The name is absent

respect, Roger Bastide suggests that the bewitchment of reality through the
imaginary is only possible in cultures, like western cultures, that have
previously fragmented the natural osmosis that exists between reality and
dreams, exiling the dreams to the territory of the imagination (Bastide, 1972:
32-65). This is the confrontation of reality and unreality that this thesis
proposes to join with the concept of (un)reality. In this way, The Matrix and
eXistenZ suggest an implicit convergence of reality and technologically
created unrealities and are useful visual examples in our understanding of the
potential conception of (un)reality.

Collective imaginations have as much relevance today as they ever had
in the history of humanity. Films such as The Matrix contribute to create a
deposit of legends, myths and characters that play a fundamental part in
molding, understanding and questioning the significance of reality and
unreality in our culture. However, authors like Ledrut (cited in Carretero
Pasι'n 2005: 41 ) believe that in a society of consumerism as in today’s western
world, the imaginary carries the risk of being ‘ideologically distorted’: the
preconceived styles of life that emanate from media are taken as imaginary,
and, through the desire to achieve these lifestyles, are transmitting a
consumerist message. The majority of the illusions, the imaginary realms and
utopias of today are being produced by institutions and economic agents with
an economic, ideological and/or political interest in maintaining the status
quo and preserving the same society that they are pretending to alter. In this
way, the irony is that we are at risk of playing a ‘preconfigured game’ in
which, by thinking that we can change the rules, we are indeed respecting
the instructions of the game. This ‘falsified rebellion’ is the key to keeping
our conscience satisfied and simultaneously not transforming the system. The
fear of being simple actors following a script when we think we are
‘improvizing’ is reflected in films such as The Game (Fincher, 1997), The
Matrix and eXistenZ, films in which the loss of control and dominion over our
acts and decisions creates an anxiety in the characters that is mirrored in the
spectators who have an unconscious concern about suffering the same
phenomenon.

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