Thread by @TillyBridges

Welcome to #TransTuesday! Today we’re going to talk about the trans community, how very badly we need our cis allies, and how everyone has a CHOICE in THE INTENTIONAL TRANS ALLEGORY OF MATRIX RESURRECTIONS, part 6!

As always and forever, be sure to have read my previous threads on Resurrections and The Matrix, Reloaded, and Revolutions, the first leads to the next and so on. Don’t skip ahead, you need the context!

https://twitter.com/TillyBridges/status/1475194703544864769

Ready? Of course you are! Picking up where we left off…

1:00:38 - Neo’s now so VERY aware of the parts of his body that are not part of who he really is, that were forced on him by society. He pretended to not be bothered by them while pretending to be cis, but they’re there. They’re awful. And they’re not part of the real him.

As in the original movies, these are the physical representations of the wrong puberty that people who transition as adults are forced to go through by society telling them they had no other option.

1:00:52 - Neo: “If this plug is actually real, then that means they took my life.” And that’s exactly what forcing trans people to pretend to be cis does. The lives we pretended to live while pretending to be cis were in no way our real lives, because it wasn’t really us.

But Bugs is there to help him through, though still in her red/yellow mix. The fear isn’t gone, it’s very real. But so is the truth of his real identity. “If we don’t know what’s real, we can’t resist.” Hence why society fights so hard to convince us cis is the only way to be.

1:01:50 - “They took your story, something that meant so much to people like me, and turned it into something trivial. That’s what the matrix does.”

The original Matrix movies, these intrinsically trans stories made by and for trans people about trans life, were appropriated, turned into something they’re not, and their truth was denied.

Again, here’s my thread on all the resistance I received from assholes on my original Matrix trans allegory threads, insisting we’re all wrong and the movies weren’t trans at all. (incidentally my mentions have been FILLED with this since last night)

https://twitter.com/TillyBridges/status/1437851397681152005

Even now, even in recent threads, I have cis people in my mentions telling me it’s wrong, and I’m only seeing what I want to see. And look, I always tell you that while some things are very empirical, the rest is my interpretation as a trans woman writer.

People are going to interpret things differently, and that’s fine. But the creators set out to tell trans stories, have said that was their intent, and it HAD to be intentional or none of these could have spoken even 1/10th as specifically to the trans experience as they do.

One or two things might be coincidence. But not all 10,000 details where the latter build on the former in ways that could not accidentally happen. Lana & Lilly confirmed it. Still not enough for people who want it to be about nothing more than sci-fi, action, and cishet romance.

And yet, AND YET, we are told that these are not trans movies, they are not ours, we’re just guilty of wishful thinking. It’s yet another Smith on the pile in the Burly Brawl. Our voice, our story, the Wachowski’s voices and stories, are continually stripped away by these people.

We saw it with Jude and the game execs, we’ve seen it in real life with red-pillers, and here’s Bugs just stating it outright. SUPER TEXT. Those people “turned it into something trivial.”

1:04:46 - Bugs: “Where better to bury truth than inside something as ordinary as a video game.” Swap video game for movie and there you have it. C’mon, it’s “just a movie.” It’s pew pew and bang bang and boom boom, not a heartfelt story about trans existence and love of self.

Neo: “That sounds like the Oracle.” Bugs: “I’ve heard so much about her. She was gone before I was free.” Well of course, WHAT HAVE I BEEN TELLING YOU? Bugs is his (new) heart.

We learn the Oracle is “gone.” Neo clearly wasn’t listening to his heart, and his subconscious was locked away. His heart was beaten down so much he couldn’t hear it. The new version of the matrix “purged” the Oracle.

When Neo went back to pretending to be cis, it crushed his heart. Neo: “They promised us peace and they gave us purge.” He didn’t get to live the self-actualized life he hoped and fought for. Society lied, and it crushed. His. Heart. His heart, as he knew it, is gone.

So he gave up, and again, that’s why he detransitioned. He feels like nothing he did mattered, and he confesses he’s now right back where he started. But Bugs tells him that it DID matter, a lot. Because his heart isn’t dead and gone. Like his subconscious, it’s CHANGED.

