Nearly 20 years ago, the Wachowskis unleashed The Matrix on an unsuspecting world, embedding fans around the globe in the film’s rich mythos as early as its opening frames. Those glowing green lines of raining code hinted at The Matrix‘s true nature even at the very beginning of the film. And while those digital symbols may have effectively set the stage for the game-changing sci-fi movie, their true meaning has long been unknown to most. As it turns out, it’s a bit less dramatic than you might expect… and a bit more delicious.
While speaking to CNET, Simon Whiteley, the creator of the Matrix’s distinctive code, said that it all came from his wife’s Japanese cookbook. Whiteley scanned the characters from that book and digitally manipulated them until they became the otherworldly coding that appeared on screen. “I like to tell everybody that The Matrix‘s code is made out of Japanese sushi recipes,” shared Whiteley. “Without that code, there is no Matrix.”
Now we really want to know if there is a complete sushi recipe somewhere in the coding of the Matrix. This is a fun little story, but what if that’s just what the Matrix wants us to think? If we’re all too busy looking around for sushi cookbooks, then maybe we won’t be searching for proof that we’re all secretly living inside of a computer simulation. Oh, we’re on to you, machines.
What do you think about the origin of the Matrix code? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!
Images: New Line Cinema
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