Feb
16
Laeta Kalogridis recently updated STYD on the adaptation of Ghost In The Shell that she’s working on, and there’s been news that the live-action Neon Genesis Evangelion will in fact be going ahead after all. With that in mind, we’ve prepared a brief primer on cyberpunk – the offshoot of science-fiction that seems to be the most prescient to date.
Neuromancer
William Gibson
The novel most closely associated with cyberpunk, and widely credited with igniting the subgenre during the Eighties. William Gibson’s name is now inextricably linked with the literary movement.
Blade Runner
Ridley Scott
Cited as arguably the most complete vision of cyberpunk on screen. Its visuals have gone on to inspire countless other films and some major blockbusters, including the cyberpunk-influenced hit, The Matrix.
The Stars My Destination
Alfred Bester
Cyberpunk owes a great debt to Alfred Bester for his novels The Demolished Man and The Stars My Destination. The latter in particular is more or less an archetypal novel of the subgenre, decades before Neuromancer.
Serial Experiments Lain
Ryutaro Nakamura
This surreal and bizarre anime series borrowed heavily from cyberpunk in its approach, and has been relentlessly studied in academic as well as science-fiction circles since its release in 1998.
Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?
Philip K Dick
Electric Sheep was the novella upon which Blade Runner was based, but Dick’s writing generally is seen as an important foundation for the cyberpunk subgenre, dealing with many of the themes and ideas seen as integral today.
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Is Howl’s Moving Castle classified as Cybepunk? I’m quite new to the genre, so would love some help on what novels, films, TV shows and anime I should start with. A top ten mix would do!
PS – working my way through the Studio Ghibli films: Just watched the Castle Of Cagliostro today and it was brill.
@Kevin
Never seen Howl’s Moving Castle, but after a quick looking up of the plot and images from it, I’m guessing not. It looks more like a cross between Fantasy and Steampunk, which isn’t quite the same thing as Cyberpunk, though both could be considered subsets of Science Fiction.
And as far as a ‘top ten’ list of cyberpunk, I can’t help because I have never seen polls on the best, but I can gives a decent sized list of Cyberpunk books and movies other than the few listed above. These are not in any particular order.
A few good books:
George Alec Effinger’s “When Gravity Fails.” (part of a 3 book series)
Robert Heinlein’s “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress”
Walter Jon Williams’ “Hardwired”
Bruce Sterling’s “Mirrorshades”
William Gibson’s “Burning Chrome” (collection of short stories)
William Gibson’s “Count Zero” (sequel to Neuromancer)
Good Cyberpunk Movies (about 20% of what I can recall):
Clockwork Orange, Akira, The Matrix (trilogy), Robocop (all of them), Terminator (all of them), War Games, Total Recall, Bicentennial Man, The Fifth Element, Dark City, Ghost in the Shell, Pi, Tank Girl, The Thirteenth Floor, Twelve Monkeys, A Scanner Darkly, Aeon Flux, Ultraviolet, Surrogates, AI, Gamer, I Robot, Minority Report, and Renaissance.
Yes, I watch a LOT of movies and cyberpunk is one of my favorite genre.
Thanks, Vizhon, great choices! Had no idea The Fifth Element was Cyberpunk – I have it on my Sky+ Planner and I plan to watch it at the weekend. I’ll let you know how I get on.
Anyone else got some more suggestions? SciFiNow’s comments are always welcome to.
Two movies that I think qualifies: Hardware, The Island