release, it found a viewership in the home video market and became a cult film . Since

21840-541: The world's first simultaneous release across major cities all over the world, which for the first time in history included both a release in China, and a release in IMAX theaters. Its five-day opening at $ 204 million broke the previous record, but ultimately the film made $ 427 million, a little less than the original. The Matrix and The Matrix Reloaded received positive reviews, the critical response to The Matrix Revolutions

21996-401: Was "very strange that Australia came to have three films associated with it that were all about the nature of reality." Comparisons have also been made to Grant Morrison 's comic series The Invisibles ; Morrison believes that the Wachowskis essentially plagiarized their work to create the film. The Wachowskis responded that they enjoy the comic, but did not use it for inspiration. In addition,

22152-459: Was also released. It encases the ten discs plus a resin bust of Neo inside an acrylic glass box. The Ultimate Matrix Collection was later also released on HD DVD (5 discs) and Blu-ray (6 discs) in 2007 and 2008, respectively. The HD DVD release added a picture-in-picture video commentary to the three films and the extras that were missing from the previous DVD compilation. The Blu-ray release presented The Animatrix in high definition for

22308-574: Was awarded the Hugo , Nebula , and Philip K. Dick Awards. Count Zero (1986) and Mona Lisa Overdrive (1988) followed after Gibson's popular debut novel. According to the Jargon File , "Gibson's near-total ignorance of computers and the present-day hacker culture enabled him to speculate about the role of computers and hackers in the future in ways hackers have since found both irritatingly naïve and tremendously stimulating." Early on, cyberpunk

22464-563: Was cyberpunk. The Japanese themselves knew it and delighted in it. I remember my first glimpse of Shibuya , when one of the young Tokyo journalists who had taken me there, his face drenched with the light of a thousand media-suns—all that towering, animated crawl of commercial information—said, "You see? You see? It is Blade Runner town." And it was. It so evidently was. Akira (1982 manga) and its 1988 anime film adaptation have influenced numerous works in animation, comics, film, music, television and video games. Akira has been cited as

22620-400: Was cyberpunk." Cyberpunk is often set in urbanized, artificial landscapes, and "city lights, receding" was used by Gibson as one of the genre's first metaphors for cyberspace and virtual reality. The cityscapes of Hong Kong has had major influences in the urban backgrounds, ambiance and settings in many cyberpunk works such as Blade Runner and Shadowrun . Ridley Scott envisioned

22776-1108: Was hailed as a radical departure from science-fiction standards and a new manifestation of vitality. Shortly thereafter, however, some critics arose to challenge its status as a revolutionary movement. These critics said that the science fiction New Wave of the 1960s was much more innovative as far as narrative techniques and styles were concerned. Furthermore, while Neuromancer ' s narrator may have had an unusual "voice" for science fiction, much older examples can be found: Gibson's narrative voice, for example, resembles that of an updated Raymond Chandler , as in his novel The Big Sleep (1939). Others noted that almost all traits claimed to be uniquely cyberpunk could in fact be found in older writers' works—often citing J. G. Ballard , Philip K. Dick , Harlan Ellison , Stanisław Lem , Samuel R. Delany , and even William S. Burroughs . For example, Philip K. Dick's works contain recurring themes of social decay, artificial intelligence, paranoia, and blurred lines between objective and subjective realities. The influential cyberpunk movie Blade Runner (1982)

22932-399: Was highly successful, earning over $ 460 million worldwide on a modest budget of $ 63 million. The sequels had a much larger budget of $ 150 million each; Reloaded was also a big commercial success, earning almost $ 742 million worldwide and becoming the highest-grossing R-rated film in history, a title which it held for 13 years until it was surpassed by the film Deadpool ; Revolutions had

23088-438: Was in the early stages of developing a re-launch of the franchise. Consideration was given to producing a Matrix television series, but was dismissed as the studio opted to pursue negotiations with Zak Penn in writing a treatment for a new film, with Michael B. Jordan eyed for the lead role. According to the article, the Wachowskis were not involved at that point. In response to the report, Penn refuted all statements regarding

23244-623: Was more negative. One complaint was that Revolutions did not give answers to the questions raised in Reloaded . In April 2003, Sophia Stewart filed a legal complaint in the United States District Court for the Central District of California alleging that the idea of The Matrix (and the 1984 film The Terminator ) were plagiarized from her own film treatment titled "The Third Eye". The court allowed

23400-575: Was not a sequel to the original movie; Ghost in the Shell (2017), a live-action adaptation of the original manga ; Alita: Battle Angel (2019), based on the 1990s Japanese manga Battle Angel Alita ; the 2018 Netflix TV series Altered Carbon , based on Richard K. Morgan 's 2002 novel of the same name ; and the video game Cyberpunk 2077 (2020) and original net animation (ONA) miniseries Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (2022), both based on R. Talsorian Games 's 1988 tabletop role-playing game Cyberpunk . Lawrence Person has attempted to define

23556-416: Was published, delivering a glimpse of a future encompassed by what became an archetype of cyberpunk "virtual reality", with the human mind being fed light-based worldscapes through a computer interface. Some, perhaps ironically including Bethke himself, argued at the time that the writers whose style Gibson's books epitomized should be called "Neuromantics", a pun on the name of the novel plus " New Romantics ",

23712-591: Was revised to "PG". The ratings used from 1970 to 1972 were: The ratings used from 1972 to 1984 were: In the 1980s, complaints about violence and gore in films such as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Gremlins , both of which received PG ratings, refocused attention on films seen by younger children. According to author Filipa Antunes, this revealed the conundrum of a film that "could not be recommended for all children but could also not be repudiated for all children uniformly," leading to speculation that

23868-455: Was ruled to be in violation of the First Amendment . The law was amended in 2013 as to prohibit persons under the age of 18 only if the film was considered "harmful to minors". In the rating system's early years, "X"-rated films such as Midnight Cowboy (1969) and A Clockwork Orange (1971) were understood to be unsuitable for children, but non-pornographic and intended for the general public. However, pornographic films often self-applied

24024-547: Was the John Milius war film Red Dawn . In 1985, the wording was simplified to "Parents Strongly Cautioned – Some Material May Be Inappropriate for Children Under 13". Around the same time, the MPAA won a trademark infringement lawsuit against the producers and distributors of I Spit on Your Grave over a fraudulent application of its R rating to the uncut version of the film, and forced its member studios and several other home video distributors to put MPAA ratings on

24180-416: Was to have three ratings, with the intention of allowing parents to take their children to any film they chose. However, the National Association of Theatre Owners urged the creation of an adults-only category, fearful of possible legal problems in local jurisdictions. The "X" rating was not an MPAA trademark and would not receive the MPAA seal; any producer not submitting a film for MPAA rating could self-apply

24336-420: Was written by Lana Wachowski, David Mitchell and Aleksandar Hemon , was directed by Lana Wachowski, and was produced by Grant Hill , James McTeigue , and Lana Wachowski. The franchise is owned by Warner Bros. , which distributed the films along with Village Roadshow Pictures . The latter, along with Silver Pictures , are the two production companies that worked on the first three films. The series features

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