Book Description
The Matrix Trilogy: Cyberpunk Reloaded is a collection of critical essays on the massive phenomenon that is the three Matrix films, including the subsequent websites, computer games and The Animatrix films. Among the topics considered are the new cyberpunk, Baudrillardian simulacra, the politics of gender and race, the femme fatale, costume, cyberculture and the body, virtual realities and special effects. Discussing both the influences on the trilogy and the impact they have had since their release, the contributors to this collection provide critically innovative readings of the franchise. The Matrix Trilogy: Cyberpunk Reloaded is a long-awaited exploration of a modern film phenomenon and is the first academic publication to consider the films as a cultural event.
From the Inside Flap
'This collection brings together an impressive international array of critics to direct their fearsome collective intelligence on The Matrix in its numerous guises: as extraordinary technological artefact, as Hollywood franchise, as vehicle for popular philosophical reflection on virtuality, postmodernism and the human, and as a science fictional rendition of the dialectic of totalitarianism and subcultural resistance. In a crowded market for commentaries, this collection stakes a strong claim to be The One for the discerning critical reader.-Roger Luckhurst, Birkbeck College, University of London