@article{fc 3608, author = {Niels Niessen}, title = {Forget the Red Pill: Queer Politics but also Transhumanist Ideology in <i>The Matrix</i>}, volume = {46}, year = {2022}, url = {https://journals.publishing.umich.edu/fc/article/id/3608/}, issue = {2}, doi = {10.3998/fc.3608}, abstract = {Following the <i>Matrix</i> trilogy (1999, 2003, 2003) the franchise’s iconic red pill trope became an anti-feminist meme in neo-fascist circles. This essay analyzes how <i>Matrix Resurrections</i> (2021) reclaims the red pill in an explicitly feminist and queer narrative. But the fourth <i>Matrix</i> film also is an ideological fantasy: <i>Resurrections</i> resonates just too much with a transhumanist belief in a human-machine synergy that also fuels Silicon Valley’s new American Dream. Propelled by this transhuman delusion, <i>The Matrix</i> ultimately has little to say about life in the era of climate catastrophe and control capitalism.}, month = {12}, keywords = {Feminism,Ideology,Matrix,Posthumanism,Queer Studies,Transhumanism,Zizek}, issn = {2471-4364}, publisher={Michigan Publishing}, journal = {Film Criticism} }