This collective’s first blog-post is a reexamination of the hit 1999 pop sci-fi movie- the Matrix. A film (or series, it’s a trilogy) that captured attention and imagination as part of the Y2K narrative and continues to be a prime signifier of pop culture to-date. But what is it really about?
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Technopunk. Transhumanism. Artificial Intelligence. Sentient machines. Digital consciousness. It’s easy to forget what the Matrix was written as. Or is it? Mental projections of our physical selves. Surgical alterations. Living in an air of something wrong. Switch. Post-essentialism eh? Anything means anything (insert angry Captain Holt impression). While that allows me to make such an abstract connection, it opens the door for this analysis to apply to other modes of identity-based oppression. Fortunately, we have confirmation from oh just the directors, two siblings. They’re called the Wachowskis… you may have heard of them. Oh and they’re trans themselves, having transitioned since the Matrix was released. They’ve also confirmed trans undertones in their other works before transitioning; which would have been veiled at the time but is rather evident now. Then there’s Sense8, released last decade with the Wachowskis (post-transition, names Lily and Lana) and J. Michael Straczynski as creators. It’s possibly the most unapologetic, explicit, unequivocally queer rendition of modern media (I haven’t seen pose yet). There’s much to appreciate in the exploration of queerness as a defining theme in the show. There are queer relationships front and center, highlighting the nature and complexities of same-sex relationships as well as polyamory. A dimensionality also present is that of the homo sensorium connection (you really have to watch it to get it, it’s too meta to explain) and how it is depicted sexually. I would still be very uncomfortable engaging in any kind of discussion around orgies, but Sense8 explores those dynamics in conjunction with non-corporeal intimacy, experiential sharing and fluidity in sexual orientation. The show also has its diverse characters represented in sexuality by the corresponding actors, including the trans woman Nomi Marks played by trans actor Jamie Clayton. Miguel Angel Silvestre basically plays himself as famous gay male actor Lito Hernandez. I’ve actually digressed but really- you should watch it.
Anyway, let’s get back to the Matrix. In comparison with Sense8 ( I promise this is that last mention of it), we don’t get the queer avant-garde in the Matrix. Neither did trans people get to appreciate a story that was made with their lived experiences in mind (at the time). If we navigate the development of tone and plot lines though, there’s much to be gleaned in identifying trans undertones. Thomas Anderson (the protagonist), alias Neo works for a software firm (something computer/cybersecurity related) that leaves him feeling uninspired. However, his monotonous droning at work is accompanied by a constant, eerie feeling that something in his universe is amiss. It can’t be seen, heard or even felt in a tangible sense. Neo feels its permanence though and thinks he is the only one. Perhaps it wasn’t as dramatic and the environment I’ve experienced my trans embodiment have been safer and more tangible, but I certainly relate with much of what Neo goes through.
The fact that this could be and is a metaphor for many other situations is not lost on me. However, the details come together rather fantastically to validate the trans allegory of the matrix. Switch was the most epithetic name for the badass woman clad in white (hair too) as her character was initially meant to switch genders between the matrix and the real world. Humans who have been grown by the dominant group of machines for the purpose of powering themselves, are created by them; leaving implants and scars. The removal of these features when they enter the matrix and reimagination of the digital self-image are tantamount to gender-affirming surgery. The story behind the story also lends solidity to the allegory, as the Wachowskis both transitioned in the 2000s. Need I go on? The matrix is trans because it was made to be. The alt-right can claim the ‘glitch in the matrix’ all they want, it was never theirs and it never will be. I still haven’t gotten onto secondary sex characteristics and how they compare with the matrix. If you want to understand the science, read Histories of the Transgender Child by Julian Gill-Peterson. I promise you it will change your life. I digress again but you’re used to that by now. So yes, the Matrix is philosophical in the sense of queer philosophies. Anyone is free to infer whatever meaning they want to but when lived experience is so directly, so specifically and so viscerally poured into a story, we have an obligation to respect their narrative.
This is our story, not the techbros’, alpha males’ or conspiracy theorist’s.
– Mx.Morpheus (they/them)
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