Analysis of the Matrix

Nicholas Fournier

Mythology Online

Matrix Assignment

The Matrix is a fine example of a modern day myth especially when looked at and analyzed with the help of Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth.   What follows is a stage by stage analysis of the film.

The Call to Adventure:   When the audience first meets Neo, he is already in the throes of the call.   Campbell defines this stage as beginning with “a blunder… (that) reveals an unsuspected world.”   Apparently, at Neo’s introduction, that blunder has already occurred because he is acutely aware that there is something (perhaps an alternate universe) out there, he just needs to find it.   As he sleeps in front of his computer, the machine is performing a search of articles.   These articles provide proof that Neo is already cognizant of the existence of something more as the articles being returned in his search contain photos and stories of Morpheus who the audience soon finds out is an integral part of the movement to destroy the Matrix (admittedly, this knowledge of the Morpheus references in the search could be due to having seen the film more than once).   The first example of the call begins as Neo awakes to a blackened monitor with a green flashing cursor.   The cursor prompts Neo to “wake up” and then begins to have a one sided dialogue with him as it informs him that “the Matrix has (him)”.   The curser further proves its omniscient powers as it give him instructions (follow the white rabbit) and predicts the future (knock, knock Neo).   The confirmation of Neo’s suspicions of the “unsuspected world” as Campbell puts it occurs at the bar where Neo meets Trinity and she quickly informs him that the Matrix is real.   Lastly, an obvious nod to Campbell’s monomyth stage occurs in the form of the FedEx delivery of the cell phone facilitating a conversation with Morpheus.

Refusal of the Call:   There are a few moments in the film where Neo initially refuses the call, but ultimately proceeds on the path.   The first...