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Full disclosure: I have not watched The Matrix in twenty years but it keeps popping up on youtube because fearmongering about AI is en vogue. But it occurred to me that in those twenty years I've heard like ten different interpretations of what the film is even about, none of them particularly compelling. I'm planning on revisiting it this weekend with some friends but I want to get my thoughts together and hear what other people have to say when they're not being thought policed by globohomo and also I've got an hour to kill. The interpretations I've heard, in no particular order:
"It's a trans allegory." Let's get this out of the way first: I don't buy this. No, it doesn't matter that the tranny filmmakers said it themselves, trannies lie all the time about all kinds of shit, not the least of which being how they always knew they were trannies and it's totally not just late-stage porn addiction, and filmmakers lie all the time about all kinds of shit, not the least of which being PC/DEI/progressive revisionism of their own projects for asspats and publicity. I think it goes without saying that they were freaks back then considering 1) they're anime fans and 2) the whole series is as much an excuse to put a supposedly attractive woman in bondage wear and have her beat up men as it is anything else, and I've heard that they both frequented a dominatrix which almost certainly would have played a role in their subsequent trooning. But I don't fucking buy that the whole movie is about being a tranny. Although it is ironically prescient that their supposed "trans allegory" glorifies fantasies of dressing up like the Columbine kids and shooting up institutions you don't like. That's probably the biggest piece of evidence in favor of this interpretation to be honest.
"It's about capitalism/corporatism." I think this is probably the most surface-level interpretation and I don't really have an argument against it, it makes sense, it's just boring. Like, yeah, civilization and the systems that comprise it profit off of your manhours and trade you illusions of progress and control in order to incentivize your participation in it, no shit. /r/antiwork shit.
"It's about religion." Another obvious interpretation given all the religious allusions and symbolism, I don't think you can argue it's not about religion in some way, but I mostly see it in the context of religion as a form of control, which seems like it runs counter to or misses the nuance of a lot of the references. Seems hamfisted and incomplete. /r/atheism shit.
"It's about the jews." Sort of the natural convergence of the two obvious interpretations above -- bible + money = jews. I don't know enough to say either way, I remember reading about it in the context of biblical allusions but most of it went over my head at the time.
"It's literally about AI and simulation theory." Smoothest brain take. Not even an interpretation, just a restating of the premise.
"It's about the limitations you impose upon yourself by accepting them as true." Ligma male grindset interpretation. I think this is about as oversimplified as you can make it but it's at least useful I guess.
"It's about whatever you want it to be about maaan." Rorschach inkblot zeitgeist kulturbärare interpretation that it has no fixed meaning and is deliberately open to interpretation. I don't know. Certainly not the dumbest take on this list, but I think it affords the kerchowskis too much credit to say they'd be able to intentionally construct something so simultaneously dense with references yet universally resonant without committing to a single unified throughline. I think what's more likely is...
"It's a Tarantino-esque mishmash of a scattershot of different influences for no other reason than that they think it's cool." Probably the most likely scenario, but the least satisfying. The Evangelion Defense. At this point you pretty much have to evoke the death of the author or there's nothing left to say.
"It's about DMT." This is the most recent one I've heard and thus the most interesting to me at the moment. If you know anything about DMT trips you know there are conspicuous commonalities to them -- the feeling of being propelled at a high speed through a tunnel of light, arriving at a different/higher dimension, meeting higher beings commonly described as some kind of machine/clockwork, receiving some sort of revelation or wisdom and returning to this world with the knowledge that there's a higher one. I don't know, simple and incomplete but the novelty is entertaining me right now. Would be interested to know if the brothers have talked about this before.
Miscellaneous observations:
How come the matrix code moves top-to-bottom when CLIs move bottom-to-top? Is it just so they can make all the visual references to it with water moving downward? No other significance? Seems sloppy given how much effort they spend winking and nodding about computer/internet stuff.
Is there any actual evidence that they had the whole trilogy planned from the beginning (aside from the fact that they cut the Architect reveal from the original) or is that just typical marketing bullshitting to get asses in seats? Matters in how seriously you take the sequels compared to the first film.
Why'd they make the red pill red and the blue pill blue when the real world scenes are all tinted blue? Just to have the Total Recall reference? Seems clumsy.
