David Luo

EAS 303
12/2/17

I had some trouble piecing together exactly what Ghost in the Shell had to say about
networks. Galloways piece seemed to imply that networks could be unfair, controlling, even
evil, but Ghost in the Shell does not do much exploration. The nature of cyberspace and the
internet in the world of Ghost is fairly neutral (which Galloway argued against), with information
and surveillance being a simple tool used by the government to do work and abstracted firewalls
being an obstacle for the antagonist. Some of the dialogue involving the Major and the
Puppetmaster discuss the nature of connections, but even that is more focused on their effects
on individuals rather than their purpose in a larger network. And G host in the Shell does all of
its deeper discussions with direct speech rather than story, so Im not sure what I missed.
I did find the beginning very engaging. A wash of static, radio transmissions, and a
green backdrop with limited 3D renders set the stage for a sci-fi thriller, and the Major herself
appears without any introductions standing on top of a building. We hear her think before we
hear her speak. We dont need to be told that shes a badass, since we get to see it. She
jumps off the building as her team feeds her information through some wireless means, then
kills a corrupt diplomat. These guys are high-precision special ops, and they dont mess
around. This sort of simultaneous world building and character introduction happens at the
same time as the action, reducing the need for exposition dumps or justifications; I already care.
Dialogue feels believable this way, and its mostly pertaining to the diegetic events at hand even
if it serves an additional purpose of clarifying what the audience doesnt know yet. The movie
goes on to introduce ghosts, cyberbrains, the state of the world, and the central conflict in this
way, throwing new terms around as discussion about immediate problems proceeds.
Thus, when the boat scene rolled around, I was taken aback. After the Major surfaces
from a dive, she and Batou discuss the nature of individuals and how a sense of self exists for
cyborgs. There was nothing more than that; the two characters sit against an admittedly pretty
backdrop, barely animated, as straight, unintegrated dialogue expounds on some ideas that
only tangentially relate to the central conflict (these ideas eventually take center stage). I didnt
really care! I had not had a chance to see these philosophical notions in action yet, so this
direct dump of words did nothing to engage me. On a related note, I felt that the
Puppetmasters formal introduction at the Section 9 headquarters was similarly stunted and
boring. Section 6s involvement (and their secret motivations) amounted to just about nothing,
and the Majors own personal reasons for wanting to dive into the Puppetmasters psyche
seemed contrived. You think, therefore you are, maybe, probably. I guess I just find Descartes
really boring.
In the end, I came away with only a taste of how networks in general can be. The movie
looked mostly at notions of individuality and similarities between computers and humans. I
would have been more engaged if Ghost in the Shell was exploring its ideas with actual story
events or animations rather than dialogue.

Keywords: individual, sense of self, memory, fear of death