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"Ah yes, the old ball and chain."

"That's a little rude, don't you think?"

JENNY PROPAGANDA: 

Born XJ-9, but insists on being called Jenny by her mother. Functionally cis by the narrative, but very specifically grapples with identity in a way that inspired a well of trans-readings after the fact =====

NEO PROPAGANDA

Famously BOTH of the creators of the Matrix would end up being trans women. And the story of the actually film has so much to do with perceptions and reality and the self that I truly just cannot imagine thinking of it in a non-trans way

As the original post states, yes, the Wachowski sisters are both trans and both of them have confirmed on various occasions that their experiences as closeted trans women influenced the story of The Matrix, but even before either of them was out, there's still plenty enough subtext in the film to be able to very easily read Neo as trans if you know what you're looking for. Starting of course, with the premise being centered on their being something different about the way you experience the world that most other people don't seem to understand and the fact that the Whole Thing is about breaking free of the oppressive constraints of social constructs. But other highlights include but are not limited to:

Neo's introduction being backed by the track Dissolved Girl, which is only the first time she's held in comparison to a feminine figure; others include two different Alice in Wonderland references positioning Neo as Alice, a comparison to Dorthy Gale, and her being awoken by her true love's kiss at the end of the film

She's got a different name she uses online that becomes her real name

Her meeting with Trinity- her first step to breaking out of the matrix- takes place in a queer club

That first conversation with Trinity includes an exchange where Neo says she had assumed Trinity was a guy, to which Trinity confidently makes fun of Neo for that assumption. Our introduction to freedom from oppressive categories designed to crush us into cogs in the machine of Western patriarchal capitalist systems is directly associated with the ability to look at someone incorrectly assuming your gender and confidently tell them that they are wrong

Associating with this freedom does directly put Neo in danger from those who benefit from violently enforcing the system, resulting in her arrest and brutalization by government Agents. While certainly not exclusive to the trans community, I think we're all aware of the rates at which trans women are targeted and assaulted by the police

The iconic scene where Morpheus tells Neo she can take a blue pill and try to bury what she knows is wrong with her life and move on or she can take a red pill which will make her life harder, but will let her be free and able to exist as her true self. In the 90s, prozac (antidepressant) was blue and premarin (estrogen) was red

Being free involves taking this red pill and then going through a series of surgeries to make her body her own again after the trauma of living in her assigned role within the matrix for 30 years

One of the people involved in trying to either force people back into their assigned roles or get them killed is literally named Reagan

The Agents of the oppressive system continually and intentionally use her incorrect name, specifically prefacing it with "Mr" in an attempt to force her back into that assigned role

Neo accessing the ability and strength within herself to fight back against these Agents is embodied by her confidently stating her real name in response

This happens while the Agent is deadnaming her, telling her that the only options are staying in her assigned role or death, and trying to force her into the path of an oncoming subway. Lana Wachowski has spoken before about how when she was younger and convinced that she would never be able to live as her true self, she planned to commit suicide by jumping in front of a subway

Broader thematic elements include but are not limited to: the ability to fight back against this oppression and be your real self is deeply connected to a sense of community with others like yourself, staying within the machine results in a deep alienation and disconnection from one's body, and reclaiming your connection to your own body as a way both to fight back against the system but also to experience joy and love. Also the Everything about the fourth movie feels very deeply like a forced detransition, though Neo does of course rediscover herself throughout the film

Bonus other trans shit about the series not directly related to Neo: Switch was intended to be played by a woman in the matrix and a man in the real world to solidify the film's themes of gender, but the studio nixed it. One of the most brutal scenes definitely in the first movie if not the whole series is when cops beat and arrest Morpheus, which takes place in a bathroom- a major nexus of transphobic violence. Another brutal scene is that The Animatrix features a sequence where an android woman is beaten and torn to shreds all while screaming and begging that she is a real woman, please don't do this to her, in a way that is extremely obviously meant to be representative of transmisogynistic violence. And they straight up say out loud in the fourth movie that The Matrix is about trans politics

July 2, 2026

Manufacturer Utz issued a voluntary recall in May for varieties of its Zapp’s and Dirty potato chips products, citing the possible presence of salmonella in dry milk powder sourced from a third party used to make a seasoning ingredient.

An estimated 650,000 bags of chips with best by dates ranging from 27 July to 31 August were believed to be affected.