Considering
Ghost
In The Shell let us start with a comparison. In 1963 Porsche unveiled the 911 sports
car. Many believe it to be the greatest
sports car ever made. It was
certainly innovative, even though it was built on the previous Porsche 356. The 911 performed wonderfully, winning many races and
tours. Over the years the car evolved. In 1998 the air-cooled engine was replaced by
a water-cooled unit and the body design underwent a major redesign. Many owners of the previous models were
outraged. However, even though a 2017 model does not share one
component part with the 1963 model and would out-perform it in every test, they
are both absolutely recognizable as 911s.
But which is the better car? Unless you are a Porsche owner or fan that
might seem to be a stupid question, but I would not advise you to ask it at a
Porsche owners club meeting.
In 1989 the Masamune
Shirow produced the Japanese Manga comic book series The Ghost In The Shell, telling the tale of the 21st century
counter-cyberterrorism Public Security
Section 9, led by the cyber-cop Major Motoko Kasunagi. This was like the Porsche 356, a brilliant
achievement in the world of manga/anime.
In 1995 the Japanese animation studio
Production I. G. released the a feature film based on it and with the
same title, directed by Mamoru Ochii. James Cameron said it was "the first truly adult
animation film to reach a level of literary and visual excellence.”
The
outstanding visuals were achieved by uniting traditional cel work with CGI. For
many film fans this is the 1963 Porche 911 of anime. Like that car there
have been many changes over the years,
and each iteration has its fans.
These include Mamoru’s Ghost In The Shell 2; Innocence movie and
the TV Stand Alone Complex series.
Now
we have a live action version of the original movie, written by Jamie Moss, directed by Rupert
Sanders and starring Scarlett Johansson.
In the 22 years since the first film was made technology has
changed even more radically than motor
technology has in 50. In the 2017
movie we see live actors moving in 3D CGI environments unimaginable in
1995. The CGI also transforms the actor’s bodies into enhanced or totally
replaced versions. But which is the
better movie?
I
think that is a stupid question. The
1995 movie did what it did just about as well as it could be done. The visuals were remarkable at that time,
just as those for Metropolis were in
their time, and those of the 2017 movie are today. The ability to shoot in Hong Kong’s streets
and then reproduce them with huge holographic adverts floating in and above them is as remarkable as the adverts in
Blade Runner.
Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell both explore long standing and still contemporary
issues. What is the human ghost in the artificial shell? The Japanese word translated here as ghost
is understood in Japan as being nearer to consciousness rather than spirit
or soul. The title also refers to Arthur Koestler’s book Ghost in the Machine which looked at
the duality of mind and brain, and adopted
the ‘scientific determinism’ stance that our mind is simply a product of our
physical brain, rejecting the idea of soul. The movie
asks what constitutes ‘human’ identity when cybernetic physical and
intellectual ‘enhancements’ are available and a cyber-brain can interface
directly with both a body and the digitally connected world? Is identity simply about memory? Are we what we remember –or what we do?
That
last question is raised frequently in the new film and outside it as advancing
life expectancy brings with it increased occurrence of memory loss by
dementia. If our consciousness could be digitally reproduced and stored would it
still be human?
And
there are sexuality/gender issues here too.
To
simply glance at the gender issue we see that the cyber-cop Motoko looks like a
woman, but she cannot reproduce. We do
not know if she can even have sex. Sharalyn
Orbaugh pointed out that in the first Ghost
in the Shell movie we find “a
narrative that is all about the nature of sex/gender identity and self-identity
in general in a future world where sexual reproduction has given way to
mechanical replication," raising the
question of "reproductive sexuality
in a posthuman subject”. Austin
Corbett noted that Motoko is
"overtly feminine, and clearly non-female." Carl Silvio has called the first Ghost in
the Shell a "resistant
film", due to its inversion of traditional gender roles, its "valorization of the post-gendered
subject", and its de-emphasis of the sexual specificity of the material
body. All this is slightly paradoxical in a movie
where Scarlett Johansson so often naked
– without ever seeing a human body.
That is also true/not true in her remarkable performance in Under
The Skin.
So did I enjoy the new
movie? Yes. I am a fan of the original, and this film
honours it, sticking close to the dialogue, plot and visual design. I was glad to see it even includes Gabriel the basset hound, Masomu’s companion
in real life who appears in most of his
movies. But the plot is now more
coherent, the live action more engaging, the visualization is stunning. I am sympathetic to (most) of the implicit
values of the movie which are shared, I believe, with those of Blade Runner. I summed them up in my original Blade Runner review
as asking ‘what is life?’ and
answering ‘Life is precious’. Oshii
has said “In this day and age when everything is
uncertain, we should all think about what to value in life and how to coexist
with others."
There is, however, something rather haunting
about the original, enhanced by its amazing soundtrack, almost a
spiritual dimension that the new film rather lacks.
Scarlett Johansson is good at
this kind of action heroics. She also
has a sly sense of humour that occasionally peeks out. It is good to see Juliette Binoche as Dr.
Oulet after the dreadful Godzilla.
“Beat’ Takeshi Kitano as Aramaki, head of Section 9. Pilou Asbaek, a
newcomer to me, plays Sergeant Batou convincingly.
So what about the ‘whitewashing’
issue of casting Johansson in the lead? On the Roger Ebert review site Angelica Jade
Bastien wrote
“No matter where you come down in the debate over this, it
becomes hard to ignore when you notice how the most important characters are
white or that every time Aramaki speaks Japanese the Major only replies in
English. “Ghost in the Shell” makes the troubling decision to use Japanese
culture, visual flourishes, and source material but decides that a Japanese
actress as the lead would be a step too far.”
I
wonder if she has bothered to watch the original movie. In that the Major does not look at all
Japanese. There are many other
Caucasian characters in the original, including the loyal (devoted?) Sergeant Batou,
Dr. Oulet, the creator of the body and interface, and Dr. Dahlin, a junior scientist who works for her, as well
as the two garbage men. Ochii had his
original movie dubbed into English because he wanted it seen in the West, and
those who criticize the casting of Ms.
Johansson do not say how this very expensive
movie would ever have been made without her heading the cast. Do they name any world class – and world
renowned – bankable Japanese actresses who could have got it ‘green
lighted’? Besides which the world of
manga is filled with ‘round-eyed’ characters, male and female.
So
if you are new to the world of Ghost
go and enjoy it. And if you are a manga
fan enjoy the idea that this film might encourage many people to watch
more. Including the original.
