The Matrix

# The Matrix

## Abstract

The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is the first installment in the Matrix film series, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving and Joe Pantoliano, and depicts a dystopian future in which humanity is unknowingly trapped inside the Matrix, a simulated reality that intelligent machines have created to distract humans while using their bodies as an energy source. When computer programmer Thomas Anderson, under the hacker alias " Neo ", uncovers the truth, he joins a rebellion against the machines along with other people who have been freed from the Matrix.

The Matrix is an example of the cyberpunk subgenre of science fiction. The Wachowskis' approach to action scenes was influenced by anime and martial arts films (particularly fight choreographers and wire fu techniques from Hong Kong action cinema); other influences include Plato's cave and 1990s Telnet hacker communities. The film popularized terms such as the red pill, and introduced a visual effect known as " bullet time ", in which the heightened perception of certain characters is represented by allowing the action within a shot to progress in slow motion while the camera appears to move through the scene at normal speed, allowing the sped-up movements of certain characters to be perceived normally.

The Matrix opened in theaters in the United States on March 31, 1999, to widespread acclaim from critics, who praised its innovative visual effects, action sequences, cinematography and entertainment value. The film was a box office success, grossing over $460 million on a $63 million budget, becoming the highest-grossing Warner Bros. film of 1999 and the fourth-highest-grossing film of that year. The film received nominations at the 72nd Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects, Best Film Editing, Best Sound and Best Sound Editing, winning all four categories. The film was also the recipient of numerous other accolades, including Best Sound and Best Special Visual Effects at the 53rd British Academy Film Awards, and the Wachowskis were awarded Best Director and Best Science Fiction Film at the 26th Saturn Awards. The Matrix is considered to be among the greatest science fiction films of all time, and in 2012, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant."

The film's success led to two feature film sequels being released in 2003, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, which were also written and directed by the Wachowskis. The Matrix franchise was further expanded through the production of comic books, video games and an animated anthology film, The Animatrix, with which the Wachowskis were heavily involved. The franchise has also inspired books and theories expanding on some of the religious and philosophical ideas alluded to in the films. A fourth film, titled The Matrix Resurrections, was released in 2021.

## Plot

At an abandoned hotel, a police squad corners Trinity, who overpowers them with superhuman abilities. She flees, pursued by the police and a group of suited Agents capable of similar superhuman feats. She answers a ringing public telephone and vanishes.

Computer programmer Thomas Anderson, known by his hacking alias " Neo ", is puzzled by repeated online encounters with the phrase "the Matrix". Trinity contacts him and tells him a man named Morpheus has the answers Neo seeks. A team of Agents and police, led by Agent Smith, arrives at Neo's workplace in search of him. Though Morpheus attempts to guide Neo to safety, Neo surrenders rather than risk a dangerous escape. The Agents offer to erase Neo's criminal record in exchange for his help with locating Morpheus, who they claim is a terrorist. When Neo refuses to cooperate, they fuse his mouth shut, pin him down, and implant a robotic "bug" in his abdomen. Neo wakes up from what he believes to be a nightmare. Soon after, Neo is taken by Trinity to meet Morpheus, and she removes the bug from Neo.

Morpheus offers Neo a choice between two pills: red to reveal the truth about the Matrix, or blue to make Neo forget everything and return to his former life. Neo takes the red pill, and his reality begins to distort until he awakens in a liquid-filled pod among countless other pods, containing other humans. He is then brought aboard Morpheus's flying ship, the Nebuchadnezzar. As Neo recuperates from a lifetime of physical inactivity in the pod, Morpheus explains the history: in the early 21st century, humanity had developed intelligent machines before war broke out between the two sides. After humans blocked the machines' access to solar energy, the machines responded by enslaving humankind and harvesting their bioelectric power while keeping their minds pacified in the Matrix, a shared simulated reality modeled on the world as it was in 1999. In the years following, the remaining free humans took refuge in the underground city of Zion.

Morpheus and his crew are a group of rebels who hack into the Matrix to "unplug" enslaved humans and recruit them; their understanding of the Matrix's simulated nature allows them to bend its physical laws. Morpheus warns Neo that death within the Matrix kills the physical body too and explains that the Agents are sentient programs that eliminate threats to the system, while machines called Sentinels eliminate rebels in the real world. Neo's prowess during virtual training cements Morpheus's belief that Neo is "the One", a human prophesied to free humankind. The group enters the Matrix to visit the Oracle, a prophet-like program who predicted that the One would emerge. She implies to Neo that he is not the One and warns that he will have to choose between Morpheus's life and his own. Before they can leave the Matrix, Agents and police ambush the group, tipped off by Cypher, a disgruntled crew member who has betrayed Morpheus in exchange for a deal to be plugged back into the Matrix to live a comfortable life.

To buy time for the others, Morpheus fights Smith and is captured. Cypher exits the Matrix and murders the other crew members as they lie unconscious. Before Cypher can kill Neo and Trinity, crew member Tank regains consciousness and kills him before pulling Neo and Trinity from the Matrix. The Agents interrogate Morpheus to learn his access codes to the mainframe computer in Zion, which would allow them to destroy it. Neo resolves to return to the Matrix to rescue Morpheus, as the Oracle prophesied; Trinity insists she accompany him. While rescuing Morpheus, Neo gains confidence in his abilities, performing feats comparable to those of the Agents.

After Morpheus and Trinity safely exit the Matrix, Smith ambushes and appears to kill Neo. While a group of Sentinels attack the Nebuchadnezzar, Trinity confesses her love for Neo and says the Oracle told her she would fall in love with the One. Neo is revived, with newfound abilities to perceive and control the Matrix; he easily defeats Smith, prompting the other Agents to flee and he leaves the Matrix just as the ship's electromagnetic pulse disables the Sentinels. Back in the Matrix, Neo makes a telephone call, promising the machines that he will show their prisoners "a world where anything is possible", before he hangs up and flies away.

## Cast

- Keanu Reeves as Neo: A computer programmer, born Thomas A. Anderson, who secretly operates as a hacker named Neo. Reeves described his character as someone who felt that something was wrong, and was searching for Morpheus and the truth to break free. Will Smith turned down the role of Neo to make Wild Wild West, because of skepticism over the film's ambitious bullet time special effects. He later stated he was "not mature enough as an actor" at that time, and that if given the role, he "would have messed it up". Smith praised Reeves for his portrayal. Nicolas Cage also turned down the part because of "family obligations". Warner Bros. sought Brad Pitt or Val Kilmer for the role. When both declined, Leonardo DiCaprio initially accepted the role, but ultimately turned it down because he did not want to do a visual effects film directly after Titanic. The studio pushed for Reeves, who won the role over Johnny Depp, the Wachowskis' first choice. Lorenzo di Bonaventura stated that the screenplay was also sent to Sandra Bullock, with the suggestion of rewriting Neo as a female.

- Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus: A human freed from the Matrix and captain of the Nebuchadnezzar. Fishburne stated that once he read the script, he did not understand why other people found it confusing. However, he doubted if the movie would ever be made, because it was "so smart". The Wachowskis instructed Fishburne to base his performance on the character Morpheus in Neil Gaiman 's Sandman comics. Gary Oldman, Samuel L. Jackson and Val Kilmer were also considered for the part.

- Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity: A human freed by Morpheus, a crewmember of the Nebuchadnezzar, and later Neo's romantic interest. After reading the script, Moss stated that at first, she did not believe she had to do the extreme acrobatic actions as described in the script. She also doubted how the Wachowskis would get to direct a movie with a budget so large, but after spending an hour with them going through the storyboard, she understood why some people would trust them. Moss mentioned that she underwent a three-hour physical test during casting, so she knew what to expect subsequently. The role made Moss, who later said, "I had no career before. None." Janet Jackson was initially approached for the role but scheduling conflicts prevented her from accepting it. In an interview, she stated that turning down the role was difficult for her, so she later referenced The Matrix in the 'Intro' and 'Outro' interludes on her tenth studio album Discipline. Sandra Bullock, who was previously approached for the role of Neo, was also offered the role of Trinity, but she turned it down. Rosie Perez, Salma Hayek and Jada Pinkett Smith (who would later play Niobe in the sequels) auditioned for the role.

- Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith: A sentient "Agent" program of the Matrix whose purpose is to destroy Zion and stop humans from getting out of the Matrix. Unlike other Agents, he has ambitions to free himself from his duties. Weaving stated that he found the character amusing and enjoyable to play. He developed a neutral accent but with more specific character for the role. He wanted Smith to sound neither robotic nor human, and also said that the Wachowskis' voices had influenced his voice in the film. When filming began, Weaving mentioned that he was excited to be a part of something that would extend him. Jean Reno was offered the role, but declined, unwilling to move to Australia for the production.

- Joe Pantoliano as Cypher: Another human freed by Morpheus, and a crewmember of the Nebuchadnezzar, but one who regrets taking the red pill and seeks to be returned to the Matrix, later betraying the rebels to Agent Smith. Pantoliano had worked with the Wachowskis prior to appearing in The Matrix, starring in their 1996 film Bound.

- Marcus Chong as Tank: The "operator" of the Nebuchadnezzar and Dozer's brother; they are both "natural" (as opposed to bred) humans, born outside of the Matrix.

- Matt Doran as Mouse: A freed human and a programmer on the Nebuchadnezzar.

- Rowan Witt as The Spoon Boy, a young prophet who has learnt how to manipulate the world of the Matrix. Seemingly wise beyond his years, he teaches Neo how to develop his powers and provides him with wisdom and motivation across the films and graphic novels.

- Gloria Foster as The Oracle: A prophet who still resides in the Matrix, helping the freed humans with her foresight and wisdom.

- Anthony Ray Parker as Dozer: Pilot of the Nebuchadnezzar. He is Tank's brother, and like him was born outside of the Matrix.

- Julian Arahanga as Apoc: A freed human and a crew member on the Nebuchadnezzar.

- Belinda McClory as Switch: A human freed by Morpheus, and a crew member of the Nebuchadnezzar.

- Paul Goddard as Agent Brown: One of two sentient "Agent" programs in the Matrix, who works with Agent Smith to destroy Zion and stop humans from escaping the system.

