Jacking In To the Matrix Franchise: Cultural Reception and Interpretation

Description

There have already been several very successful books devoted to the original film in the Matrix trilogy. This entirely new collection of essays is the first book to examine the trilogy as a whole - as well as related products such as The Animatrix and the computer game. Contributors tackle these subjects from a range of perspectives: religion, philosophy, gender, race, film studies, and science, providing a comprehensive view of everything Matrix-related.Reviewing the cultural and religious implications of the trilogy, authors look at:* American Religion, Community and Revitilization: Why The Matrix Resonates* Religion and Salvation, the Optiate of The Matrix Franchise* Gimme that Bullet Time Religion, or, The Dream of Spiritually Perfect Violence* Ultimate Reality: Buddhist and Gnostic Constructions of BlissAlso covered are theories of cyberworlds, issues of gender and race and the games and ethics of simulation.

Matthew Wilhelm Kapell teaches American Studies and Humanities at San Jose State University, USA. He has graduate degrees in biological anthropology and history as well as a Ph.D. in American Studies. He has published on genetics, urban history, African colonial history, as well as four books in film and television studies and has taught extensively in the United States and Great Britain. William G. Doty is a retired Professor of Humanities and Religious Studies at the University of Alabama. He has published 16 books and over 70 essays in a wide range of academic journals.

"Jacking into the Matrix Franchise: Cultural Reception and Interpretation [is] a collection of meaty essays on The Matrix's cultural meaning. Hailing from a range of scholarly disciplines, the contributors speak to the innumerable interpretations the films have inspired. This collection's strength is that it doesn't try to tell you that the Matrix films are good or bad movies. The writers are as interested in the films' failures as in their innovations, and in the opportunities they offer to take the measure of the American mind. They ask intriguing questions. I came away from Jacking convinced that the Matrix films are more than action flicks. By provoking such passionate and thoughtful responses, from academics and water-cooler philosophers alike, the series has embodied the cyborg dreams, the fears and desires, of Americans at the turn of the millennium. And that's something worth reading about." - The Boston Phoenix, 9/11/04 "Any book under the editorial leadership of Professor William Doty is an event. His authority insures that the articles have intellectual density and academic weight. Yet, what is much rarer in this kind of publication, is a style that will captivate anybody interested in understanding how we experience and interpret films. The discussion is fascinating, the ideas fresh, the bibliographies precious. The title: Jacking into the Matrix Franchise: Cultural Reception and Interpretation, is too restrictive as it may appear like it is only addressed to fans of the Matrix films (of which I am not). But the collection of articles offers much more: it is a grand tour of all the subjects that matter in film studies: gender and degenderization, race and multiraciality, evolving and contradictory definitions of male and female heroism, religious symbolism in an entertainment culture, hidden agendas and embedded political values, postmodern deconstruction and reconstruction of hope, archetypal characters showing up unannounced, the opposition of an old in the new market of spiritual values and more I am one of those who, twenty some years ago, immensely enjoyed Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulation (1981). Doty and Kapell's collection of articles are the best update on the subject I have read since. I am ready to bet my copy of Bound (another Wachowski brother's movie), that Doty and Kapell's collection of articles will become a classic in film studies. I think of Bound as the best film ever made about trust (as well as a superb thriller); it did not attract the fame of the Matrix, and reading Jacking into the matrix Franchise help me understand why." - Ginette Paris, PhD. Pacifica Graduate Institute, Spring Journal 2004 "Two things distinguish this useful mapping of the Wachowski brothers' Matrix film trilogy... First, its range of contributors... second, the editors' insistence on conversational writing makes for an uncommon accessibility.... Recommended." -Choice, January 2005 * Choice *