Thread by @TillyBridges

Welcome to #TransTuesday! We’re jumping back into the trans allegory of: THE MATRIX (part 3). This one's about doubt and community and hard truths! Be sure you’ve read the previous installments as they contain some foundational stuff you’ll need. Part 1:

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

And part 2 (we’re picking up today right where this one leaves off):

https://twitter.com/TillyBridges/status/1407381188604416004

35:30 - As Neo lies on the medical table, Morpheus believes Neo is “the one” (again, we’ll get into that later), Trinity hopes he’s right… and of course she does, because she’s his self-actualization. The subconscious pushes us, self-actualization waits on the other side.

35:50 - Neo undergoes medical procedures to help him live as his true self. Do you… do you see how some of this is so BLATANTLY TRANS? To clarify: you can be trans without ever having or wanting medical procedures!

But this speaks to a large percentage of trans folks to one degree or another (even HRT qualifies as medical procedures to help you realize your true self). In fact I think even other things would qualify. See my thread on BODY HACKING:

https://twitter.com/TillyBridges/status/1290720134235971585

36:02 - Neo: “Why do my eyes hurt?” Morpheus: “You’ve never used them before.” When you’re seeing the real world as yourself for the first time, it’s overwhelming. The first time I stepped out of our apartment dressed as myself it felt like sensory overload.

36:45 - Neo finally awakes as his true self. His hair is different, his body is different, his clothes are different. No trans person wakes up this different in one day, obviously, but again: metaphor. He looks like an entirely different person.

38:20 - Neo gets a tour of the ship, his first look at the real world as himself, and everything is harsh and unfamiliar. Even places you’ve been a hundred times are different after transitioning, because you never really experienced them fully before. The world is a bit alien.

39:53 - Morpheus points out the physical changes Neo has experienced between that of his real self and his “residual self image,” the way he remembers being.

This speaks to the way memories of our lives before transitioning, when we were a mere simulacra, are weird and different and sometimes painful… even when they’re happy memories. See my thread on THE PAST:

https://twitter.com/TillyBridges/status/1359226490571747329

41:17 - Morpheus: “Welcome to the desert of the real.” Morpheus takes Neo into a construct to explain what happened to the world in the surface level sci-fi story. But notice Neo’s chair.

Though still murky and not as clear as Morpheus’s, it is much more noticeably red. The truth continues to worm its way into him.

43:23 - Morpheus: “What is the matrix? Control. … built to keep us under control.” That’s the entire game right there. It’s what the matrix/society is all about. Keeping control, maintaining POWER (which society uses all of us for).

In the surface level sci-fi story, that’s represented by humans being the literal batteries that POWER the machines. And trans people threaten that. Cis status quo society loses power when we, all of us, trans or cis, wake up to how it works.

44:50 - Morpheus apologizes for bringing Neo out at the age he is. The older the mind, the more trouble they have letting go. But he felt he “had to”. It’s SO MUCH easier to transition if you’re in a warm, loving, accepting environment as a kid.

If you’re raised to believe you can be whoever you really are, regardless of what society says or thinks about you, you can just BE that. Not that trans kids have it easy in our society, far from it. And we need to fix that.

But without a lifetime of memories and baggage and expectations, it’s easier for them to *accept* their transness (if they’re in an environment conducive to such things). For those of us who transition as adults, it can be much more difficult.

Especially when our bodies have already undergone the irreversible changes of the wrong puberty.

45:42 - Morpheus: “As long as the matrix exists, the human race will never be free.” As long as society remains as it is, humanity as a whole will keep repeating this cycle. It’s set up to self-perpetuate.

47:12 - Tank comes to see Neo, a fully-realized human born outside the matrix. They’re a bit in awe of each other. If you remember from part 1, I said my read was that Tank is the personification of the trans community.

He’s in awe of Neo, out there doing what he needs to do to be his true self. Check. He’s the one who teaches Neo all he needs to know to move through the matrix as himself, to subvert its control. Check.

His name is TANK, literally an armored weapon. The trans community protects and rallies around each other, around trans kids, and those who’ve just come out, and those who have yet to come out.

In my YEARS investigating things about being trans (remember Neo searching for Morpheus on his computer?), spurred by my subconscious, I read so much written by the trans people who’d come before, who were out, who were living their lives as a beacon for those of us not out yet.

And Neo’s in awe of Tank, just as I was in awe of all the out trans folks out there, living their life in spite of laws to discriminate against them and every other roadblock set in front of them. Tank is fully himself, and Neo seems wistful, wishing he could be that.

Tank and Neo, Neo and Tank. The NEW in awe of the COMMUNITY, the COMMUNITY in awe of the NEW. Mutual support.

48:15 - Neo’s got to learn how to interact within the matrix as himself, learn the tools that will keep him alive. This comes as knowledge (from the community/Tank) and confidence (from his subconscious/Morpheus).

49:13- Neo must prove to Morpheus/his subconscious that he’s ready to re-enter the matrix. Morpheus tells him that once you recognize the matrix for what it is, you can bend or break some of its rules.

52:18 - After Morpheus has defeated Neo, he reminds him that the world he’s in is not as it seems. To win, he’s got to realize that. Society WILL keep trying to beat us down, but they can’t win if we don’t let them. Don’t buy into the bigotry they’re selling.

53:26 - Morpheus: “I’m trying to free your mind, Neo. but I can only show you the door. You’re the one that has to walk through it.” Throwback to Morpheus showing Neo the window exit from Metacortex, but Neo not being brave enough to escape yet.

