Following on from one surprisingly influential Japanese modern classic to another, it's time to look at another film that cemented not just the medium of anime, but influenced greatly the cyberpunk genre itself (a genre that becomes ever more relevant with each passing day, and I'm not just talking the upcoming videogame). A quarter of a century on, let's see how Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell holds up--be it a cyborg-themed classic, or something to vanish into the night as its heroine does?
Let's first take a quick glance at the manga source material by Masamune Shirow, published in the late eighties--and, erm, it certainly does feel like many a cheesy movie from that time, at least initially. It's the sort of thing where everyone talks in snark at each other, and revels in gratuitous action, 'splosions, and even at one point random lesbian group sex (purely because Shirow didn't want to draw naked men). Which for some will certainly be enjoyable in its own right, but even though the manga eventually matured, getting into it will certainly be jarring if you're familiar with the movie or even later series first. So, it's somewhat understandable that director Mamoru Oshii took a very different approach in adaptation--one inspired by the rising dominance of technology and the nascent digital age.
And considering that the internet was very much in its infancy in '95, the film itself has aged rather well for the most part. First of all, we get an iconic opening sequence of a cyborg body being constructed and 'birthed' to the haunting tune of a traditional Japanese wedding chorus--what rises from this creation isn't wholly man nor machine, and that itself already sets up the theme of the flick. Preceding it, in fact, is an opening involving shady backroom politics interrupted by SWAT and special forces--the latter represented by our lead Major Mokoto Kusanagi, who leaves the scene after making her hit in another shot for the decades as she segues back into invisibility.
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| "Traffic news today--smog, gratuitous toll charges, sixteen hour queues, and random faces vanishing into the ether. At least you're not in New Jersey." |
That sets up our story in a future East Asian metropolis, where the Major and her comrades try to track a virus that's been hacking the cybernetic parts of the brains of several denizens. These cyborg upgrades are pretty ubiquitous, allowing for instant wireless brain-to-brain communication, internet access, and so on--essentially our modern smartphone culture taken to its logical conclusion in a time when dial-up was just barely in vogue. It's the 'ghost', the consciousness inside many a cyborg, that gets called into question, and with the real questions of which characters can be considered human or even alive.
Compare this to Akira, which was the first big anime film to hit it in the west--now, Akira was, let's face it, style over substance to some degree. Don't get me wrong, that's not to say it had nothing to it, and there's certainly an attempt at themes and commentaries within, but for most, I wager the epic animation, destruction, and transformations were what wowed viewers uncovering it on VHS. Ghost in the Shell would be the one to prove that you could have heavy real philosophical musings to go along with your awesome scifi action, and would you know it, that proved a big influence on certain little filmmakers such as the Wachowskis, not long after.
The animation is pretty darn solid in this one--with lots of atmosphere, some cool ass-kicking, great painted backgrounds that really make the Hong Kong-city come alive, and attention to detail. I've mentioned before that the mid-late nineties is probably my preferred era of anime animation, perfecting the projects began in the eighties but before CG began to take over around the turn of the millennium. Ghost's visual style made its mark on western cyberpunk--you'll see many a character in that genre wear similar sort of blank chunky visors as some do in this one, which resemble your typical videogame VR headset. Another good example of the visuals serving the theme is a sequence showcasing the city streets, settling on a store where the cyborg bodies are sold and posed like fashion mannequins--coming right after a scene where the Major ponders her own humanity.
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| Contemplating the nature of her bio-mechanical existence, or bitter over downtown housing prices? Interpretations abound. |
Major herself still feels a somewhat refreshing female lead in anime--she's a lot more stoic and professional than what you often get, and presented as more mature over many a hyperactive teenager you tend to get. While she does show off some flesh, she's not nearly outright fetishized; while anime being all sexed up is something of a stereotype in fairness, I still prefer the more world-weary, stoic professional interpretation of Kusanagi over what we have in some others, as we'll get to.
But that's not to say the movie, like Akira, isn't without flaws. Some might find some of the musing scenes a little boring, and if I have one big complaint, it's that it feels like it's missing an act somewhere. The climax just seems to abruptly come up, and I often feel like there should've been a bit more in the middle. Still, that climax itself is another indelibly classic scene to me, where the Major confronts the source of the virus, an AI unto itself, inhabiting a spider tank. There's all sorts of heavy symbolism throughout, but one that sticks to me is the Major pushing her own machine body to its limit trying to rip open the tank, causing her artificial muscles to burst and skin to rupture. Gross to some, but very well animated, and gives her that critical sense of vulnerability she didn't have as much before, making it all the more tense.
That leaves the original Ghost in the Shell as a flawed gem, but a gem nevertheless. James Cameron, who also dug it, sponsored a special edition called 2.0 which added a lot of CG replacement shots--well intentioned, but it ironically aged worse than the original film, so skip that unless you're curious. Oshii himself returned with a sequel in the early 2000s called Innocence, which focused on Major's partner Batou, with his distinctive cybernetic eye lenses. Innocence has some gorgeous and sumptuous animation (even the CG is quite pretty and ambitious), but hell if I can explain what it was actually about.
Of course, that wasn't the end of it--we eventually had the 2000s TV series Stand Alone Complex, which alongside the movie is typically the first thing people think when they think Ghost in the Shell. Harking slightly closer to the original manga, the series took on more political than philosophical themes. I admit I checked it out much later, and used to the movie, I raised an eyebrow on this version of the Major now dressing like a hooker and having apparently got a boob job. Though I haven't seen everything to do with SAC, I do know that it certainly made its mark both in Japan and among fans of its animation.
There's been other shows and series since then, each usually taking place in its own continuity, from Arise to the, erm, questionably received 2045 recently. But refocusing back to movies...well, we had to get to it sooner or later--there was a Hollywood live-action remake in 2017, sort of drawing inspiration from the movie and SAC series with Scarlett Johansson as the Major, and Takeshi Kitano himself as her superior Daisuke. I found it...so-so at best overall, with some decent cyberpunk visuals and a few atmospheric shots. However, the dialogue felt awkward, the delivery just as much, and the story felt rather shoehorned in from other works, with Mokoto now being a super special first of her kind chosen one, instead of essentially just a professional agent wearing a commercially available body as she was in the 95 flick.
And there's the elephant in the room to talk about, namely Scarlett playing a character nominally considered Japanese. There were arguments on all sides--some pointed out that usually it's debated whether the Major even counts as human, let alone any specific ethnicity, but there are of course the issues of Hollywood's lacking Asian representation. What annoyed me, to be honest, was the movie half-heartedly trying to spin this all into another rather questionable plot point, which pleased nobody, instead of just trying to pick something and stick with it. But ultimately, Kusanagi's actress certainly wouldn't have made a difference to the lacking script and story--though, believe or not, the film did reasonably well in Japan regardless supposedly.
Anyway, overall, I say stick with the 95 movie, perhaps the sequel for curiosity, and the best of Stand Alone Concept. With today's ever digital and tech-addicted world, it still remains increasingly relevant, especially those last few lines of dialogue. It may not be an action extravaganza, but it has its literally bone-crunching kinetic moments, and its own murmurings on the nature of man to complement more famous successors like the Matrix. Whether you prefer just cyborg cop action or a touch of philosophy, the series has endured, with enough of both to offer...
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