Red pill blue pill from matrix movie#

'But on the internet, it was like this is possible, and nothing could stop me from knowing it was possible. 'There was no way that I was ever going to learn about that from my parents or from school or from any resources that would have ever been given to me,' she recalls. She remembers finding message boards targeted towards trans people, offering early glimpses into gender-affirming medical care. Log on and one can pick from a glut of increasingly-specific identity tests, or find a community of like-minded people for any niche interest.Ĭarrie-Anne Moss and Keanu Reeves in The Matrix

Nowadays, the internet is inextricably meshed with our lives to a degree where we might take its self-discovery possibilities for granted. The character ended up presenting as a woman in both dimensions.īut crucially, it's the spirit of self-actualization that resonates so strongly with many trans people – the existence of a true identity beyond your physical form, an ideal self that you can seize control of via the internet from an uncaring system. 'I think the studio wasn't ready for that,' he said. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Keanu Reeves, who played Neo in the movies, recalled an early draft of the script that was later changed. The red pill that Neo ends up taking is similar to what estrogen pills, used for hormone replacement therapy, looked like in the nineties.Īnother example: the Wachowskis wanted the character Switch to present as male in the real world while presenting as female in the Matrix, as an explicit nod to the idea of transness in an online world. The blue pill will allow him to continue in ignorance. The red pill will open his eyes to the truth that he is living in a simulation. For example, Neo is offered a choice between a red and blue pill.

Red pill blue pill from matrix movie#

She added that she didn't know how present her transness was in her mind as they were writing the movie, but that much of the desire for transformation in the films stemmed from her closeted point of view at the time.īut long before this was confirmed, many of their trans fans were latching onto the movie anyways.Ī couple of the more overt parallels have garnered attention over the years. 'I'm glad that it has gotten out that, you know, that was the original intention, but the world wasn't quite ready – the corporate world wasn't ready for it.' A highly anticipated and unexpected fourth sequel, The Matrix Resurrections, is out this week.īut beyond its legacy in pop culture, The Matrix has long held a special place in the hearts of many trans people for the way it so perfectly encapsulates many essential facets of their identities.

In the approximately two decades following the release of the first movie in 1999, The Matrix has endured in pop culture for its portrayal of internet culture, philosophical themes, revolutionary special effects, and slick leather-clad fashion – just to name a few. He has always questioned his reality, but now he must choose whether or not to embrace his role in humanity's battle to destroy the illusion. The Matrix follows computer hacker Neo, who discovers the shocking truth that the life he knows is really a complex computer simulation designed by intelligent machines to enslave humanity. This was back when you had to compete with a landline to load a web page, and her mom eventually bought a separate phone line because she was online so often. When she got back from school, the first thing she would do was run to her computer, where she was allowed to be herself again. At the time, Reed was just beginning to understand that she was transgender.