Recent years have seen the release of a number of cyberpunk films and series, both in cinemas and on streaming services such as Netflix. Among them are Blade Runner 2049 (2017), Ghost in the Shell ...Show moreRecent years have seen the release of a number of cyberpunk films and series, both in cinemas and on streaming services such as Netflix. Among them are Blade Runner 2049 (2017), Ghost in the Shell (2017), Altered Carbon (2018), and this year’s Alita: Battle Angel (2019). The original Blade Runner (1982) can be seen as the first cyberpunk movie with its benchmark depictions of a distinctly dystopian future and Asian oriented cityscapes. Ghost in the Shell and Alita: Battle Angel are both films based on Japanese anime. My focus of interest for the past year has been gender and sexuality, I have been combining this with my interest for Japanese animation. Cyberpunk has been particularly an interesting genre because it depicts our (generally dark) vision of a technologically advanced future, yet it actually tells more about our contemporary society and condition. The genre has often been critiqued on the fact it has been dominated by (white, straight) men, which produced the one-sided stereotyped depiction of women and minorities in the genre. Japan has often been the setting of these cyberpunk narratives. This had to do with Japan’s technological and economic growth in the 1980s, which caused fascination and anxiety towards Japan in the West. One of the reasons why the Hollywood version of Ghost in the Shell peaked my interest is because it is a recent live-action version of a very popular franchise that focuses on a female cyborg. It is additionally one out of many films that has been accused of whitewashing its main protagonist, which was a reason for me to not see this film when it played in theatres. Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell from 1995 was an international co-production, and is considered to be one of the greatest anime films. The film also inspired the Wachowskis to make The Matrix trilogy, The Matrix is up to today one of the most well-known cyberpunk films. In my thesis I will be looking at the (heteronormative and race) ideologies that are at play in both of the Ghost in the Shell films. In my first chapter I will lay a foundation of the sides of cyberpunk I will focus on. I will discuss techno-Orientalism, Donna Haraway’s Cyborg Manifesto, cyberfeminism, and feminist post-cyberpunk. In my second chapter I will give an analysis of Rupert Sanders’ Ghost in the Shell film, while focusing on the ideology, queer moments, whitewashing, and oriental style. And finally in my third chapter I will focus on Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell. As the “ghost” is a reference towards the soul (and spiritual identity), and the “shell” references towards the (mechanical) body, I will discuss identity, the male gaze, Haraway’s “informatics of domination”, and heteronormativity. I will also be discussing the possibilities and limitations of the cyborg body and the objectifications it goes through in both the GITS films.Show less
