The Matrix Trilogy as a Postmodern Myth

"Myth" is no longer a word with sacred power today
and has turned into a cliché used in a pejorative way
most of the time. The loss of sacred power in myth
reveals people''s confidence in and favor on reason
and science. However, if we consider the contemporary
popularity of the fantastic genre, including fantasy,
horror and science fiction, we would deduce that
stories and myths, as a countercurrent of reason and
science, continue to arouse people''s imagination.
This book, therefore, stresses how myth works in the
postmodern age through filmic narration and attempts
to bring to light how the Matrix trilogy, replete
with mythemes and archetypes, restores human beings''
connection with myth, stories, the spiritual and the
natural. From the perspective of analytical
psychology, as Carl Jung proposed in his theory of
myth, the present work further delves into the
collective unconscious through the Matrix trilogy''s
artistic rendering of a postmodern myth. This
analysis should be favorable for those interested in
the cinematic, mythical, and psychological
reflections on the Matrix trilogy.

Autorentext
Minwen Huang is a graduate of Comparative Literature Program in Department of English at National Dong Hwa University in Taiwan. She studies the genre of Fantastic Literature, especially science fiction, with the help of literary imaginary theories and is investigating the writings on artificial man for her doctoral thesis.

Klappentext
"Myth" is no longer a word with sacred power today and has turned into a cliché used in a pejorative way most of the time. The loss of sacred power in myth reveals people's confidence in and favor on reason and science. However, if we consider the contemporary popularity of the fantastic genre, including fantasy, horror and science fiction, we would deduce that stories and myths, as a countercurrent of reason and science, continue to arouse people's imagination. This book, therefore, stresses how myth works in the postmodern age through filmic narration and attempts to bring to light how the Matrix trilogy, replete with mythemes and archetypes, restores human beings' connection with myth, stories, the spiritual and the natural. From the perspective of analytical psychology, as Carl Jung proposed in his theory of myth, the present work further delves into the collective unconscious through the Matrix trilogy's artistic rendering of a postmodern myth. This analysis should be favorable for those interested in the cinematic, mythical, and psychological reflections on the Matrix trilogy.