53:50 - Morpheus: “You have to let it all go, Neo. Fear, doubt, disbelief. Free your mind.” This is the only way to transition to your true self. The way to become self-actualized. You have to believe in yourself.

54:26 - The crew talk about how no one’s ever made the first jump, wonder if Neo could. The one who believes? Trinity, his self-actualization. Neo looks down, not as scared as before, even though he clearly still doesn’t believe all the way.

55:25 - Neo is bleeding after his fall in the construct. Morpheus: “Your mind makes it real.” IT’S TRUE IF WE BELIEVE IT. YOU’RE TRANS IF YOU SAY YOU ARE. Even though Neo fell, the RED/truth is there, inside him.

55:32 - Morpheus: “The body cannot live without the mind.” You need to accept your transness in your head before you can get your body to match. Your head/ego needs to accept what the subconscious/super ego is telling it.

56:23 - Cypher is unsure about Neo, Trinity (the self-actualization) never brought *him* dinner. Because Neo’s self-actualization has purged/reconciled the doubt. She has no use for it. Trinity believes Morpheus will take Neo to see the Oracle when he’s ready, she NEVER DOUBTS.

56:32 - The “don’t walk” sign is, for some reason, a man. And he’s red. These signs do exist, though they seem to be incredibly uncommon. How many have you ever seen? Why would they pick this one to use? Red = truth. The sign means “stop.” And a… man?

STOP. BEING. A. MAN.

To clarify, Neo wasn’t “being” a man. He was never a man. But again, metaphor. Okay so if this IMAGE TO STOP BEING A MAN FILLS THE ENTIRE SCREEN, then what should he do? What immediately follows?

A street full of people who ONLY SEE IN BLACK AND WHITE.

The gender binary. The FALSE DICHOTOMY.

https://twitter.com/TillyBridges/status/1318618999312117760

The matrix of society. And then in the midst of that what COMPLETELY steals Neo’s attention? And yours? And everyone else who ever saw this movie, as intended?

The WOMAN. IN. RED.

Say it with me now. STOP BEING A MAN, the RED/TRUTH is you are a WOMAN, Neo.

Now let’s back up a little to before the woman in red. Remember that shot of the people hopelessly lost in the binary of the matrix?

56:57: Morpheus tells Neo THE PEOPLE THAT MAKE UP THE SYSTEM ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM. We want to open their eyes and want them to see the truth, but until they do, they cause us harm by upholding the cis status quo.

Many are so “hopelessly inured” to the system that they will fight to protect it. Upholding the cis status quo benefits them, even if they don’t consciously realize it.

57:40 - Morpheus: “If you are not one of us, you are one of them.” If you’re not an ally, you’re harming us by upholding the matrix that hurts us. See my POLITICS thread for an explanation of “if you’re not actively helping us, you’re actively hurting us”

https://twitter.com/TillyBridges/status/1311006071826165760

57:55 - Morpheus explains how anyone who hasn’t been “unplugged” can be taken over by Agents. Anyone can become your enemy when they find you a threat to their way of life/upholding that cis status quo. So many trans people lose family, friends, jobs, homes after coming out.

58:00 - Morpheus: “We have survived by hiding from them, and running from them, but they are the gatekeepers. They are guarding all the doors, they are holding all the keys. Which means that sooner or later someone is going to have to fight them.”

Cis people control society and must allow us to live within it. See my thread on how yes, trans people are human beings too, yet CIS people are the gatekeepers, guarding all the doors and holding all the keys, for the things we need to exist as ourselves.

https://twitter.com/TillyBridges/status/1402325820287324164

I missed the timestamp here so forgive me, but in the section where the sentinels nearly find their ship… remember when I said yeah there was red on the machines and I’d explain it later. Later is now! (whoa)

If red is truth, why is it also pointedly on the sentinels and the machines that want to kill Neo and the others? Because the machines (society) *are* true, it’s real and it’s there and it very much wants trans people to not exist.

But WE made them. We made society. Well, “we” as a species. Not we trans people, that’s all on you cis folks.

But the machines/society aren’t all-powerful. We made them but the TRUTH is WE have the power to stop them. Morpheus and crew have their EMP. WE, collectively, are the EMP that can stop the violence society foists upon us. And that’s why the EMP switch is red, too.

1:01:20 - Neo approaches Cypher, who jumps. “Neo! You scared the bejesus out of me.” That’s just Neo’s doubt saying OUT LOUD exactly how he feels about Neo’s transition and attempts to self-actualize. It scares the shit out of him.

1:02:18 - Cypher, “I know what you’re thinking. I’ve been thinking it since I got here. Why oh why didn’t I take the blue pill.” Life in the real world, trying to become your actualized self, is difficult and a ton of hard work. It would be so easy to pretend you never knew.

1:03:50 - Cypher knows the steak isn’t real (ie the matrix cis status quo isn’t all there is to reality), but it’s so much easier to conform and go along with it rather than do the difficult work to reach self-actualization. “Ignorance is bliss.”

He will sell out his own subconscious and true desires to not have to deal with the harshness of knowing the truth anymore. But notice here he’s still SURROUNDED by the truth. There’s RED all around him.

Wanting to pretend you don’t know the truth about yourself, and wish you could forget it, does not change that truth or make it go away. It’s still there.

But sometimes it’s so rough that you almost wish it was something you hadn’t figured out. I’m infinitely happier now, but it’s hard. So, so hard. Moving through the world was SO much easier when I pretended to be the cis man it said I was.

Tilly Bridges, end transmission.

Part 4 continues here! 👇

https://twitter.com/TillyBridges/status/1412455880717586439