• kinkles@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        142
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        1 month ago

        They have neither confirmed or denied it being a trans allegory. It depends on how you interpret the response Lilly Wachowski gave in an interview a few years ago:

        Continuing on The Matrix, you confirmed a couple years ago that it was a trans allegory —

        No, I didn’t.

        You didn’t? Tell me more.

        Yeah, so that came from an interview I did for Disclosure. They had a bunch of Matrix questions. And the question they asked me was about Switch, who was originally written as a trans character who was male in the real world and female in the matrix. And they took that response and attached the question that everyone now references that it’s a trans allegory. And so it was slightly out of context, but I don’t sit here and put a stink up about it, because it is a trans allegory in that it was written by two closeted trans women. And so all of the things that are in it are super-duper trans. The idea of transformation, even the whole “My name is Neo, Mr. Anderson —” that idea of claiming identity, it’s undeniable.

        https://www.them.us/story/lilly-wachowski-mentoring-the-matrix-interview

          • TriflingToad@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            24
            ·
            edit-2
            1 month ago

            very similar to the game Celeste which was made by a questioning/closeted trans person, so the whole game pretty much follows the trans experience. The creator actually confirmed canonically that the character (Madeline) is trans too.

            “During Celeste’s development, I did not know that Madeline or myself were trans. During the Farewell DLC’s development, I began to form a hunch. Post-development, I now know that we both are.”

            AAGH MY HEART 😭😭

            edit: bonus round! the music composer is also trans, she also makes some of the music for Minecraft, including pigstep.

          • Mossy Feathers (They/Them)
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            20
            ·
            edit-2
            1 month ago

            My understanding is that’s usually how it works. It’s just that most people usually settle for like, transformation art or VRChat and don’t need to make an entire blockbuster movie trilogy to come to terms with being trans lmao

          • A quite intentional trans allegory that also stands as exploring a lot of parallel concepts, and since transness is not popular, its better not to admit it and let trans-panic scare away Matrix fans who couldn’t handle it.

            The Matrix analogy works better for me compared to my ASD experiences than my midlife enby status.

          • L0rdMathias@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            8
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            1 month ago

            Artists often subconsciously put their own ideas and beliefs into their art, as art is a reflection of the artist to some degree. For example, I really like the color blue so I tend to incorporate a lot of blues in my designs. This doesn’t mean I’m sad, or that I’m tying to evoke the feeling of water, it just means that I like blue so I tend to begin with the blue color and consequently my designs lean towards blue pallets.

          • theneverfox
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            5
            ·
            1 month ago

            No, it has a recurring theme of transformation. You could read the first part as a trans allegory, but you could squint and do the same for Star wars or Harry Potter. It’s the story of the chosen one

            Not everything written by a trans person is a trans allegory. Trans people can tell other stories…a trans allegory is about that specific personal journey, not just influenced by it

    • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      81
      arrow-down
      5
      ·
      1 month ago

      The matrix is a movie made by trans people that very easily functions as a trans allegory. And in that vein, when the movie was made the most common form of estrogen pills were Premarin which are red

        • Skullgrid@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          9
          ·
          1 month ago

          Correlation, not causation.

          Which kind of field do you think people that wish reality were more malleable would go into? Turns out that programming makes it easy to at least bend mathematics to your will, even if you cannot easily do that to your gender.

          • DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            1 month ago

            It also makes it easy not to have to interact with people. Programming might lean a bit incel-y but these days you don’t even have to meet those guys in person.

    • ValenThyme@reddthat.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      19
      ·
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      based comes from freebasing crack cocaine, lil b the Based God really popularized it’s usage. It’s 80’s hip hop slang.

    • koper@feddit.nl
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      13
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      The directors of the matrix are both trans, and confirmed that it was an allegory. Trans people are usually faced with the dilemma of repressing their identity (blue pill) or transitioning (red pill).

    • lime!@feddit.nu
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      1 month ago

      to add to the other comments, afaik estrogen pills were usually red when the matrix was made.

    • Euphorazine@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      Yeah, the tweet just seems wrong. I just took “based” as “based in reality” and red pill is the matrix choice to see how the world really is.

      Based for opinions you agree with, red pilled for opinions “the other side” doesn’t want you to have (the other side can also be imaginary)

        • bizarroland@fedia.io
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          4
          ·
          1 month ago

          This knowledge made me immediately visualize Keanu Reeves face sticking out between a pair of woman’s legs.

          Neo vagina

    • L0rdMathias@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      1 month ago

      Because people assume that only men can transition so they ignore the fact that F->M transitions don’t rely on estrogen? That’s the best I got.

  • regul@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    7
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 month ago

    Based comes from Lil B…

    It originally meant grounded.

  • bizarroland@fedia.io
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    1 month ago

    I guess blackpilled comes from the charcoal tablets they give people with alcohol poisoning then?