DESMA 9 Week 3 Blog

Robotics in Culture and Film - Week 3

After living with my roommate, who majored in Japanese Linguistics for four years, I was constantly exposed to the world of anime. I will not lie, at first I was a bit weary. After watching numerous Japanese movies and animation series, I am not ashamed to say that to this day, I am still hooked. I feel as if Japanese animation has a not so glamorous stereotype because people in America are not exposed to the correct representation of Japanese Animation.

While watching Part Four of lecture this week I was intrigued with Machiko Kasahara's short lecture about Japan and the representation of robotics in films. She emphasized the relationship differences Japanese and Western American culture had with the idea of robotics (Vesna 2013). Japanese culture portrayed the relationship between humanoid and robot as friendly compared to America where the relationship was something to be afraid of (Vesna 2013). Kasahara pointed out the popular series "Astro Boy" and how even today robotic companionship is sought out not only by engineers, but everyday people in Japan (Vesna 2013). Compared to Part Two of lecture where it was emphasized that most of Western American film was a response to the mechanization that industrialization created in the work place, robotics becoming balanced and harmonic with a machine was seen as idiotic and scary (Kasahara 2013).

I immediately thought of a Japanese animated movie that shed some light on the darker side of robotics in Japanese culture called Ghost in the Shell. 

This film withholds her statements in a very dark and chilling manner. It is a difficult movie to explain, but the theme rotates around the idea that the world has been saturated in technology to the point where a "cyberbrain" has been created (Crunchy Roll). This cyberbrain is a hollow shell with super-human powers and acts like a casing for the human brain (Crunchy Roll). Due to this new technology, the human brain can hack into platforms and interface with networks (Crunchy Roll). Throughout the film, you find out that this new form of life leads to infinite ways of hacking into these human shells and accessing classified information that should not be tampered with. In the end, the main protagonist makes an agonizing decision to merge consciousnesses with the main antagonist to create a new humanoid being.

Making a Cyborg

Though the movie is initially very dark and war ridden, it interesting to tie together what Kasahara was pointing out about the curiosity and positive approach Japanese culture has towards robotics. The main protagonist in Ghost in the Shell makes the decision to create a new form of existence, but this choice is never once portrayed as something negative (Maness). In the end of the film, the protagonist has a new body that is actual a child to show how the threat has disappeared because of her decision and her innocence has been restored.

I believe that this film is a solid representation of not only how ethical issues about robotics are different around the world, but how war and conflict can be epically displayed as art and influenced by technology (Benjamin 7). Ghost in the Shell truly captures the both sides of the spectrum when it comes to how technology influences humanity and how it is something that should be embraced and confronted instead of feared and fought.

References

Benjamin, Walter. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction". 1936. PDF. Accessed 20 Oct 2013.

CamillePolnareff. Making of a Cyborg. Online video clip. You Tube. 2009. Web. 20 Oct 2013. 

Crandall, Jillian. architecture_writing_design. 2013. Web. 20 Oct 2013. 

Crunchy Roll. Web. 20 Oct 2013. http://www.crunchyroll.com/library/Ghost_in_the_Shell 

Ghost in the Shell. Director Mamoru Oshii. Production I.G, 1995. Film. 
Kalla, Riyad. The Buzz Media. DreamWorks Snags Ghost in the Shell. 16 April 2008. Web. 20 Oct 2013. 
Kusahara, Machiko. Professor Machiko Kusahara on Japanese Robotics. Online video clip. You Tube. Web. 20 Oct 2013. 
Maness, Kevin. Comm, Tech, and Culture. Awesome Inc. Eastern University, St Davids. 15 April 2012. Web. 20 Oct 2013.
Vesna, Victoria. Lectures Part 2. Online video clip. You Tube. Web. 20 Oct 2013.