You never forget your first DVD.
Ok, mine was Lost In Space (1998), and my second one was Blade (1998). But my third was The Matrix (1999).
The Matrix landed on home video at the tail end of ’99, right when everyone was waiting for their Computers to destroy civilization. It’s apparently still an ongoing process. And even though this wasn’t the first movie to ask if reality was fake, with pre-millennium tension running high, the question actually seemed legit.
The Matrix took over the cinematic existentialist and determinist discourse.
The carefully cynical optimism of the ‘90s was winding down, and the feeling that anything could happen gave way to the sense that everything was happening by design. For people who grew up thinking the future would be shiny and lined with tinfoil, The Matrix was a film that made ‘New’ feel dangerous.
And then the 20th century ended. Like a software update no one could roll back. – Pop