Lilly Wachowski: “We didn’t say: ‘Hey! Let’s write The Matrix as a trans allegory’
“That’s not how it started. It was more like, ‘Hey! Let’s write an action movie,’ and then we included our transgender all over the place little by little (laughs).”
Thanks to Matrix Resurrections, Lana Wachowski has settled her accounts with the Hollywood industry, scratching all the messages of the saga, all the analyzes that have been made of the relationship between Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) since 1999. She also had fun with the different perceptions of the matrix vs. the real world.
The director and co-author of the blockbuster took advantage of this commissioned film to shut up viewers who had understood nothing about Matrix. Mostly the “trolls”masculinists or extremists, all those who deliberately divert the different words of the films to illustrate their socio-political visions of the world and defend ideas that are not at all shared by the Wachowski sisters.
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Among the many theories that have flourished around Matrix, there is of course the trans allegory, since its two creators started the adventure as men, before transitioning. Whether Lilly Wachowski has moved away from this fourth installmentshe returns to Them on the origins of the saga, and considers that if there is indeed an allegory of trans-identity in Matrixthat’s not what made them want to imagine this story at the start.
“No (I did not confirm that Matrix was a trans allegory), starts Lilly. This comes from an interview I did for Disclosure. They had questions about Matrix. And one of them was about Switch (played by Belinda McClory, editor’s note), who was originally written as a trans character. He was a man in the real world and a woman in the matrix. They took that answer and tied it to the question that everyone today associates with the fact that Matrix either a trans allegory. When it was out of context.”
“Well, I don’t want to make a big deal out of it either, she continues, because indeed, it is a trans allegory, which was written by two trans women who had not yet come out. Of course there are super-trans things in this first film. The very idea of the transformation, and the whole presentation of Neo: ‘My name is Neo, Mr. Anderson.’ It’s a way of claiming an identity, that’s undeniable.
For every decision we made on this film, there is this idea of transidentity that hovers. When I go back and look at how we chose Neo and Trinity, who we cast for those roles, I realize how obvious that is. They are two sides of the same coin. But it’s not like those decisions were conscious at the time, it’s more about us instinctively finding our way as trans women. ‘in the closet’.
So yes, everything you mention is completely valid. When people say: ‘It’s a trans allegory’I answer : ‘Yes… It is.’ But at the time, we did not say to ourselves: ‘Hey! let’s write Matrix like a trans allegory. That’s not how it started. It was more: ‘Hey! Let’s write an action film’, then we included our transgender all over the place little by little (laughs).”
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In 2020, Lilly Wachowski already mentioned this question, and affirmed that Matrix was mainly born from “rage”. “Now that I’ve come out and am a living example of someone who can grow old as a trans woman, those concerned can view these films through the lens of my trans identity and their own trans identity. I am extremely proud to have been able to offer this to people.“
“Matrix was born out of much anger and rage, she explained. Rage against capitalism and corporate structure and forms of oppression. This bubbling rage inside me was about my own oppression, I (forced myself) to stay in the closet.”
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