COULTURE
An in-depth analysis of the narrative structure of the Anime film The Ghost in the Shell (1995) framed with themes and concepts presented in the motion picture as the emblematic icon of the professional filmmaking career of Mamoru Oshii.
Japanese Anime as the genre of moving image art form was always on the edge of its thematic contexts with it’s questions that challenges our visual experiences. This essay is the in-depth analysis of the Anime film The Ghost in the Shell (Mamoru Oshii, 1995) as the iconographic representation of the idea of cybernetics as one of the mainstream sub texts of Japanese Anime. This is based on the issues of: body and technology, Anime novels, narrative structures, cyborg experiments, hi-tech developments, post human bodies and feminism, postmodern war and representations of cyborgs in popular culture. Theories, concepts and ideas presented across this content are structured in the way that starts with in-depth analysis of the film’s narrative landscape and continues with the discussion of main thematic question that the film delivers with underlining the significance of development of the film as the voice in the film history and reflection on the professional background of the director of the film. Also are covered aesthetic and technical considerations from the perspective of filmmaking and cinematographic solutions of the moving image example such as capturing with drawing technologies that deals with technical characteristics of cyborg body movements and delivering a non human facial expressions with the relevance of the action inside the narrative context of the Anime film.
In her Cyborg Manifesto, Donna Haraway states: “ A cyborg body is no innocent; it was not born in a garden; it does not seek unitary identity and so generate antagonistic dualisms without end (or until the world ends).” (Harraway, 1991a:180).
The storytelling concept in Anime is traditionally based on quite complex structures of narrative and this is the main reason why it is very critical to analyze the plot using the The Hero’s Journey structure of analysis within the plot of the film The Ghost in the Shell (Mamoru Oshii, 1995). The protagonist that we are identify with is the police cyborg Motoko Kusanagi. She is the part of ‘Section Nine’ which is a representation of the National Public Safety Commission organization in Japan. There are many political reasons of the actions of those organizations shown in the film as well. The hacker in the film called ‘The Puppet Master’ was originally designed and manufactured for controlling the political situations in the country which acts as the ‘Call to adventure’ within the narrative. It is very interesting to note that the way the main character should meet her ‘Mentor’ that can guide heroine into the proper direction, Motoko meets the ‘Mentor’ in herself by hearing the voice of her ghost spiritually communicating with her deep self. In terms of it’s uniqueness the narrative is based on very confident, emotive and very self-directed character which is traditionally ‘cyborgesque’ with human brain and strong sense of identity as well. Controlled metabolisms, cybernetically enhanced brains are the technical approaches of character design in the film. Physiologically we have a graphical representation of female cyborg living and breathing across the visual landscape of the film who carries her own destiny and feelings.
Another character in The Ghost in the Shell (Mamoru Oshii, 1995) is Batou who is a cyborg as well, and is also in love with Motoko. It is quite a strange love because it is a cybernetic relationship whose issues and aspects are very relevant to the B story that is established in the context of the narrative structure alongside of the main plot. The ‘First Threshold’ for the characters is when they catch the hackers on the garbage truck which is the first test that Motoko passes very successfully. From the director’s point of view it is significant to show the abilities and strengths of characters through tests and fights with obstacles. Political discussions and issues are the core aspects of the narrative development that delivers the intellectual experience to the audience throughout the film, where the very beautiful representation of ‘The Puppet Master’ was brought into life and shaped with an American looking blond female character having a half of cybernetic body. The fight scene with the Robot that shoots in her with high velocity bullets might be called as “The Approach to Inmost Cave” where she eventually loses her position of being so confident and powerful with the relation of solving every problem of public safety. Steps like “The Reward” and “The Road Back” are explained within the intellectual discussion of Motoko and The Puppet Master connected together where the merging of two perfect cyborgs is the only solution for solving the situation and bringing a new life for everyone. “The Resurrection” states for Batou’s decision to recreate Motoko in the new body of a little girl integrating her cybernetic brain into it. This brings us the new equilibrium where we see Motoko again as one of the most confident and self-directed characters of the film in her new body ready for the new experience where Batou is happy as well because he had not lost her totally.
