Cyberpunk
What is Cyberpunk?
Cyberpunk is a science-fiction sub-genre dealing with the integration of society and technology in dystopian settings. Often referred to as “low-life and high tech,” Cyberpunk stories deal with outsiders (punks) who fight against the oppressors in society (usually mega corporations that control everything) via technological means (cyber). If the punks aren’t actively fighting against a megacorp, they’re still dealing with living in a world completely dependent on high technology.
Cyberpunk characteristics include:
- Dystopian city setting where mega-corporations rule
- Full integration of technology into society, featuring cybernetic implants
- Outsider protagonists (punks) who often are very familiar with the technology around them
- Hard boiled detective and film noir vibes and influence
- Themes dabbling in trans-humanism, existentialism, and what it means to be human.
Prefixes for posts
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- [Movie]
- [Video]
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Psycho Pass did for me what Ghost on the Shell should have. The system is broke. It will always be broke. Show that it's broke, every chance you get. Some will fix it, some will break it further. It's not about the end result, it's about fighting for a world you want to live in. Great show...shows....and movies...last one had weirdly slow fight choreography, still great. Im gonna watch em again
This is exactly why I struggled with the show. Maybe it's the Japanese way of storytelling or maybe it's my own inability to follow the subtlety, but I didn't like how the story was revealed to the viewer. In the very first episode they show the system is flawed (someone in shock or having a trauma response is ordered to be executed) but then the rest of the show just continues on anyway. So in the very first episode we're shown that the crime coefficient can't be trusted and yet we spend the rest of the show continuing to trust the crime coefficient.
I guess I didn't get the sense that people were trying to fix a broken system; I got the sense that the main character had some initial doubts but didn't do anything about them until the end of the season. In most episodes, the main cast are doing everything they can within that system and continuing to trust the system. It's not like they were loose cannons solving crimes their own way, they were very much still following the system. Well, I guess the latent criminals were sometimes loose cannons but I though that was treated more as characterizations of them being "latent criminals" rather than a critique of the broken system.
Again, this might just be the Japanese way of going about it. If this were an American show, they'd probably start with a "true believer" who gradually learns to distrust more and more of the system as they get more of an inside view into how it works. Maybe the Japanese way is to immediately learn how things are broken but be forced to continue acting like nothing is wrong.
Anyway, I like your interpretation of the show and I agree it's probably what the showrunners were going for. It's just not what I got while watching the show. I felt like most episodes showed the system working as intended, not a broken system.
Now that you've got me thinking about it, I'd compare it to hard-boiled detective novels. In hard-boiled detective novels, the police force is also a broken system. They're incompetent and can't be trusted. As you said, the system is broke and will always be broke. So the hard-boiled detective works outside the bounds of the police force to get things done. I'd argue the hard-boiled detective isn't trying to fix anything, but I wonder if that's the difference between the American approach and the Japanese approach. One attempts to work within the system while the other will ignore the system to do it their own way.
Sorry for this long rambling comment but your comment got me thinking and I just kept running with it...
Not rambling when you have something functional to say bud. This adds to the conversation.
I feel like the whole "system is broke but still trust it" thing is actually closer to reality than what fiction normally depicts. We have TONs of proof that so many systems are broken but the certainty of how they work prevents corrections a lot of the time.
Also the "True Believer" character shows up in season 2, and whilst she has an arc she never stops believing in the system. She's so indoctrinated that even with visible flaws she chooses the certainty of Sybil over any possible alternative.
And here's the thing, Sybil DOES work for 99% of the population. It's insanely accurate, and functions well, the problem is the people who slip through the cracks or hell even the ONE guy who the system never sees who's only desire is to break the damn thing.
Obviously it's not up your alley but man it really sells for me
the people who exploit the system's weaknesses, the motive of card game as the controllers of sybil, the vilains, the main characters ... its all so great. but yes it depicts a dystopia which is nearing upon us with military grade ai. which could be happening in some way. i have to set the day to start the rewatch.