- Robert Taylor as Agent Jones: One of two sentient "Agent" programs in the Matrix who works with Agent Smith to destroy Zion and stop humans from escaping the system.

- Ada Nicodemou as DuJour: A reference to the White Rabbit in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

## Production

### Development

In 1994, the Wachowskis presented the script for the film Assassins to Warner Bros. Pictures. After Lorenzo di Bonaventura, the president of production of the company at the time, read the script, he decided to buy rights to it and included two more pictures, Bound and The Matrix, in the contract. The first movie the Wachowskis directed, Bound, then became a critical success. Using this momentum, they later asked to direct The Matrix. Reeves said that the Matrix avatar would have been a "different sex than the Zion reality" in the early draft of the script, but the studio was not ready for that version.

In 1996, the Wachowskis pitched the role of Neo to Will Smith. Smith explained on his YouTube channel that the idea was for him to be Neo, while Morpheus was to be played by Val Kilmer. He later explained that he did not quite understand the concept and he turned down the role to instead film Wild Wild West.

Producer Joel Silver soon joined the project. Although the project had key supporters, including Silver and Di Bonaventura, to influence the company, The Matrix was still a huge investment for Warner Bros., which had to invest $60 million to create a movie with prominent actors and difficult special effects. The Wachowskis therefore hired underground comic book artists Geof Darrow and Steve Skroce to draw a 600-page, shot-by-shot storyboard for the entire film. The storyboard eventually earned the studio's approval, and it was decided to film in Australia to make the most of the budget. Soon, The Matrix became a co-production of Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures. According to editor Zach Staenberg on the DVD audio commentary track, the production team sent an edit of the film's first minutes (featuring Trinity's encounter with police and Agents) to Warner executives, and secured Warner's "total support of the movie" from then on.

### Pre-production

The cast were required to be able to understand and explain The Matrix. French philosopher Jean Baudrillard 's Simulacra and Simulation was required reading for most of the principal cast and crew. In early 1997, the Wachowskis had Reeves read Simulacra and Simulation, Kevin Kelly 's Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World, and Dylan Evans 's ideas on evolutionary psychology even before they opened up the script, and eventually he was able to explain all the philosophical nuances involved. Moss commented that she had difficulty with this process.

The directors had long been admirers of Hong Kong action cinema, so they decided to hire the Chinese martial arts choreographer and film director Yuen Woo-ping to work on fight scenes. To prepare for the wire fu, the actors had to train hard for several months. The Wachowskis first scheduled four months for training, beginning in October 1997. Yuen was optimistic but then began to worry when he realized how unfit the actors were.

Yuen let their body style develop and then worked with each actor's strength. He built on Reeves's diligence, Fishburne's resilience, Weaving's precision and Moss's feminine grace. Yuen designed Moss's moves to suit her deftness and lightness. Prior to the pre-production, Reeves underwent a two-level fusion of his cervical (neck) spine due to spinal cord compression from a herniated disc ("I was falling over in the shower in the morning"). He was still recovering by the time of pre-production, but he insisted on training, so Yuen let him practice punches and lighter moves. Reeves trained hard and even requested training on days off. However, the surgery still made him unable to kick for two out of four months of training. As a result, Reeves did not kick much in the film. Weaving had to undergo hip surgery after he sustained an injury during the training process.

### Filming

All but a few scenes were filmed at Fox Studios in Sydney, as well as in the city itself, although recognizable landmarks were not included to maintain the impression of a generic American city. The filming helped establish New South Wales as a major film production center. Filming began in March 1998 and wrapped in August 1998; principal photography took 118 days. Some filming also occurred at Culver Studios.

Due to Reeves's neck injury (see above), some of the action scenes had to be rescheduled to wait for his full recovery. As a result, the filming began with scenes that did not require much physical exertion, such as the scene in Thomas Anderson's office, the interrogation room, or the car ride in which Neo is taken to see the Oracle. Locations for these scenes included Martin Place's fountain in Sydney, halfway between it and the adjacent Colonial Building, and the Colonial Building itself. During the scene set on a government building rooftop, the team filmed extra footage of Neo dodging bullets in case the bullet time process did not work. The bullet-time fight scene was filmed on the roof of Symantec Corporation building in Kent Street, opposite Sussex Street.

Moss performed the shots featuring Trinity at the beginning of the film and all the wire stunts herself. The rooftop set that Trinity uses to escape from Agent Brown early in the film was left over from the production of Dark City, which has prompted comments due to the thematic similarities of the films. During the rehearsal of the lobby scene, in which Trinity runs on a wall, Moss injured her leg and was ultimately unable to film the shot in one take. She stated that she was under a lot of pressure at the time and was devastated when she realized that she would be unable to do it.

Fishburne later said that while being in Sydney to shoot the film, he experienced a racist vibe and that it felt like America in the 1950s.

The dojo set was built well before the actual filming. During the filming of these action sequences, there was significant physical contact between the actors, earning them bruises. Reeves's injury and his insufficient training with wires prior to filming meant he was unable to perform the triple kicks satisfactorily and became frustrated with himself, causing the scene to be postponed. The scene was shot successfully a few days later, with Reeves using only three takes. Yuen altered the choreography and made the actors pull their punches in the last sequence of the scene, creating a training feel.

The filmmakers originally planned to shoot the subway scene in an actual subway station, but the complexity of the fight and related wire work required shooting the scene on a set. The set was built around an existing train storage facility, which had real train tracks. Filming the scene when Neo slammed Smith into the ceiling, Chad Stahelski, Reeves's stunt double, sustained several injuries, including broken ribs, knees and a dislocated shoulder. Another stuntman was injured by a hydraulic puller during a shot in which Neo was slammed into a booth. The office building in which Smith interrogated Morpheus was a large set, and the outside view from inside the building was a large, three story high cyclorama. The helicopter was a full-scale, light-weight mock-up suspended by a wire rope operated a tilting mechanism mounted to the studio roofbeams. The helicopter had a real minigun side-mounted to it, which was set to cycle at half its regular (3,000 rounds per minute) firing rate.

To prepare for the scene in which Neo wakes up in a pod, Reeves lost 15 pounds (7 kg) and shaved his whole body to give Neo an emaciated look. The scene in which Neo fell into the sewer system concluded the principal photography. According to The Art of the Matrix, at least one filmed scene and a variety of short pieces of action were omitted from the final cut of the film.

### Sound effects and music

Dane A. Davis was responsible for creating the sound effects for the film. The fight scene sound effects, such as the whipping sounds of punches, were created using thin metal rods and recording them, then editing the sounds. The sound of the pod containing a human body closing required almost fifty sounds put together.

The film's score, The Matrix: Original Motion Picture Score, was composed by Don Davis. He noted that mirrors appear frequently in the film: reflections of the blue and red pills are seen in Morpheus's glasses; Neo's capture by Agents is viewed through the rear-view mirror of Trinity's motorcycle; Neo observes a broken mirror mending itself; reflections warp as a spoon is bent; the reflection of a helicopter is visible as it approaches a skyscraper. Davis focused on this theme of reflections when creating his score, alternating between sections of the orchestra and attempting to incorporate contrapuntal ideas. Davis' score combines orchestral, choral and synthesizer elements; the balance between these elements varies depending on whether humans or machines are the dominant subject of a given scene. In addition to Davis' score, The Matrix: Music from the Motion Picture also features music from acts such as Rammstein, Rob Dougan, Rage Against the Machine, Propellerheads, Ministry, Lunatic Calm, Deftones, Monster Magnet, The Prodigy, Rob Zombie, Meat Beat Manifesto and Marilyn Manson.

### Production design

In the film, the code that composes the Matrix itself is frequently represented as downward-flowing green characters. This code uses a custom typeface designed by Simon Whiteley, which includes mirror images of half-width kana characters and Western Latin letters and Arabic numerals. In a 2017 interview at CNET, he attributed the design to his wife, who is from Japan, and added, "I like to tell everybody that The Matrix's code is made out of Japanese sushi recipes". "The color green reflects the green tint commonly used on early monochrome computer monitors ". Lynne Cartwright, the Visual Effects Supervisor at Animal Logic, supervised the creation of the film's opening title sequence, as well as the general look of the Matrix code throughout the film, in collaboration with Lindsay Fleay and Justen Marshall. The portrayal resembles the opening credits of the 1995 Japanese cyberpunk film, Ghost in the Shell, which had a strong influence on the Matrix series. It was also used in the subsequent films, on the related website, and in the game The Matrix: Path of Neo, and its drop-down effect is reflected in the design of some posters for the Matrix series. The code received the Runner-up Award in the 1999 Jesse Garson Award for In-film typography or opening credit sequence.

The Matrix ' s production designer, Owen Paterson, used methods to distinguish the "real world" and the Matrix in a pervasive way. The production design team generally placed a bias towards the Matrix code's distinctive green color in scenes set within the simulation, whereas there is an emphasis on the color blue during scenes set in the "real world". In addition, the Matrix scenes' sets were slightly more decayed, monolithic and grid-like, to convey the cold, logical and artificial nature of that environment. For the "real world", the actors' hair was less styled, their clothing had more textile content, and the cinematographers used longer lenses to soften the backgrounds and emphasize the actors.

The Nebuchadnezzar was designed to have a patched-up look, instead of clean, cold and sterile space ship interior sets as used on productions such as Star Trek. The wires were made visible to show the ship's working internals, and each composition was carefully designed to convey the ship as "a marriage between Man and Machine". For the scene when Neo wakes up in the pod connected to the Matrix, the pod was constructed to look dirty, used and sinister. During the testing of a breathing mechanism in the pod, the tester suffered hypothermia in under eight minutes, so the pod had to be heated.

Kym Barrett, costume designer, said that she defined the characters and their environment by their costume. For example, Reeves's office costume was designed for Thomas Anderson to look uncomfortable, disheveled and out of place. Barrett sometimes used three types of fabric for each costume, and also had to consider the practicality of the acting. The actors needed to perform martial art actions in their costume, hang upside-down without people seeing up their clothing, and be able to work the wires while strapped into the harnesses. For Trinity, Barrett experimented with how each fabric absorbed and reflected different types of light, and was eventually able to make Trinity's costume mercury-like and oil-slick to suit the character. For the Agents, their costume was designed to create a secret service, undercover look, resembling the film JFK and classic men in black.

