The Matrix (Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski 1999) has permeated our cultural consciousness for two decades, working its way into such common parlance as “a glitch in the Matrix,” and the idea of taking the Red Pill. With the release of the fourth movie, The Matrix: Resurrections (Lana Wachowski 2021) and the confirmation of the franchise being a metaphor for gender transition, this book will examine how all four movies, and The Animatrix, have contributed to the discourse on sex and gender, and how they have been instrumental in propelling the creation of new types of cyborg technology. This book will centre on the main philosophical theme of The Matrix, know thyself, and relate it to the quest for authenticity which creates our identities—be they human, or human “enough”—as we move through the world. It will explore the transformative impact of the movies in multiple ways, looking at such themes as technology influenced by the movie; how the Wachowskis’ subsequent gender transition has influenced ideas about the same; questions of authenticity, simulation, and reality; and where the newest instalment in the series, 2021’s The Matrix Resurrections, has taken these themes.
1. The Cultural Impact of The Matrix Series.- 2. The Matrix: At the
Source, or Where it all Began.- 3. The Animatrix and The Matrix Comics:
Limitless Potential for Imagining New Cyborg Technology.- 4. The Matrix
Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions: Cephalopod Robots and the Nature of
Truth.- 5. The Matrix Resurrections: Love Outlives Death.- 6. So: Who Are
You? Virtual Reality, DSI, and Personality.
Dr. Rebecca Gibson is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Virginia Commonwealth University, specializing in biological anthropology. Her published works include Desire in the Age of Robots and AI: An Investigation in Science Fiction and Fact (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019) and The Corseted Skeleton: A Bioarchaeology of Binding (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020).
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