Cyberbabes and Their Inner Turmoil
Tim here!
The new episode should be up today. It’s all about Zack Snyder’s Watchmen and Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell, with a little Osamu Tezuka thrown in. A big, big thanks to Vainya from Gaming Angels for showing up to help out with the discussion.
We’ve had so much fun talking about technophilia, cyberbrains and infinite nets we’ve decided to dedicate a future episode to the world of cyberpunk/postcyberpunk. Joy! Possibly my favorite subgenre of science fiction.
Unfortunately, missing from today’s podcast is an actual summary of what Ghost in the Shell’s about. So, from handy-dandy Wikipedia:
Ghost in the Shell (攻殻機動隊 ,Kōkaku Kidōtai, translated as “Mobile Armored Riot Police”) is a Japanese cyberpunk manga created by Masamune Shirow, and first published in 1989 in Young Magazine. A collected edition was released in 1991; a sequel, Ghost in the Shell 2: Man/Machine Interface, was released in 2002; and a serialized manga, Ghost in the Shell 1.5: Human-Error Processor, was released in 2003, which contained material left out of the sequel.
The manga series has been adapted into three anime films, Ghost in the Shell, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Solid State Society; two anime television series, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG; and three video games: one PlayStation game, one PlayStation 2 game, and one PlayStation Portable game. The films and anime were produced by Production I.G..
Ghost in the Shell is a futuristic police thriller dealing with the exploits of Motoko Kusanagi, a member of a covert operations division of the Japanese National Public Safety Commission known as Section 9. The unit specializes in fighting technology-related crimes. … Although supposedly equal to all other members, Kusanagi fills the leadership role in the team, and is usually referred to as “the Major” due to her past rank in the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. She is capable of superhuman feats, and bionically specialized for her job — her body is almost completely mechanized; only her brain and a segment of her spinal cord remain organic.
The setting of Ghost in the Shell is cyberpunk or postcyberpunk, similar to that of William Gibson’s Sprawl trilogy. Kusanagi and her colleagues face external threats and also suffer internal conflict over their own natures.
Here are my viewing notes for Mamoru Oshii’s 1995 anime classic Ghost in the Shell:
**********GHOST IN THE SHELL MOVIE****
computerization has not yet wiped out nations and ethnic groups. Espionage is still important.
Not a Ghost in the Shell movie without helicopters at the beginning
Major spying on a building.
“I hear you.”
“There’s a lot of static in your brain. What’s going on?”
“It’s that time of the month.” – subsequently disrobes. Her skin is made of thermo optic camouflage.
ENGLISH: “Must be a loose wire.”
JAPAN: Escape. Diplomatic immunity. Political asylum. Defection.
The MAKING OF A CYBORG. Creating the perfect female body. So well-drawn. Beautiful. BORN an adult.
She wakes up. A dream? The city. Gets dressed.
PUPPET MASTER
Ghost-hacking. Violating Cyberbrain privacy.
TOGUSA – Overspecialization leads to death. He’s mostly organic.
ACTION ACTION ACTION – pace is brisk. Garbagemen, looks up their routes, is found out. Chase! BULLETS. EXPLOSION.
Meditative. Batou is just soaking in the Scenery Porn – the Hong Kong market.
Major on the rooftops – the perp thinks hse’s scot-free. WATER.
Water and CANALS everywhere. The Major’s thermoptic camo works differently, water doesn’t affect it.
Batou cares about WEAPONS, dogs and THE MAJOR. Puts coat around her.
DATA in a lifetime is a tiny bit compared to the whole. Dreams/reality… fake memories. The MAJOR begins to have doubts.
BACK in water again. Meditation mode again. The Major is diving in one of the city’s canals.
One of the few times we see her eyes closed. Kenji Kawai’s music is shimmering as much as the ocean.
As she surfaces she sees her reflection in the liminal space between water and air. Boundaries. Transition.
Batou = alone. Major = alone, doesn’t mind. In her own head constantly. Batou trying to reach out. Asks about her
diving. Fear. Anxiety. Loneliness. Darkness. Hope. The Major goes into what makes an individual an individual. Quickly.
