{"id":92711,"date":"2021-11-11T05:05:07","date_gmt":"2021-11-11T10:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=92711"},"modified":"2021-11-12T16:20:31","modified_gmt":"2021-11-12T21:20:31","slug":"the-matrix-revisited-cfp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2021\/11\/the-matrix-revisited-cfp.html","title":{"rendered":"The Matrix Revisited #CFP"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Call for Papers: The Matrix<\/span> Revisited<\/strong><\/p>\n

The cultural and social impact of\u00a0The Matrix<\/span><\/em>\u00a0franchise is self-evident.\u00a0 Its depiction of full virtualization of human consciousness presented in materialistic dystopian metaphor coincided with\u00a0the rapid development of the internet as a context for global information exchange, entertainment, commerce, and cultural expression, assuring its continued currency.\u00a0 The red pill\/blue pill meme has been deployed across political and ideological boundaries and has already developed multivalent significances in multiple contexts;\u00a0The Matrix<\/span><\/em>\u00a0has lent its aesthetics to innumerable derivations including parody.\u00a0 However, the extent to which its specific elements constitute particular esoteric allegory or metaphor (specifically Gnosticism) remains debated; the contrary opinions it evokes in the context of philosophy adapted to popular culture is reminiscent of the appeal, allure, consternation, irritation, and occasional bemused bewilderment with which Classical pagan philosophers sometimes reacted to the original Gnostics.\u00a0 Attempts to straightforwardly interpret its metaphors as illustrative of Classical or Western philosophy generally seem partial or forced, but treating\u00a0The Matrix<\/span><\/em>\u00a0as direct Gnostic allegory also seems to miss the mark.\u00a0 Nevertheless, contemporary promoters of Gnostic and\/or anti-demiurgical worldviews interested in popular culture easily recognized Gnostic elements in its mythos, and the anti-demiurgical lineage of anti-Judaic movements makes the embrace of the red-pill metaphor by the alt-right explicable.\u00a0 Yet, as an example of the ambiguity that specific symbolic features of\u00a0The Matrix<\/span><\/em>\u00a0frequently evokes, the refuge of the human opponents of the machine-archons of the Matrix<\/span> is called\u00a0Zion<\/em>.\u00a0 Although Gnostic and esoteric scholarship has examined\u00a0The Matrix<\/span>\u00a0<\/em>(which for instance appears as one of the various cinematic examples in April DeConick\u2019s work\u00a0The Gnostic New Age<\/em>, and which Jeffrey Kripal has described as metaphorical for esoteric scholarly inquiry itself), the same systematic analysis of\u00a0The Matrix<\/span><\/em>\u00a0franchise as has been received, for example, by the work of Philip K. Dick has yet to develop.<\/p>\n

With the impending release of a sequel to the original trilogy by one of the original directors and original-trilogy actors and characters recurring, and with scholarship on gnosis and esotericism itself having developed sufficiently to contextualize these phenomenon as the popular-cultural movements and influences that they are and have been, there is an opportunity for more thorough investigation of the nuances and details of the significance, impact, and influences of\u00a0The Matrix<\/span>,<\/em>\u00a0specifically in the context of esoteric, occult, and magical worldviews.<\/p>\n

The Area for Esotericism, Occultism, and Magic at the Southwest Popular\/American Culture Association seeks papers addressing any aspect of relationship, interaction, and influence between its foci of interest and\u00a0The Matrix<\/span><\/em>\u00a0franchise.\u00a0 This should also be taken to include putative influences on\u00a0The Matrix<\/span>\u00a0<\/em>including (but not limited to) genre influences such as cyberpunk, media influences such as anime, and authors such as Gibson and PKD.\u00a0 Similarly, use of\u00a0The Matrix<\/span><\/em>\u00a0as aesthetic inspiration and metaphor within esoteric, occult, and magical practice is of equal interest to examinations of the influences and representations of those worldviews in\u00a0The Matrix<\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>The reception and influence of the \u201cgnostic\u201d films contemporary with its millennial origins (Dark City, The Thirteenth Floor, eXistenZ, The Truman Show<\/em>, etc.) is also worthy of comparative examination, and most broadly, the significance of\u00a0The Matrix<\/span><\/em>\u00a0in priming the dialogue and discourse surrounding the emergence and increasing popularity of immersive interactive fiction could also be considered.\u00a0 Finally, its broadest influence in the context of pop-cultural metaphors and memes, and their deployment and reception, also has relevance to the popular reception of related esoteric, occult, and magical concepts (or is sometimes\u00a0believed<\/em>\u00a0to have such relevance, amounting to a similar, though not identical, effect).\u00a0 This phenomenon can itself be compared to the identification of other metaphors in\u00a0The Matrix<\/span><\/em>\u00a0(transgenderism being a particularly notable example) and the consequent metaphoric blurring, or even deliberate identification by correspondence, with esoteric, occult, and magical ideas; such deliberate identification itself would likely\u00a0be an example of\u00a0<\/em>the esoteric praxes of correspondence and concordance in the context of popular culture.\u00a0 All disciplinary, interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and metadisciplinary perspectives are welcome and encouraged for submissions to this special panel, as are examinations of related media and metatextual references in\u00a0The Matrix<\/span><\/em>\u00a0and in the work of its creators, in this endeavor to follow the metaphorical and\/or allegorical white rabbit to see how deep its route goes and how closely it might follow the trail of the gnostic serpent or ascending, rise through the mechanical architecture of the celestial spheres and their reifying rulers.\u00a0Connect with the Area Chair, Dr. George J. Sieg (georgejsieg@gmail.com<\/a>) with all proposals and inquiries concerning participation in this special panel to be held at the Southwest Popular\/American Culture Association conference meeting February 23-26 in Albuquerque.\u00a0 We look forward to seeing you in person in our return to the desert of the real.<\/p>\n

\n
full name \/ name of organization:<\/div>\n
\n
Southwest Popular\/American Culture Association<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
contact email:<\/div>\n
\n
Georgejsieg@gmail.com<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
categories (up to 5):<\/div>\n
\n
film and television<\/a><\/div>\n
humanities computing and the internet<\/a><\/div>\n
popular culture<\/a><\/div>\n
religion<\/a><\/div>\n
twentieth century and beyond<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
deadline for submissions:<\/div>\n
\n
November 14, 2021<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Via RelCFP<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Call for Papers: The Matrix Revisited The cultural and social impact of\u00a0The Matrix\u00a0franchise is self-evident.\u00a0 Its depiction of full virtualization of human consciousness presented in materialistic dystopian metaphor coincided with\u00a0the rapid development of the internet as a context for global information exchange, entertainment, commerce, and cultural expression, assuring its continued currency.\u00a0 The red pill\/blue pill […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":40222,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Matrix Revisited #CFP<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Call for Papers: The Matrix Revisited The cultural and social impact of\u00a0The Matrix\u00a0franchise is self-evident.\u00a0 Its depiction of full virtualization of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2021\/11\/the-matrix-revisited-cfp.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Matrix Revisited #CFP\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Call for Papers: The Matrix Revisited The cultural and social impact of\u00a0The Matrix\u00a0franchise is self-evident.\u00a0 Its depiction of full virtualization of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2021\/11\/the-matrix-revisited-cfp.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. 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