The sunglasses, a staple of the film's aesthetics, were commissioned for the film by designer Richard Walker from sunglasses maker Blinde Design.

### Visual effects

As for artistic inspiration for bullet time, I would credit Otomo Katsuhiro, who co-wrote and directed Akira, which definitely blew me away, along with director Michel Gondry. His music videos experimented with a different type of technique called view-morphing and it was just part of the beginning of uncovering the creative approaches toward using still cameras for special effects. Our technique was significantly different because we built it to move around objects that were themselves in motion, and we were also able to create slow-motion events that 'virtual cameras' could move around—rather than the static action in Gondry's music videos with limited camera moves.

The film is known for popularizing a visual effect known as " bullet time ", which allows a shot to progress in slow motion while the camera appears to move through the scene at normal speed. Bullet time has been described as "a visual analogy for privileged moments of consciousness within the Matrix", and throughout the film, the effect is used to illustrate characters' exertion of control over time and space. The Wachowskis first imagined an action sequence that slowed time while the camera pivoted rapidly around the subjects, and proposed the effect in their screenplay for the film. When John Gaeta read the script, he pleaded with an effects producer at Mass.Illusion to let him work on the project, and created a prototype that led to him becoming the film's visual effects supervisor.

The method used for creating these effects involved a technically expanded version of an old art photography technique known as time-slice photography, in which an array of cameras are placed around an object and triggered simultaneously. Each camera captures a still picture, contributing one frame to the video sequence, which creates the effect of "virtual camera movement"; the illusion of a viewpoint moving around an object that appears frozen in time.

The bullet time effect is similar but slightly more complicated, incorporating temporal motion so that rather than appearing totally frozen, the scene progresses in slow and variable motion. The cameras' positions and exposures were previsualized using a 3D simulation. Instead of firing the cameras simultaneously, the visual effect team fired the cameras fractions of a second after each other, so that each camera could capture the action as it progressed, creating a super slow-motion effect. When the frames were put together, the resulting slow-motion effects reached a frame frequency of 12,000 per second, as opposed to the normal 24 frames per second of film. Standard movie cameras were placed at the ends of the array to pick up the normal speed action before and after. Because the cameras circle the subject almost completely in most of the sequences, computer technology was used to edit out the cameras that appeared in the background on the other side. To create backgrounds, Gaeta hired George Borshukov, who created 3D models based on the geometry of buildings and used the photographs of the buildings themselves as texture.

The photo-realistic surroundings generated by this method were incorporated into the bullet time scene, and algorithms based on optical flow were used to interpolate between the still images to produce a fluent dynamic motion; the computer-generated "lead in" and "lead out" slides were filled in between frames in sequence to get an illusion of orbiting the scene. Manex Visual Effects used a cluster farm running the Unix-like operating system FreeBSD to render many of the film's visual effects.

Manex also handled creature effects, such as Sentinels and machines in real world scenes; Animal Logic created the code hallway and the exploding Agent at the end of the film. DFilm managed scenes that required heavy use of digital compositing, such as Neo's jump off a skyscraper and the helicopter crash into a building. The ripple effect in the latter scene was created digitally, but the shot also included practical elements, and months of extensive research were needed to find the correct kind of glass and explosives to use. The scene was shot by colliding a quarter-scale helicopter mock-up into a glass wall wired to concentric rings of explosives; the explosives were then triggered in sequence from the center outward, to create a wave of exploding glass.

The photogrammetric and image-based computer-generated background approaches in The Matrix ' s bullet time evolved into innovations unveiled in the sequels The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. The method of using real photographs of buildings as texture for 3D models eventually led the visual effect team to digitize all data, such as scenes, characters' motions and expressions. It also led to the development of "Universal Capture", a process which samples and stores facial details and expressions at high resolution. With these highly detailed collected data, the team were able to create virtual cinematography in which characters, locations and events can all be created digitally and viewed through virtual cameras, eliminating the restrictions of real cameras.

## Release

### Home media

The Matrix was released on DVD and Laserdisc in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on September 21, 1999, in the US from Warner Home Video as well as in 1.33:1 aspect ratio in Hong Kong from ERA Home Entertainment. It was also released on VHS in both full screen and widescreen formats followed on December 7, 1999. After its DVD release, it was the first DVD to sell more than one million copies in the US. By 2000, the film went on to become the first to sell more than three million copies in the US. At that point, it became the top-selling DVD release of all time, holding this record for a few months before being surpassed by Gladiator. By November 10, 2003, one month after The Matrix Reloaded DVD was released, the sales of The Matrix DVD had exceeded 30 million copies. It then debuted on both VHS and DVD formats in the UK on November 29, 1999. The Matrix sold more than 107,000 DVD copies in just two weeks, breaking Armageddon ' s record for being the country's best-selling DVD title. The Ultimate Matrix Collection was released on HD DVD on May 22, 2007, and on Blu-ray on October 14, 2008. The film was also released standalone in a 10th-anniversary edition Blu-ray in the Digibook format on March 31, 2009, ten years to the day after the film was released theatrically. In 2010, the film had another DVD release along with the two sequels as The Complete Matrix Trilogy. It was also released on 4K HDR Blu-ray on May 22, 2018. The film as part of The Matrix Trilogy was released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on October 30, 2018.

### Other media

The franchise also contains four video games: Enter the Matrix (2003), which contains footage shot specifically for the game and chronicles events taking place before and during The Matrix Reloaded; The Matrix Online (2004), an MMORPG which continued the story beyond The Matrix Revolutions; The Matrix: Path of Neo (2005), which focuses on Neo's journey through the trilogy of films; and The Matrix Awakens (2021), an interactive technology demonstration developed by Epic Games using Unreal Engine 5.

The franchise also includes The Matrix Comics, a series of comics and short stories set in the world of The Matrix, written and illustrated by figures from the comics industry. Most of the comics were originally presented for free on the official Matrix website; they were later republished, along with some new material, in two printed trade paperback volumes, called The Matrix Comics, Vol 1 and Vol 2.

## Reception

### Box office

The Matrix grossed $27.8 million during its opening weekend, as well as earning $37.4 million in its first five days. It surpassed Lost in Space and Indecent Proposal for having the biggest April and Easter opening weekends. The film also had the second-highest opening weekend for a spring starter film, trailing only behind Liar Liar. Three years later in 2002, The Matrix ' s records for having the largest April and Easter opening weekends would be taken by The Scorpion King and Panic Room. Upon its opening, it had the highest opening weekend of any 1999 film, easily topping Payback. Additionally, this was the biggest opening weekend for a Keanu Reeves film since Speed in 1994. It was also ranked number one at the box office ahead of Forces of Nature. The film would remain at the top of the box office for two weeks until it was overtaken by Life. During its fourth weekend, The Matrix briefly returned to the number one spot. The following week, the film would be displaced by Entrapment.

In its original run, the film earned $171,479,930 (37.0%) in the United States and Canada and $292,037,453 (63.0%) in other countries, for a worldwide total of $463,517,383. In North America, it went on to become the fifth highest-grossing film of 1999 and the highest-grossing R-rated film of that year. Worldwide, it was the fourth-highest-grossing film of the year, after Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, The Sixth Sense and Toy Story 2. The Matrix became the second-highest-grossing Warner Bros. film of all time, behind Twister. Overall, it was the third-highest-grossing R-rated film at the time, just after Saving Private Ryan and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Following re-releases, the worldwide gross of the film is $466,621,824. In 2012, it was placed 122nd on the list of highest-grossing films of all time, and the second-highest-grossing film in the Matrix franchise after The Matrix Reloaded ($742.1 million).

### Critical response

The Matrix was praised by many critics, as well as filmmakers, and authors of science fiction, especially for its "spectacular action" scenes and its "groundbreaking special effects". Some have described The Matrix as one of the best science fiction films of all time; Entertainment Weekly called The Matrix "the most influential action movie of the generation". There have also been those, including philosopher William Irwin, who have suggested that the film explores significant philosophical and spiritual themes. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 83% based on 207 reviews, with an average score of 7.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Thanks to the Wachowskis' imaginative vision, The Matrix is a smartly crafted combination of spectacular action and groundbreaking special effects". At Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received a score of 73 based on 35 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale. It ranked 323rd among critics, and 546th among directors, in the 2012 Sight & Sound polls of the greatest films ever made.

Philip Strick commented in Sight & Sound, if the Wachowskis "claim no originality of message, they are startling innovators of method," praising the film's details and its "broadside of astonishing images". Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four: he praised the film's visuals and premise, but disliked the third act 's focus on action. Similarly, Time Out praised the "entertainingly ingenious" switches between different realities, Hugo Weaving 's "engagingly odd" performance, and the film's cinematography and production design, but concluded, "the promising premise is steadily wasted as the film turns into a fairly routine action pic... yet another slice of overlong, high-concept hokum."

Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader reviewed the film negatively, criticizing it as "simpleminded fun for roughly the first hour, until the movie becomes overwhelmed by its many sources... There's not much humor to keep it all life-size, and by the final stretch it's become bloated, mechanical, and tiresome."

Ian Nathan of Empire described Carrie-Anne Moss as "a major find", praised the "surreal visual highs" enabled by the bullet time (or "flo-mo") effect, and described the film as "technically mind-blowing, style merged perfectly with content and just so damn cool". Nathan remarked that although the film's "looney plot" would not stand up to scrutiny, that was not a big flaw because " The Matrix is about pure experience". Maitland McDonagh said in her review for TV Guide, the Wachowskis' "through-the-looking-glass plot... manages to work surprisingly well on a number of levels: as a dystopian sci-fi thriller, as a brilliant excuse for the film's lavish and hyperkinetic fight scenes, and as a pretty compelling call to the dead-above-the-eyeballs masses to unite and cast off their chains... This dazzling pop allegory is steeped in a dark, pulpy sensibility that transcends nostalgic pastiche and stands firmly on its own merits."

