Cyberpunk Cinema

Finally I've finished all of the movies discussed in the man's essay and I have to say wow. I've come up with ideas, some I've passed along, I've seen things that I thought were interesting and noticed paterns in my own roleplaying that I'd not recognised before.

I'm just curious as to what others have seen in their own roleplaying that they might have subconsciously taken from films or ideas that are in the genre - more than the obvious of course.

I want to know if somewhere out there there is a female character - lead  character - in a cyberpunk movie or book or even comic that is strong throughtout the entire storyline/plot.

For example Nikita of La Femme Nikita - the movie not the USA cable network TV show - and even the later Americanised version Point of No Return character  - is a trained assassin. In the begining of the movie when she is sentenced to life in prision is it for point blank killing four - though they only show one - police officers after they killed her friends and not showing any remorse.  Then she goes on to be trained to be a killing machine. So what goes wrong? Well first she's so lonely she gets herself an annoying boyfriend. And forms an odd romantic attachment to Bob before that. But to top it all off in the French version she gets scared shitless by a fucking dog. A dog! A trained assassin scared to death because a Doberman growls at her.

Yes, you may say, "But she's just a French assassin, trained by the French government," but still she's an assassin.  In the Hollywood remake she's scared by something just as asinine.

Where are all the strong women? Where are they?

Sarah can't get along without Reese or John. And when she is strong, its because she's gone crazy and is having freaky visions.

Its a male driven genre, yeah, I get that. But there can be strong women too. So why aren't there?

Why are the only strong women the bad ones or the psycho ones?

Well I honestly don't know if the lead in this movie (a lady named Ash) is an answer to Tash's question…someone else should probably watch it and evaluate it for me. My pupose of posting here is really just to get some opinions on whether or not the movie, Oshii's <b>Avalon</b>, is really cypunk.
Sure, it involves a cyber world. And destitute characters. And guns n' all that cool stuff, with just a touch of enigma. But I'm hardly one to decide whether that all qualifies it for the title. All the same, I have it listed as my fave cypunk movie in my @profile :P
So, opinions? I'm assuming someone other than me has actually -seen- the darn thing...

Harrison Ford…rock on, Chicago!
:D

Never seen Max Headroom…err...nice name, though.

Good call on Jin-Roh! I don't know if I would call it cyberpunk, but it does have certain aspects, as Murphy mentioned. Those techie suits the 'wolves' wear look a crazy lot like the ones in the Final Fantasy movie...cool stuff.

Hey, another question for the boards...does eXistenZ count as a CP movie? It's got the the game, some funky gear (get me one o' them glo-fones!), not to mention the psychadelic plot.

Oh yea, Happy belated Thanksgiving to everybody!

(Edited by Lena at 12:15 pm on Nov. 29, 2002)

Tash, concerning your question of whether there are female chars who are strong throughout any CP comics/movies/etc., I'd have to say that yes, there are.

One in particular is Major Motoko Kusanagi.  Read the Ghost In The Shell manga, written by Shirow Masamune, translated by Darkhorse comics.  Very strong character whom I think you'd like.

If I could copy it, I'd send it to you….

Just my two shares,

Grimmy

Tash (late but better than never):

Molly - Neuromancer (not the main protagonist, but I would say she is in many ways dual to Case.)

YT - SnowCrash (Though Hero Protagonist is the main protagonist, the nature of the writing has multiple streams, like pulp fiction, so she is just as important.)

Trinity - The Matrix (With out her, Neo would be dead. She is the reason for his re-gaining life and becoming the chosen one. She is a very powerful 'creator' figure in a way.)

Chia McKenzie - Idoru (co-star to Colin Laney in Idoru. In fact, the Idoru is female as well.)

Sarissa Leon - Mek (Warren Ellis, it is a mini-series of cp comics, as most CP comics are. She is the definitive focal character, and not only the star of the comic, but the reason for the culture within the story line.)

Deunan Knute - Appleseed (Definitive post apoc world with arcology structures and high tech life.)

Corrine - Empty Zone (Fantastic CP comic, she's the star.)

So, as you can see, just pulling from my collection of stuff, and without digging too far there are a great many strong female characters in Cyberpunk.