Neo’s doubt later is personified by Link and then Bugs, but those are very different kinds of doubt that we’ll discuss when those characters appear. His id is so sure that he’s in fact not trans and would be all too happy to just never think about it again. A “cypher” is literally a secret, a code that hides the truth. He knows the truth about Neo and spends every movie trying to help him accept it.Ĭypher is Neo’s id, and his doubt. In the Matrix, Morpheus is Neo’s superego and subconscious, and knows of his dream to be his true self. Morpheus, in mythology, is the god of dreams. How the Matrix’s characters are part of its trans allegory But it’s only the tip of the tip of the tip of the iceberg. And even if you somehow did, if that was the only evidence, then sure maybe it’s a coincidence. You don’t accidentally pick a name that means “twin of the masculine” for a trans allegory. This is your very first indicator of just how intentional these allegories are. This means his name roughly translates to “twin of the manly or masculine”. His chosen name, “Neo,” literally means “new.” His deadname is “Thomas Anderson.” Thomas means “twin”, and “Anderson” means “son of Andrew”, and “Andrew” means “manly or masculine”. The surface level story is about Neo accepting that he’s “The One,” and there will be much more on that later. Here we are over 20 years later and we still don’t have a transgender sci-fi action movie lead. Neo always presents as male in the movies, of course, but remember this is allegory and the first movie was also made in 1999. But we have to go in order for everything to make sense. Resurrectionsis about detransitioning and retransitioning, and the co-opting and erasure of trans voices. Revolutions is about dealing with our own internalised transphobia, and where we might be able to go in the future (or where we hope society might go). Reloaded is about all the ways society comes for you once you’re out as trans, and wondering if we would have transitioned if we knew how hard life would become. Neo’s our lead, and The Matrix is about his journey in coming to terms with the fact that he’s transgender. It restricts us and harms us in all sorts of ways, which these movies will show you time and again. It’s the cisgender binary we’re all forced into at birth without our consent. The society we all live in is our matrix (and yes, it does have you … well, many of you). Note that the very name, Matrix, means a set of rules/procedures that define how something works. Critics have long suspected that The Matrix was a metaphor for the trans experience. Please don’t take that as an indication I don’t think those other things exist or aren’t worth discussing, it’s just that these allegories are so densely packed with detail about the trans experience that it’s going to take this entire book to explain them. But I’m only going to talk about the trans allegories. The movies are so dense and have so many layers I’m in awe as a writer. All those things are well worth discussing. I want to remind you that these movies are fantastic humans vs machines sci-fi movies, and the first absolutely revolutionised action movies and special effects, and there’s also entire religious and philosophical metaphors to explore. This changes the context for some of the films, which we’ll discuss along the way. They weren’t out as trans when the first three movies or The Animatrix were made, but publicly came out as trans before the fourth movie. The Matrix is a confirmed and intentional trans allegory, written and directed by two transgender sisters, Lilly and Lana Wachowski. In an extract from her new book Begin Transmission: The Trans Allegories of The Matrix, author Tilly Bridges takes a deep dive into the series’ trans allegory.
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