Salon ' s reviewer Andrew O'Hehir acknowledged that although The Matrix is in his view a fundamentally immature and unoriginal film ("It lacks anything like adult emotion... all this pseudo-spiritual hokum, along with the over-ramped onslaught of special effects—some of them quite amazing—will hold 14-year-old boys in rapture, not to mention those of us of all ages and genders who still harbor a 14-year-old boy somewhere inside"), he concluded, "as in Bound, there's an appealing scope and daring to the Wachowskis' work, and their eagerness for more plot twists and more crazy images becomes increasingly infectious. In a limited and profoundly geeky sense, this might be an important and generous film. The Wachowskis have little feeling for character or human interaction, but their passion for movies —for making them, watching them, inhabiting their world—is pure and deep."

Filmmakers and science fiction creators alike generally took a complimentary perspective of The Matrix. William Gibson, a key figure in cyberpunk fiction, called the film "an innocent delight I hadn't felt in a long time," and stated, "Neo is my favourite-ever science fiction hero, absolutely." Joss Whedon called the film "my number one" and praised its storytelling, structure and depth, concluding, "It works on whatever level you want to bring to it." Darren Aronofsky commented, "I walked out of The Matrix... and I was thinking, 'What kind of science fiction movie can people make now?' The Wachowskis basically took all the great sci-fi ideas of the 20th century and rolled them into a delicious pop culture sandwich that everyone on the planet devoured." M. Night Shyamalan expressed admiration for the Wachowskis, stating, "Whatever you think of The Matrix, every shot is there because of the passion they have! You can see they argued it out!". Simon Pegg said that The Matrix provided "the excitement and satisfaction that The Phantom Menace failed to inspire. The Matrix seemed fresh and cool and visually breathtaking; making wonderful, intelligent use of CGI to augment the on-screen action, striking a perfect balance of the real and the hyperreal. It was possibly the coolest film I had ever seen." Quentin Tarantino counted The Matrix as one of his twenty favorite movies from 1992 to 2009. James Cameron called it "one of the most profoundly fresh science fiction films ever made". Christopher Nolan described it as "an incredibly palpable mainstream phenomenon that made people think, Hey, what if this isn't real?"

### Accolades

The Matrix received Academy Awards for Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, Best Visual Effects and Best Sound. The filmmakers were competing against other films with established franchises, like Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, yet they won all four of their nominations. The Matrix also received BAFTA awards for Best Sound and Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects, in addition to nominations in the cinematography, production design and editing categories. In 1999, it won Saturn Awards for Best Science Fiction Film and Best Direction. In February 2022, the film was named one of the five finalists for Oscars Cheer Moment as part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ' " Oscars Fan Favorite " contest, for the "bullet time" scene, finishing in fifth place.

## Thematic analysis

The Matrix is arguably the ultimate cyberpunk artifact.

— William Gibson

The Matrix draws from and alludes to numerous cinematic and literary works, and concepts from mythology, religion and philosophy, including the ideas of Buddhism, Christianity, Gnosticism, Hinduism and Judaism.

### Film and television

The pods in which the machines keep humans have been compared to images in Metropolis, and the work of M. C. Escher. A resemblance to the eerie worlds of Swiss artist H.R. Giger was also recognized. The pods can be seen in Welcome to Paradox Episode 4 "News from D Street" from a 1986 short story of the same name by Andrew Weiner which aired on September 7, 1998, on the SYFY Channel and has a remarkably similar concept. In this episode the hero is unaware he is living in virtual reality until he is told so by "the code man" who created the simulation and enters it knowingly. The Wachowskis have described Stanley Kubrick 's 2001: A Space Odyssey as a formative cinematic influence, and as a major inspiration on the visual style they aimed for when making The Matrix. Rainer Werner Fassbinders German TV Miniseries World on a Wire from 1973, an adaption of the novel Simulacron-3, served as inspirational source for some details of The Matrix, such as the transfer between the real world and the Matrix-simulation via telephone / phonebooth. Reviewers have also commented on similarities between The Matrix and other late-1990s films such as Strange Days, Dark City and The Truman Show. The similarity of the film's 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 action scenes of The Matrix were also strongly influenced by live-action films such as those of director John Woo. The martial arts sequences were inspired by Fist of Legend, a critically acclaimed 1995 martial arts film starring Jet Li. The fight scenes in Fist of Legend led to the hiring of Yuen as fight choreographer.

The Wachowskis' approach to action scenes drew upon their admiration for Japanese animation such as Ninja Scroll and Akira. Director Mamoru Oshii 's 1995 animated film Ghost in the Shell was a particularly 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 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, the Wachowskis used it as a "promotional tool".

### Literary works

The film makes several references to Lewis Carroll 's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Comparisons have also been made to Grant Morrison 's comic series The Invisibles, with Morrison describing it in 2011 as "(it) seemed to me (to be) my own combination of ideas enacted on the screen". Comparisons have also been made between The Matrix and the books of Carlos Castaneda.

The Matrix belongs to the cyberpunk genre of science fiction, and draws from earlier works in the genre such as the 1984 novel Neuromancer by William Gibson. For example, the film's use of the term "Matrix" is adopted from Gibson's novel, though L. P. Davies had already used the term "Matrix" fifteen years earlier for a similar concept in his 1969 novel The White Room ("It had been tried in the States some years earlier, but their 'matrix' as they called it hadn't been strong enough to hold the fictional character in place"). After watching The Matrix, Gibson commented that the way that the film's creators had drawn from existing cyberpunk works was "exactly the kind of creative cultural osmosis" he had relied upon in his own writing; however, he noted that the film's Gnostic themes distinguished it from Neuromancer, and believed that The Matrix was thematically closer to the work of science fiction author Philip K. Dick, particularly Dick's speculative Exegesis. Other writers have also commented on the similarities between The Matrix and Dick's work; one example of such influence is a Philip K. Dick's 1977 conference, in which he stated: "We are living in a computer-programmed reality, and the only clue we have to it is when some variable is changed, and some alteration in our reality occurs".

### Philosophy

In The Matrix, a copy of Jean Baudrillard 's philosophical work Simulacra and Simulation, which was published in French in 1981, is visible on-screen as "the book used to conceal disks", and Morpheus quotes the phrase "desert of the real" from it. "The book was required reading" for the actors prior to filming. However, Baudrillard himself said that The Matrix misunderstands and distorts his work. Some interpreters of The Matrix mention Baudrillard's philosophy to support their claim "that the is an allegory for contemporary experience in a heavily commercialized, media-driven society, especially in developed countries". The influence of The Matrixial Gaze, the philosophical-psychoanalytical concept of Bracha L. Ettinger on the archaic matrixial space that resists the field of simulacra, "was brought to the public's attention through the writings of art historians such as Griselda Pollock and film theorists such as Heinz-Peter Schwerfel". In addition to Baudrillard and Ettinger, the Wachowskis were also significantly influenced by Kevin Kelly 's Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World, and Dylan Evans 's ideas on evolutionary psychology.

Philosopher William Irwin suggests that the idea of the "Matrix" – a generated reality invented by malicious machines – is an allusion to Descartes ' " First Meditation ", and his idea of an evil demon. The Meditation hypothesizes that the perceived world might be a comprehensive illusion created to deceive us. The same premise can be found in Hilary Putnam 's brain in a vat scenario proposed in the 1980s. A connection between the premise of The Matrix and Plato 's Allegory of the Cave has also been suggested. The allegory is related to Plato's theory of Forms, which holds that the true essence of an object is not what we perceive with our senses, but rather its quality, and that most people perceive only the shadow of the object and are thus limited to false perception.

The philosophy of Immanuel Kant has also been claimed as another influence on the film, and in particular how individuals within the Matrix interact with one another and with the system. Kant states in his Critique of Pure Reason that people come to know and explore our world through synthetic means (language, etc.), and thus this makes it rather difficult to discern truth from falsely perceived views. This means people are their own agents of deceit, and so in order for them to know truth, they must choose to openly pursue truth. This idea can be examined in Agent Smith's monologue about the first version of the Matrix, which was designed as a human utopia, a perfect world without suffering and with total happiness. Agent Smith explains that, "it was a disaster. No one accepted the program. Entire crops were lost." The machines had to amend their choice of programming in order to make people subservient to them, and so they conceived the Matrix in the image of the world in 1999. The world in 1999 was far from a utopia, but still humans accepted this over the suffering-less utopia. According to William Irwin this is Kantian, because the machines wished to impose a perfect world on humans in an attempt to keep people content, so that they would remain completely submissive to the machines, both consciously and subconsciously, but humans were not easy to make content.

### Religion and mythology

Andrew Godoski sees allusions to Christ, including Neo's " virgin birth ", his doubt in himself, the prophecy of his coming, along with many other Christian references. Amongst these possible allusions, it is suggested that the name of the character Trinity refers to Christianity's doctrine of the Trinity. It has also been noted that the character Morpheus paraphrases the Chinese Taoist philosopher Zhuangzi when he asks Neo, "Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference from the real world and the dream world?"

Matrixism is a fan-based possibly satirical religion created as "the matrix religion".

### Transgender themes

Years after the release of The Matrix, both of the Wachowskis came out as transgender women. The red pill has been compared with red estrogen pills. Morpheus's description of the Matrix creating a sense that something is fundamentally wrong, "like a splinter in your mind", has been compared to gender dysphoria. In the original script, Switch was a woman in the Matrix and a man in the real world, but this idea was removed.

In a 2016 GLAAD Media Awards speech, Lilly Wachowski said: "There's a critical eye being cast back on Lana and I's work through the lens of our transness. This is a cool thing because it's an excellent reminder that art is never static." In 2020, Lilly said The Matrix was intended as an allegory for gender transition, but that "the corporate world wasn't ready". She said it was "all about the desire for transformation but it was all coming from a closeted point of view", but that she did not know "how present my transness was in the background of my brain" when the Wachowskis were writing it. In an interview with Variety, Reeves said he did not know the film was an allegory for transgender identity during production.

