WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Matrix Resurrections, now in theaters and on HBO Max.

The Matrix Resurrections is more than just a sequel to the previous films. It actively engages with the original trilogy, reflecting on what was important about the story and urging fans to do the same. This self-aware, post-modern approach to the Matrix films is encapsulated in the story of the protagonist, Neo (Keanu Reeves). After he died at the end of The Matrix Revolutions, the Machines resurrected him and installed him in the newest version of the Matrix program.

When Resurrections picks up, Neo has been given a new life as Tom Anderson (his civilian name in the first film) and is now a successful video game creator, whose ground-breaking trilogy of Matrix games covered the events of the original films. Tom/Neo is kept imprisoned in this new simulation because he cannot distinguish his actual memories from the "fictional" events of the games. When the parent company in charge of his game studio pressures him to make a sequel, Neo is forced to reexamine the original trilogy to understand what made it so meaningful. Meanwhile, a corporate marketing team tries to help him, leading to a discussion that explains once and for all what The Matrix films were really about.

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This scene where Neo and the marketing team brainstorm how to design a Matrix sequel is one of the most important (and least appreciated) parts of The Matrix Resurrections. It links the original trilogy with the new film while addressing how people have misunderstood or mishandled the existing franchise.

The Matrix Resurrections. Board meeting about focus groups for a video game

The sequence opens in a conference room with a Warner Bros. marketing executive handing out a packet on focus-group-tested buzzwords for the design team to consider. With Neo and the corporate marketer are a handful of hipster-esque guys interested in cool trends, nerdy gamer fanboys who over-appreciate the action of the originals and a small group interested in telling a meaningful philosophical story.

The entire set-up mirrors how Warner Bros. may have pressured Lana Wachowski to direct a new Matrix film (and Warner Bros. is even called out by name as being the parent company that owns Neo's game studio). Likewise, corporate marketers, trendy hipsters and toxic fanboys are three groups that Wachowski has personally struggled with in real life since all three have misunderstood and misrepresented her films. This scene confronts the superficiality of their talking points while unambiguously establishing the meaning of the earlier films.

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When the marketing exec hands out the packet, she emphasizes how focus groups associate "the brand" (the Matrix trilogy) with two words -- "originality" and "fresh." She stresses that it is important to consider these words when designing a sequel, oblivious to the fact that making a sequel to a branded franchise is the literal opposite of fresh originality. This is followed by the hipsters' input. One asks, "What made Matrix different? It effed with your head." The other hipster agrees: "On point! People want us up in their grey space, switching their synaptic WTF-light on." They repeat variations of these exact phrases over multiple meetings, revealing that they really are not thinking at all, but merely like the idea of thinking as a trendy aesthetic. They even call Matrix "mind porn" and proclaim "ideas are the new sexy." The final problematic faction is composed of gamer fanboys who "want [their] games big, loud and dumb" with an overemphasis on "big guns. Lots of guns."

The Matrix Resurrections. Jude. Bullet time.

These lines are juxtaposed by shots of Neo taking blue pills prescribed by his psychiatrist, pills meant to make him forget his past and stay trapped within the Matrix. However, after the "lots of guns" and "ideas are the new sexy" lines, there is a shot of him sitting on the toilet, a comment on just what a load of crap these shallow takes are. Then, in the bathroom stall, he reads a piece of graffiti quoting the novelist Don DeLillo's Americana: "It is so much simpler to bury reality than to dispose of dreams."

This turning point in Resurrections reminds Neo of the dream and promise of the originals, forcing him to confront the reality of his world. It also leads to the most important lines of dialogue in this scene, where characters talk over each other to explain the meaning of the Matrix video games (i.e. the original film trilogy). "Obviously, the Matrix is about...trans politics...crypto-fascism...it's a metaphor...of capitalist exploitation," the characters say. Notably, the characters giving answers here are not hipsters, fanboys or corporatists. These are the people who understand the actual substance. Director Lana Wachowski is explaining what her films are about to an audience of fans who failed to understand for twenty years.

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One of Neo's employees, Jude (Andrew Caldwell), is a sexist fanboy who serves as a stand-in for many of the most toxic real-life fans of the series. In an ironic line, he tells his coworkers, "We are so far down the wrong rabbit hole here people...Allow me to sum up our goal in a single word: bullet time." Jude is only obsessed with flashy action, giving no deeper thought to the matter or even to what he is saying (like how "bullet time" is two words). The bullet time scenes are incredible, but by only caring about them, he is actually the one "down the wrong rabbit hole."

The Matrix Ressurections. Neo looks into the mirror. Feed your head

Meanwhile, Jefferson Airplane's song "White Rabbit" plays, an homage to the series' Alice in Wonderland motifs and to the mind-numbing blue pills that keep one blissfully ignorant of reality. To emphasize this point, Jude's "bullet time" comment cuts immediately to Neo holding an entire handful of blue pills. This is, quite literally, more thoughtless stupidity than any one person can swallow and he drops them into the sink. He then stares deeply at his reflection in the mirror, poking at the glass. This is the turning point where he pushes against the limits of his perceived reality, reexamining himself and his environment. The scene ends with the song's chorus, "feed your head," an urge for Neo, and any fans of the series, to think critically and engage with new complex ideas.

Of course, these fanboys, hipsters and even the marketers all have points. The Matrix films are original and they do make people think. And yes, big guns and bullet time are huge parts of the series. It would not be a Matrix film without them. However, as characters unambiguously state, the films are an exploration of trans politics, crypto-fascism and capitalist exploitation. Only caring about the fight scenes but not why the fight matters leads to crypto-fascism. To treat The Matrix as a brand is just more capitalist exploitation. Meanwhile, thinking ideas are sexy is missing the point. To resist fascism and capitalist exploitation, and to fight for the politics of trans liberation, one must stop popping pills to go numb and instead feed their head.

To see the Matrix movies' true meaning revealed, The Matrix Resurrections is now in theaters and streaming on HBO Max.

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