1:02:35 - Neo: “The Matrix is the same or worse.” Yep, the more trans people came out and self-accepted and found our joy, the more society ramped up its attacks against us, as we see in the news and through all Matrix movies. (and, again, as happened to myself JUST LAST NIGHT).

Neo: “And I’m back where I started.” Correct! At the beginning of the transition to his true self! Again! “None of it mattered.” Though he’s finally back on the right path to his true self, it feels like everything that came before was a waste.

But of course it wasn’t. His heart knows better. “ALL of it mattered. I can show you.”

1:03:39 - We see they’re on board the Mnemosyne. Mnemosyne was the goddess of memory in ancient Greek mythology, and also oversaw a river of the same name where people would drink to stop the transmigration of the soul.

Neo’s memories are the key to his path forward, and are what’s going to help him HOLD ONTO HIS SOUL. You could definitely make a case that he lost it for a while, living a soulless existence in his cis simulacra, so this is part of regaining what he’s lost.

1:04:40 - Neo meets Lexy, Berg, and Ellster, members of the trans community, all of whom talk about how much he impacted them (or people in their lives), by simply being his true self and fighting for his right to exist.

If you remember from the previous personification of the trans community, Tank, he was all about protection, hence his name. Look at these three names:

“Lexy” traces back to Alexander, which roughly means “defender of men.” As she’s a woman, we can infer this to mean “defender of women.” “Berg’s” name means “protection” and “help.” “Ellster” also likely traces back to Alexander! And so it’s got the same meaning as “Lexy” does.

The trans community is here to protect Neo (who remember is a trans WOMAN), and he will protect them, just like before. And then he meets Lumin8, Octacles and Cybebe (the latter of whom was another Greek goddess, a healer and wartime protector).

They have earned trust by rejecting the cis binary matrix and working with trans people to help us. These are our cis allies who, by seeing Neo and understanding his story, realized the truth and chose to help rather than hurt.

And that’s what Bugs confirms. Even though Neo feels nothing changed, everything changed. Because of all the lives he touched in simply living as himself.

I’ve said it so many times, and I’ll say it again. Just by living proudly as ourselves, and showing that it’s possible to be happy, letting the world see trans joy, it inspires others to believe, to know that they can do it too, and are also worthy of loving themselves that much.

And even though society lied to Neo, and the utopian future didn’t come to pass, it still changed society, and a lot of those who exist within it. Even though the red pill and the Matrix movies and trans voices were co-opted and perverted, they still helped So. Many. People.

1:07:43 - The community now also exists in Io. In Greek mythology Io was a mortal woman lusted after by Zeus, but she rejected his advances and he turned her into a cow to hide her from Hera (Zeus completely sucks, btw).

Io is much better hidden than Zion was. And there’s something to be said for Neo rejecting the Merovingian’s path of being a dehumanized object of fetishization (object of lust) by cis men (aka Zeus) in Revolutions tying in to the name.

But what I think is just as important is that IO is the heart of zIOn, the I and O are the core of the word between the Z and the N. I think that’s showing us the community isn’t the same as it was before, its walls have closed somewhat, but the CORE of it is still there.

1:08:32 - Neo still has doubt, but now his truth and fear are on the surface. And note that here in Io, fear is dominant.

1:08:36 - And what does he find here in his heart? Niobe. In RED. The confidence he was missing, the HUBRIS he needed to tell society he AGAIN knew better the truth of his own existence. And he couldn’t find his confidence until he’d made the choice to retransition.

She still wears the same face, but she’s aged right along with Neo. And she’s much more reserved, because his confidence has been lost. He’s found it again here, but he’s going to have to work to get it back to what it once was.

Niobe: “...wise enough to know I don’t know anything.” His confidence is still struggling after all he’s been through.

Bugs believes they’ve found The One, that Neo has fully accepted he’s his own savior and is back on the way to transition, but his confidence still isn’t all the way there yet.

1:10:04 - Even the drink is yellow, and they both imbibe it without question. All his heart and confidence know is fear, because that’s all that was there for so long.

1:10:49 - But the sofas are red. The truth is still here, Niobe IS still his confidence. He just has to work up the courage to use it.

They talk about how quiet it is when you unplug from the matrix. When you know the truth, all the constant reminders society flings at you about how the gender a stranger assigns you at birth is what you are and have to be bounce off you. And you can find some peace.

