Anyone want to talk about how The Matrix is a brilliant exploration of the transgender experience? Because, uh, I want to talk about how The Matrix is a brilliant exploration of the transgender experience...
Since @mansym's encouraged it ☺️...
Okay, I'll break down the main points chronologically but, before I start, it's important to know that the Wachowskis, the women who wrote and directed The Matrix, are transgender sisters who weren't openly trans when it was released. Lilly Wachowski has said that The Matrix is (in part) a trans metaphor, but I think it's easy to miss this since the film is brilliant and there are many valid interpretations.
This also got really long so I'm breaking it into parts. This is part 1.
TW: deadnaming, misgendering, dysphoria (also, massive spoilers for The Matrix)
TLDR - a few major points: Neo's hacker persona is his true self hidden beneath the identity of Mr. Anderson which society forces upon him (and every time the AI insists upon referring to Neo as Mr. Anderson, they're essentially deadnaming him), the matrix is representative of the gender mold the characters are forced into and not allowed to break free of, the color red in the film represents the antithesis of the matrix (also femininity), the red pill can represent HRT and the surgeries Neo receives after leaving the matrix to align his physical body with the version that exists in his mind represent other gender affirming procedures, the way Morpheus discusses growing up in the matrix mirrors the experience of growing up trans.
Now, let's dive in.