This section of the essay is responsible of stating the arguments of why film is so emblematic and conceptually powerful in terms of themes and context that communicates within the body of the film’s plot. This is the futuristic film where the main purpose of life is to survive which in keeping with the ideas of Anime narratives fueled with the theme of postmodern war and post apocalyptic ways of seeing the future. Cyborg studies is one of the most progressive and developed themes starting with William Gibson’s ‘Neuromanser’ (1985) and furthered with Donna Horroway’s “Cyborg Manifesto” (1980) that is reflected in the motion picture Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982). The main and core understanding of what is the mix of human body and high technologies integrated with it is always a consideration in this sort of themes. In the same way the Anime genre itself is not the origin of the robot and mechanical human integrations in terms of future developments of biotechnologies and scientific researches. In the James Cameron’s film Terminator (1984) this idea is clearly identifiable as well. It is arguable that the Japan is one of the most technologically developed countries in terms of automobile and transportation achievements, as well as the electronic fields with the very popular first portable technology the “Sony Walkman”. To stay objective it is very sensitive to point that the world’s developments were quite on the high level at the time. In Anime and specifically The Ghost in the Shell (Mamoru Oshii, 1995) the representation of mechanical design is very pronounced where different types of vehicles and weaponry are used to challenge the perception of the audiences in terms of seeing the future and perceiving those mechanical objects as the visual pleasure of the motion picture.
Political theme is also very emblematic for this motion picture example that states the main narrative and theoretic frame for the film which established very pronounced and articulated goals and motifs for the characters in the story. It is an interesting fact noticed in terms of popular culture what is happening at the time between West and East and the relationships that are developed at the field of cold war both in terms of literature and trade relationships between the two. Transistors that were designed in US were used and produced in Japan and then integrated to “Sony Walkman” that later was sold back to all western markets as very popular portable technological achievement. This brought us to the point of authorship between West and East and the issue of using original ideas of cybernetic spaces, post human wars and futuristic mechanical developments of societies because as it clearly might be noticed the Hollywood production references a lot of conceptual and contextual ideas from the Anime and cybernetic texts whether intertextually or not. Examples could be films such as Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1984), Transformers (Michael Bay, 2007) and The Matrix (Andy and Larry Wachowski, 1999) from the western motion picture production studios. In the context of the film’s visual landscape we can see that the technology is something that is perceived as good and beneficial for the survival of human species. In the “The Cyborg Manifesto” Horroway states: “The machine is us, our process, an aspect of our embodiment. We can be responsible for the machines; they do not dominant or threaten us. We are responsible for boundaries; we are they.” In other words the way the film establishes the main theme and environment for the audiences is something that is quite acceptable in terms of perception and acceptation of such challenging scientific material that will probably become our everyday lives in future. From the perspective of how the film shows the cybernetic female character’s body is quite sexualized which has a feminist way of seeing the relationships between body and technology and also the evolutionary ground that the animated film delivers.
It is very significant to explore the issues of how The Ghost in the Shell (Mamoru Oshii, 1995) itself is unique in terms of the professional development of the director Mamoru Oshii. The Ghost in the Shell (1995) is a very pronounced and important event in the cyberpunk genre of literature, animated films, feature films, as well as such popular culture spheres as games and virtual realities. From the perspective of actual crafting of the media there were researched the movements of androids that have different articulation from humans which put animators and concept designers into a very intellectual position during the development of movements and characters for the media. Mamoru Oshii himself was inspired by European cinema in general and particularly film La Jettee (Chris Marker, 1962) at the beginning of his filmmaking career. The Animated film The Ghost in the Shell (Mamoru Oshii, 1995) is the iconographic representation of his creative and professional practice as a filmmaker which wasn’t just one independent episode of the story. There were created other versions called Innocence: The Ghost in the Shell (Mamoru Oshii, 2004) and the video game was developed with this title and concept as well.
The bottom line of the analysis of the narrative structure of The Ghost in the Shell (Mamoru Oshii, 1995) from the perspective of Hero’s Journey model is that uncovers the thematic content across the plot of the film. There were discussed and presented political ideas and themes that will occur in a post modern period of human population and issues concerned with incorporating technologies with human bodies and everyday lives as well. It is important to understand what was actually developed and produced at the time when the film was made both in terms of national achievements and global situations as well. Related readings and texts that are relevant and have similar ideas are the main source of the material. As the very important and significant event in the film history the issues that related to this particular film within the frame of the director’s professional filmmaking career and the development of the genre itself. The ideas presented are dealing with a deep understanding and questioning the meanings of human’s future and the relationships that we establish with the technologies that provide us such technocratic societies.
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