## Legacy

### Filmmaking

Following The Matrix, films made abundant use of slow motion, spinning cameras, and, often, the bullet time effect of a character freezing or slowing down and the camera dollying around them. The ability to slow down time enough to distinguish the motion of bullets was used as a central gameplay mechanic of several video games, including Max Payne, in which the feature was explicitly referred to as "bullet time". It was also the defining game mechanic of the game Superhot and its sequels. The Matrix ' s signature special effect, and other aspects of the film, have been parodied numerous times, in comedy films such as Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999), Scary Movie (2000), Shrek (2001), Kung Pow! Enter the Fist (2002), Lastikman (2003); Marx Reloaded in which the relationship between Neo and Morpheus is represented as an imaginary encounter between Karl Marx and Leon Trotsky; and in video games such as Conker's Bad Fur Day. It also inspired films featuring a black-clad hero, a sexy yet deadly heroine, and bullets ripping slowly through the air; these included Charlie's Angels (2000) featuring Cameron Diaz floating through the air while the cameras flo-mo around her; Equilibrium (2002), starring Christian Bale, whose character wore long black leather coats like Reeves' Neo; Night Watch (2004), a Russian megahit heavily influenced by The Matrix and directed by Timur Bekmambetov, who later made Wanted (2008), which also features bullets ripping through air; and Inception (2010), which centers on a team of sharply dressed rogues who are able to enter other people's dreams by "wiring in". The original Tron (1982) paved the way for The Matrix, and The Matrix, in turn, inspired Disney to make its own Matrix with a Tron sequel, Tron: Legacy (2010). Also, the film's lobby shootout sequence was recreated in the 2002 Indian action comedy Awara Paagal Deewana.

### Choreographers and actors

The Matrix had a strong effect on action filmmaking in Hollywood. The film's incorporation of wire fu techniques, including the involvement of fight choreographer Yuen Woo-ping and other personnel with a background in Hong Kong action cinema, affected the approaches to fight scenes taken by some subsequent Hollywood action films, moving them towards more Eastern approaches. The success of The Matrix created high demand for those choreographers and their techniques from other filmmakers, who wanted fights of similar sophistication: for example, wire work was employed in X-Men (2000) and Charlie's Angels (2000), and Yuen Woo-ping's brother Yuen Cheung-yan was choreographer on Daredevil (2003). The Matrix ' s Asian approach to action scenes also created an audience for Asian action films such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) that they might not otherwise have had.

Chad Stahelski, who had been a stunt double on The Matrix prior to directing Reeves in the John Wick series, acknowledged the film's strong influence on the Wick films, and commented, " The Matrix literally changed the industry. The influx of martial-arts choreographers and fight coordinators now make more, and are more prevalent and powerful in the industry, than stunt coordinators. The Matrix revolutionized that. Today, action movies want their big sequences designed around the fights."

Carrie-Anne Moss asserted that prior to being cast in The Matrix, she had "no career". It launched Moss into international recognition and transformed her career; in a New York Daily News interview, she stated, " The Matrix gave me so many opportunities. Everything I've done since then has been because of that experience. It gave me so much". The film also created one of the most devoted movie fan-followings since Star Wars. The combined success of the Matrix trilogy, the Lord of the Rings films and the Star Wars prequels made Hollywood interested in creating trilogies. Stephen Dowling from the BBC noted that The Matrix ' s success in taking complex philosophical ideas and presenting them in ways palatable for impressionable minds might be its most influential aspect.

### Cultural impact

The Matrix was also influential for its impact on superhero films. John Kenneth Muir in The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film and Television called the film a "revolutionary" reimagination of movie visuals, paving the way for the visuals of later superhero films, and credits it with helping to "make comic-book superheroes hip" and effectively demonstrating the concept of "faster than a speeding bullet" with its bullet time effect. Adam Sternbergh of Vulture.com credits The Matrix with reinventing and setting the template for modern superhero blockbusters, and inspiring the superhero renaissance in the early 21st century.

### Modern reception

In 2001, The Matrix placed 66th in the American Film Institute 's " 100 Years...100 Thrills " list. In 2007, Entertainment Weekly called The Matrix the best science-fiction piece of media for the past 25 years. In 2009, the film was ranked 39th on Empire ' s reader-, actor- and critic-voted list of "The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time". The Matrix was voted as the fourth best science fiction film in the 2011 list Best in Film: The Greatest Movies of Our Time, based on a poll conducted by ABC and People. In 2012, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant."

### Red pill and blue pill

The premise of The Matrix has been repurposed for multiple conspiracy theories and alt-right fringe groups. For example, some online men's rights groups use the term "redpill" to mean men realizing that they are supposedly being subjugated by feminism. The term has been used in discussion forums for right-wing topics such as Gamergate, white supremacy, incel subculture and QAnon. As of 2021, the verb "pill" and suffix "-pilled" had entered more mainstream use and had come to mean developing a sudden interest in something.

### Sequels and adaptations

The film's mainstream success led to the making of two sequels, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, both directed by the Wachowskis. These were filmed back-to-back in one shoot and released on separate dates in 2003. The first film's introductory tale is succeeded by the story of the impending attack on the human enclave of Zion by a vast machine army. The sequels also incorporate longer and more ambitious action scenes, as well as improvements in bullet time and other visual effects.

Also released was The Animatrix, a collection of nine animated short films, many of which were created in the same Japanese animation style that was a strong influence on the live action trilogy. The Animatrix was overseen and approved by the Wachowskis, who only wrote four of the segments themselves but did not direct any of them; much of the project was developed by notable figures from the world of anime.

In March 2017, Warner Bros. was in early stages of developing a relaunch of the franchise with Zak Penn in talks to write a treatment and interest in getting Michael B. Jordan attached to star. According to The Hollywood Reporter neither the Wachowskis nor Joel Silver were involved with the endeavor, although the studio would like to get at minimum the blessing of the Wachowskis. On August 20, 2019, Warner Bros. Pictures Group chairman Toby Emmerich officially announced that a fourth Matrix film was in the works, with Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss set to reprise their roles as Neo and Trinity, respectively. The Matrix Resurrections was released on December 22, 2021, in theaters and on HBO Max.

In September 2022, Danny Boyle was announced to be directing a dance adaptation of the film, titled Free Your Mind, and debuted in October 2023 in Manchester, England.


Richard Allinson

# Richard Allinson

## Abstract

Richard John McNeill Allinson (born 12 October 1958) is an English broadcaster with Greatest Hits Radio and is Creative Director of Magnum Opus Broadcasting. Between 1997 and 2014 he was a disc jockey for BBC Radio 2.

## Early career

Allinson was born in Lichfield, Staffordshire. He attended Tudor Grange Grammar School for Boys in Solihull. He started his broadcasting with a 3-year stint at Bailrigg FM, known at that time as University Radio Bailrigg (URB), whilst studying for a BA Hons in Economics at Lancaster University. He was firstly Treasurer and then became President of URB. He rejected a career in the legal profession and, in August 1980, took up broadcasting on London's Capital Radio, presenting their Chart Show. He also presented the Early Breakfast show for some of this period. Following on from Capital's Chart Show, in 1984 he took over the late-night 10 pm – midnight slot. In 1987 he took over the weekday 2 – 4:30 pm slot, followed by the weekday Early Breakfast show 4 – 6:30 am in 1990. In addition to this, in around 1994 he worked alongside Julia Carling on the satellite music television channel VH1, where they hosted a live show together.

## Radio 2

Allinson joined BBC Radio 2 in 1997, presenting the Monday – Thursday late night show from 10:30 pm to midnight, which included a mix of music and guests.

In early 1999, Allinson took over the weekday drivetime show from 5 pm to 7 pm whilst regular presenter Johnnie Walker was off air due to health-related issues. He presented the programme for several months, with Lynn Parsons taking over the late show; in December 1999, Allinson returned to the late night show.

In addition to his late night show, in 2000, Allinson also took over a Saturday afternoon show from 3:30 to 6:30 pm, where he introduced the 'Radio Wall of Sound'. This was where listeners could ring in, listen to a selection of snippets of tunes until they liked one particularly, for it to play as quickly as they'd shouted 'play' or made some other noise dictated by the host after the caller had been probed about their life. They were rewarded with a CD album of their choice.

Allinson stepped down from the late night slot in June 2004, so he could concentrate on fronting Radio 2's 'Live & Exclusive' series and 'Sold on Song' projects. With record producer Steve Levine he formed Magnum Opus Broadcasting to "create programming and content we wanted to hear – but could not find – on the radio. Alongside this, he still continued with his Saturday afternoon show, which was cut down to 2 hours in September 2004 and went out from 4 to 6 pm every Saturday.

It was also during this period that he became the main stand-in for many weekday presenters when taking their holidays, such as Chris Evans, Simon Mayo, Paul O'Grady, Terry Wogan, Ken Bruce, Sarah Kennedy and Steve Wright.

His Saturday show eventually ended in September 2005, but he still continued to stand in for weekday presenters on Radio 2 as well as create and present documentaries and specialist shows for the network, such as The Record Producers, which is usually broadcast from 7 to 8 pm on Bank Holiday Mondays. On Sunday 24 August 2008 Allinson hosted London 2012 Party Live on BBC Radio 2 from The Mall outside Buckingham Palace in London which included the 2008 Beijing Olympics handover musical celebrations.

## BBC Local Radio

From 8 January 2006 until 24 February 2007, Allinson presented a regular weekly show on BBC Radio Oxford on Sunday mornings from 9 am to 12 noon. The show included a mix of music, guests, competitions and a look at headlines from the Sunday papers. From January 2007, he presented the two-hour live show Allinson's Albums between 12 and 2 pm every Saturday on BBC Radio Oxford, and from 4 March 2007 was repeated on Sundays from 5 to 7 pm. The show was also broadcast on BBC Radio York on Saturday lunchtimes from 1 to 3 pm, and on BBC Radio Cumbria each Wednesday evening, repeated on Sunday afternoons; the last edition of this was broadcast on 6 January 2013.

## Other work

Allinson has been heard on the various BFBS (British Forces) radio networks since 1980, first on Most Wanted for BFBS Radio 1, where he played mostly new music with a cutting edge, later moving to BFBS UK and others, and moved to BFBS Radio 2 in 2003 presenting in a style which the public have grown accustomed to with his shows on BBC Radio 2. From October 2006 he took over a daily show for the network, going out Mondays-Fridays from 9 to 11 am UK time, which he presented until March 2008. Richard has also been known to present shows on the BBC World Service. Allinson acted as the stadium announcer at the Concert for Diana on 1 July 2007.

