The Matrix director confirms that the film series was a trans metaphor

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

THE MATRIX is undeniably one of the most influential and iconic genre franchises of all time. It helped popularize wire-fu choreography, make cyberpunk mainstream, and made a whole generation question their own reality. To that last point, after the directors – Lilly and Lana Wachowski – both came out as trans, analyzing the films as a trans metaphor was born (though there were some scholars who saw the coding even before the directors' transitions). Which makes sense, even if you don't think about it too hard – i.e. the films are about society prescribing a role to you – often by force – but that you can choose to be someone else, which angers the status quo, but makes yourself more powerful. You can even see the concept of "deadnaming" when Agent Smith insists on calling Neo by his old name, "Mr. Anderson".

Most recently, Lilly Wachowski talked to Netflix for the their "Film Club" series to confirm the trans allegory, even confirming the long-speculated rumor that the character of "Switch" was supposed to be a man on Morpheus' Neberkenezer, then appear as a woman in the Matrix itself (thus "switching" genders). Here's an excerpt:

I'm glad that people are talking about The Matrix movies with a trans narrative…I love how meaningful those films are to trans people… I’m glad that it has gotten out that that was the original intention. The corporate world wasn’t ready for it.

Meanwhile, you can watch the whole interview with Lilly in the video at the top of the article for other great and fascinating tidbits and facts about the films.

As for THE MATRIX series, Lana Wachowski is hard at work on THE MATRIX 4 – which has hit production delays due to Covid – but is still expected to hit theaters April 1st, 2022, while Lilly Wachowski herself is developing WORK IN PROGRESS for Showtime.