How come they gave Neo glasses that make him look like a grey alien?
Ok my hour's up thanks. Feel free to hit me with schizo theories and/or call me a retard for even being interested in the first place instead of just reading Neuromancer.
"It's a trans allegory." Let's get this out of the way first: I don't buy this. No, it doesn't matter that the tranny filmmakers said it themselves, trannies lie all the time about all kinds of shit, not the least of which being how they always knew they were trannies and it's totally not just late-stage porn addiction, and filmmakers lie all the time about all kinds of shit, not the least of which being PC/DEI/progressive revisionism of their own projects for asspats and publicity. I think it goes without saying that they were freaks back then considering 1) they're anime fans and 2) the whole series is as much an excuse to put a supposedly attractive woman in bondage wear and have her beat up men as it is anything else, and I've heard that they both frequented a dominatrix which almost certainly would have played a role in their subsequent trooning. But I don't fucking buy that the whole movie is about being a tranny. Although it is ironically prescient that their supposed "trans allegory" glorifies fantasies of dressing up like the Columbine kids and shooting up institutions you don't like. That's probably the biggest piece of evidence in favor of this interpretation to be honest.
"It's about capitalism/corporatism." I think this is probably the most surface-level interpretation and I don't really have an argument against it, it makes sense, it's just boring. Like, yeah, civilization and the systems that comprise it profit off of your manhours and trade you illusions of progress and control in order to incentivize your participation in it, no shit. /r/antiwork shit.
"It's about religion." Another obvious interpretation given all the religious allusions and symbolism, I don't think you can argue it's not about religion in some way, but I mostly see it in the context of religion as a form of control, which seems like it runs counter to or misses the nuance of a lot of the references. Seems hamfisted and incomplete. /r/atheism shit.
"It's about the jews." Sort of the natural convergence of the two obvious interpretations above -- bible + money = jews. I don't know enough to say either way, I remember reading about it in the context of biblical allusions but most of it went over my head at the time.
"It's literally about AI and simulation theory." Smoothest brain take. Not even an interpretation, just a restating of the premise.
"It's about the limitations you impose upon yourself by accepting them as true." Ligma male grindset interpretation. I think this is about as oversimplified as you can make it but it's at least useful I guess.
"It's about whatever you want it to be about maaan." Rorschach inkblot zeitgeist kulturbärare interpretation that it has no fixed meaning and is deliberately open to interpretation. I don't know. Certainly not the dumbest take on this list, but I think it affords the kerchowskis too much credit to say they'd be able to intentionally construct something so simultaneously dense with references yet universally resonant without committing to a single unified throughline. I think what's more likely is...
"It's a Tarantino-esque mishmash of a scattershot of different influences for no other reason than that they think it's cool." Probably the most likely scenario, but the least satisfying. The Evangelion Defense. At this point you pretty much have to evoke the death of the author or there's nothing left to say.
"It's about DMT." This is the most recent one I've heard and thus the most interesting to me at the moment. If you know anything about DMT trips you know there are conspicuous commonalities to them -- the feeling of being propelled at a high speed through a tunnel of light, arriving at a different/higher dimension, meeting higher beings commonly described as some kind of machine/clockwork, receiving some sort of revelation or wisdom and returning to this world with the knowledge that there's a higher one. I don't know, simple and incomplete but the novelty is entertaining me right now. Would be interested to know if the brothers have talked about this before.
Miscellaneous observations:
How come the matrix code moves top-to-bottom when CLIs move bottom-to-top? Is it just so they can make all the visual references to it with water moving downward? No other significance? Seems sloppy given how much effort they spend winking and nodding about computer/internet stuff.
Is there any actual evidence that they had the whole trilogy planned from the beginning (aside from the fact that they cut the Architect reveal from the original) or is that just typical marketing bullshitting to get asses in seats? Matters in how seriously you take the sequels compared to the first film.
Why'd they make the red pill red and the blue pill blue when the real world scenes are all tinted blue? Just to have the Total Recall reference? Seems clumsy.
How come they gave Neo glasses that make him look like a grey alien?
Ok my hour's up thanks. Feel free to hit me with schizo theories and/or call me a retard for even being interested in the first place instead of just reading Neuromancer.
