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Exploring The Matrix as a trans allegory

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Lilly Wachowski, who co-wrote and co-directed The Matrix, recently confirmed that the film is an allegory for gender transition "coming from a closeted point of view." Netflix collected some thoughts on the film's themes from a number of trans writers and critics.

Lilly Wachowski, who co-wrote and co-directed The Matrix, recently confirmed that the film is an allegory for gender transition "coming from a closeted point of view." Netflix collected some thoughts on the film's themes from a number of trans writers and critics.

  1. 7 Aug 2020

    'The Matrix' Co-Creator Confirms Story Is a Trans Allegory

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  2. 7 Aug 2020

    "Lilly Wachowski, who co-directed the Matrix films with her sister, Lana, has confirmed that they should be read as allegories for the transgender narrative. Subsequent to the films’ release, both sisters came out as trans – Lana in 2012 and Lilly in 2016"

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  3. 6 Aug 2020

    For years, fans of THE MATRIX have discussed the film through a trans lens. If you’ve heard the theory before or just learned about it, here’s a thread breaking down the trans allegory of the film, from trans writers and critics. Welcome to the desert of the real. (thread)

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  4. 6 Aug 2020

    Lilly Wachowski recently looked back on the film and confirmed the long-discussed theory of THE MATRIX as an allegory for gender transition. “THE MATRIX was all about the desire for transformation, but it was all coming from a closeted point of view."

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  5. 6 Aug 2020

    So how is THE MATRIX super trans? Writer sums it up in an excerpt from her book “Females,” for Vulture: “Neo has dysphoria. The Matrix is the gender binary. The agents are transphobia.”

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  6. 6 Aug 2020

    The “splinter” in Neo’s mind? That, for many trans folks, is a lot like the experience of being socialized as a gender that doesn’t align with their true gender identity.

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  7. 6 Aug 2020

    Upon “waking up,” Neo begins his transition from one identity — Thomas A. Anderson, a name given to him by the machines — to the one he sculpts for himself — Neo, his chosen name.

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  8. 6 Aug 2020

    Critic writes about the significance of Neo rejecting an old name (ie his deadname) for a new one (his chosen name) in her thread about the film’s legacy:

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    Watching THE MATRIX now with the context of the Wachowskis’ identities as transgender women, some of the cultural touchstones of THE MATRIX become very fascinating when viewed through that lens, such as Neo adopting a new name and refusing an older one.
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  9. 6 Aug 2020

    Interesting, isn’t it, how Agent Smith only refers to Neo as his deadname, Mr. Anderson, with a persistent emphasis on the “mister,” which Eleanor Lockhart, a professor at Rowan University, wrote about back in 2016.

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  10. 6 Aug 2020

    And then there’s the whole red pill, blue pill connection. Not only is the pill literally Neo’s gateway to seeing the world as it is and the systems built to define and control his identity, but it’s also an apt metaphor for hormone therapy.

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  11. 6 Aug 2020

    The rabbit hole goes deeper. As Chu writes, for years trans women have pointed out that in the ’90s, prescription estrogen was quite literally a red pill.

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  12. 6 Aug 2020

    There’s also the character Switch (Belinda McClory), who was originally written as a trans masculine person. As Lilly Wachowski says, her and Lana's initial plan was for Switch to present as a man in the real world and a woman in The Matrix.

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  13. 6 Aug 2020

    Call it a wild coincidence if you will, but it’s worth noting that one of the very first and last things you see on screen in THE MATRIX is the word “trans.” 🤔

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  14. 6 Aug 2020

    Here’s the real galaxy brain moment: the trans themes of THE MATRIX aren’t only in the plot, but we could also look at the ways the film’s groundbreaking effects offer a visual representation of a trans experience.

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  15. 6 Aug 2020

    Scholar , in his book on the Wachowskis “Sensing Transgender,” talks about how THE MATRIX’s visual aesthetics "teach audiences what it might feel like to live in more than one body."

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  16. 6 Aug 2020

    Look at bullet time: a technique to split time. Or as Keegan puts it, bullet time “gives the sensation of two temporalities at once… an effect resonant with the experience of gender transition and its multiple embodiments across time.”

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  17. 6 Aug 2020

    While the Wachowski sisters weren’t publicly out as trans while making the films, in the doc DISCLOUSRE Lilly speaks about the “burbling undercurrent of rage that I felt not being able to be who I was” while making THE MATRIX.

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  18. 6 Aug 2020

    And this brings us to the concept of an egg. In the trans community, an “egg” is word for a trans person who hasn’t realized they’re trans yet. As Vox critic writes, THE MATRIX “is maybe the eggiest movie ever made.”

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  19. 6 Aug 2020

    Some have rushed to call Lilly's recent acknowledgment of the trans themes in THE MATRIX “revisionist” or “retconning.” And to that I say, who are you to tell not only a creator, but also a trans person, what was or wasn’t present in their minds while making their own film?

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  20. 6 Aug 2020

    While the Wachowski sisters coming out post-MATRIX may have prompted fans to revisit their filmography through a trans lens, they were always trans women and THE MATRIX is and always will be a film by two trans filmmakers.

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  21. 6 Aug 2020

    In the final scene of THE MATRIX the camera zooms towards the words “System Failure” in code. Neo says, “You’re afraid of us. You’re afraid of change” as the camera pushes through the letters “M” and “F,” quite literally creating a space in between, and beyond, the gender binary.

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  22. 6 Aug 2020

    Lilly and Lana Wachowski gave us one of the most influential, enduring, and celebrated films of all time. Through THE MATRIX, they gave trans people the possibility of a cinematic world without borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible.

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  23. 6 Aug 2020
    Replying to

    This whole thread 🙌

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  24. 7 Aug 2020

    One of the most enjoyable things about film is learning a new perspective about its creation, then rewatching it again being blown away. Kinda like picking up a show you watched as a kid and allllll the references that went over your head make sense.

    For years, fans of THE MATRIX have discussed the film through a trans lens. If you’ve heard the theory before or just learned about it, here’s a thread breaking down the trans allegory of the film, from trans writers and critics. Welcome to the desert of the real. (thread)
    Show this thread
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  25. 6 Aug 2020

    This whole thread is tremendous but this one is really wow

    In the final scene of THE MATRIX the camera zooms towards the words “System Failure” in code. Neo says, “You’re afraid of us. You’re afraid of change” as the camera pushes through the letters “M” and “F,” quite literally creating a space in between, and beyond, the gender binary.
    Show this thread
    14 retweets 145 likes
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  26. 8 Aug 2020

    6 eye-opening ways The Matrix is a powerful metaphor for the trans experience

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  27. 20 Aug 2019

    Matrix 4 is in the works and Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss and Lana Wachowski are all involved.

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