We will first briefly review the environment, The Matrix was formed in, and how anime was developing at this time. We will then analyse one of the key anime films that had an impact on The Matrix, Ghost in the Shell, to look at some of the visual and thematic similarities.

Anime in the 90s

While anime was known in English-speaking markets before the 90s with films like Akira receiving great praise from critics and many anime TV shows being imported for younger audiences, it wasn’t until the anime boom in the mid to late 90s that the medium really began to gain a firm foothold. This time saw several beloved anime series licensed, dubbed and broadcast to great success, such as Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon and Pokemon. This time also saw the breakthrough of more adult-focused anime. One of the most successful films of this period was Ghost in the Shell. After having underperformed at the international box office, it became a cult classic on home video.

It was in this background of anime’s growing prominence that The Matrix emerged. Lilly and Lana Wachowski, the film’s directors, were inspired by several anime projects including Akira, Ninja Scroll and Ghost in the Shell. Meanwhile producer Joel Silver reportedly said the sisters pitched the Matrix by showing him Ghost in the Shell and saying, “We wanna do that for real.”

A Ghost in the Matrix

Ghost in the Shell’s influence on The Matrix is easy to spot. Both have opening credits that use changing code to communicate the focus on technology and AI. Both have a secondary character with a look that foregrounds being unable to see their eyes (Batou and Morpheus). The film’s stories both have moments where the heroes have cables attached to their heads/necks. There are machines that look like animals, scenes featuring machines crushing the hero with an arm-like appendage and both also feature a strong, stoic woman with a great jacket in a central role (The Major and Trinity). They also both have a cold look. Communicating the isolation felt by the main characters.

They also have overlapping themes. Both films discuss the impact of memories. Neo reflects on how his memories of being part of a simulation mean he has never experienced freedom. Meanwhile, Ghost in the Shell shows “false” memories being used to manipulate while also making artificial creations feel more alive. Both also touch on AI creating new life. Agent Smith and The Puppetmaster start as AI programs but eventually begin exhibiting more emotional traits that indicate sentience. Agent Smith hates his duties and The Puppetmaster wants to break away from its function to try and evolve. The films also explore how identity intersects with technology and power systems. Technology can help to realise someone’s true self. Such as helping Neo become more heroic and helping The Puppetmaster claim a real body. However, they also show how systems of power use technology to control people. The Machines and The Service reduce people’s identities to just being part of a machine that shields those in power. Themes that still resonate today.

Giving Back

The Matrix’s success arguably opened the door for more open anime influence in Western cinema. The sequels continued to demonstrate their love for the artform, the Wachowskis even developed a project called The Animatrix as an opportunity to show appreciation to the creators who inspired them, with several anime studios animating short stories based in the Matrix universe, and the revolutionary effects work brought live-action cinema a lot closer to capturing the imagination of anime spectacle. The Matrix was part of a wave that showed that anime was a creative force of its own. Capable of telling their own stories and inspiring others that captured the attention of audiences worldwide. Which helped to inspire many filmmakers today. From James Cameron to Jordan Peele and beyond.

The post How ‘Ghost in the Shell’ Inspired The Matrix: A Cyberpunk Revolution appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

Spoiler Warning – this article contains major spoilers for Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell and Minority Report.

Identity

Who are we? How do we know who we are? How do we know who someone else is? Who and what can we trust? In Blade Runner humans have constructed replicants, virtually identical to humans but stronger, needing a complicated one-on-one test to determine who is who. These replicants work as forced labour on off-world colonies, desperate to escape. Even more, it is revealed the new replicants have been given memories so they think they’re human. In Ghost In The Shell “ghosts” can be moved into new cyborg bodies and ghosts can even combine to become a new identity. Identity is a common theme of noir, sci-fi and the mixing of the two. While classic noirs are not as overt questions of identity are constantly raised – we have private detectives, criminals, victims, police, authority figures and a character’s status in these groups is important and changes constantly.

Trust

Who do you trust and should you trust them? Noir detectives venture into the criminal world but it’s not just their obvious antagonists who they need to worry about. The classic opening of a noir film is a “dame” seeking help from the private detective and how often do we learn this person is actually manipulating the detective? In Blade Runner, the question of trust is on another level. Can Deckard trust the police? Can he trust passers-by who might be replicants? Then can he even trust himself? Can he trust his own memory? Is he a replicant programmed with decades worth of memories? Maybe. Kusanagi in Ghost in the Shell has similar problems, plots within plots, foreign agents, her superiors, everyone around her – who is there to trust?

In Minority Report Tom Cruise plays a police officer running the pre-cog crime unit, where they glimpse the future and then stop the crime. When Cruise’s character is said to be a criminal he suspects that it is Colin Farrell’s character who has betrayed him, a sceptical outside investigator, when, in fact, it is his mentor, determined to see the pre-cog crime unit succeed. A recurring theme of noir films is realising the one person you put absolute trust in is your real enemy.

Morally Grey

Deckard is the good guy in Blade Runner. He is the protagonist, we follow his story, essentially a detective and cop, he’s played by all-time hero Harrison Ford. But Deckard’s job is to kill replicants who have made it to Earth. Sometimes that is the only crime they have committed. They are intelligent creatures, easily the equal of any human in the complexity of thought and they are “retired” without trial or hesitation. Why is Deckard the good guy? In Minority Report Farrell’s character specifically questions the fairness and justice of the pre-cog system, people are charged with crimes they have not actually committed. In the city there have been no murders in two years, is that proof of success? The incredibly dedicated Cruise upon being determined a pre-criminal himself then goes on the run, refusing to believe that this prediction is right…because this time it’s him.

Visuals

Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell are rightly famous for the way they look, both are iconic. Despite being set in LA which we now think of as a land of permanent sun Blade Runner LA is dark, grimy and usually raining. It also has the unusual oxymoron of managing to be both dark and bright, dark skies lit up by fiercely bright advertisements. Ghost in the Shell has a tall and vast city that is constantly looming over everything, something impossible to escape or even ignore. Perhaps this is just the passage of time (we are past the date Blade Runner is set in) but their examples of sci-fi often seem positively low-tech. The computer monitors in Blade Runner would be laughed at now, Ghost in the Shell and its endless cables as a sign of tech likewise seems odd.

As time goes by and those classic noir films get further and further away how will this odd blend of genres evolve? Some of these sci-fi noir films are over forty years old, generations of filmmakers will have grown up on these films and will surely have something to contribute.

Also Read: Animated Horror: The Overlooked Genre Fusion

The post Exploring Sci-Fi Noir: How Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell Define the Sub-Genre appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.