We see how cyberspace can create instant connections, but also create an almost out-of-body sense of physical isolation we aren’t souls trapped in cybernetic bodies like Kusanagi, but many of us are familiar with the sentiment that we spend more time absorbed in our phones or talking via a messaging service than we are talking with people face-to-face. Ghost In The Shell understood all of this, and refracted it through the lens of science fiction: in this future Tokyo, we see how politicians, criminals and terrorists could use technology for their own dark purposes, and what might need to be done to prevent it. All the same, Ghost In The Shell peeked over the horizon and recognised the revolution that was already by then on its way: the internet has changed the way we interact, the way we shop, the way we make friends, perhaps even the way we think. Admittedly, we’re not at the point where we’re uploading our brains to the internet just yet, but all the same, both Ghost In The Shell and its later animated TV series, the similarly acclaimed Stand Alone Complex, were unique in their depiction of a future world of ubiquitous technology.īack in 1995, the web’s reach was comparatively tiny mobile phone technology was in its infancy. Ghost In The Shell‘s brilliance goes far beyond ’90s cool, though – over 20 years later, its vision of an interconnected, cybernetic world is looking more prescient than ever. In fact, when the Wachowskis were trying to explain exactly what their heady amalgam of comic book, anime and videogame imagery would look like, they simply showed their producer, Joel Silver, a videotape of Ghost In The Shell. It’s set in a future where robotic enhancements are commonplace, and where human minds can interface directly with the web.Īs a result, the line between human and machine is now an almost invisible one, as embodied in the protagonist Major Motoko Kusanagi, a special agent whose body is entirely cybernetic – all that remains of her is her human consciousness – or ghost, as it’s termed in the movie.įrom a visual and storytelling standpoint, Ghost In The Shell‘s impact was pretty much immediate in the late 90s, two young American filmmakers, the Wachowskis, were so inspired by Oshii’s anime that they incorporated slivers of it into what would become The Matrix, their own cyberpunk thriller that exploded into cinemas in 1999. All the same, it’s startling just how fresh, and how relevant, director Mamoru Oshii’s acclaimed, 1995 animated feature still is. You won’t find a smartphone or a mention of wi-fi in Ghost In The Shell, which offered up a vision of the future from a distinctly mid-90s angle. Smart phones and tablets that give us immediate, wireless access to terabytes of words, images and video would have seemed unfathomably high-tech in the ’80s or ’90s now, they’re just part of our daily lives. Chances are, you’re reading these words on a device that, only a couple of decades ago, would’ve been inconceivable.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |