The Matrix as "a marriage between Man and Machine". For the scene when Neo wakes up in the pod connected to the Matrix, the pod was constructed to look dirty, used, and sinister. During the testing of a breathing mechanism in the pod, the tester suffered hypothermia in under eight minutes, so the pod had to be heated. Kym Barrett, costume designer, said that she defined the characters and their environment by their costume. For example, Reeves' office costume was designed for Thomas Anderson to look uncomfortable, disheveled, and out of place. Barrett sometimes used three types of fabric for each costume,
Alter ego Alter ego An alter ego (Latin for "other self") is a second self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original personality. A person who has an alter ego is said to lead a double life. The term appeared in common usage in the early 19th century when dissociative identity disorder was first described by psychologists. Cicero coined the term as part of his philosophical construct in 1st-century Rome, but he described it as "a second self, a trusted friend". A distinct meaning of "alter ego" is found in literary analysis used when referring to