Ghost In The Shell – Not just another action movie!
On November 13, 2016, the very first trailer for the long in production Ghost in the Shell live action movie was released! As a long time fan of the cult classic movie, i’m excited to see how Hollywood will handle this film. In the past I’ve expressed my disdain towards live action anime adaptations, but i’m looking at this one with optimism.
The very first trailer as mentioned can be seen here:
So, what is Ghost in the Shell anyways?
Ghost: consciousness , shell:cybernetic-body.
For those uninitiated in the genre of Cyberpunk, Ghost in the Shell isn’t just Hollywood churning out another action flick featuring Scarlet Johansson. It all began in 1989 as a manga series by “Masamune Shirow” about cyber-terrorism in a twenty first century Japan. And no, we’re not talking about hackers draining bank account cyber-terrorism, we mean people literally hijacking other peoples bodies with technology for ransom. The series found a cult like popularity for how it effortlessly blended sci-fi action and philosophical thoughts about humanity against the backdrop of a society that has become one with technology. Its safe to say that this series holds a special place in the history of the cyberpunk genre.
The critically acclaimed movie that for most fans really defines the whole series was released in 1995, and was of course animated. The 1995 movie goes high on my list not only for anime, but cinema in general. You can’t rightly watch this movie without feeling something existential, but it isn’t offensive or boring in how it does so – it keeps the viewer engaged in a fictional world of technology and crime that is still within our realm of possibility. Just go watch it before you see the live film.
The trailer and my thoughts
There’s a few points here that I think will really set the tone for how this movie will be received among fans and newcomers.
- Scarlet Johansson is the lead actress. Okay, kind of a big deal here – we’ve got an actress whose a big name in the USA known for filling roles associated with powerful and beautiful women. Not that I’m complaining, because I do find her appropriate for the role; she is acting as the main character Major Motoko Kusanagi, an agent in a special public safety group with a reputation for being a talented detective whose both physically and mentally strong. However, i’m worried that Scarlet’s fame will compromise the character on screen. It’s difficult for a lot of people to disassociate an actor/actress from who they are in reality, with who they are on the screen in a respective movie. A fundamental aspect of GiTS is what our identity truly means. Can a machine be human at all? What does humanity and identity even mean? These are questions one should consider as themes of this series, and a big star filling the main character role may compromise it for the predisposed.
- At about 0:59 in the trailer, we hear a doctor say to the Major “you’re the first of your kind”. To clarify, the Major is a recipient of a fully prosthetic and augmented cybernetic-human body. She can go beyond normal human limits and even interface with technology around her because of this, but this blessing is a curse, because she is fully aware that while she retains her human mind, her body is fully mechanical. This causes a lot of internal turmoil for the Major, as she begins to question if she was ever a human to begin with, or merely programmed to believe it, or if its the other way around for humanity now anyways. Getting back to the whole “first of your kind” thing ; I think there lies a problem with that canonically. From the source material, the Major isn’t the very first person to be augmented by any means. Even in the trailer, we see other members of her unit who have augmentations. There may be tweaks to the backstory in this movie, or maybe it’s neither here nor there.
- At about 1:57 we hear the major say “I’ll find out who I was”. Again, I see some conflict with source material. The major knows full and well who she is and was. I’ll give this one the benefit of the doubt and say that in this line she meant it as a more existential question. As previously stated, a major theme of this series is humanity, and while the Major knows she has a human mind, she can’t be certain if she was merely programmed to believe in her humanity or if it was true to begin with. I’m hoping this isn’t just a Hollywood cop-out and they are using the amnesia excuse, that would really disappoint me!
- Finally, the ending quote in the trailer was one I quite liked : “they didn’t save your life, they stole it”. This is what Ghost in the Shell is all about. Scientists designed a powerful cyber-body for a woman who had a background in military training – she could’ve simply been treated by conventional means after suffering the injuries that necessitated a new body. Instead, she was made into a powerful tool and weapon for the Japanese law enforcement in this fictional future. If her body is programmable, is anything she does really of her own will? Conflict!
This one is definitely on my list, and the release date is scheduled for sometime in 2017. If this is well received, maybe I can finally quit ranting about how much live action animation sucks? Here’s hoping! Until next time, Major out.
