‘The Matrix: Resurrections’ Release Sparks Debate Over What ‘Taking The Red Pill’ Really Means

In the original 1999 movie “The Matrix,” Neo (Keanu Reeves) is faced with a life-altering decision. He can either take a red pill and wake up to reality, or can take a blue pill and continue living in ignorance. Fans of the film cheered when the protagonist chose the more difficult, honest road to discovering truth.

“You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe,” Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) tells Neo in the movie. “You take the red pill, you stay in wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes … remember, all I’m offering is the truth, nothing more.”

Decades have passed since that surprise hit came to the big screen, and over time the meaning of the red pill has become a cultural phenomenon. In some circles, “taking the red pill” has become synonymous with defecting to the conservative movement, ostensibly pulling back the curtain and rejecting the lies of the ruling elite. 

But “Matrix” creators never intended Neo’s red pill moment to have any political connotations whatsoever. And if anything, the Wachowski siblings would have cast Neo as a liberal vigilante to better match their own belief system. 

And the movie directors have been vocal in their disgust at the red pill movement being equated to conservative conversions. In May 2020, Elon Musk cryptically tweeted, “Take the red pill.” Ivanka Trump quickly replied, “Taken!” This exchange was enough for Lilly Wachowski to add a, “F*** both of you,” to the conversation. 

A 2017 opinion piece in Fox News described the growing movement, saying mainstream media ignored the increasing number of individuals switching political parties. 

“The mainstream media failed to see the rise of Donald Trump in 2016,” the article said. “Now it’s overlooking another grassroots movement that may soon be of equal significance— the growing number of liberals ‘taking the red pill.’  People of all ages and ethnicities are posting YouTube videos describing ‘red pill moments’—personal awakenings that have caused them to reject leftist narratives imbibed since childhood from friends, teachers, and the news and entertainment media.”

But the Wachowskis became desperate to reclaim the meaning of the red and blue pills. In a 2020 interview with Netflix Film Club, Lilly Wachowski, who came out as trans in 2016, claimed that “The Matrix” was truly an allegory for the trans experience.

“I’m glad that it has gotten out that that was the original intention,” Wachowski said of that fan theory. “The world wasn’t quite ready, at a corporate level … the corporate world wasn’t ready for it.” The argument was made that since some hormone therapy pills are red, transitioning is the true meaning of taking the red pill. 

Instead of distancing the “Matrix” franchise from red-pilling, film execs leaned into the symbolism in an attempt to reclaim the narrative. Advertising for the new film “The Matrix: Resurrections” included red and blue pill imagery galore. 

The Independent discussed the issue, saying “The fact that the red pill/blue pill dichotomy is so prominent in the new film’s advertising, though, does suggest she’d like to reclaim them – symbols not of right-wing nonsense, but of positive change.”

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