Imagine writing and directing a trans allegory in 1999— when the studio thinks a character portrayed as male in the real world and female in the Matrix is cross

Imagine writing and directing a trans allegory in 1999— when the studio thinks a character portrayed as male in the real world and female in the Matrix is crossing the line— and then rapidly: • having your whole franchise met with critical acclaim and commercial success • sparking philosophical conversations among people who might've never had them otherwise • having a bunch of MRAs led covertly by a Republican politician co-opt your shit anonymously on the Internet, misdirecting frustrated people for decades toward misogyny and damaging countless lives* • building up an enormously anticipated film trilogy and video game franchise with tons of media attention • inspiring a devoted fan base to look deeper and deeper for different varieties of symbolism throughout the canon ...all the while carrying this underlying message, unbeknownst to almost every trend-surfing professor, every armchair philosopher, every idiot misogynist, every news reporter, film critic and fan. It's flown over so many inflated heads, because it was subtle out of necessity, and we were too blind to see. Shameless cranial plug: try and maybe fork my Matrix code! https://github.com/Rezmason/matrix https://github.com/Rezmason/matrix * not blaming the Matrix for this, that's a whole other conversation