
Lilly Wachowski confirms 'Matrix' series is a transgender allegory - turtlegrids
https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/lilly-wachowski-confirms-matrix-series-transgender-allegory-n1235927
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symmitchry
Wait, Switch was a man in the real world and a woman in the matrix? That's
awesome. From the Matrix wiki:

> In the original script of the Matrix film, Switch changed genders upon
> entering the Matrix, which coined their name, Switch. In the real world,
> Switch would be male, and in the Matrix, Switch would be female - a very
> clever and critical point of the 'residual self-image' idea. When the
> actress, Belinda McClory auditioned for the role, she was going for only
> half the role - Switch's Matrix form.

> Warner Brothers made the decision to cut this and give Switch one form for
> both environments.

> Switch's presentation is deliberately androgynous to pay homage to her
> original concept.

I love the Matrix (and the Animatrix stories) because of neat ideas like this.

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Noos
I don't really get the sense of this from the movie. The movie is straight up
Gnosticism in a cyberpunk form, in the sense it appeared in during history.
Kind of an offshoot of Christianity. You even get the main villain being the
demiurge with Neo as the Gnostic Christ who frees us from the evil God's reign
through his death. there's a lot of gnostic concepts, such as the world being
an illusion that is only revealed through secret knowledge, and the need to
awaken people to reality.

I kind of feel this is more Lily's transition coloring her past. If it were
about trans even if the studio were against it, you'd see a lot more body
fluidity or the focus would be a lot different.

~~~
rhinoceraptor
Neither of the Wachowskis had transitioned when they made the Matrix. Many
trans people don't go through life before transition knowing they're trans.
They have an omnipresent feeling that something is deeply wrong, but they
can't put it into words. Much like Neo at the beginning of the Matrix.

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rhinoceraptor
One theory is that the red pill is a reference to premarin, the most common
estrogen prescribed for HRT in the 90s.

~~~
dunce2020
I thought it was Docusate Sodium[1] a stool softener, laxative. Getting the
matrix bull shit out and whatnot.

[1][https://www.drugs.com/imprints/scu1-18739.html](https://www.drugs.com/imprints/scu1-18739.html)

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xirbeosbwo1234
No it isn't. Perhaps it was intended to be and perhaps there was an
allegorical meaning in earlier drafts, but the films are in fact perfectly
straightforward.

~~~
lovegoblin
Why insist on such a shallow reading?

~~~
xirbeosbwo1234
Because it's a shallow movie.

~~~
lovegoblin
So incurious.

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rezmason
Imagine writing and directing a trans allegory in 1999— when the studio thinks
a character portrayed as male in the real world and female in the Matrix is
crossing the line— and then rapidly:

• having your whole franchise met with critical acclaim and commercial success

• sparking philosophical conversations among people who might've never had
them otherwise

• having a bunch of MRAs led covertly by a Republican politician co-opt your
shit anonymously on the Internet, misdirecting frustrated people for decades
toward misogyny and damaging countless lives*

• building up an enormously anticipated film trilogy and video game franchise
with tons of media attention

• inspiring a devoted fan base to look deeper and deeper for different
varieties of symbolism throughout the canon

...all the while carrying this underlying message, unbeknownst to almost every
trend-surfing professor, every armchair philosopher, every idiot misogynist,
every news reporter, film critic and fan. It's flown over so many inflated
heads, because it was subtle out of necessity, and we were too blind to see.

Shameless cranial plug: try and maybe fork my Matrix code!
[https://github.com/Rezmason/matrix](https://github.com/Rezmason/matrix)

* not blaming the Matrix for this, that's a whole other conversation

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TeaDude
Gotta hand it to the Wachowskis, they've really put dedication into the Matrix
mythos. 20 years later and long since it's end they're STILL commited to
making it stupider.

If you actually watch the video. It's all about a bunch of general themes and
tropes featured in most works of fiction that can be easily twisted to
whatever the interpreter desires. In this case, it's their after the fact
transition.

"It speaks to trans people because transformation in the sci-fi genre is just
about imagination and worldbuilding and seemingly impossible things become
possible"

"It was sci-fi and fantasy because we're trans"

"Being trans gave us ideas that hadn't been done before on film"

"We incorporated multiple genres because we're trans"

If you think I'm being unfair, that's literally all the context given. The
actual explainations of the supposed themes last for like 30 seconds combined
and the the rest of the video is completely unrelated word salad. The most
concrete evidence of ANY potential transgender themes is switch and it's
glossed over in about 5 seconds. WTF?

We've reached "Rugrats is actually Angelica's coma dream" levels of fan theory
at this point. Hats off to them.

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rhinoceraptor
The movie is about Thomas Anderson, who lives a secret life as Neo by night.
He feels there is something deeply wrong with his experience, but he doesn't
know why. He endlessly searches the internet, looking for other people with
the same feelings.

He is interrogated by agents, who silence him and reject his chosen identity
as Neo. He is then freed by a group of (pretty queer dressing) rebels, who
offer him the truth in the form of a red pill (oddly enough, Premarin is also
a red pill).

Neo is reborn, and undergoes extensive medical treatments. But he still has
the port in his neck reminding him of his old life. As time goes on, his
residual self image changes. Even still, he has self doubt about his identity.

When he goes back into the matrix, he is consistently deadnamed by the agents.
The movie ends with Neo asserting his true identity, killing Agent Smith, and
pledging to free the rest of humanity.

Yep, there's nothing there that could possibly be a trans allegory.

~~~
TeaDude
I stand by my "universal themes that are easy to project on" argument
(Feelings of not fitting in, being silenced by THE MAN (Conspiracies were
popular in the 90's), Agents and peers calling you by your legal name instead
of your online username, rising up against the enemy and proving them wrong)
but I feel there are some specific points not addressed by this

The ragtag band of rebels Neo joins are all dressed in black trenchcoats and
leather because it was fashionable at the time. (See: Blade, The Crow, The
X-Files, Sin City, Hackers etc.) This would be like saying that the rebels in
Half Life 2 were LGBT coded because they all wore denim. (And oddly enough all
identify with the lambda symbol)

Premarin comes in multiple colours including BLUE, green, yellow and white.
Medicine is colour coded by design. It's statistically unremarkable that a
brand of oestrogen happened to have a red OR blue variation.

Neo does indeed go through complicated surgery. His surgery is to make him
look identical to how he looked previously except he now has a cooler haircut,
shades and wears more leather.

Also, none of this is even vaguely referenced in the article or video. That's
not me knocking you @rhinoceraptor. That's me knocking whoever wrote the OP
article.

