The Mirror in The Matrix of Media Ecology

Abstract

Engaging two primary texts – Jacques Lacan' 1949 address on the “Mirror Stage” and the ninth chapter of the 1999 film The Matrix – this paper investigates the theme of reflection under the aegis of different media ecologies. Beginning with a critical/deconstructive reading of Lacan's position, I argue that the mirror stage, and perhaps the whole of Lacan's psychoanalytic project, is premised upon the media ecology of print. The Matrix updates this conception of the mirror when depicting Neo's initial release from the simulation of the Matrix. The paper argues that the differences and modifications between these two specular moments reflect a profound shift in media technologies and a concomitant movement between the metaphysics of presence and the metaphysics of pattern.