Mega City (The Matrix)

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Mega City is  an enormous virtual megacity in which the inhabitants of the Matrix live their lives in the Matrix series.

Contents 1 Locations and  references 1.1 Sydney 1.2 Oakland 1.3 Chicago 2 The Matrix Online 3 Club Hel 4 Locations outside of Mega City 5 External links

[ and  references">edit] Locations and  references

Mega City as it  appears in the Matrix films is  an amalgam of various cities of the late 20th century, in particular:

• Sydney, Australia (where most of the movies were filmed)
• Oakland, California (where the car chase scenes in The Matrix Reloaded were filmed)
• Chicago, Illinois (where the Wachowski brothers were born and  raised)

[edit] Sydney

Excluding the car chase sequence in The Matrix Reloaded, the Matrix films were entirely filmed in the Australian city of Sydney.

Although such distinctive landmarks as the Sydney Harbour Bridge (although you can see this in the final scene of the film before the credits) and  the Sydney Opera House were digitally removed or  shot around, there are  several clearly Australian buildings, companies and  signage visible throughout the first movie in particular.

Buildings: Sydney Tower is  visible on the construct TV screen. Various Sydney skyscrapers and  locations around Central Station and  Surry Hills are  also recognisable.

Companies: Aon Corporation, AWA Limited, AMP Limited, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Dymocks Booksellers, MMI

Signage: Non-American spelling such as "Authorised personnel only" or  "In case of fire, do not use lift" appears occasionally, although in some cases this may be because production designer Owen Paterson is  Australian rather than use of Australian locations.

[edit] Oakland

The highway scenes were shot on a specially-constructed set at the nearby Naval Air Station Alameda. A two-mile purpose-built highway complete with overpasses, onramps and  offramps, and  highway signs was erected on portions of two unused aircraft runways on the former military base. After filming, the movie set was taken down and  removed, although still visible from aerial photographs is  the darker color of the pavement on top of the lighter concrete runway. The preceding chase sequence from an  underground car park was shot in various Oakland streets. The Webster Tube, which goes under the Oakland Inner Harbor between downtown and  Alameda Island, was also used. A highway sign reading "Whipple Ave. 1/2, Woodside Rd. 1 1/2, Marsh Road 3 3/4" is  seen on an  overpass during the motorcycle chase scene. These roads are  connected to US Route 101 on the San Francisco Peninsula, and  a street sign with those mileages would be seen on southbound 101 in the Redwood City area, although no scenes were photographed in that area.

[edit] Chicago

Most of the street and  landmark names referenced in the films are  from Chicago, such as Wabash and  Lake, Franklin and  Erie, State Street, Balbo Drive, Cumberland Ave, the Adams Street Bridge and  the Loop Train. Some street names however, such as Paterson Pass and  Wu Ping Ave are  derived from names of production staff. Also early drafts of the screenplay have  stated that the city was Chicago.

[edit] The Matrix Online

The Wachowski brothers provided a map of Mega City for the designers of the MMO game The Matrix Online, which splits the city into four main districts: Downtown, International, Richland and  Westview. Further development of the game will reveal further details about the geography of the city.

The map shows that the actual shape of the city is  the Y-shaped symbol seen at the end of the code sequence in The Matrix Revolutions.

[edit] Club Hel

Main article: Club Hel

[edit] Locations outside of Mega City

The revelation that the Matrix films and  games take place in a single megacity was surprising, as there were several references to other places and  cultures throughout the series.

• During Neo's online search for Morpheus, the headline "Morpheus eludes police at Heathrow Airport" and  an Arabic newspaper appear, suggesting that London and  the Middle East exist in the Matrix world (unless the City airport is  called "Heathrow")
• The presence of an  airport and  a post office in Enter the Matrix implies that City-dwellers can travel to other cities and  countries
• In The Matrix Reloaded, Neo is  transported to a remote mountainous area resembling the Alps or  the Himalayas, supposedly the location of The Merovingian's mansion) from which he has to fly "500 miles due south" in order to return to The City.
• In Beyond, one of the Animatrix short films, the setting appears to be that of Japan - oriental lettering can be seen on signposts, and  the main character Yoko owns a cat called Yuki, indicatively Japanese names. In addition, in World Record, another Animatrix short, the runner wears running gear emblazoned with 'USA', and  a nurse mentions her aunt who lives in the south of France. This seems to suggest that not only are  there regions outside the City, but other nations too, leading to the possibility of the Matrix being larger than previously thought. it  is entirely possible that The Matrix is  simply an  exact copy of the World during the year 1999.

It is  not, however, stated that there are  no other cities, just that the movies and  games take place in the same exceptionally large city.

[edit] External links

• IGN: Megacity Travel Planning

The Matrix series
Films	The Matrix  | The Matrix Reloaded  | The Matrix Revolutions
The Animatrix	Final Flight of the Osiris | The Second Renaissance | Kid's Story | Program | World Record | Beyond | A Detective Story | Matriculated
Soundtracks	The Matrix: Original Motion Picture Score | The Matrix: Music from the Motion Picture | The Matrix Reloaded: The Album The Matrix Revolutions: Music From The Motion Picture | The Animatrix: The Album | Enter The Matrix: Original Soundtrack From The Videogame
Games	Enter the Matrix | The Matrix Online | The Matrix: Path of Neo
Characters	Neo | Trinity | Morpheus | Smith (Agent Smith) | Captain Mifune |Agents | Oracle | Architect | Niobe | Merovingian | Persephone | Seraph | Deus Ex Machina | Minor human characters |  and  machines in the Matrix series">Programs and  machines
Locations	The Matrix | Mega City | Club Hel | Mobil Ave | Zero One (Machine City) | Zion | List of ships in the Matrix series
Cast and  crew	Wachowski brothers | Keanu Reeves | Laurence Fishburne | Carrie-Anne Moss | Hugo Weaving | Jada Pinkett Smith | Owen Paterson | John Gaeta | Geof Darrow | Steve Skroce
Other topics	Thematic motifs |Matrix digital rain | The Matrix character names | The Matrix Revisited | The Ultimate Matrix Collection
Related topics	Bullet time | Cyberpunk | Digitalism | The Hero's Journey | Martial arts film | Messiahs in fiction | Virtual reality
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