While I may be about a quarter-century late to the party, I recently watched The Matrix for the first time. Before I finally got around to seeing this movie, I had subconsciously found myself steering clear of its path, due to my own misunderstandings of the film and franchise based on the cultural adoption of the “red pill” by the misogynistic, countercultural group: the involuntary celibate, or “incel.” When I went to rank the film on Letterboxd, I learned an integral part of the storyline, or at least for my own understanding, the sibling pair turned directors who created The Matrix are transgender women.
The Matrix is widely interpreted as an allegory for the Wachowski sisters’ experiences as transgender women. Although Incels have adopted the Matrix as a blueprint for resisting supposed feminist manipulation, the film’s actual narrative — shaped by its transgender creators — offers a radically different message about escaping oppressive binaries, making the incel appropriation not only misguided but fundamentally contradictory. What incels celebrate as a symbol of awakening is, in fact, rooted in a trans allegory, revealing that the very film they weaponize to justify misogyny was created to critique the rigid systems they uphold. In a case of hilarious irony, The Matrix is actually a transgender allegory, a pill, even harder than the red or blue option, to swallow for the incels.
The Matrix follows Thomas Anderson, portrayed by Keanu Reeves, a computer programmer who secretly operates as a hacker named Neo. Neo has the sense that something about the world feels wrong, and after a series of cryptic encounters, he meets Morpheus, a leader of an underground resistance. Morpheus reveals that the world Neo knows is a simulated reality, the Matrix, designed to control human perception while machines harvest human bodies for energy.
Neo is given a choice between two pills: the blue pill, which would allow him to remain in the illusion, or the red pill, which would expose the truth. Neo chooses the red pill and awakens in the real world, where he joins the resistance, trains to understand the Matrix’s coded structure, and ultimately begins to transform into his true self as “The One,” someone capable of bending or breaking the system’s rules. The story centers on awakening, self-realization, and breaking free from rigid constraints imposed by an artificial system designed to dictate identity and limit human potential. The film centers around themes of control, illusion, and eventual liberation
The entire concept of the simulated universe, or “the matrix,” in the film functions like rigid social systems in our contemporary society, including gender systems. The Matrix simulated universe operates as an invisible system of control, shaping how people perceive themselves and their world without their awareness — much like underlying agents of socialization, like gender norms, dictate behavior and identity unconsciously. Within the Matrix universe, characters live as prescribed, severely limited versions of themselves, mirroring the experiences of those who do not align with typically prescribed social norms, or particularly in this case, the gender assigned to them at birth; the binaries of the Matrix can be seen as the binary enforcement of gender. The “constructed reality” of the Matrix reflects the broader theme of gender as a construct, punishing those who deviate from the invisible rules, both systemically and institutionally.
Finally, the only way to escape the simulated reality of the Matrix takes nuanced self-awareness and radical truth-telling, much like the experience of living as a transgender person coming to terms with their identity. Breaking free from the Matrix takes the strength of choosing and refining identity through awakening, recognizing the absurdity of this constructed reality. The “red pill” serves as a vehicle for the awakening to the artificiality of enforced systems, mirroring the moment of rejecting compulsory gender norms and embracing self-definition.
At the time of the film’s release, the Wachowski sisters were not publicly transgender women and were both living closeted lives, presenting as men. Their experiences living socially as men, yet knowing that this label deeply conflicted with both of their own understanding of their gender identities, emboldens the movie’s symbolism tenfold. It becomes clear that not only was The Matrix movie a transgender allegory, but also a deeply subliminal one prior to their respective transitions. Just as any good vehicle for metaphor, the plausible deniability of the theme of gender enriches its complexities and strengthens its impact.
Despite this, the beauty of taking the “red pill” and breaking free of the Matrix as a means of breaking free from prescribed gender norms has been tainted by the adoption of its narrative as fuel for rampant misogyny and, in turn, transphobia by the incel community (if you can even call it that). Incels redefine the “red pill” as “waking up” to a supposed truth that women are manipulative, shallow, and inherently subordinate to men. They frame this misogyny as enlightenment, positing that the rejection of gender equality is “true consciousness.” The incel community uses the “red pill” to justify their resentment towards women, particularly in the dating sphere and sexual encounters.
In doing this, the incels promote transphobic and misogynistic deterministic gender roles, claiming that biology and so-called “evolutionary hierarchy” dictate male dominance and female submission. These men turn their frustration into ideology, a dangerous sentiment in which the “red pill” creates an alternate universe for community members where anger is validated, and women are dehumanized. They weaponize the metaphor of the “red pill” as an excuse to berate women, arguing that this hostility is the result of breaking free of the simulated reality in which women are entitled to the same institutional and social responsibilities as their counterparts.
Incels’ “red pill” ideology directly contradicts the original metaphor. Co-director Lilly Wachowski has stated that the transgender allegory was “the original intention, but the world wasn’t quite ready.” The adoption of the “red pill” by these groups highlights the sheer absurdity of the “red pill” being used to justify misogyny. A story about breaking free from gender control is now used to reinforce rigid, oppressive gender beliefs. Despite the fact that incels want you to believe that The Matrix is evidence for their case against the female race, this misinterpretation reveals endlessly more about incel culture than the film itself.
The irony of this perversion of the original metaphor is culturally significant and worthy of examination and critique. What the incels seemed to miss when watching this 1999 masterpiece is that breaking free from the Matrix is not about domination, but liberation. Reclaiming The Matrix from its incel distortion allows us to re-center the Wachowskis’ intended themes of autonomy, identity, and resistance, rather than allowing their work to fuel the very systems it was written to critique. After all, the “red pill” was never what truly freed Neo from the prison of the Matrix, but rather his own belief in his ability to transcend these pre-described barriers. He believed in a truer consciousness; therefore, it existed.
“I’m trying to free your mind… But I can only show you the door, you’re the one that has to walk through it.” – Morpheus, The Matrix