Matthew Yglesias, discussing Zion’s multiculturalism in Matrix Reloaded, suggests that it would have been nice to see more interracial dating. I agree, but given how rare it is to see many non-white faces in Science Fiction at all (clue to Star Trek creators: the majority of the human race is not white), it seems silly to fuss over this.
(Keep in mind, as well, that The Matrix is not unusual in the lack of interracial romance; it’s just that in most sci-fi nearly everyone is white, so we don’t think twice about the white-on-white mono-racial relationships being portrayed.)
Really, the preponderance of monoracial dating could be justified in the universe of the Matrix. Remember, all those folks in Zion were raised in a simulation of late-20th-century Earth. Since they were therefore with all the same prejudices that bedevil our current society, it would be strange if there were less racial division in Zion than we see around us from day to day.
If I see the movie again, I’ll try to pay more attention to demographics, but if my memory serves there were a lot of African-Americans in Zion, and many fewer Asians than you’d expect given global demographics. Maybe the Matrix’s creators are implying that American Blacks, due to living in a racist system, are more mentally prepared to rebel against the system – to “swallow the red pill” – than most other folks are..
