MovieChat Forums > The Matrix (1999) Discussion > Apparently a trans-allegory...

Apparently a trans-allegory...

posted 5 years ago by [deleted]
27 replies | jump to latest

... according to this article:

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/08/the-matrix-trans-allegory-lilly-wachowski

A quote:
"Twenty-one years after her breakthrough film’s release, Lilly Wachowski has finally confirmed theories about the trans allegory at the heart of The Matrix, the blockbuster film franchise she codirected with her sister Lana."

I have never read or heard that the Matrix series was an allegory for the trans experience. I'm calling bulls**t... it's a form of retconning to generate interest in the next movie, no doubt suggested by PR people. For me, the series was really done after the first one... the next two didn't add anything to the concept.

[–] Guitar King (5110) 4 years ago

Yes, fans of the Matrix fell for their gay tricks. The black leather fetish clothes and androgenous woman (Trinity) lacking femininity and lacking beauty were what tipped me off.

[–] acidraindrop (3055) 4 years ago

1. I've always loved the wachowskis, but they've always been full of it about the Matrix like this.

2. They probably did intend the allegory. They probably intended all sorts of random stuff that they never made sense and never revealed, and not really there. They straight up lauded themselves once and said how the matrix is full of so much hidden meanings that no one will ever understand. And you get it (re: the sequels); you saw how self-indulgent they were lol

3. Besides, Ben Hur had that hidden romantic subtext that didn't get revealed until like 3 decades later. And honestly, that one's totally buyable, doubt that was a retcon.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

Ben-Hur certainly did not have romantic subtext. Gore Vidal's claims that he inserted subtext smells like what the OP accuses the Wachowskis are doing--a clumsy retcon. I have seen tons of so-called "old" movies that tried slipping in coded gay subtext and Ben-Hur didn't use any of the usual tricks.

Also, considering that the movie was a highly religious film, it's nonsense, anyway. Ancient Roman Christian films from the past were mind-numbingly formulaic, because all the audiences wanted to see was the Christian hero being persecuted by the evil pagans and rising above them. Having Ben-Hur and Messala have this feud because they were gay completely strays away from the formula.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

[deleted]

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

I think the Wachowskis claiming that the franchise was a trans allegory outs them as the plagiarist they've been accused of being. There is no way you could ever put your heart and soul into producing such a nuanced work filled with philosophical, mythological and theological concepts and claim that it all boiled down to being a trans allegory.

[–] filmschooldegree (350) 4 years ago

Most films can be retrospectively trans-allegories if it brings attention, basically they were scripts born in the wrong movie