Thread by @TillyBridges

Welcome to #TransTuesday! Today we continue our very deep dive into the trans allegory of: THE MATRIX (part 2). You’re going to learn how important RED is today! Be sure you’ve read the first installment as it contains some foundational stuff you’ll need.

https://twitter.com/TillyBridges/status/1404881655525826561

I want to pick up exactly where we left off, and talk a little more about the last screencap I posted from timestamp 16:47.

I briefly mentioned that reflections are really important in this movie, and they (and photos) are often fraught for many trans people, myself included, for reasons I talked about here:

https://twitter.com/TillyBridges/status/1285636685892587520

I also mentioned that RED is vital to the movie, and I believe that it stands for unequivocal truth (which you’ll get a whole lot more of very shortly). What I think is important to notice is this is the first time either of them show up in the movie, and they appear TOGETHER.

On the far left of the mirrored image, you see the arm of a woman in red (which I interpret as his truth is that he’s a woman, the evidence for which comes later). But it’s warped by the reflection. Neo’s looking right at her but she’s distorted, he can’t clearly see the truth.

And that lines up with everything else I explained in part 1. But that the Wachowskis chose this moment, when Neo feels society stepping down on his neck, to introduce both of these very heavy metaphors, says a lot.

17:50 - Smith knows everything about Neo. “As you can see, we’ve had our eye on you for some time now, Mr. Anderson. It seems that you’ve been living… two lives. In one life you’re Thomas A. Anderson, a program writer for a respectable software company”

Note that Smith, here and forever more, refers to him only as the incorrect name society saddled him with. Smith never shows him the respect of using his preferred/true name. Also note:

Neo was “respectable” by WRITING PROGRAMS. Smith… is a program. Neo directly contributed to upholding the furthering the matrix simply by going with the flow. If you ignore trans issues, your inaction continues to uphold and support the systems that oppress us.

Smith then outright tells him that his “other life” has no future. This is the lie society feeds us to try to keep us conforming to the cis status quo. It’s why so many Republicans enact laws to try to prevent trans kids from getting the care they need.

They believe if you see no future for yourself as trans, you will abandon your transness. That’s 100% not how it works, but that’s their end goal. And it’s exactly what Smith/the Matrix wants.

18:56 - Smith: “We know that you’ve been contacted by a certain individual, a man who calls himself Morpheus. Whatever you think you know about this man is irrelevant. He is considered by many authorities to be the most dangerous man alive.”

The “authorities,” aka the power structure that keeps the matrix functioning, know that our own desires and dreams, the knowledge we contain in our subconscious of our true self, is a danger to the ordered cis society.

Smith says they’d be happy to forget what they know about him seeking his true self if he agrees to help them catch Morpheus (if he agrees to give up seeking those dreams).

19:54 - Even though Neo was too scared to escape, he’s not interested in going back and conforming.

20:20 - Neo wants his phone call, again we see communication is the key. Smith knows that, so he removes... Neo’s mouth. His ability to communicate. If Neo can’t talk to the part of him that knows the truth (Morpheus), he can find no truth to accept.

21:15 - Smith puts the tracking bug into Neo. This is a visceral, visual representation showing Smith (and society) has control over Neo’s body. In most of this country, trans people aren’t “allowed” to transition without the approval of cis people.

Look at what I had to go through here in CALIFORNIA, which is very friendly to trans people, just to be ALLOWED to start hormone replacement therapy and have autonomy over my own body:

https://twitter.com/TillyBridges/status/1336395275565367296

22:15 - Morpheus says “If they knew what I know, you’d probably be dead.” Society would rather Neo be dead than be his true self. “You have spent the last two years looking for me, but I’ve spent my entire LIFE looking for you.”

I’ve mentioned multiple times how now, knowing I’m trans, looking back through my life I can see SO MANY signs of my transness all through my life. Our subconscious is always with us, always trying to break through and COMMUNICATE those things to us.

22:50 - Neo goes to the meet. Look at the image. He’s on a sidewalk, waiting. Surrounded by RED. He’s on a literal PATH TO THE TRUTH. And who picks him up? Trinity, his self-actualization.

22:35 - Neo doesn’t want to take off his shirt. Even when I believed I was a cis man, I NEVER wanted to take off my shirt. It spiked what I now recognize as dysphoria, at seeing my distinctly male chest.

His self-actualization stops him from leaving. He finally lifts his shirt, he has no idea what they’re going to do, or that they only need his abdomen... but note HE DOES NOT PULL IT ABOVE WHERE HIS BREASTS WOULD BE, WERE HE THE WOMAN HIS SUBCONSCIOUS KNOWS HE IS.

Trinity removes the bug, and thus in choosing to continue down the path to his own self-actualization, Neo regains his bodily autonomy. The red returns, because this is the way to truth.

25:15 - The way to Morpheus is spinning, winding, confusing. Finding and engaging with our own subconscious is not a straight or easy path. It’s difficult, and it takes work to get there.

25:30 - At the door to Morpheus, Trinity says, “This is it. Let me give you one piece of advice. Be honest. He knows more than you can imagine.” Remember that Morpheus is Neo’s subconscious and super-ego? WELP.

25:46 - Morpheus is revealed. Both of his eyes are covered by mirrored sunglasses that ACCURATELY reflect the world around him. The subconscious reflects what’s real.