And here we get down to where the fear comes from, but if you’re paying attention you already know. It’s war, aka the fight cis society forces us into just so we can exist.

And thinking he could never win made him detransition, and made it so hard for him to retransition. Nobody wants that fight.

1:13:07 - Not only is the strawberry red (truth), it’s heart-shaped. He’s getting closer to fully accepting the truth in his heart.

Niobe explains Io exists because of Neo’s example. It was made WITH the synthients. It took trans people AND our allies combined to find this peace, us AND them rather than us VS. them. Which is what Revolutions was all about.

And it’s something I’ve talked about a number of times, how we NEED our cis allies to effect any kind of large-scale change, because there aren’t enough of us to do it on our own. We’re too small a part of the population. See the thread on Politics:

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

And the thread on trans rights:

https://twitter.com/TillyBridges/status/1366834411296022529

And the second thread on trans rights, begging you to help us:

https://twitter.com/TillyBridges/status/1376965967960412161

And my reminding you we’re human beings that NEED our cis allies:

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

And my reminder of what a massive impact even the smallest bit of allyship can have:

https://twitter.com/TillyBridges/status/1425149833388593154

Niobe, Neo’s confidence, has withdrawn and gone into hiding. Which completely tracks with someone who detransitioned. And you CAN find some semblance of peace the further you hide away from the world, but that’s not going to make things better.

It’s not going to help you, it’s a false peace built on denial. And it’s not going to help other trans people. It’s not going to make it possible for more people who are suffering, who would just like to be able to live as their true selves.

1:14:19 - Remember how in Revolutions, when Neo got to the machine city, it was all yellow light and he walked a path of fear? And we’ve seen that recurring motif the entire movie? Look what the trans community has become. Even here, Neo walks a path of fear.

1:15:15 - Niobe mentions how Morpheus took over, still sure that “what was done could not be undone,” that since Neo transitioned it he couldn’t detransition. You can see he still held the truth in his heart.

But obviously the detransition happened. Because the fear was too overpowering, and it’s still raging. Neo tells Niobe he needs her help to free Trinity, aka he needs his confidence to help him self-actualize.

But Niobe won’t help him, his confidence has been shattered by the fear and she worries it will destroy what’s left of the community and his heart.

And then Sheperd tells Neo it seems like people don’t want to be free anymore, and like the matrix won. And for a time, for Neo, that was the truth.

1:18:02 - And that locks him up, with only his doubts and fears for company.

1:18:30 - Morpheus says that Neo’s in “the Rapunzel tower.” Important thing to note about the Rapunzel story is that she was only a prisoner because she didn’t know she had a choice. She had the power to leave all the time, but it took her a while to see that. RING. ANY. BELLS?

And Morpheus tells him that he and Bugs are just waiting for Neo to make the CHOICE to go find Trinity, but that’s no choice at all. Because of course Neo’s going to, that’s why he took the damned red pill and started to transition again. To self-actualize. And so off they go.

1:19:35 - Niobe’s terrified that Neo’s going to break the fragile, hidden peace in the community/his heart, but note SHE DOES NOTHING TO STOP HIM (in fact, as you learn later she sends Sheperd (natch) to watch over them!). Neo’s confidence is slowly returning.

1:19:57 - Neo finds Trinity, she’s on a path of fear. There’s so much to face just to get her back. She reads as “entirely blue pill.” Bugs isn’t sure they can get her out or if she’d even want to get out. Neo asks how HE read. “Exactly like her.” Because he IS her. Well. I mean.

1:21:05 - Neo: “What if I can’t be what I once was?” …Trinity IS what he once was. WELL! I MEAN!

1:21:17 - Look at the room they step into. Fear fear fear fear.

1:21:25 - LOOK AT NEO’S COAT. It is, hm, longer? Down to his knees! It’s not his dress, BUT HE IS ON! THE! WAY!

Morpheus is now in purple. The subconscious knows the truth, and helped us on our way, but doesn’t know the outcome. CAN Neo get to Trinity and self-actualize? Clouded by doubt. Red + blue = purple.

1:22:36 - Especially since society’s transphobia stands in their way. But he wants to… talk? He wants Neo out of the matrix (hidden away, like Niobe), and he’ll leave you be. His issue is with the Analyst, who he feels holds his leash.

