The Wachowski (brothers) highly successful 1990 film The Matrix explicitly deals with the body, intellect and gender roles and identity. The Matrix contains very intentional manipulations of gender and gender boundaries in both its narrative as well as casting and costuming. One example of this is the character of Trinity. Our first introduction to her is in the films opening scene where a police says, “I think we can handle one little girl,” before Trinity proceeds to outrun and outfight the male officers and agents. She appears feminine through her leather clad costuming although she is infact one of the key action hero’s of the film. This play on gender roles becomes evident again when Neo discovers her identity and connects her with her impressive hacker past, “Jesus! I just thought you were a guy.” It is Trinity’s female character that excels in activities reserved for males, further evident when Trinity takes on the role of Prince Charming, saving Neo and awakening him with a kiss.
The Matrix further
communicates an agenda of gender role confusion with Reeves playing Neo. His
slim relatively unmuscled body and androgynous features, place Reeves is at the
opposite end of the spectrum from overly hypermasculinized action icons like
Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Blurred gender identities are further
highlighted through the costuming of Neo and Trinity where by one can
appreciate that fashion defines gender, manifesting it into visual means.
Gender identities are fluid
and in a constant state of change, and as Oakly (2000) observes, we have
reached a point whereby dress and behavior are as much a function of the male
and female identity as is having either male or female genitalia. As such
clothing is more than its physical manifestation as a means of protection,
modesty, and comfort. Craik (2005) proposes, the very nature of clothing and
its intimate relationship with the body render it an integral tool in the
representation of gender and identity and is layered with meaning that
communicate social and cultural roles.
These ideas are supported by Gilligan in the extract "Becoming Neo: costuming and transforming masculinity in the matrix films" (2009) as she states "Although the material body may still be biologically defined as male or female, it is no longer the site at which masculinity and femininity becomes constructed. Thus, rather than the excesses of muscularity or the hyper feminine body, gendered identity becomes constructed at the level of performance." It is evident from the above academic perspectives that whilst traditional gender and sexual binaries have been delineated in fashion and costume, films such as the Matrix offer alternative queer spaces. Through the portrayal and costuming of characters such as Neo’s a crossover appeal for the straight female and gay male has been created.
Sources
Vicki Karaminas, Guest Lecture at UTS (14 June 2013)
Craik J, 1993, The Face of Fashion: Cultural Studies in Fashion, London: Routledge.
Gilligan S, 2009, Becoming Neo: costuming and transforming masculinity in the matrix films, in McMeil, Karaminas, V and Cole, C (eds) Fshion in Fiction Berg, p149-159.
Oakley A, 1972, Sex, Gender and Society, London: Maurice Temple Smith Ltd.
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