## Return to Radio 2

From 2009, Allinson returned to BBC Radio 2 on a regular basis, presenting the weekend overnight slots, replacing Pete Mitchell and Mo Dutta 's slots. The show went out on Friday nights/Saturday mornings and Saturday nights/Sunday mornings from 3 to 6 am and was produced by production company Somethin' Else. He also presented an occasional series called The Record Producers, which went out on Bank Holiday Mondays. In October 2014 his weekend show was cancelled due to budget cuts at Radio 2. He hasn't done any cover work for Radio 2 since moving to Magic Radio.

## Magic Radio

From 27 October 2014 to 9 April 2021 Allinson presented the weekday drivetime show, before taking on weekend evenings on Magic Radio. He presented his last show for Magic in March 2022.

## Greatest Hits Radio and Scala

He joined Greatest Hits Radio on 26 February 2022, and has taken over Janice Long 's Saturday afternoon slot from 1- 5pm. In addition to that, he took over the Monday to Thursday evening show from 7 – 10pm on Scala Radio. On 22 May 2023, Allinson moved to Scala Radio's drivetime slot at 4 – 7pm. This ended in March 2024 as the station opted for a less presenter approach in the afternoons.

Following on from the departure of Mark Goodier from Greatest Hits Radio, since May 2024, Allinson can be heard hosting the Saturday and Sunday mid morning slot from 9am-1pm. Richard also occasionally covers the Ken Bruce show.

## Radio credits

- Capital London Chart Show, Sundays, 1980 – 1984

- Capital London Late Show, weekdays 10 pm – midnight, 1984 – 1987

- Capital London Afternoon Show, weekdays 2 – 4:30 pm, 1987 – 1990

- Capital London Early Breakfast Show, weekdays 5 – 7 am, 1990 – 1997

- BBC Radio 2 Late Nights, Monday – Thursday 10:30 pm – midnight, March 1997 – June 2004

- BBC Radio 2 Saturday Afternoons, 3:30 – 6:30 pm, April 2000 – September 2004; 4 – 6pm September 2004 – September 2005

- BBC Radio 2 Record Producers, (alongside Steve Levine) Bank Holiday Mondays 7 – 8 pm, 2006 – 2012

- BBC Radio 2 Record Producers, (alongside Steve Levine) New Years Day 6 – 7 pm, 2007

- BBC Radio Oxford Sunday Mornings, 9 am – midday, January 2006 – February 2007

- BBC Radio Oxford Allinson's Albums, Saturdays midday – 2 pm, January 2007 – May 2009

- BBC Radio York Allinson's Albums, Saturdays 1 – 3 pm, May 2007 – 2013

- BBC Radio Cumbria Allinson's Albums Sundays, June 2008 – May 2009; Wednesdays and Sundays, June 2009 – January 2013

- BBC Radio 2 Weekend Overnights Friday night/Saturday morning and Saturday night/Sunday morning, 3 – 6 am, 2009 – 2014

- Magic Radio Weekday Drivetime, 5 – 8 pm Monday – Friday, 2014 – 2021

- Magic Radio Weekend Evenings, 7 – 10 pm Friday – Sunday, 2021 – March 2022

- Greatest Hits Radio Saturday Afternoons, 1 – 5 pm Saturday, February 2022 – April 2024

- Scala Radio Monday to Thursday Evenings, 7 – 10 pm, April 2022 – May 2023

- Scala Radio Monday to Friday Afternoons, 4 – 7 pm, May 2023 – March 2024

- Greatest Hits Radio Saturday – Sunday 9 am – 1 pm, May 2024 – present


InMerge Innovation Summit

# InMerge Innovation Summit

## Abstract

InMerge, InMerge Innovation Summit or formerly Baku Innovation Summit is an annually organized event based on new trends and innovations in Azerbaijan. The summit aims to bring together technology leaders, companies and startups.

Since 2022, annual events have featured panel discussions, business conferences, startup presentations, and workshops, with participation from influential businessmen worldwide. It fosters dynamic discussions on cutting-edge innovations and offers valuable insights from experts around the world. This summit connects speakers, investors, and collaborators from more than 25 countries spanning Caucasus, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and MENA.

The first "InMerge" event was organized on 13 December 2022. The third such event is planned to be held on October 10-11, 2024.

## History

### 2022

The event under the name of "Baku Innovation Summit" was organized by PASHA Holding in cooperation with the Innovation and Digital Development Agency on December 13, 2022. 1090 people participated in the event.

Main speakers at the 2022 summit include leadership and personal development expert Robin Sharma, speaker and futurist Kian Gohar, technology speaker Philippe Dewost, former Boston Consulting Group, IBM, EY partner Peter Ulrich, Jeroen van der Veer, the former CEO of Shell, and Chris Skinner, the author of books about technology

### 2023

"InMerge Innovation Summit" was held at the Baku Convention Center from November 30 to December 1. This event, in its second edition, is organized by the Center for Analysis and Coordination of the Fourth Industrial Revolution on behalf of the Ministry of Economy, the Innovation and Digital Development Agency under the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport, and PASHA Holding with primary partnership from Trendyol. About 3,000 participants from 20 countries, more than 50 investors, and more than 150 startups took part in the summit. The main goal of the event is to support the startup environment in Azerbaijan, including in the region, and to develop innovative industry.

One of the most notable speeches at the event was made by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. Wozniak shared his thoughts on innovation and the history of the company. He made his speech with the moderation of international speaker Bill Williams: He said these:

I met Steve Jobs five years before Apple was founded. He was a fun-loving young man. He admired people who changed lives.When he saw the computer I invented, he said there was a new business opportunity and came up with the idea of establishing a new company. This is how the Apple company was born. If he hadn't given me this idea, I would have remained an engineer until today.

Other interesting speeches were made by Tesla co-founder J. B. Straubel and Shazam founder Chris Barton.

Besides this, J. B. Straubel, Chris Barton, Trendyol CEO Erdem İnan, PASHA Holding Ecosystem CEO Farid Mammadov, and Uzum Company's Operations Director Roman Lavrentev discussed the future of smart ecosystems and technology integration in the panel.

There was also a panel discussion on open banking and API standards. In that discussion, Arif Babayev, co-founder of "DNA Payments Group", Farid Osmanov, who was the executive director of the Central Bank at that time, Tal Sharon, director of partnerships of "Ubeya" company, Kristina Doros, vice president of Visa for Central Asia and Azerbaijan, and Alastair Lukies, the CEO of Pollinate International company participated.

At "InMerge", participants are provided to get acquainted with local and regional startup authors. A VR zone has also been organized.

### 2024

The next summit is planned to be held on October 10-11. Professor Linda Hill from Harvard Business School, Werner Vogels, Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Amazon, and Ilya Strebulaev are scheduled to participate in the summit as speakers. YouTube co-founder Steve Chen is also expected to attend this year's summit.


# 2024 Cork Premier Junior Football Championship

## Abstract

The 2024 Cork Premier Junior Football Championship is the second staging of the Cork Premier Junior Football Championship since its establishment by the Cork County Board in 2023. The draw for the group stage placings took place on 14 December 2023. The championship is scheduled to run from 26 July to October 2024.

## Team changes

### To Championship

Relegated from the Cork Intermediate A Football Championship

- Glenville

Promoted from the Cork Junior A Football Championship

- Canovee

### From Championship

Promoted to the Cork Intermediate A Football Championship

- St Finbarr's

Relegated to the City Junior A Football Championship

- St MIchael's

## Group A

### Group A table

Quarter-finalists Relegation playoff

### Group A results

## Group B

### Group B table

Knockout stage

### Group B fixtures and results

## Group C

### Group C table

Knockout stage

### Group C results

## Knockout stage

### Relegation playoff

### Quarter-finals

#### Qualified teams

- Kilmurry

### Semi-finals

### Final

## Championship statistics

### Miscellaneous

- The Group B round 3 game between Glenville and Kinsale was abandoned after 32 minutes following an injury to one of the Glenville players led to an ambulance being called.

## External link

- Cork GAA website


Soulmates (Parks and Recreation)

# Soulmates (Parks and Recreation)

## Abstract

" Soulmates " is the tenth episode of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation ' s third season, and the 40th overall episode of the series. In the episode, Leslie is disappointed when Ben rejects her romantic advances, and is surprised when she is matched with Tom in an online dating service. Meanwhile, Ron and Chris have a cook-off to determine which is better: red meat or ground turkey. The episode was written by Alan Yang and directed by Ken Whittingham.

After it aired, NBC launched a website for HoosierMate.com, the fictional online dating site featured in "Soulmates". The episode featured a guest appearance by stand-up comedian Kirk Fox as sewage department employee Joe, who previously appeared in the second season. Josh Pence, who appeared with Parks co-star Rashida Jones in the 2010 film The Social Network, also appeared in "Soulmates" as a man wearing cowboy clothes who dates Ann.

According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was seen by 4.89 million household viewers, a slight decrease from the previous original episode, " Andy and April's Fancy Party ". It received generally positive reviews, with several commentators particularly praising the performance of Aziz Ansari as Tom Haverford.

## Plot

Chris enacts a government-wide health initiative in Pawnee, starting by banning red meat from the city hall commissary; Ron strongly disapproves of this. Ron challenges Chris to a burger cook-off to prove red meat is superior to Chris' preferred turkey burgers, with red meat staying on the menu if Ron wins. Meanwhile, Leslie invites Ben out to dinner, but he turns her down, leaving Leslie confused because she was sure Ben was attracted to her. Ann, who is now dating multiple men simultaneously after taking Donna 's advice to be more adventurous, tells Leslie to join an online dating website called HoosierMate.com and helps set up her profile.

Leslie finds a match that is 98 percent compatible with her – a "soulmate" rating – but is horrified to discover that it is Tom. Additionally, the crude sewage department employee Joe makes a romantic advance toward Leslie, prompting her to launch a "douche-vestigation" to find out why she attracts the wrong type of man. Meanwhile, Chris takes Andy, April, and Ron to a health food market called Grain 'n Simple, where he gathers numerous ingredients for the perfect turkey burger, but Ron is unfazed, simply buying a pound of red meat from his favorite food market, Food and Stuff.