Oh Smith, you bigotry-filled buffoon. Remember in Reloaded, how Smith talked himself in circles? About how seeing Neo be free of the matrix made HIM “free” of the matrix and he could do whatever he wanted?

Never realizing that what he wanted (and did) was exactly what society wanted him to do? This is that, that is this. Same Smith under a new coat of paint (“I quit calling it a habit, now it’s just a guilty pleasure.”)

He’s bought fully into the red pill appropriation. He again believes society’s using him (it is), but the things he’ll do to “break” it… are still exactly in line with what society wants him to do. He just can’t see it because he’s still so deep inside the matrix.

It’s like hey buddy, I’m not transphobic, I just don’t think trans women should compete in women’s sports and trans kids shouldn’t have trans healthcare until they’ve been forced through the wrong puberty and people should be able to fire you if they don’t want a trans employee.

But I’m not TRANSPHOBIC, how dare you?

1:25:10 - THE MEROVINGIAN RETURNS. Okay you know I love this dude (rather, I love the entire allegory surrounding him a lot, as it’s so well done). So what the hell is going on with him here? This is the completion of his arc.

He went from pretending to be cis in Reloaded, like Neo before his first transition, to transitioning in Reovlutions only to exist as nothing more than a dehumanized object of fetishization for cis white men, and we saw it cost him so much in terms of power and status.

And where has it left him? Old, haggard, destitute, alone. Look at his shirt, under all the stuff on the outside, it’s RED. He still knows his truth, that’s not in question. But he blames NEO for his utter destitution and loss of EVERYTHING he had. Note Persephone is missing.

The Merovingian, too, has detransitioned, despite knowing full well he’s trans, because he again felt he had no choice because he lost EVERYTHING (like, *absolutely* everything) as he AGED.

Because if there’s one thing trans women share with cis women… well, there’s a LOT of things we share, we’re just another subset of women!

But what I’m getting at is that he could no longer exist as an object of fetishization because he AGED OUT OF IT (according to the cis white men who “let” him exist that way). His aging made him less desirable to those in power, and he Lost. It. All.

He even lost the skewed and distorted version of his true self that was the one thing he had, the closest he’d ever been to his true self, Persephone. And does he blame society for this? Nope. It’s 100% society’s fault, but he blames NEO (just like Smith). “You stole my life.”

For Neo’s audacity (the hubris!) to flaunt the “rules” and be his true self, and making him want that too. Never mind it’s also his OWN fault for refusing to believe that he always had (and still has!) the power to truly self-actualize because IT’S NEVER TOO LATE.

But he’s blind to it, just like Smith. Both are still tools of the system, both blame trans people who dared to exist as themselves, instead of blaming the system that forces us to break its backward “rules” that keep cis white men at the top. Hoooooo. Perfection.

As the fight ensues, Neo’s abilities are returning. He’s dodging bullets. He’s remembering how to do this, how to move through this world, how to fight the hate and bigotry.

1:27:50 - Neo and Smith face off, on a set that directly calls back to their fight in the subway station in the first movie, which led to the moment where Neo first fully self-accepted, “My. Name. Is. Neo.”

The big difference here is Smith has forced them into A MEN’S BATHROOM. The last place Neo would want to be, a place reserved only for men. THIS is where you belong, Neo. And Smith intends to beat that knowledge into him.

1:30:15 - Smith: “You’ve lost something, Tom. You’re not what you used to be.” Neo: “It’s true.” Because he left the fake cis existence behind, yeah. C’mon c’mon c’mon, it’s plain as day.

1:31:20 - Smith’s reflection is cracked and distorted, but he looks at it as though he sees himself clearly. He can’t tell how completely broken he is.

He’s BLEEDING. For the first time. His own truth is in there, but he can’t see it through his own distorted image of himself. Wake up, red pill dudes.

1:31:48 - Neo’s able to shield himself from Smith’s attacks. He can finally stop the transphobia from getting inside. Not this time, not anymore, never again.

1:31:51 - And that light, that truth inside him is more powerful than anything he’s ever known before.

So what do you do now, when your internalized transphobia can’t hold you back and you know your truth and won’t let anything stand in your way? Well my friends, you god damned self-actualize.

It’s time to fly.

Tilly Bridges, end transmission.