Myth & Storytelling |"Matrix" (1999)

Fig. 1 "Matrix" Poster

Written and directed by „The Wachowski Brothers“ the science fiction action film „The Matrix“ tells a story about a dystopian future of the human world in which the reality perceived by most of its inhabitants is actually a simulated reality called “The Matrix”. One day the protagonist Thomas Anderson, a hacker named “Neo”, learns about the truth of “the matrix” with the help of Morpheus. Neo who uncovers the lies about the world he was living in which he thought was the true reality decides to help the humanity to unchain itself from the slavery created by the machines controlling the simulation.

Just like many other blockbuster movies “The Matrix” pursues the concept of the so called “Hero’s Journey”. The first man who discovered the similarities between the many stories and analyzed them was the scholar Joseph Campbell in 1949. He called it a “monomyth” or simply as we know it today “Hero’s Journey”. In his book “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” he outlines the 17 stages of a mythological hero’s journey which is condensed about half a century later by Christopher Vogler into only 12 stages. In the movie “The Matrix” most of those stages occur and therefore can be analyzed.

Fig. 2 Hero's Journey

The film starts off with our main protagonist Thomas Anderson in his ordinary world who works as a programmer for the software company MetaCortex. At night he becomes the computer hacker for hire known as “Neo”. One day he receives a strange message telling him to follow the white rabbit on his computer. After tracking it down he meets “Trinity” an infamous hacker who tells him that she knows the answer to his question about the cryptic phrase “the matrix” – his Call to Adventure. One day morning Neo receives a mysterious call from Morpheus who becomes his ally later on telling him to escape as “they” are coming for him. Neo follows Morpheus’ step by step instructions to escape the ones who want to capture him. Finally standing at the ledge of a skyscraper he hesitates to jump as Morpheus has told him therefore refused his request to escape – refuse of the call. He tells himself: “I can’t do this” and lets himself captured. After being released he receives another call from Morpheus who offers him a meeting at his place. Neo agrees and meets Morpheus who offers him two choices: a blue pill that returns him to his former life or the red pill which will reveal the truth about the matrix. Neo decides to swallow the red pill, his first step into the unknown, and so Morpheus becomes his mentor. With his super natural aid Neo will soon learn about the world’s truth.

Awakening from the simulation Neo finds himself in a cryopod filled with a strange liquid. He finally arrives in the real world – the belly of the whale. Morpheus shows him the truth, but at first Neo is in denial and even wants to go back to the simulation. Morpheus starts to train Neo in the simulation world and teaches him the lack of rules in it since it is not real and how to manipulate it. Neo encounters many new challenges and concepts he has never encountered before and tries his best to overcome them – the road of the trials. Neo makes many allies in the real world as he is training. One of them is Trinity the woman who introduced him to Morpheus and the one who reassured him when he was unsure. Clearly Trinity and Neo loved each and therefore she is Neo’s Goddess which becomes clearer later on when she revives Neo after he gets killed by Agent Smith with a kiss.

During the meeting with the oracle she tells Neo that he is not “the one” everyone is talking about and warns him that soon enough he has to choose between his life and Morpheus’. After the meeting in the matrix the crew decides to return to the real world. However, they did not know that Cypher, a crew member, has sided with the agents and has told them their exact location. The crew is attacked and two members die and in order for Neo and the remaining crew to escape Morpheus sacrifices himself and gets captured which can be seen as the death of the mentor stage. Neo decides to dive into the simulation again to rescue Morpheus, at that point he believes in a way that he really is “The One” Morpheus was assuming – atonement with the father. During the action packed fighting scenes with the agents and after the resurrection (the crossing of the return threshold) from the kiss of the Goddess (rescue from without) Neo realizes that he can manipulate the matrix at his own will without any effort since he can see the matrix’ coding through his eyes and has gained a large amount of self-confidence – Ultimate boon/Apotheosis. After defeating the agent and saving his allies Neo return to the real world with the acquired knowledge and strength. From that point on Neo will try to stop the machine and tell the humans in the simulation the truth about the world. He became the master of two worlds by becoming “The One” who will save the earth and the one who can freely manipulate the matrix. The final scene shows Neo in a phone cell telling someone maybe the machine that he will show their prisoners what they don’t want them to see and a world without the machines and hangs up – freedom to live.  
All in all, this movie is top of blockbusters, which sets new standards in the film making industry. As Roger Eberts writes in his review: ""The Matrix" is a visually dazzling cyberadventure, full of kinetic excitement" (Ebert, 1999).

Bibliography: 
 Ebert , R. (1999) "Matrix" At: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-matrix-1999 (Accessed on 09/10/2017)

Illustration List:
Fig. 1 "Matrix" Poster At: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/01/b2/95/01b2953ef273ae55ff65acd8eac844eb--sci-fi-films-cult-movies.jpg (Accessed on 09/10/2017)
Fig. 2 Hero's Journey. (Taken screenshot from Heroe's Journey lectures slide) (Accessed on 09/10/2017)