At the time, the movie’s fandom comprised a motley crew of wildly disparate groups, each finding a slightly different meaning in its message. The nerds of the world went wild for the vision of a revolution fought in a virtual reality where their kind could live like kings. Evangelical Christians saw God in The Matrix, enthralled by the best modern-day Jesus narrative since Narnia.
Misfits and punks swooned for its goth-industrial aesthetic, then sneered at the late-coming poseurs who thronged to Hot Topic in its wake. And in the decades since, disillusioned cynics, from men’s rights types to fans of Donald Trump, have adopted the film’s catchall metaphor for self-chosen enlightenment— the decision to either take a blue pill and continue living in ignorance as a slave, or take a red pill and become awakened to the deep truth of the world around you—only to be hip checked by progressive activists pointing to the gender transitions of the movie’s director-siblings, Lana and Lilly Wachowski, as evidence that the film was always actually a transgender parable.
This story is from the February 2022 edition of Reason magazine.
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This story is from the February 2022 edition of Reason magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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