The Matrix, directed by the Wachowski siblings, was an instant phenomenon when it was first released in theaters back in 1999. It was a mind-bending cyberpunk story heavily influenced by anime, comic books, and video games (which were less ubiquitous in the mainstream at the time), and merged Hong Kong wire-fu choreography with state-of-the-art visual effects. Furthermore, its story about a man feeling lost in an oppressive society, then discovering the power to fight back (via kung-fu and bullet time) was extremely universal.

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Later on, the Wachowskis came out as trans women – changing their names to Lilly and Lana – which put a whole new lens on the series. In fact, the Wachowski sisters have recently confirmed that the trans metaphor at the heart of The Matrix was entirely intentional. And with that revelation in mind, it makes a lot of sense when looking at the film more closely.

8 The Red Pill Symbolizes An Estrogen Pill

the matrix red pill header

The "red pill" that Morpheus offers Thomas Anderson (aka Neo) is probably the most obvious, yet also the most misunderstood symbol in the franchise. When the Wachowskis first wrote The Matrix in the mid-to-late '90s, estrogen pills – which are key to trans-fem transitioning – were red.  So, while right-wing fascists took symbols like "The Red Pill" to erroneously (and incorrectly) connect it to the misguided "Men's Rights Activist" movement, the Wachowski sisters have since confirmed that the "red pill" symbolized transitioning and was indeed purposeful.

7 Digital Self-Image Is Similar To Gender Affirmation

Matrix Feature

Many transgender people (though not all) have talked about how the body they saw in the mirror from birth was not the image they saw of themselves in their minds. This is called "gender dysphoria," and according to the American Psychiatric Association, "refers to psychological distress that results from an incongruence between one’s sex assigned at birth and one’s gender identity."

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However, luckily there are ways that trans people can eventually affirm their gender for themselves, such as (but not limited to) hormone therapy and surgery. In the film, this is similar to how jacking into The Matrix allows a user to create "a digital self-image," which is how the user wishes to see themselves, which doesn't necessarily align with reality (where everyone in the real world is bald, sickly, and atrophied inside machine pods).

6 Neo's New Identity And Deadnaming

Matrix name is neo

In The Matrix, the main character Thomas Anderson is a hacker who goes by the alias "Neo." Many transgender men and women (as well as non-binary people) decide to change their name as a way to shed their past selves once they come out and transition – like emerging from an egg.

Furthermore, it also makes sense that the villain Agent Smith would "deadname" Neo by repeatedly calling him "Thomas Anderson" – the same way bigots will use a trans person's birth name rather than their preferred name as a way to demean or belittle them.

5 Switch Originally Switched Genders While In The Matrix

Switch Matrix

In the first few drafts of The Matrix script, the character of Switch – one of Morpheus' crew members on the Neberkenezer, played by actress Belinda McClory – was originally conceived as being portrayed by a male actor in the real world...who would then switch genders and be played by a female actress when jacked into the Matrix (hence the name). This intriguing idea was unfortunately nixed by the studio. So instead, in the final film, Switch's name is just a vestigial reminder of the original character's intention.

4 System Violently Enforcing Assigned Roles

Agent-Smith-Matrix-Pose (1)

The "system" in the film is the Matrix itself, which enslaves all humans on behalf of the machines. However, it's representative of the ways in which society's current system often crushes dissent and enforces hegemony. In the case of trans communities, there have been many recent bills introduced in the US and UK that are trying to make it harder for trans people to medically or legally transition. Some are even trying to outright ban them from sports, bathrooms, and the workplace. In fact, some places are also trying to reinstate and enforce "self-defense murder" laws, where the murder of trans people by their cis-gendered partners for "shocking and deceiving them" are considered a legitimate defense in court (as it was in the past).

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Of course, these discriminations existed in the '90s as well. In the Matrix, the rules are enforced by the three g-men-like Agents (led by Hugo Weaving's Agent Smith), who at one point tells an incarcerated Neo that he should stick to his normal life as Thomas Anderson since "one of these paths has a future – the other does not." This means his true identity as Neo will not be tolerated by the system and, if necessary, his defiance will be violently snuffed out to enforce his assigned role.

3 LGBT Subculture Is A Showcase For Freedom

matrix club

The nightclub scene in the first The Matrix film, where Trinity first meets Neo to tell him about Morpheus and the Matrix, was actually filmed inside a real bondage club in Sydney (where the film was being shot). In fact, many of the extras were just regular patrons who brought their own clothes and gear to the shoot. And while the BDSM and goth subcultures aren't inherently LGBTQ+, there are a lot of overlaps in terms of participants. It's also considered "deviant" by mainstream society (especially in the '90s). Furthermore, in the films, the leather-infused and flashy fashions of the rebels are in purposeful contrast to the drab surroundings and monochrome suits of the evil Agents, further cementing the theme of rebellion through a more queer lens (in a similar way to how Judas Priest made queer fashion cool among metalheads).

2 Challenging Preconceived Notions In Society

pov neo of the matrix

When Morpheus tells Neo, "you've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad." This is how many trans people have described seeing the world before coming out – either of themselves or the world outside of them. They felt that there was something wrong with how the world was forcing gender binaries and how the system was unfairly enforcing it.

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However, the film is also saying that finding your true self is possible, and there will be those who will love and support you. It's not a coincidence that Trinity tells Neo that she fell in love with him after he "died." Metaphorically, he was finally free from the limitations of his Thomas Anderson identity, and it allowed him to flourish as his new, truer self.

1 Trans Symbolism Purposely Universalized

Neo flying through The Matrix

The Matrix films are obviously not out-and-out literal trans stories (for instance, Neo is canonically a cishet male in the series). However, that doesn't take away from the films' trans subtext, nor its wider-reaching impact. For one, both of the Wachowski sisters have been very vocal about the trans themes woven throughout the Matrix movies. Although to be fair, it's a disservice to say that's all The Matrix is. While people dissecting what The Matrix is "actually about" was masterfully skewered in this year's Matrix Resurrections, it's nonetheless true that the films deal with many disparate themes, such as alienation, anti-capitalism, and questioning reality. Furthermore, these are very universal themes.

But that's what makes The Matrix so special: its universality. Unfortunately, that sometimes backfired (*ahem*...MRAs...), but it also helped other fans (especially those who could never truly experience what it's like to be a trans person) understand that the world is flawed, the systems of control are made to be bent and broken, and a better world is possible as long as there are those who throw off their chains of complacency and fight for it.

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