26:40 - Morpheus says “You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he is expecting to wake up. Ironically this is not far from the truth.”

26:50 - Morpheus says “Do you believe in fate, Neo?” His subconscious only ever calls him by his true name. It knows. Neo: “No, because I don’t like the idea that I’m not in control of my life.”

Before realizing I was trans I NEVER felt in control of my life. And YET I did not decide to be trans, that was… literally fate. Accepting it or not was the only thing in my control.

Notice that Morpheus’ chair is RED, he knows the truth. Neo’s is muted and muddy, appears almost brown. It’s reddISH, but not red. He’s still plagued with doubt. As such, it’s no surprise Cypher, his id and doubt, is also present.

27:08 - Morpheus says, “You’re here because you know something. What you know you can’t explain, but you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life. Like there’s something wrong with the world.”

“...You don’t know what it is, but it’s there like a splinter in your mind. Driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me.” I cannot tell you how exactly, how PERFECTLY, this sums up the experience of being trans and not yet knowing it.

27:45 - Morpheus says “The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now in this very room. ...You can FEEL it when you go to work. When you go to church. When you pay your taxes.”

Notice all his examples are of when you CONFORM to society. “It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.” If you’re too busy constantly worrying about how to fit into society, you don’t have the time to delve into your subconscious truth.

28:20 - Morpheus says, “You are a slave. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind.” This is exactly what the cis status quo of society is. A box we’re all put in at birth without consent.

28:40 - Morpheus says, “Unfortunately no one can be told what the matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.” We yell and scream and yet can’t force cis people to see it. Until you see it for yourself, you don’t believe it. Because you fit so perfectly inside it.

29:07 - Morpheus offers the two pills. The blue, to forget it all and keep conforming, the red to wake up and see the truth. And did you know…

That when this was made

Estrogen pills for trans women on HRT

were

FUCKING RED

Neo is literally choosing to TAKE AN ESTROGEN PILL and begin medically transitioning. Much deep irony abounds in this moment because my modern estrogen pills are blue (!), and of course because the entire “men’s rights” activists have their entire “red pilling” philosophy.

There’s something beautiful in the sweet irony of bigoted cis straight men misinterpreting art made by trans women, though. Way to telegraph you just do not understand ANYTHING it was saying (which is... kind of the point the entire movie is making).

Just… hoo, sit with that one a minute. They’re so buried in the matrix they think they’re the outsiders. Truly, remarkably daft.

Anyway, in the context of the time this movie was made, estrogen pills were red. RED. And here’s why red is so important to the movie. The pill, the ESTROGEN - IS THE TRUTH. Everything red led to this point, and everything after only confirms it, as you’ll see.

30:21 - Neo, nervous about what’s to come, checks in with Trinity, asking if she did all this before. She’s his self-actualization, of course she has, which she confirms. Note the phones connecting in order to facilitate Neo’s TRANSITION. Communication.

31:09 - Neo is very nervous. Looks to a nearby mirror, which is broken and HIS FACE IS MISSING. He leans forward to look more, and his face comes into view, FRACTURED. Again, please see the above link to my thread on photos/mirrors. This is a direct connection.

31:18 - As the pill does its work the broken mirror “heals” and the image becomes clear. He can see himself! Estrogen is literally allowing him to see himself clearly!

31:30 - Neo reaches out to touch the mirror, and his fingers pass into it. Part of the mirror attaches to his fingers, stretches as he pulls them back.

31:37 - Neo pulls his hand out of the mirror, and the mirror ripples. This decision will have consequences across the entire plane of his life. Notice his lips are suddenly REDDER in the reflection. Do you think that was just an accident?

Before I knew this was a trans allegory, this part always confused me. Why does it happen? There’s no in-story reason for it in the sci-fi world. It’s never addressed at ALL outside of a smile from Morpheus.

So what’s going on here? The reflection is being drawn out, Neo is PULLING THE WHOLE SELF HE SEES CLOSER. More than that:

31:52 - The mirror blob on his fingers takes over his hand. Moves up his arm. He’s BECOMING the reflection he wants to see.

32:21 - As the liquid mirror completely overtakes Neo, he’s fully becoming the reflection he wanted to see, he’s pulled out of the matrix and wakes to the harsh reality of the real world.

32:34 - Now in the real world, the real Neo is reborn (in a clear birth metaphor) for the first time, naked and afraid, in a sea of RED. He’s in it now. Literally. This IS the truth.

33:09 - He can see clearly now the truth of how everyone else is bound by the matrix.

34:02 - A machine comes to remove him from the pod, he’s no longer any use to society. There’s RED all over the machine. (I’ll explain why the machines have red on them in a later part). Note his reflection in the machine eye is weak, flickering.

He doesn’t recognize himself. Which feels like a contradiction as this is the real Neo, but it’s not. While transitioning has made it possible for me to finally see MYSELF in the mirror, I still don’t entirely recognize that lady because I went my whole life without seeing her.

Realizing that lady is ME is something I’m still working on accepting.

34:30 - He’s spit out and pulled up into the light. Morpheus and Trinity, his subconscious and his self-actualization, have saved him. They are bringing him into a new stage of life. Finally on the path to becoming his true self.

But of course that’s not the end of the journey, or the movie would be over and transitioning would be a switch to flip and not a process. What it actually is… is a new beginning.

Tilly Bridges, end transmission.