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ABSTRACT The Matrix as Cyber-Punk Reverie Kelly Bulkeley, Ph.D. Kelly Bulkeley teaches religion and psychology at the Graduate Theological Union and is the author and editor of several books on dreams, including Transforming Dreams, Visions of the Night, An Introduction to the Psychology of Dreaming, The Wilderness of Dreams, and the forthcoming Dreams of Healing and The Evolution of Wonder. Summary of Presentation "The Matrix" artfully combines hyperkinetic cyber-punk imagery
and action with provocative philosophical questioning of our conventional
sense of what is "really real." Without wanting to burden this
comic-book film with any grand "meaning," this presentation will
discuss the broader impact "The Matrix" has had on cultural
understandings of how dreaming and waking realities relate to one another.
Abstract "The Matrix" artfully combines hyperkinetic cyber-punk imagery and action with provocative philosophical questioning of our conventional sense of what is "really real." Without wanting to burden this comic-book film with any grand "meaning," this presentation will discuss the broader impact "The Matrix" has had on cultural understandings of how dreaming and waking realities relate to one another. The film makes explicit references to "The Wizard of Oz" and "Alice in Wonderland," two classic renderings of the dreaming/waking paradox, and references are sprinkled throughout to the profound difficulty of determining the status of one’s current reality. This presentation will offer an appreciation of the creative energy with which "The Matrix" renders this existential mystery, and will consider "The Matrix" in relation to other powerful films that have addressed the same fundamental question, including "Mulholland Drive," "A Nightmare on Elm Street," "Jacob’s Ladder," and "Spellbound."
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