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October 10, 2004
Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence
We caught a showing of Mamoru Oshii's Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence last night. It was a beautifully animated movie that tried ardently to instill philosophical and religious debate among its intended audience, but more likely ended with more questions than answers. In a world where most of humankind has uploaded "virtual" copies of their memories and personalities into a vast network governed by bytes, the line defining what is organic and what is synthetic has become infinitely blurred. People have become "dolls," their bodies nothing more than plastic cavities bound by wire. Gynoids, robots whose primary function is that of sexual pleasure, have begun killing off their owners and thus sparking a possible politcal scandal that the two detective protagonists must look into. Batou, the more austere of the pair, begins to question the definition of his humanity. His body is entirely synthetic; the only organic traces left in his body are bits of his original brain.
While I do appreciate Oshii's attempt at tackling such intriguing subject manner, I felt that his vision was muddled somewhat by the pretentious chitter-chatter of the two protagonists. They are constantly throwing at each other quotes from Plato, Confucius, Milton, and the Old Testament, among others, setting up so much pseudo-intellectual dialogue that detracted from the main storyline and idea.
Cultural paradigms may have also been lost upon importation into the States. Americans, for one, are not as culturally obsessed with dolls as the Japanese are. There are national holidays like Hina Matsuriwhere dolls are laid out to bring good luck to girls. AIBO and Tamagotchi are household names in Japan, little robotic pets that receive that same amount of love and affection as their natural counterparts. Some children, despaired over the loss of a pet Tamagotchi, have reportedly commited suicide. Clearly dolls and electronic toys have a higher state of consciousness in Japanese pop culture than in the States.
Well, I'm not a pop psychologist nor a philosopher, so I think I'll stop before I have both feet in my mouth.
One aspect that everyone will agree on for sure is the absolute amount of effort it took to make this movie breathtakingly beautiful. From the reflections of the marble floor in the syndicate's house to industrial aftermath ruins of Shenzhen, every frame in Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence is pure visual bliss. There are some very obvious references to Bladerunner and not so obvious references to Sherlock Holmes and Van Gogh. The basset hound clearly stole the show, however. It is the most realistically realized animation of a dog that I've ever seen on screen. Japanese anime has come a long way since the days of Astro Boy, and I'm glad to see that they're still not abandoning the traditional hand drawn technique anytime soon.
I love this movie, and it was an experience worth remembering. But not for the obvious reasons.
Posted by Charlie at October 10, 2004 10:48 PM