Nakama Britannica

“In the near future- corporate networks reach out to the stars, electrons and light flow throughout the universe.The advance of computerisation, however, has not yet wiped out nations and ethnic groups.”

Oshii and Shirow have a lot to say in their masterpiece(s). This introductory paragraph is no exception. Setting the scene it illustrates the rate at which the corporations have controlled technology to their advantage in, not just making money but, controlling the lives of those people it relied upon to fuel their original growth and their insatiable appetite for more.

Again this very human desire for greed becomes apparent and itself becomes a boundary, much like the boundaries of the different nations and ethnic groups. Again Oshii is painting a dystopian scene, like today, that ensures peoples of an ethnic origin remain ethnic rather than intigrating them into part of the homogeneous society. It is saying that money talks and social values remain as self-centred as ever.

Perhaps Oshii is introducing this “lament”, as Susan Napier puts it, for the loss of the human in a sea of technological growth. Perhaps he is saying that even technology cannot exterminate human prejudice and magnifies it.

1: Kusanagi’s “time of the month”!

Following through from the introductory paragraph is the appearance of one of Newport City’s security interfaces. Though nothing special it is interesting to realise that while most of the air traffic controllers are speaking in Japanese, one speaks in American accented English. Whether this is just done for “artistic reasons” or a statement about how America’s boarders are not as rigid as that of other countries, that is that they exercise their power to excess, is over to you.

Next the viewer is introduced to, the voluptuous, Motoko Kusanagi and the, less voluptuous, project 2501 and whether the council from The Republic of Gabel believe that “[project 2501] really is a bug”. However, more importantly the viewer is shown the first fall of Motoko Kusanagi. She is sat on top of a building, solitary within the growing of urban sprawl up into the night sky, attempting to communicate with Public Security Section Nine, or The Shell Squad.

Susan Napier continues thus:

“When…Batou complains about “there being a lot in your brain today” she answers “it’s that time of the month”. Unzipping her clothes, she stands…[whilst] nude…managing to appear both sexual (although in a relativity androgynous way…) and vulnerable at the same time.

The scene reveals a number of contradictory elements encompassed in Kusanagi’s mind and body.”

Napier believes the initial fall for Kusanagi attempts to highlight the contradictions between what Kusanagi does and what she feels. For example she is a cyborg, but sarcastically retorts to Batou that its “her time of the month”. Furthermore the fact that Kusanagi looks taut and strong contrasts with the fact that she is “shown to be vulnerable”, I.e. throwing herself off a building lacking any kind of support.

This is because Napier believes that “the first fall [to] privilege the body”. Essentially insinuating that there is a marked contrast between what is outwardly projected to what is inwardly felt. This can be related to Napier’s comments that “Ghost in the Shell…has a strongly female sensibility” and diminished by the idea that Kusanagi appears “androgynous” and in some ways fairly masculine because of the fall.

This contrasts with what Napier wrote earlier about ‘Ghost in the Shell’ being a more female orientated film. In many ways it could be said that genders no longer exist because the boarders dividing men and women are blurring just like humanity itself which is highlighted in the introductory paragraph.

The fall, in essence, as Napier says represents the contradiction within Motoko herself rather than highlighting anything about Napier’s supposed feminine themes within the film. The idea of boundaries is highlighted again as the genders become blurred and the ambassador of Gabel lays dead on the floor. Kusanagi is performing a prearranged assignation and as such links into the idea that she is a slave to Section Nine, and therefore the Prime Minister, because of the body which she inhabits is technological rather than human. She restricted by the boundaries of her job and the limitations that her body represents in regards to her freedom.

2: The Birth Scene:

The Birth Scene, or credits, are perhaps some of the most iconic scenes from ‘Ghost in the Shell’. The Birth Scene itself concerns itself with the creation of Motoko Kusanagi. As noted by both Napier and Sharalyn Orbaugh, both respected authorities on anime and cyborg narratives respectively, the scene is fatherless. Motoko is spawned of a machine. As such she reflects for them the embodiment of the blurring of the genders and therefore sexuality. Both authors realise these two scenes to be especially important within the film.

Napier asserts that the birth scene mirrors that of the scene in which Shinji Ikari climbs into the Evangelion for the first time. She believes that both Shinji and Kusanagi are “at the mercy of outside powers”. Ikari is at the mercy of his father but Kusanagi is the mercy of the “corporate networks” of which she cannot observe. In this way Napier suggests that the “slender cable that suspends her as she falls can be seen as having umbilical associations and associations with a corporate…form of puppet mastery.”

Orbaugh, alternatively, believes that the birth scene, although he/she believes that the idea of the birth scene is a little misconstrued as it is “impossible to tell… [whether]…Kusanagi is being created/re-created/replicated…”, combined with the earlier scene containing Kusanagi’s fall represents one of the key ideas of ‘Ghost in the Shell’.

“It’s that time of the month.”

Kusanagi.

“…[this is] one of those odd breachings of body boundaries that…alerts the viewer to the fact that reproductive sexuality is at the heart of this film.” Orbaugh, whilst critiquing the film’s sexual subjectivity, realises that the theme of the film is “the problematic…re-productivity sexuality in a posthuman [world].”

So while Napier and Orbaugh believe that the birth scene both represents the body and, in essence, representing a world in which sexuality is now fading and becoming less human they differ in the kind of boundary Kusanagi is breaking however.

Napier believes that the birth scene is the establishing of the boundaries set-up and manipulated by the corporations and their technology and other such factors using technology as a boundary which cannot be crossed. Orbaugh believes that Kusanagi’s first fall and her birth scene represent a repression of sexuality spawned of the way in which technology has been used to dehumanise the humanity of 2029.

Again the classic Cyberpunk topic of boundaries transpires within the context of Kusanagi’s birth scene and is a poignant reminder that birth is a wonderful moment in a human life. The music utilised by Kenji Kawai is beautiful and is perhaps employed by Oshii and Kawai because of their “lament” for this dehumanisation.

Alternatively it can be asserted that there is a political edge to the birth scene. Indeed Napier touches on it but it is a topic explored throughout the film and manga. Indeed in chapter seven: Barter, Shirow introduces the reader to a character, Mr. Soma or the “Ghost of South America” who is a drug lord, who is having his brain put in sync with the commander of Section One. This means Soma would have the ability to control the Commander of Section One.

This issue of brain hacking is essentially what is worrying Kusanagi for a significant portion of the film. It’s lack of control of what is manipulated which Shirow wants to highlight in the manga. There are no boundaries in regards to how corporations are able to generate profit. Kusanagi does not know whether her brain has been manipulated. This topic will explored, again, later in the article.

Sorry a little bit earlier than Thursday but I’m sure you’ll forgive me! This is very much the early develoment of this article and heavily relies upon outside impitus to get it going unfortantly. During the course of the series of articles the impitus comes back to me to provide you with the insight with a more supporting role for these scholars so I hope you will still read this next week.

I hope you enjoy this week’s none the less. If you have any comments, any of your analysis that you think that I’ve missed out or you just want to disagree then let’s get a dialouge going. ‘Ghost in the Shell’ is not a clear cut anime. There are many messages to be drawn from it so go ahead and write down a comment to me since I’d love to hear from you.

Next week’s issue will be on Thursday this time!