• acockworkorange@mander.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      23
      ·
      edit-2
      8 months ago

      How’s that an allegory? Taking the red pill is waking to trans reality or something?

      Edit: thanks everyone for your responses, it was eye opening. Time for a rewatch.

        • barsoap@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          8 months ago

          Who knows what else got cut?

          Thermodynamics. The original idea was the machines using human brains as CPUs, execs said “the audience doesn’t know what computation is” so they came up with that “humans generate energy” thing which is complete and utter inefficient nonsense.

          • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            8 months ago

            If people didn’t understand the computing thing they could have just said it was designed to keep the human population under control and not rebelling against their machine overlords.

            • barsoap@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              edit-2
              8 months ago

              Yes but why keep humans around then, why not just kill them all off? Could be some “Robot Law” injunction, “don’t harm humans”, but I’d say introducing that would introduce complexity into the setting that detracts from the main themes.

              “We’re using humans for their computational power” doesn’t need much history or exposition as it’s a completely practical matter: Suspension of disbelief for minimum investment, a script writer’s dream.

              • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                8 months ago

                Just compare it to adult children putting their elderly parents in a nursing home. Also, based on the Animatrix it seems like it has a lot more to do with keeping humans from fighting back and destroying the earth even more than it does with using them for computing power, since the machines didn’t need human brains prior to building The Matrix.

        • xantoxis@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          8
          ·
          8 months ago

          OH. Hah, I always thought this was one detail they got wrong for some reason, considering estradiol is bluegreen. Should have considered the context back then.

      • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        18
        ·
        8 months ago

        Taking the red pill (estrogen at the time was a red pill) enables you to see that a lot of society is a facade and there are depths beyond it. In the real world that could be things like learning that there are people and lives that society refused to acknowledge like trans people

      • Psaldorn@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        8 months ago

        Switch was meant to be trans (hence the name I think) and their in matrix visual identity was different to “reality”. But corpos didn’t like it.

      • Abucketofpuppies@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        8 months ago

        I’ve always wondered the same. I’ve watched the trilogy multiple times looking for the trans parallels, but I don’t really get it.

    • drathvedro@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      8 months ago

      Thanks for choosing the right wording! It’s certainly one of the ways to read it. And it’s also a good idea to sometimes search for a new matrix theory and then doing a re-watch. It is mindblowing how many different, sometimes completely crazy yet beautiful narratives the original trilogy can fit to, all while also being enjoyable as is without any.