The Matrix
...llucination” in Barbatsis and Fegan’s article “The Performance of Cyberspace: An Exploration Into Computer-Mediated Reality.” His concept is basically a representation of data just like perceptual realism is also a representation of what we perceive as real. Presence as realism is used in The Matrix to commodify human existence. The third conceptualization is presence as transportation. There are three types of presence as transportation, which can all be identified in some way to The Matrix. The first type is called “You are There.” This version brings the user to another place. I would say my example of viewing movies in my apartment is this type of presence. “On Theorizing Presence” by David Jacobson he describes presence as “the experience of being engaged by the representations of a virtual world.” This statement can be related to The Matrix because there was actually a virtual world, which we would see as a real world, being experienced by so-called humans. As I stated earlier, I like to experience movies with the actors, which makes me feel present with them, therefore making me transported to where they are, or so I think. I think Morpheus’ statement to Neo, “Don’t think you are, know you are,” can also be related to this. If you “know you are” someplace, then you can manipulate your mind to also know it. The concept “You are There” can be experienced even by “virtual tours” provided by the World Wide Web. Morpheus and his crew definitely experience this type of transportation all throughout the movie as they go to and from the matrix. Another idea of transportation is the notion of “It is Here.” By this idea, another place and other objects are brought to the user. I can relate this to three-dimensional films. A great example is Walt Disney World’s Phillar Magic in Disney’s Magic Kingdom Fantasy Land. As you sit in the theatre about to “experience the magic,” you put your 3-D “opera” glasses on and just watch the film come to you. The picture quality and resolution makes it look so real and you think you can actually touch it. The smells the theatre releases at certain moments in the film also help make you think it’s really in front of you. Another idea of transportation is “We are Together.” Two or more communicators are brought together to a place that they share. For example, a chat room on the Internet is a shared space. The whole matrix is also shared space where the people are able to interact with one another and react to the stimuli that programmers/users put forth. The fight simulation between Morpheus and Neo expresses this notion very well because they are both in a place together reacting so Tank’s commands. The fourth conceptualization is presence as immersion. This conceptualization emphasizes the “idea of perceptual and psychological immersion.” Perceptual immersion can be measured by “counting the number of the users’ senses that are provided with input and the degree to which inputs from the physical environment are “shut out.” Presence as immersion also includes psychological immersion. When users feel this presence, they are immersed, absorbed, and engaged in their surroundings. Jacobson also speaks of immersion in his article, saying that participants are “submerged in software-generated images.” The Matrix is a great example of this because, here again, they are immersed and so engaged in what they think is the “real world” and it’s actually a virtual world in which they are so enthralled. The fifth conceptualization is presence as social actor within medium. Simply interacting with the television or a computer screen can describe this idea of presence. I know I have a habit of talking to the television when I watch certain shows, such as “Amazing Race” or “Big Brother.” Even though the relationship is one-sided, I feel they can hear me sometimes. I get wrapped up in what’s going on, that I just start yelling! Several times throughout the movie, Tank is there controlling the screen as the rest of the crew stands back to watch. The crew starts talking to the screen as if Neo can hear them. And when Morpheus and Trinity return to the ship and Neo is stuck, Trinity talks to his body that is hooked up to the other side, as though she is with him and he hears her. There is a sixth conceptualization of presence, and this is presence as medium as social actor. This idea of presence as medium as social actor “involves social responses of media users not to entities within a medium, but to cues provided by the medium itself.” I see this as similar to a computer-generated voice over the phone. For example, LSU’s phone system, REGGIE has a computer-generated voice to guide you through certain things. Many companies use these voices today, such as travel agents. After viewing the six conceptualizations of presence, I feel I am faced with the question, what space is my presence actually...