During a recent appearance on the podcast “So True with Caleb Hearon,” co-director Lilly Wachowski was asked about certain right-wing groups’ ideological connections to her 1999 sci-fi masterpiece “The Matrix.” Ms. Wachowski said she doesn’t care about conservative misconceptions and knows how to separate herself from her films once they’re released.
“You have to let go of your work, and people are going to interpret it the way they want to interpret it,” Wachowski said. “I look at all the crazy mutant theories about the Matrix movies and all the crazy ideologies that those movies helped create, and I just think, ‘What are you doing? No, that’s wrong! “But to some extent you have to let it go…You can never completely convince everyone of what you originally intended.”
The Matrix, especially the iconic “Blue Pill or Red Pill” scene, is the most famous example of a movie being appropriated by the right. In this scene, Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, has to take a red pill to free himself from the Matrix. In a political context, “red pill” is a term used to refer to someone who has “woke” to the truths of society, often aligning themselves with radical far-right ideologies.
The Wachowskis have previously explained that The Matrix’s “original intent” was to be a transgender allegory. Still, she said, it’s no surprise that right-wingers are obsessed with the film because “right-wing ideology is taking over absolutely everything.”
He added: “They are appropriating the left-wing perspective and modifying it for their own propaganda to obfuscate what the real message is. This is what fascism does. And of course it will happen.”
