Ghost in The Shell (1995):
Ghost in The Shell is about a cyborg spy woman (Major Makoto
Kusanagi) working for the intelligence agency Section 9 to track down The
Puppetmaster who hacks into people’s brains making them commit terrorist actions
they can’t remember through their “ghosts” or computer brains. While it is
uniquely 90s in its presentation of tech, with wires and virtual realities
galore, its philosophy is both uniquely Japanese, and timeless. In the first
scene we see The Major taking down some terrorist separatists negotiating with
the gov’t. She guns them down and jumps out the window naked, before
disappearing. This establishes her as a badass.
Every action scene is really
well done. When she’s tracking down the Puppetmaster she has to jump from a
truck to tracking down the puppet masters victims by foot and using martial
arts, again while naked and invisible. It would be easy to dismiss Ghost in the
Shell as eroge were not the rest of the story so good. Every intense action
scene is followed by philosophy.
Typically, in the West we have the theme of Man
vs. Machine, and we have the idea that punks are lowlifes, bad people. Ghost in
the Shell purposes that man and machine are inseparable, that they improve each
other. Kusanagi wonders aloud throughout the movie if she was ever human, and
what that would mean, while drinking beer, and smoking. Which is typically not
what we see in the West. Her vices humanize her, even if she is a machine.
After
discovering that The Puppetmaster was designed by another intelligence team
(Section 6) she meets with the Puppetmaster who blows up the place and announces
that he is a living AI named Kaze. Think of a living internet. Kusanagi followed
Kaze to the Kyoto docks, but is ambushed by a Section 6 spider tank with machine
guns. She is able to hold her own for a while, but is torn apart by the tank.
During this time, Kaze suggests that they merge into one new digital body.
Kusanagi’s partner Batou destroys the tank, and Section 6 stands down, since the
Puppetmaster has been subdued/vanished. He has merged into a new body with The
Major.
Overall, I think the original Ghost in The Shell is a classic. Easily
8/10. Great fight scenes, great art, serious subjects…my only complaint about
the original is that with all the heavy philosophy some scenes do drag.
Particularly, after the great action scenes. But, it is nice to see the movie
say something beyond Man vs. Machine. That mankind would exist with machines.
The answer to The Major’s question seems to be in my opinion that it wouldn’t
matter who she was before she was a cyborg. She drinks, and smokes, and kills
just like humans. Most humans don’t really live anyway.
It’s never really
answered, but the fact that she merges into a new body plays into this idea, as
well as Buddhist ideas of reincarnation and impermanence, which I think are
really Japanese. It’s just a shame that each series after the classic movie has
diminishing returns, and only looks more dated each time. The Netflix 2020
series is very action heavy, but still good if you like seeing The Major and
Section 9 in action. Then, there’s the series which has tiny talking spider
tanks, as sort of comic relief. The Scarlett Johansson Hollywood movie, while
good on action, both completely avoids philosophy and answers the question if
she was ever human. It’s all very silly.
In conclusion, the original Ghost in
the Shell is a classic which takes time to appreciate and savor its plot. Its
message is as timely as ever. Technology is here. It’s not good or evil. It’s
part of us. Who hasn’t zoned out in front of a computer? But, who’s to say that
life would be any different without it? In the end, it’s up to us and what we do
with it.
