Society Structures from Anime-Cyberpunk to Postcyberpunk.: City Imagery in Ghost in the Shell and Psycho-Pass

Malte Frey

doi:10.21900/j.jams.v4.968

Authors

Malte Frey University of Fine Arts Muenster

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21900/j.jams.v4.968

Keywords:

cyberpunk, postcyberpunk, ghost in the shell, psycho-pass, society, city

Abstract

This paper analyzes the imagery of cities as depicted in the cyberpunk anime Ghost in the Shell (1995) and the post-cyberpunk anime series Psycho-Pass (2012). In these works, the filmic city is employed as a signifier for societal structures, and changes in these visual signifiers thus depict the shift from cyberpunk, which focuses the autonomous subject, to post-cyberpunk, which focuses on technological
societies. Different depictions of society and the role of the individual subject within it are made apparent. The predominant bottom-up direction of view in Ghost in the Shell suggests a technological dystopia that the protagonist seeks to elude, while an upper-lower dichotomy in Psycho-Pass offers subjects a means of remaining within society. Certain concepts of Japanese architecture, urbanity, and postmodernity are employed to conceptualize and visualize these key differences. This project concludes that Ghost in the Shell depicts a dystopian society whose postmodern superficiality prohibits the protagonist from becoming autonomous, while Psycho-Pass acknowledges that postmodern signification does not equal material existence. Postmodern globality is evident in Ghost in the Shell, while Psycho-Pass takes a more nationalist and autocratic approach to society.

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