Cyberpunk
Introduction
The term "cyberpunk" is derived from "cybernetics", the study of how biological, mechanical, and electronic systems interact. Dictionary.com defines cyberpunk as "fast-paced science fiction involving futuristic computer-based societies." They further explain that the term came about in the early 1980's in response to William Gibson's novel Neuromancer and was used to define a sub-genre of science fiction. In the early 1990's, cyberpunk began being identified as a sub-culture. In more recent years the sub-culture has been becoming divorced from the genre which spawned it.
As A Sub-Culture
In recent years, specifically since the release of The Matrix, the term "cyberpunk" has come to be identified as a sub-culture within society rather than a sub-genre of science fiction. As a sub-culture, cyberpunk is closely tied to the goth and techno sub-cultures. Cyberpunk has spawned a style of fashion defined primarily by black PVC vinyl clothing with occasional flourescent colors. This sub-culture tends to be obsessed with cutting-edge technology, and to a certain degree Asian (especially Japanese) culture. However, most "cyberpunks", despite their love for technology, have very little practical knowledge of technology and are very often poorly versed in cyberpunk as a sub-genre of science fiction beyond recent movies.
As A Sub-Genre of Science Fiction
To limit cyberpunk to stories including computers would be greatly misleading. Many stories that involve computers are not cyberpunk (or even science fiction), and many stories that are cyberpunk do not involve computers. Therefore, the genre must be defined more specifically and more broadly by other characteristic traits.
1. Cyberpunk stories almost always take place in a world not dissimilar to our world; either a near future, or identifiable alternate universe. One of the few exceptions to this rule is Aeon Flux.
1a. Because the world in which these stories occur is so similar to ours, the nature of cyberpunk stories change as our world changes, and each story must be identified with regard to the context within which it was written.
2. Cyberpunk stories put an emphasis on the nature of the society and/or world in which they occur. This may be done either through examining the connections between exisiting elements in a single world, or the use of multiple universes and realities.
3. The main character(s) in a cyberpunk story are subjected to dehumanizing events, either as a symptom of the society or because of actions they take in response to their society.
4. Questions are raised with regard to the nature of being human and identity, the nature of society and a person's place in society, and the nature of the world.
Given those guidelines it is easy to determine that cyberpunk is much older than modern usage would have you assume. The earliest roots can be found as far back as 1818, in Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's classic horror story Frankenstein. Other pre-twentieth century stories that could be classified as cyberpunk are The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (1886) and The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells (1896). Probably the first novel which most modern readers would identify as cyberpunk would be Aldous Huxley's Brave New World written in 1932. After this point, most works of cyberpunk became more intimately tied to current events. George Orwell's 1984 (1949) demonstrates the growing fear of government interference in people's lives, and Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange (1962) reflects the growing tensions of the Cold War. Modern cyberpunk is derived primarily from William Gibson's novel Neuromancer (1984). The focus of modern cyberpunk is primarily on computers because of their omnipresent.
In Film and Television
While there have been many adaptations of the aforementioned novels for television and cinema, more often than not the adaptations gloss over the elements which made such stories cyberpunk. Certainly the Kubrick adaptation of A Clockwork Orange is excellent and true to the novel, but it is obvious that movie adaptations of Frankenstein rarely retain the elements which made the novel great. Because of this, films and television series must be evaluated seperately from the original work. On the whole however, it can be said that cyberpunk film will have tendancies towards film noir. The best execution of cyberpunk in film is almost universally considered to be Bladerunner. Other notable cyberpunk movies are Total Recall, Robocop, Johnny Mnemonic, and Fight Club. Television rarely offers series that are purely cyberpunk. Some few televsion series which follow through with a cyberpunk plot would be The Prisoner, Max Headroom, Aeon Flux, and most recently Dark Angel. However, it is common for science fiction series to run a few episodes which are decidedly cyberpunk. The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits often ran episodes which were clearly cyberpunk. Series such as Star Trek occasionally run cyberpunk themed episodes (at this moment the only episode that comes to mind The City on the Edge of Forever), but the overall theme of such series are decidedly not cyberpunk.
Resolving the Genre and the Culture
The culture and genre both identify with the term cyberpunk, but they tend to be vastly different. Cyberpunk as a literary genre tends to offer a rather dark criticism of the direction society is taking. The culture tends to adopt the more frivolous aspects of the modern genre, influenced more strongly by movies than the literature. The cyberpunk culture is a poor reflection of what cyberpunk really is.
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