Jacking in to the Matrix Franchise: Cultural Reception and Interpretation (Paperback)

by Matthew Kapell (Author, Editor), William G. Doty (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Doty and Kapell’s collection of articles will become a classic in film studies." -- Spring Journal, 2004

Product Description
Few media franchises can match The Matrix for enthusiasm of reception and subsequent proliferation. Who in 1999 could have imagined that the momentum of a single film would sustain two more major theatrical releases in a single year, a collection of nine anime cartoons, a best-selling computer game, and more websites than can be counted? Jacking In To The Matrix Trilogy will be the first academic study to take an in-depth look at all of these products, a coherent overview of the franchise as a whole. The Matrix films are rich with mythological and religious references, as well as drawing upon futuristic fiction. Such richness demands a variety of decoding interpreting skills, and the array of talent in this volume will lay bare many of the strand that have given the Matrix creations such a sense of magic. The book gathers original articles that comment on the cultural and religious implications of The Matrix trilogy, its place within the cyberworlds of contemporary literature and philosophy, and its portrayal of gender and race. The volume also makes conjectures about the ethical and social consequences of taking either the red of the blue pill. Jacking In To The Matrix Trilogy wil

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Continuum (April 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826415881
• ISBN-13: 978-0826415882
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,350,364 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Read, June 9, 2004

By A Customer

Jacking In to the Matrix Franchise is the red pill that makes us understand the world of the Matrix in ways we could not while we were immersed in it, since the volume's essays serve as a comprehensive look into the Matrix franchise, not just the film trilogy composed by The Matrix, The Matrix: Reloaded, and The Matrix: Revolutions. For the Matrix directors, Andy and Larry Wachowski, orchestrated an array of artistic endeavors, including a collection of short anime stories entitled The Animatrix, the video game Enter The Matrix and the The Matrix comics as alternative texts that provide background or side narratives to Reloaded and Revolutions. In the Fall of 2004, the Matrix saga will continue in the form of a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, The Matrix Online.

As co-editor William G. Doty claims in the introduction, Jacking In situates the franchise in the context of "the history of thought"-from Romanticism to Postmodernism and the posthuman-and in the context of cinema. Accordingly, the volume is multidisciplinary in scope, though it remains firmly set in the humanities and social sciences, as shown by the authors' credentials: Religion and Culture, Comparative Ethnic Studies, English, Philosophy, History, Anthropology...

Besides Doty's introduction, other highlights of Jacking In include John Shelton Lawrence's reading of the film trilogy as a fascist narrative, and Frances Flannery-Dailey and Rachel L. Wagner's analysis of the franchise's problematic connection of violence and religious themes.

Jacking In also includes a useful appendix with a glossary of names and terms used in the franchise, plus a collection of internet sites by theme and a short bibliography of recommended readings.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The ONLY book on the Matrix you need, January 7, 2005

By	Phil "Phil" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This is far and away the best work on the Matrix films. It is the only one that covers the entire franchise; the films, the games, the pop culture aspects. Doty's introduction is amazing, while the other chapters manage to cover just about every aspect of the series you can imagine.

Highly useful for anyone interested in figuring out which colored pill to take.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb writing, accessible and insightful, June 26, 2004

By A Customer

This is unquestionably the best quality book in a field crowded with poseurs and worse. See particularly the essays by Wilhelm & Kapell, John Shelton Lawrence, Flannery-Dailey & Wagner, and Mizelle & Baker. Accessibly written, enlightening, intellectually stimulating, with touches of humor that delight and intrigue, this book is worth every penny. The primary editor, Kapell, along with the highly competent Dr. Doty, have selected papers which are reflexive, more than capably developed, and multi-faceted in their approaches to the Matrix franchise. Enjoy this literate and worthy book!