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submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 139 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 45 points 1 month ago (6 children)

So it was an unintentional trans allegory?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 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

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago

I didn't know Lena Raine was trans.

I also didn't know she did the music for Celeste

[–] [email protected] 8 points 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.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 month ago* (last edited 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

[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 month ago

Closeted people often express their desires subconsciously. Well, frankly, most people do.