I just saw The Matrix Resurrections, the latest film in The Matrix series. I barely remember the first Matrix from 1999 but this was a family outing, so I went. A quick recap for those who don’t know anything about the franchise. Neo (Keanu Reeves) is the GREATEST video game designer of his day. Somewhere along the way, he slipped into his own code and started living a dual life – one in everyday reality and the other as a video game character.
Toward the beginning of the film, there is a line (and I don’t remember the correct words), but it went something like “you are living in the world that you created.” That gave me pause and in between all the gun play, people bouncing off the walls, people falling through windows, I started to think. Would I like to live in the world I created for the Trisha Carson mysteries? Would I like to meet Trisha? Her sketchy sister? Her wise but flawed father? Her beloved nephew?
I had more than two hours to think about this (it’s a long movie). I do live in the area that Trisha and her sister lived in, at least for the first book, Dead in the Water. That’s the Sun Valley area of San Rafael. If she really lived not far from the small market on the corner, I could have smiled and passed her as I walked in the store.
The interesting thing I discovered was that I probably wouldn’t have been close friends with Trisha or even her sister, Lena. Who I would like to know better is Terrel Robinson, MD. “T” as he is called is an emergency room doctor in San Francisco, a bi-racial tall, lanky man who wears nerdy black rim glasses. He has a keen intellect and a fierce love for Lena and Little T, his son.
As bots turned into human bombs in the film, this realization came as a surprise to me. Then I wondered about all the writers I know. Would they (you) like to live in the world that you created? If you’re a reader, what about you? Do you want to visit the world and time of your favorite character? Would you stay there forever? Or just pop in for a few weeks and then come home?
Tell me what you think. Okay?
BTW: In the end, The Matrix Resurrections is really a love story. Who’d a thought?
The cover of my latest book, Dead Code, is more like the world I live in.