"Anything that can be done to a rat can be done to a human being. And we can do most anything to rats. This is a hard thing to think about, but it's the truth. It won't go away because we cover our eyes. THAT is cyberpunk."
— Bruce Sterling
"The inevitable collision of punk sensibility — the unrest, the rebellion — with desk-top computers."
— Pat Cadigan
"Small minds play big time games, and everybody else pays."
"We've got the corporate control, news as entertainment, hacker revolutionaries, and class warfare of your typical cyberpunk future but somehow missed out on the android servants."
"The key pillars of the cyberpunk genre are advanced technology, dystopian society, and trenchcoats."
— Jane Douglas, Outside Xbox
A glaring neon glow illuminates this street
Breathe in these human vapors, sweat and heavy heat
High tech cathedrals rise and fall in great ravines
Colossal steeples to the gods in the machines
Broken body built anew
Spirit lingers, torn in two
Metal fingers grip my heart so cold
Fossil fuels to slavery, political duplicity
Every great commodity's been sold
Slave to the new black gold
There's a heartbeat under my skin
Search my electric soul
For the hidden man within...
Breathe in these human vapors, sweat and heavy heat
High tech cathedrals rise and fall in great ravines
Colossal steeples to the gods in the machines
Broken body built anew
Spirit lingers, torn in two
Metal fingers grip my heart so cold
Fossil fuels to slavery, political duplicity
Every great commodity's been sold
Slave to the new black gold
There's a heartbeat under my skin
Search my electric soul
For the hidden man within...
In the year 2091, pervasive advancements in technology and computerization haven't changed human nature. Playing with people's lives has never been more fun.
— Opening, RUINER
"Computers are running everything these days. Before long, human beings aren't even gonna have a say. So now I equip people with knowledge. The knowledge to make a computer do what you want, on your terms."
—Ghast, EXAPUNKS
We're the light in your screens, we're the lead in your veins
Then you wake from your dreams so we can sell them again
In the light, we distract with the shiny and new
So you’re blind to the fact that the product is you
So let your brain dance and replay the dream
But don't drown in the data stream
'Cause we see where you are and we see where you go
'Cause we know what you own and we own what you know
Then you wake from your dreams so we can sell them again
In the light, we distract with the shiny and new
So you’re blind to the fact that the product is you
So let your brain dance and replay the dream
But don't drown in the data stream
'Cause we see where you are and we see where you go
'Cause we know what you own and we own what you know
As Nikita comes to a close, so does the first chapter of our larger story; in many ways, 1990 marks the end of Cyberpunk Cinema's first phase. By the early '90s, after all, writers, filmographers and directors (and their respective audiences) had become more familiar with this "new genre" of fiction, and that self-awareness had begun to seep into their works. In a sense, Cyberpunk "sells out," becoming more and more ingrained into society and the media. After 1991, it's difficult to find a Cyberpunk-themed film that isn't intentionally being Cyberpunk. Gibson does a cameo in Wild Palms and writes a script for The X-Files. Time Magazine does a Cyberpunk cover story. Billy Idol does his Cyberpunk album. Neal Stephenson writes Snow Crash, a Cyberpunk masterpiece that is all too aware of what it is and isn't afraid to call it's hero and protagonist "Hiro Protagonist". And Keanu Reeves, of all people, replaces Arnold Schwarzenegger as the most prominent cyberpunk actor around.
But hold on a sec... before we cast Arnold aside, we've got to acknowledge the movie that truly brought Cyberpunk to the mainstream, bigtime. Before Johnny Mnemonic, before The Matrix, there was a little old film called, simply, T-2. A film in which an anti-hero became a hero, a boy became a man, a helpless female became a femme fatale, and we all learned that yes, Virginia, there is a way to do big-budget Cyberpunk. Next week, 1991's blockbuster sequel, Terminator 2.
But hold on a sec... before we cast Arnold aside, we've got to acknowledge the movie that truly brought Cyberpunk to the mainstream, bigtime. Before Johnny Mnemonic, before The Matrix, there was a little old film called, simply, T-2. A film in which an anti-hero became a hero, a boy became a man, a helpless female became a femme fatale, and we all learned that yes, Virginia, there is a way to do big-budget Cyberpunk. Next week, 1991's blockbuster sequel, Terminator 2.
— Michael Fiegel, "Condensed Cyberpunk Cinema Classics: ''La Femme Nikita''"
What exactly changes with this movie? Quite a few things. First of all, Cyberpunk films have become aware of themselves as Cyberpunk films. They know what elements to include, what to avoid, and how to be different. Secondly, we see the notion that man ultimately holds the key to his survival or demise; we can create the cyborgs that will kill us, we can create the corporations that will dominate us, we can elect the President who will destroy our nation, we can fight back against all of those things. No matter how good or bad it gets, it's not our creations that will get us—it's us that will get ourselves. Thirdly, we start to see the rise of the "hacker" as hero. And finally, we see a shift from "man becoming machine" to "machine becoming man." People still turn into cyborgs in some films, but not as much; more often, a machine gains some semblance of humanity, and strives to become more human through the experience (whether literally or figuratively).
These factors, especially the latter, will become quite clear as we take a look at Cyberpunk films of the '90s over the next few weeks and months. In Universal Soldier and The Crow, for instance, we have a man becoming a "machine" becoming a man, all while riding hard upon the back of Cyberpunk stereotypes. In The Professional, we have a "killing machine" who strives to become more human through his encounter with a small child. In the anime classic Ghost in the Shell, we have a cyborg who's trying to find a sense of humanity. In Alien: Resurrection, we have a human/alien hybrid Ripley (a cyborg of sorts) who's also trying to find the human she once was. And in The Matrix, the concept of releasing oneself from inside the machine and experiencing the truth of humanity is an obvious way to cap off the decade.
— Michael Fiegel, "Condensed Cyberpunk Cinema Classics: ''Terminator 2:Judgment Day''"
On the political spectrum, techbros skew heavily towards right-libertarianism. Their ideal world is a tech-fetishist dystopia ruled by a narrow elite of visionary billionaires, where the everyday person is granted a mathematical chance to hustle and grindset their way into the upper class. In such societies, social mobility is nearly zero. That means those who are born poor, will die poor, with very, very few exceptions.
