Elon Musk referenced The Matrix – again – and fans were quick to point out the obvious
Elon Musk. (Getty)
Elon Musk is being dragged once again on his own social media platform after he posted a cringe-worthy meme about The Matrix – and it’s comedy gold.
The tech billionaire is apparently a fan of the film, in which the world as we know it turns out to be a simulated version of reality.
Elon Musk alluded to the film yet again in a bizarre meme about “critical thought” which he posted on Twitter.
The meme features a cartoon of Neo from The Matrix along with the text: “What if I told you the only way to escape the matrix is to unlearn everything that you have been taught and rebuild your entire belief system based on critical thought & analysis?”
It wasn’t long before Twitter users rushed to point out the obvious – that The Matrix is an allegory for the trans experience and that its trans creators want nothing to do with him.
This isn’t the first time Musk has tweeted about The Matrix – in 2020, he urged his followers to “take the red pill”, referencing a scene in the film in which Neo is given the choice to see the world as it really is or to continue living in ignorance.
The fiasco became even more cringeworthy when Ivanka Trump, daughter of Donald Trump, quote-tweeted him, adding: “Taken!”
Lilly Wachowski, co-creator of The Matrix, saw the exchange – and she wasn’t having any of it. She replied: “F**k both of you,” leaving little room for doubt on her views.
Musk is far from the first person to use the “red pill” analogy as a political tool. The term “redpilling” has become popular among the far-right online, with some using it to refer to a rapid shift in political beliefs.
But those people apparently missed the point of the film completely – in 2020, Lilly Wachowski confirmed that the film series is a metaphor for the trans experience.
Speaking to the Netflix Film Club, she said their “original intention” was that the film would follow a trans narrative.
“I’m glad that it has gotten out that that was the original intention. The world wasn’t quite ready for it. The corporate world wasn’t ready for it.
“I’m glad people are talking about The Matrix movies with a trans narrative.
“I love how meaningful those films are to trans people and the way that they come up to me say, ‘Those movies saved my life.’
“Because when you talk about transformation, specifically in the world of science fiction, which is just about imagination and world-building and the idea of the seemingly impossible becoming possible, that’s why it speaks it to them so much.
“And I’m grateful I can be a part of throwing them a rope along their journey.”
