Week 11 - Johnny Mnemonic
Johnny Mnemonic by William Gibson definitely carried a strong cyberpunk aesthetic. While I personally like cyberpunk themes in media, I have to admit, this was a little difficult to read. It took me a long time to realize the main character's purpose and one thing was happening after another that he just suddenly joined this place called the Killing Floor and became some kind of rebel with this cool and edgy girl with body modifications.
Something I did find interesting though was how the whole story was a long chase scene, which makes sense sine everyone is after this guy with valuable information stored in his head. That aspect of it was cool, but I feel like it doesn't fit very well as an individual story, even if it was part of a series of them. The presence of such action made it readable though. I'm curious as to how the film adaption approached this story.
Another thing I did like about this story was Molly. To me, her character seemed infinitely more interesting than the protagonist's. She seems really powerful and basically serves as the protagonist's escort in the story. That's one part of the cyberpunk theme is the large amount of strong cyborg women.
One piece of cyberpunk media that is my absolute favourite is the anime Psycho-Pass, which is a slightly recent anime with many parallels to Ghost In the Shell. This anime also contains common cyberpunk themes like cyborgs, rebellious characters, and a strong female protagonist. This delves into deep aspects of a cyberpunk society though, whereas Johnny Mnemonic only touches on underground business, blackmail, and running from thugs.
Something I did find interesting though was how the whole story was a long chase scene, which makes sense sine everyone is after this guy with valuable information stored in his head. That aspect of it was cool, but I feel like it doesn't fit very well as an individual story, even if it was part of a series of them. The presence of such action made it readable though. I'm curious as to how the film adaption approached this story.
Another thing I did like about this story was Molly. To me, her character seemed infinitely more interesting than the protagonist's. She seems really powerful and basically serves as the protagonist's escort in the story. That's one part of the cyberpunk theme is the large amount of strong cyborg women.
One piece of cyberpunk media that is my absolute favourite is the anime Psycho-Pass, which is a slightly recent anime with many parallels to Ghost In the Shell. This anime also contains common cyberpunk themes like cyborgs, rebellious characters, and a strong female protagonist. This delves into deep aspects of a cyberpunk society though, whereas Johnny Mnemonic only touches on underground business, blackmail, and running from thugs.
Comments
Post a Comment