In her investigation, Leslie quickly learns Joe merely hits on any woman as long as she is not elderly. She takes Tom out to lunch to learn more about him. He responds to all of Leslie's questions with his usual chauvinistic answers, annoying her to the point that she admits she took him out because they matched on HoosierMate. A delighted Tom teases Leslie the rest of the day by pretending they are a couple, but she finally silences him by kissing him. Chris notices the kiss and warns Leslie that he has a strict policy against workplace dating.

At the cook-off, Chris prepares his meticulous turkey burgers for the judges: Tom, Donna, Jerry, and Kyle. They all love it, but give much higher praise to Ron's simple hamburger on a bun. Initially surprised, even Chris comes to admit Ron's burger is superior after trying it, so he agrees to reinstate red meat on the commissary menu. Chris later tells Leslie his dating policy has affected others, explaining that he earlier warned Ben not to ask out a co-worker. Leslie realizes that is why Ben rejected her and is glad when Ben asks her to eat in front of her favorite city hall mural. Leslie deletes her profile on HoosierMate, and is relieved to learn that Tom has 26 different profiles on the site to match himself with any type of woman, although the one Leslie matched with was his "nerd" profile.

## Production

"Soulmates" was written by Alan Yang and directed by Ken Whittingham. The idea of Chris' no-dating policy stemmed from real life policies in small town governments. Parks and Recreation co-creator Michael Schur said although romantic obstacles between two characters are difficult to make effective and genuine, he believed the policy was realistic and fitting with the type of show. Schur said: "The 'no dating' thing is a very big deal in government – these people are handling taxpayer money, so relationships are even more frowned upon than they are in the private sector."

The episode features a fictional online dating service called HoosierMate.com, inspired by the nickname Hoosier for residents of Indiana, where Parks and Recreation is set. After the episode aired, NBC started a fake website on an actual HoosierMate.com domain, which included fake accounts for Leslie and Tom similar to those featured in "Soulmates". Stand-up comedian Kirk Fox made a guest appearance in "Soulmates" as Pawnee sewer department employee Joe, who he previously played in the second season episodes " The Camel " and " Telethon ". Josh Pence, who appeared with Parks co-star Rashida Jones in the 2010 film The Social Network, also appeared in "Soulmates" as a man wearing cowboy clothes who dates Ann.

During one scene in "Soulmates", Ron misunderstood a turkey burger to be "a fried turkey leg inside a grilled hamburger". After the episode aired, the cooking website Eater.com created and posted a recipe for that exact food.

## Cultural references

When Leslie asks Tom what he would ask for if given three wishes, one of them is to star in a remake of the 1991 action film Point Break playing the roles of both main characters, who are played by Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze. During one scene, while on hold during a telephone call, Tom sings badly out of tune to the hold music of " Forever Young ", by the German synthpop group Alphaville. At one point, Tom describes the nicknames he has for various foods, and describes sandwiches as "sammies, sandoozles or Adam Sandlers", the latter of which refers to the comedian and actor Adam Sandler. Andy tells Chris his favorite food is Skittles sandwiched between two Starburst, which he calls "Andy's Mouth Surprise". When Leslie describes her ideal date as a dark and mysterious man who can play the organ, Ann says she believes Leslie is describing the title character from The Phantom of the Opera, a story about a deformed man who haunts an opera hall.

## Reception

### Ratings

In its original American broadcast, "Soulmates" was seen by an estimated 4.89 million household viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research, with a 2.9 rating/5 share among all viewers and a 2.4 rating/6 share among viewers between ages 18 and 49. A rating point represents one percent of the total number of television sets in American households, and a share means the percentage of television sets in use tuned to the program. The "Soulmates" rating constituted a slight decrease from the previous episode, " Andy and April's Fancy Party ", which was seen by 5.16 million households.

In its 9:30 p.m. timeslot, "Soulmates" was outperformed by the Fox crime drama series Bones, which was seen by 10.96 million household viewers, and the CBS forensic crime series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which was seen by 8.47 million households. It outperformed a repeat of the ABC medical drama series Grey's Anatomy, which was seen by 3.86 million household viewers, and an original episode of the CW Television Network drama series Nikita, which was seen by 2.013 million households.

### Reviews

Somehow, the writers have managed to make every single character not only funny, but likable funny.... There may be certain traits about each person that we don't like or, at times, feel are pretty obnoxious, but the writers have been smart enough to provide enough depth for each so that – even though it's just a half an hour sitcom with the simple goal of making us laugh – we can see there's something more to these characters.

— Eric Sundermann, Hollywood.com

"Soulmates" received generally positive reviews, with several commentators particularly praising the performance of Aziz Ansari. The Atlantic writer Scott Meslow said Ansari "has somehow found a way to make Tom petulant, sexist, and materialistic without ever being unlikable". Meslow also complimented the "slight but charming" subplot about the burger cook-off, and said Rob Lowe stood his own against the show's reliable comedic stars Nick Offerman and Chris Pratt. Zap2it writer Rick Porter called "Soulmates" one of the "out-and-out funniest episodes of the season" and provided Ansari with the "best sustained bit of comedy he's had in a long time". Porter also said he appreciated how the script "wisely didn't make much" over Ann's dating many men, claiming the subtlety of the joke was effective. Andy Daglas of ChicagoNow also said Ansari "stole the show" and that "Soulmates" was an excellent showcase for his character, who had largely remained on the sidelines throughout the season. Daglas said the scenes with Tom mocking Leslie were effective not only due to Ansari's performance, but also because of the genuine loyalty and admiration that had been built between the two characters.

The A.V. Club writer Steve Heisler called "Soulmates" one of the best Parks and Recreation episodes, and praised it for advancing its character relationships and finding "tons of natural, free-flowing comedy in something incredibly mundane", such as a conflict over burgers. Matt Fowler of IGN said he enjoyed seeing Offerman and Lowe pitted against each other, which he described as an "epic" pairing. Fowler also said he enjoyed that the script introduced "mini-mysteries" that took some time to reveal, like why Ben seemed uncomfortable around Leslie, and why Leslie and Tom were a match on the dating website. Nick McHatton of TV Fanatic said he is enjoying the slow and deliberate pace at which the Leslie and Ben relationship is progressing. He also said Ansari "delivered just the right amount to creep out Leslie (and) keep me in fits of laughter", and said Tom's slang nicknames for food were "some of the funniest Tom-isms he's doled out yet". New York magazine writer Steve Kandell said the episode demonstrates how, even several months after the addition of Lowe and Adam Scott to the cast, their presence allows for excellent new story opportunities, like the Ron and Chris cook-off and Ben's infatuation with Leslie.

Eric Sundermann of Hollywood.com said "Soulmates" demonstrates how Parks and Recreation is superior to other comedy shows because it "invests in its characters and really allows the audience time to get to know them" rather than depending solely on gags. Alan Sepinwall said he "laughed louder and more frequently at it than any episode so far this season" except for " Flu Season " and called the Ron and Chris subplot as "predictable as hell but perfectly-executed". Sepinwall objected to the introduction of a no-dating policy simply to slow the budding romance between Leslie and Ben, and said "so much of this season has been so perfect that the rare imperfections stand out even more than they would on a weaker overall comedy". Joel Keller of TV Squad said the no-dating policy felt like a plot contrivance meant strictly to keep Ben and Leslie apart, which he felt was not good for the story. However, he complimented Leslie and Tom's scenes together, and said the subplot was even funnier, which he called a "Ron Swanson classic". Entertainment Weekly writer Hillary Busis said the episode was "a little too disjointed for me", particularly because the two plots were barely associated with each other. However, she said the show included funny individual jokes, and enjoyed the moment when Leslie kissed Tom.


Apple A18

# Apple A18

## Abstract

The Apple A18 and Apple A18 Pro are a pair of 64-bit ARM-based system on a chip (SoC) designed by Apple Inc., part of the Apple silicon series. They are used in the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro lineups, and built on a second generation 3 nm process by TSMC. Announced on September 9th, 2024, they are the successors to the Apple A16 Bionic and the Apple A17 Pro processors, respectively.

## Design

The Apple A18 and A18 Pro feature an Apple-designed 64-bit ARMv9.2-A six-core CPU with two high-performance cores and four energy-efficient cores, a penta-core (A18) and six-core (A18 Pro) GPU and a NPU with 16 cores.

### CPU

Apple claims the new A18 chip is up to 30% faster in CPU performance compared to iPhone 15 with the A16 Bionic chip and 50% compared to the iPhone 14 with the A15 Bionic chip. Also it can deliver the same CPU performance of the A16 Bionic chip while consuming 30% less power.

The A18 Pro is up to 15% faster in CPU perfomance than the A17 Pro chip, and it can deliver the same CPU performance of A17 Pro chip while consuming 20% less power. Apple claims the A18 Pro chip has larger caches than the non-Pro A18 chip.

### GPU

The A18 chip integrates a new Apple-designed five-core GPU, now adding hardware accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading support to the non-Pro lineup. Apple claims the new A18 chip is up to 40% faster in GPU performance compared to iPhone 15 with the A16 Bionic chip, and it can deliver the same GPU performance of the A16 Bionic chip while consuming 35% less power.

The A18 Pro has one more GPU core, making it a six-core GPU, and it can deliver 20% faster performance compared to the GPU on the A17 Pro chip. Apple says it has 2x faster hardware ray tracing, although it’s not clear if it’s an exclusive feature of the A18 Pro chip compared to the non-Pro variant.

### NPU

Apple claims that the new 16-core Neural Engine is capable of 35 trillion operations per second, with 2x faster machine learning compared to the A16 Bionic chip. The A18 Pro, compared to the A17 Pro, can run Apple Intelligence features up to 15% faster. As shown on benchmarks, all chips in the A18 series have 8 GB of RAM, and both chips have 17% more memory bandwidth.

The NPU of the A18, with 35 TOPS, is approximately 58.33 times more powerful than the NPU of the Apple A11 (600 billion operations per second versus 35 trillion operations per second), which was the first Apple chip with a Neural Engine. The A11 was introduced in 2017.

