Welcome to #TransTuesday! This week we’re talking about something that recently surprised me, though it really shouldn’t have. We’re going all in on: THIS IS NOT FOR YOU 2 aka LET TRANS PEOPLE HAVE THINGS.
You’re going to need some context for this. First, please see my original THIS IS NOT FOR YOU trans tuesday, which really was about things that were not for ME (even though technically they were!) before the world knew I was trans, like Trans Day of Visibility.
This also deals with one of my threads on representation, that I guess is kind of about FINDING OUR OWN REPRESENTATION (P!nk).
You may have noticed last week the trailer for the fourth Matrix movie dropped. When this happened, my mega Matrix threads discussing the intentional trans allegory of the movie got shared more. A lot more.
You don’t need to have read them to understand this post, but really you should because it’s an absolute marvel what the Wachowskis accomplished. Those threads got me a book deal and became BEGIN TRANSMISSION: THE TRANS ALLEGORIES OF THE MATRIX.
What happened as my Matrix threads got shared around is it started to find people… who could not, would not accept the truth of what the Matrix is (I mean the movie, but honestly it also applies to the matrix of cis binary society the movie was talking about).
I’ve gathered some of the replies to my thread, or my talking to people about the thread, or even from replies to other people who were talking about the movie and its transness. Let’s take a look.
This guy skimmed the beginning of the first thread and the end of the last one, and missed every bit of evidence in between. He, a WHITE CIS MAN, felt he could (and should!) declare to the world what is/is not specific to a gender transition.
Where do you get the idea that you know better than trans people what is or isn’t specific to us? Is it from the society set up by cis straight white men to uphold and confirm their right to… everything? From the moment they’re born? From THE MATRIX??? (not the movie)
The Wachowskis saw you coming twenty years ago, my dude, and called you out right in the movie. “You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.”
And of course he then shows his entire ass by calling us “transsexuals.” What an “expert” who’s not at all an “asshole.”
This guy was like “nah there’s a mountain of evidence but this one other thing.” Even if he was right (but he’s not), that wouldn’t… undo every other frame of the movie? Okay bud.
THIS GUY (hoo, deep breaths Tilly) accused the movie made by trans people, about trans people, and confirmed to be about trans people, as APPROPRIATING a trans narrative. How… are some dudes… SO… dense?
Also note his “fuck it, whatever” closing argument. Yeah, fuck it, who cares if people who never get to see themselves in movies like this finally do, why should he care? Literally 99.9% of all media and the entire world is set up to cater to him. Makes no difference.
AND YET the mere thought that this one movie does not in fact cater to him set him off (this wasn’t remotely his only tweet). HOW DARE ANYONE BUT HE GET SOMETHING MADE FOR THEM! We ask so much, you know.
This guy claims to “get it,” and probably thinks of himself as an ally, yet still makes excuses for how it cannot be the thing it so very, very clearly is.
Here’s another great one. The movie’s just claiming representation after the fact to be “woke,” despite the fact it was designed to be exactly what it is over twenty years ago. Yep, checks out.
Again someone who I’m sure thinks of themselves as an ally, yet is quick to point out it’s lots of other things too. Sure! It absolutely is. That doesn’t negate its transness, however. If you remove the trans allegory it wouldn’t be close to the same movie. There’d BE no movie. (the absolute joke this has become with calling world’s-biggest-transphobe JRK “woke,” hoooooo)
It’s important to not leave out some stuff it barely touches on, rather than talk about the one thing that is the blood that beats through every frame of the movie! Don’t forget about that other surface level point that’s not even an allegory!
When told the Wachowskis themselves confirmed their intent that it was a trans allegory, which can be confirmed in less than 60 seconds as YOU ARE ON THE INTERNET, just yell “fake news!” and walk away.
If you read my Matrix threads, you know about the point where I said (cis) people might get angry. The lobby scene, where Trinity and Neo mow down the guards protecting the agents so they can literally get to Morpheus, the subconscious that knows their true self?
I mentioned those guards are the people who are upholding the system that does violence to us and tries to prevent us from being our true selves, and the ones we have to go through to self-actualize. The people leaving these comments are. those. guards.