Checking off everything – voice, hand, brain, information to access via cyberbrain – she’s drunk, btw. Bitter
that she’s practically enslaved to Section 9.
Then a mysterious voice, quoting “through a glass, darkly.”
Meditative transition scene – on a CANAL. The Major is on a boat. She looks up and sees HERSELF sitting in a high-rise cafe.
She looks perturbed. Images of the city. Garbage in the water. People going about their lives. A basset hound. Dolls
in a store window. The music is a reprise of the MAKING OF A CYBORG theme from the beginning.
Gorgeous bus – windows reflecting everything. RAIN. Lights. The type of stuff that would make Michael Mann jealous. Ends with a
dismembered mannequin – next scene begins with the dismemberment of another kind of mannequin.
NUDE body. Blonde woman. a SHELL. Weird, pulsating, quivering. A science experiment. Missing a hand. Creepy.
ESCAPES from Megatech. GHOST = soul. A person’s inside that thing. DIVING into it to see what’s up seems to be a solution.
ELEVATOR SCENE – Major is unsually open in this one. Wonders if she’s a replicant and everything about her is false.
Batou soothes her like some ignored guy friend who wants to take it to the next level but she’s too IN HER OWN HEAD to notice.
Major’s like my envrionment tells me who I am, what if a computer brain has a ghost and soul, then how do I know I am?
Batou: BULLSHIT. I’ll see what thing is for myself with my own ghost.
TOGUSA – suspicious, investigating…
THE PUPPET MASTER – born in the sea of information.
DNA = self-preserving information. Memories make each person an individual. But they may as well be fantasy. Regardless,
it’s how we exist. BAM! Section 6 busts in and takes it. ESPIONAGE.
“Maybe the Puppet Master has a thing for someone over there?” DERP. The Major.
TRANSITION – everyone driving at night. Roadblocks, helicopters, city lights.
BLOOD. Bullets. MUSEUM – made entirely of glass. Architecture. BEAUTIFUL firefight. Rainfall. Music. Bullets blowing everything
apart.
Batou to the rescue – BIGASS gun. Batou covers her with his coat again.
Now the TALKY TALK finale – Puppet Master lacks basic life processes: death and offspring.
Wants to merge with Major. MALE voice coming out of Major. MAJOR can’t leave genes or offspring.
Leave our bonds and shift to the higher structure – evolution. LIGHT. ARCHITECTURE – bending light, transformation.
FEATHERS, Tree of Sephiroth (?) = divine.
BATOU protects her. She’s decapitated but brain is still active. Batou transfers her into a little girl. A CHILD.
Wakes up seeing herself in a mirror, looking at her hand. Batou says it’s not his type.
NEITHER THE MAJOR NOR THE PUPPET MASTER. 2501 is their code. Batou seems disappointed. Loves her? “You can stay as long as you
like.”
MAJOR’s like fuck no. “And where shall I go from here? The net is vast and limitless.”
ENGLISH: Where does the newborn go from here? The net is vast and infite. Zoom up to the city, sounds of transmission/etc
CHORAL SONG – Wedding song. It’s about the Major and 2501.
VERSION 2.0 – the voice is the only indicator of PUPPET MASTER’S sex. Changed to female in 2.0.
VOYUERISM – of female bodies. boobies!
male-oriented space. WORLD OF alienation and uncertain boundaries.
interiority vs. exteriority – true me vs. public me
HEIRARCHY OF RELATIONS OF DESIRE
- men should liek to look at women, vice versa
HOLLYWOOD – women should look good.
MONTAGE-oriented. Pastiche of events.
CYBERWOMEN – Mothers! SEX!
Limit of yourself is your body. INTERNET – problem of identity.
ANXIETY – women’s body is beautiful. OBJECT OF DESIRE. What’s the limit? Real breasts? Real voice?
Desire to control/punish woman
REPRODUCTION – you’re not producing yourself.
punished and blown up.
IS SHE A WOMAN? – Maternal to Togusa. Possible lover to Batou.
- merging of worlds – Puppet Master + THE MAJOR
Ghost in the Shell – the virtual IS part of the real.
The Matrix – virtual is NOT part of the real.