#### Neural processing comparison between chip generations

* Although the A18 is theoretically capable of the same amount of operations per second as the A17 Pro, real world perfomances may be superior due to improvements on other parts of the SoC, as of the larger memory bandwidth. In fact, Apple claims that the A18 Pro is 15% faster on Apple Intelligence tasks compared to the A17 Pro.

### Additional aspects

The A18 Pro also differentiates itself from the non-Pro variant by its advanced media features, including new display engines, faster USB controllers and new video and image signal processors. Apple claims that the new video encoder processes 2 times more data than the A17 Pro chip. The A18 has a legacy USB 2.0 controller capable of only 480 Mbit/s through the USB-C port. The A18 Pro has a USB 3.2 Gen 2 controller capable of 10 Gb/s.

## See Also

- Apple Intelligence


1886 Brazilian parliamentary election

# 1886 Brazilian parliamentary election

## Abstract

Parliamentary elections were held in the Empire of Brazil on 15 January 1886 to elect members of the 20th legislature of the Chamber of Deputies. These were the third direct elections held after the Saraiva Law was enacted (Law No. 3,029 of 9 January 1881) and the last elections held in the country before the military coup d'état that overthrew emperor Pedro II and installed the Brazilian Republic. The Conservative Party won 103 seats, the Liberal Party won 22, and the Republican Party won none. The chamber was later dissolved on 17 June 1889.

## Results


Phryne

# Phryne

## Abstract

Phryne (/ ˈ f r aɪ n i /; Ancient Greek: Φρύνη, romanized: Phrū́nē, c. 371 BC – after 316 BC) was an ancient Greek hetaira (courtesan). Born Mnesarete, she was from Thespiae in Boeotia, but seems to have lived most of her life in Athens, where she became one of the wealthiest women in Greece.

Phryne is best known for her trial for impiety, in which she was defended by the orator Hypereides. According to legend, she was acquitted after baring her breasts to the jury, though the historical accuracy of this episode is doubtful. She also modeled for the artists Apelles and Praxiteles, and the Aphrodite of Knidos was based on her. Largely ignored during the renaissance, artistic interest in Phryne began to grow from the end of the eighteenth century. Her trial was famously depicted by Jean-Léon Gérôme in the 1861 painting Phryne Before the Areopagus, which influenced many subsequent depictions of her.

## Life

Phryne was from Thespiae in Boeotia. She was probably born around 371 BC, and was the daughter of Epicles. Both Plutarch and Athenaeus say that her real name was Mnesarete. According to Plutarch she was called Phryne because she had a pale complexion like a toad (phryne in Greek); she also used the name Saperdion.

Phryne seems to have spent most of her life in Athens. She might have come there with her family following the conquest of Thespia by Thebes in 373 BC, been born in Athens to Thespian refugees following the Theban conquest, or been brought there as a girl to take part in the sex trade, as was Neaira, another fourth-century hetaira. She apparently grew up poor – comic playwrights portray her picking capers – and became one of the wealthiest women in the Greek world. According to Callistratus, after Alexander razed Thebes in 335, Phryne offered to pay to rebuild the walls. She was also said to have dedicated a statue of herself at Delphi, and a statue of Eros to Thespiae. Phryne probably lived beyond 316 BC, when Thebes was rebuilt; according to Plutarch her fame meant that she could continue to charge high fees to her clients in her old age.

Very little is known about Phryne's life for certain, and much of her biography transmitted in ancient sources may be invented: Helen Morales writes that separating fact from fiction in accounts of Phryne's life is "impossible".

### Trial

The most famous event in Phryne's life was the prosecution brought by Euthias, where she was defended by Hypereides. According to legend, Hypereides exposed her breasts to the jury, who were so struck by her beauty that she was acquitted.

According to the ancient sources, Phryne was charged with asebeia, a kind of blasphemy. An anonymous treatise on rhetoric, which summarises the case against Phryne, lists three specific accusations against her – that she held a "shameless komos " or ritual procession, that she introduced a new god, and that she organised unlawful thiasoi or debauched meetings. The charge of introducing a new god had previously been used in the trial of Socrates; that of organising thiasoi is also known from the trial of Ninos. According to Harpocration, the new god introduced by Phryne was called Isodaites; though Harpocration describes him as being "foreign", the name is Greek and other sources consider it an epithet of Dionysus, Helios, or Pluto.

The case against Phryne was brought by Euthias, one of her former lovers; Hypereides, who spoke in her defence, was also one of Phryne's lovers. According to an ancient tradition, Euthias' case against Phryne was motivated by a personal quarrel rather than Phryne's alleged impiety. Craig Cooper suggests that the trial of Phryne was politically motivated. He observes that Aristogeiton, who made a speech for the prosecution, was a political enemy of Hypereides and prosecuted him for illegally introducing a decree after the Battle of Chaeronea in 338. Hypereides' defence speech survives only in fragments, though it was greatly admired in antiquity. Two prosecution speeches are mentioned by Athenaeus, though neither survive – one composed by Anaximenes of Lampsacus and delivered by Euthias, the other composed by Aristogeiton. The date of the trial is uncertain: it must have been before Anaximenes moved to Macedon, and therefore was perhaps between 350 and 340 BC.

Famously, Phryne was said to have been acquitted after the jury saw her bare breasts – Quintilian says that she was saved " non Hyperidis actione... sed conspectu corporis " ("not by Hypereides' pleading, but by the sight of her body"). Three different versions of this story survive. In Quintilian's account, along with those of Sextus Empiricus and Philodemus, Phryne makes the decision to expose her own breasts; while in Athenaeus' version Hypereides exposed Phryne as the climax of his speech, and in Plutarch's version Hypereides exposed her because he saw that his speech had failed to persuade the jury. Christine Mitchell Havelock notes that there is separate evidence for women being brought into the courtroom to arouse the sympathy of the jury, and that in ancient Greece baring the breasts was a gesture intended to arouse such a compassionate response, so Phryne's supposed behaviour in the court is not without parallel in Greek practice. However, this episode probably never happened. It was not mentioned in Posidippus ' version of the trial in his comedy Ephesian Woman, quoted by Athenaeus. Ephesian Woman was produced c. 290 BC, and the story of Phryne bearing her breasts therefore probably postdates this. In Posidippus' version, Phryne personally pleaded with each of the jurors at her trial for them to save her life, and it was this which secured her acquittal. The story of Phryne baring her breasts may have been invented by Idomeneus of Lampsacus. Though all of the ancient accounts assume that Phryne was on trial for her life, asebeia was not necessarily punished by death; it was an agōn timētos, in which the jury would decide on the punishment if the accused was convicted.

Hermippus reports that after Phryne's acquittal, Euthias was so furious that he never spoke publicly again. Kapparis suggests that in fact he was disenfranchised, possibly because he failed to gain one fifth of the jurors' votes and was unable to pay the subsequent fine. The trial of Phryne also supposedly led to two new laws being passed governing courtroom behaviour: one forbade the accused being present while the jury considered their decision; the other forbade lament in the courtroom.

### Model

Phryne was the model for two of the great artists of classical Greece, Praxiteles and Apelles. She is most famously associated with Praxiteles' Aphrodite of Knidos, the first three-dimensional and monumentally-sized female nude in ancient Greek art. However, this association appears only in Athenaeus and the sixth-century rhetorician Choricius of Gaza; it is not mentioned by other ancient authors who discuss the Knidia such as Pliny the Elder, and Clement of Alexandria names the model for the Knidia not as Phryne but Cratina.

Praxiteles also produced a golden or gilt statue of Phryne which was displayed – according to Pausanias dedicated by Phryne herself – in the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi. This may have been the first female portrait ever dedicated at Delphi; it was certainly the only statue of a woman alone to be dedicated before the Roman period. According to Pliny, Phryne was also the model for Praxiteles' sculpture of a smiling courtesan, and one of Praxiteles' sculptures of Eros was said to have been inspired by his desire for Phryne.

Like Praxiteles, Apelles used Phryne as a model for Aphrodite. According to Athenaeus, he was inspired by the sight of Phryne walking naked into the sea at Eleusis to use her as a model for his painting of Aphrodite Anadyomene (Aphrodite Rising from the Sea). This work was on display at the sanctuary of Asclepius on the Greek island of Kos, and by the first century AD it appears to have been one of Apelles' best-known works.

## Reception

Phryne was largely ignored during the Renaissance, in favour of more heroic female figures such as Lucretia, but interest in depicting her increased in the eighteenth century with the advent of Neoclassicism. Early depictions of her by Angelica Kauffmann and J. M. W. Turner avoid eroticising her, but in the latter half of the nineteenth century, French academic painters focused more on the eroticism of Phryne's life. The most famous nineteenth century depiction of Phryne was Jean-Léon Gérôme 's Phryne before the Areopagus, which was controversial for showing her covering her face in shame, in the same pose that Gérôme used in several paintings of slaves in Eastern slave-markets. Driven by this controversy, Gérôme's painting was widely reproduced and caricatured, with engravings by Léopold Flameng, a bronze by Alexandre Falguière, and a painting by Paul Cézanne all modelled after Gérôme's Phryne.

In nineteenth century literature, Phryne appears in the poetry of Charles Baudelaire and Rainer Maria Rilke. In Baudelaire's "Lesbos", from Les Fleurs du Mal, she is used metonymically to represent courtesans in general. In Rilke's Die Flamingos, the flamingos are compared to Phryne, as they seduce themselves – by folding their wings over their own heads – more effectively than even she could ("they seem to think / themselves seductive; that their charms surpass / a Phryne’s"). Late nineteenth-century depictions of Phryne in other media included a waltz by Antonin d'Argenton, a shadow-theatre production by Maurice Donnay – where the scene of Phryne's trial was modelled on Gérôme's painting –, and a comic opera by Camille Saint-Saëns.

In the twentieth century, Phryne made the transition to cinema. Alessandro Blasetti 's " Il processo di Frine " adapted the story of Phryne's trial with a contemporary setting, based on a short story by Edoardo Scarfoglio. The following year, the peplum film Frine, cortigiana d'Oriente ("Phryne, the Oriental Courtesan") was released. Both films depict Phryne's disrobing at her trial with an iconography influenced by Gérôme's painting.

## Works cited