All of these were cis dudes, which should come as no surprise. So what’s going on here? Why are they so mortally offended, or so unwilling to just admit the truth of the trans allegory?
There’s a couple reasons. Part of it is the same reason the same dudes are offended by ANY minority group getting basically ANYTHING that would have defaulted to white dudes in the past. Lady Ghostbusters? A Black Widow movie? JIMMY OLSEN IS BLACK NOW?
THERE ARE GAY PEOPLE IN STAR TREK? WHY IS EVERYONE IN THIS NEW STAR WARS NOT ALL WHITE ALL THE TIME EXCEPT FOR THE ONE TOKEN BLACK PERSON, WE GAVE YOU THAT, ISN’T THAT ENOUGH?
Listen you little gas station hot dogs, it won’t be enough until there are six different franchises with six movies each with casts that are entirely not you. And even then that wouldn’t actually be enough.
When EVERYTHING has been catered to you your entire life, any stride toward equality, equity, and justice feels like oppression to these folks. They feel attacked and on the defensive because not everything centers them anymore.
Which brings me to my next reason I think this is happening, which is that if they loved something for twenty years, and then learned it’s an INTRINSICALLY trans thing… I think they’re supremely worried what that says about them.
My dudes, that doesn’t make you trans. I like tons of stuff that’s 100% made by, and full of, cis people (which is mostly everything that’s out there). Didn’t change the truth of who I am!
Or are they afraid of the way it resonated with them in ways they didn’t quite understand, like it did for me? Certainly possible. I’m not one to say hating a trans thing means you’re an egg who can’t accept the truth, but it’s not unheard of.
Representation is getting better. There are more trans people in media than ever before, and there are more trans stories appearing in media than ever before. And that’s great, but it’s not the end? It’s barely a beginning.
So quick, name twenty trans actors. Ten? Five? Name five trans directors. Name five trans writers. Name five intrinsically trans stories told by trans people that you’re aware of in our pop culture
Do you see what I mean? There are no trans characters in Star Wars. There is ONE trans character in 800 episodes and 13 movies spanning Star Trek, and they’re not even officially mentioned as being trans in-story yet.
There are no trans characters in all of the MCU. There are no trans characters in DC movies, there is ONE across all the CW DC shows (and I love her, somebody let me write for Dreamer plz).
Look at big franchises praised for their inclusion, like Fast & the Furious. ZERO trans characters that I’m aware of (if I’m wrong, somebody let me know!). Can you name any of our major media franchises with even a SINGLE trans character?
Yet we’re here, existing. This world includes us! We can be in all of these stories that aren’t ABOUT being trans, because none of them are ABOUT being cis. Almost any role that calls for a woman or a man could be played by a cis or trans actor! And should be!
And so when you look at the Matrix, one major media thing that IS trans to its core… there’s not even a single trans actor in it. Even the one thing that is allll about us doesn’t feature us, because they couldn’t.
Straight cis white guys, can you imagine not seeing yourself in ANY MCU, DC, Star Wars, Star Trek, ANY of our popular media? EVER? And when a movie is finally made by straight cis white guys ABOUT being a straight cis white guy… no straight cis white guys were in it.
DO YOU SEE HOW LUDICROUS THIS IS?
The point is you can like the Matrix even if you’re not trans. You can like it even outside of the trans allegory. You can like it for any reason you want. Hopefully it helps you understand us better, but you can like it even if not!
But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s for US from start to end. It’s OURS. You can love it, you can enjoy it, you can hate it. But it’s OUR story. It speaks to US more than YOU and you’re gonna have to be okay with that.
After my threads were seen by so many more people last week, I received multiple DMs from people. One trans person said it gave them the courage to finally schedule the top surgery they’d been putting off.
One person told me the threads saved. Their. LIFE. (!!!) You do not get to tell trans people that the ONE piece of major media/pop culture made by trans people about being trans isn’t ours, or isn’t trans, or that we’re wrong (or that the Wachowskis didn’t know their own intent).
It’s okay for us to have the thing that’s made for us. And it’s okay for you to like it, too! Just unclench and try to embrace it already, will you? Maybe you’ll learn something. Free your mind.
Tilly Bridges, end transmission.
tillysbridges@gmail.com