Gender and The Matrix

One of this year’s big Christmas films will be The Matrix Resurrections.

The original trilogy released between 1999 and 2003 generated a cult following with many fan theories. What came as news to me was the idea that The Matrix was a metaphor exploring the trans experience and transcending the physical form. Since the original releases, the writers have come out as trans. There is now a whole body of interpretation that views the films through that lens. Lily Wachowski joyfully embraces this, saying that the idea was always present, but the corporate world wasn’t ready for it before.

Twenty years on, the question of whether biological sex matters is being publicly fought over. Previous allies are pitted against one another. Stonewall talks about sex assigned at birth, whilst the LGB group believes that sex is binary and determined at conception. The importance of the physical-biological body over the concept of gender identity is played out in fierce battles.