In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, filmmaker Lilly Wachowski, who wrote and directed The Matrix alongside her sibling, Lana, said that the idea for the iconic 1999 movie was conceived from their dissatisfaction with the capitalist system, specifically the oppression and conformity which it entails.
According to Lilly, The Matrix was “born out of a lot of anger and a lot of rage, and it’s rage at capitalism and corporatized structure and forms of oppression.” To anyone who has seen the film, which follows a young hacker who discovers that the reality he has always known is actually a simulation, this confession should come as no surprise.
The younger Wachowski sibling made the news earlier last month when she told both Elon Musk and Ivanka Trump to “f*ck” themselves on Twitter. The outcry was delivered after the President’s daughter – referencing Lilly’s film – agreed with the founder of Tesla that she would rather brave the world’s harsh reality than live in a simulation. How much ‘harshness’ these highly privileged individuals actually have to ‘brave’ is, of course, another question altogether.
Fuck both of you
— Lilly Wachowski (@lilly_wachowski) May 17, 2020
In the rest of the interview, Lilly – who came out as transsexual in 2016 – also elaborated on how fans could view the film as an anticipation of her transition. “They’re able to go, ‘Oh my God, these films were such an important part of my coming out and my own journey,'” she said. “I’m extraordinarily grateful that I could offer that to people.”
THR published its interview with the renowned filmmaker at just the right time, of course, as trust in the old order of things is weaker than ever before. Indeed, with civil rights protests sweeping the streets, and social media campaigns dominating the internet, it’s difficult not to see a connection between the fictional plot of The Matrix and the nonfictional situation in which the world finds itself today.
