Physics in the Animation Universe: The Animatrix

In the world we live in, all forces must obey the laws of physics; If  a glass gets knocked  off a counter, we anticipate it to fall and shatter once it hits the ground, thus it is safe to assume that if a ball rolls into a wall it will bounce off of the wall and roll back. It is simple, predictable and unchanging. The predictability of our physical world makes it reliable and easy for us to trust in. But what if the world that we lived in was only an elaborate illusion? Would reality and our basic understanding of the physical world be as reliable? The answers to these questions can be found in the film The Animatrix (2003) where we, the audience are introduced to such a world. Through the skillful use cleverly augmented maneuvers that are grounded in physics, the creators of the Animatrix blur the lines just enough in order to create a believable dichotomy between reality and the perception of reality.   

            The virtual universe known as the Matrix is modeled after the tangible world in almost every aspect. In the film the design is so convincing that most people cannot even tell the difference. Distinguishing between two worlds that are made to be essentially identical is not an easy thing to do visually and doing so is essential to the structure of the story. That being said the writers and animators solved this problem in a few unique and eye-catching ways. The first of which was done by slightly altering certain paths of action to accentuate the movement and catch the audience off guard. In the third short film featured in the collection, Program, the two main characters of the narrative race off a cliff, horse-bound and locked in battle. In reality the assumption is that both the characters would plummet into the massive abyss to their deaths, but since the scene takes place in the matrix, the audience is surprised to see them land safely on the other side of a large chasm. If this sequence took place in a setting bound to the laws of physics, and the characters still stuck the landing, it would be cheesy, unbelievable, and the audience would not buy it. But since there is a pretext that the setting is virtual, our expectations of reality and objections to the obvious flaws in physics are suspended and we are free to fully immerse ourselves in the universe.  This augmentation of the path of action of a free-falling object helps separate this virtual world from our own and adds flair and excitement that propels us through the scene.Another prime example of a path of action being altered occurs in Beyond, the sixth short featured film. In this short story there is a glitch zone in a small neighborhood that allows a few kids to defy gravity. These sequences feature arcs of motion in time that could never occur in the physical world. One the children jumps into a front flip, slows into the apex of his jump and remains frozen there for several seconds before gentle floating back down. Although in reality objects do slow into the apex of a jump or throw, they also accelerate out of the apex without any sort of pause or hiccup. This is not the case for the movements displayed in this scene. Because we anticipate the kid to come down to the ground quickly we are caught off guard by this irregular path of action and are in turn entertained by the unexpected result. Although examples like these are prominent throughout the film, without other visual ques or stimuli, separating the two worlds for the purpose of the story would seem to present a colossal task. Luckily animation and problem solving go hand and hand. 

            Along with the skewed paths of action, filmmakers needed a way to enhance the fighting scenes and make them extraordinary. What better way to do this then by tampering with physics. By enhancing maneuvers and manipulating the conservation of energy law, the team was able to give their characters super-human abilities within the realm of the matrix. The best example, possibly in the entire film occurs during the final episode, The Final Flight of Osiris. During a visit to the matrix the character Jue takes a leap of faith through a collection of high voltage spires and lands safely onto the ground below. That is not even the shocking part (pun intended). When she makes contact with the ground it crumbles underneath her feet and sends out a shock-wave that makes the surrounding asphalt ripple like rubber and sends the surrounding dumpsters flying into the air. According to the law of conservation of energy, energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred from on object to another. Keeping that in mind it is safe to assert that the energy that would take to lift up the weight of three dumpsters and ripple the ground is not equivalent to the energy that a human being, from any particular height, is able to put out. Therefore the character must be creating some sort of energy in addition to her momentum in order to produce such a force. Since this law is constant within the physical world, an effect like this could never work. But anything goes in the matrix and if it helps push story then that’s what we want. A similar yet less dramatic effect occurs earlier in the film as well. In Program, The main character blocks a massive blow from an enemy of greater mass and momentum. The force of the attack sends the broken shingles of the rooftop flying upwards but has no effect on the character making immediate contact with the primary force. The main character then proceeds to snap the enemy’s sword in half with her bare hands. Although there is a certain degree of reliability in the fact that the energy delivered from the attacking character to the blocking character to the rooftop would probably crack a few shingles, the effect we get in the matrix is much more dramatic. The roof top splinters dramatically and sends shingles flying upward. Much like the display in the previous example the energy require to pull this off would not be equal to the force delivered in the real world. The sword would also not be able to be broken so simply with bare hands but we are just going to let that one slide for now and chuck it up to the magic of the matrix.

            The final, and arguably most iconic tool for distinguishing the matrix from reality in the film-makers’ repertoire has to be the slowing of time. On several occasions within this film time slows down in order for dramatic effect. For example in the opening scene of Program. The main character jumps into midair and takes out four enemies with her lance blade before landing back on her horse. In order to the character to land four, successful, consecutive strikes in midair, there would have to be a time delay. In the natural world time is a constant. Always moving forward, never slowing down or stopping. The concept of time is so universal to our world that it is blatantly obvious whenever it is tampered with. This makes for  a wonderful way to explain that the battlefield in does not exist in the physical world but the virtual one where time is like any other program within a computer and can be modified or tampered with in anyway. This concept is used again later on in the same episode where the same character jumps into the air to dodge an incoming attack and gently lands on top of her enemy’s weapon. It is also used later episodes like Beyond where the paths of action are altered by the slowing of time and The Final flight of Osiris as well.

Although these physical laws are intentionally broken within the realm of the Matrix, the audience is not skeptical because it is necessary to show the break in reality to reinforce and serve the main ideas of the narrative. We the audience are aware of and accustomed to the world around us, therefore when we are introduced to concepts that would not hold up based on that fundamental understanding, we have no choice but to assume that said concepts and events must take place in another world. The physics maybe off and a little wonky, but it serves as the perfect platform for telling a great story; and for visual storytellers that is a very reliable thing.