Shows how Joseph Campbell's model for a hero's journey has been adapted to the movie 'the matrix'.

Essay by gabmearsHigh School, 12th gradeA+, August 2003

download word file, 7 pages 4.3

Downloaded 72 times

"The Matrix" is a film which follows the structure of a traditional quest story. However, the composers have appropriated elements of this structure to suit a contemporary audience by considering the views and values of our present culture. In making these adjustments to elements of the traditional hero/quest story, the film is more appealing and thus more accessible to a wide and varied audience. The context of the movie is a world in which technology, computers in particular, have become highly influential and is based on the premise that power is the centre of our existence. Thus, it can be said that the voice of this film is a dominant one as the theory of reliance on technology is one which has been widely acknowledged and accepted in society in recent decades.

Undoubtedly, the hero in the story is a computer programmer by the name of Neo, troubled by one specific concept - "what is The Matrix?". His mentor in discovering the answer to this question is Morpheus. Morpheus is an instiller of knowledge and "more like a father figure than a leader", to Neo. He offers Neo the knowledge into the true state of his existence and Neo soon learns it is a world (known as The Matrix) which is really just an elaborate computer program constructed by artificial intelligence (AI). AI cultivate their own humans and control their minds to use them as generators of energy for 'the real world', a wasteland devastated by war. Those living in The Matrix are completely unaware of their true purpose and false reality. In turn, Neo chooses to embark on a quest to pursue his true identity, to attain the truth and to liberate humanity from the bondage that is The Matrix. In considering this,