Cyberpunk

Cyberpunk emerged during mid 1980s as a sub-genre of science fiction. It is characterized by

dystopian futuristic setting that focuses on a combination of low-life and high tech. Term
‘cyberpunk’ was coined by Bruce Bethke, who wrote a story with same title in 1980. He
created the term by combining "cybernetics," the science of replacing human functions with
computerized ones, and "punk," the raucous music and nihilistic sensibility that became a
youth culture in the 1970s and '80s. After publication of William Gibson's novel,
Neuromancer, term "cyberpunk" takes off as a term or a genre in 1984. Cyberpunk is a genre
that often features antiheroes trapped in a dehumanizing high-tech future.
Representatives: William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, Neal Stephenson, Raymond Federman

Cyberpunk is considered to have its roots in The New Wave movement that reaches America
rather as a transfer of ideas than a movement. This fiction of 60s and 70s effects literature of
cyberpunk with the topics they dealt with like drug subculture, sexual liberation, and the
environmental movement, alienation, social isolation, class discrimination through social
isolation, and the end of civilization.

Works that serve as some kind of precursors for cyberpunk are McElroy’s Plus, Pynchon’s
Gravity’s Rainbow, Federman’s Twofold Vibration, Samuel Beckett’s Lost Ones.

Characteristics of Cyberpunk works

Writers of this genre are fascinated with tehnology. There is always a certain level of
pessimism in their works. The heroes are marginalized, meaning they’re usually low lives,
people considered to be outcasts and misfits of society like hackers, drug abusers, thieves,
prostitutes… The emphasis on the misfits is the "punk" component of cyberpunk. Cyberpunk
plots often revolve on conflict among artificial intelligences, hackers, and mega corporations,
and tend to be set in a near-future Earth. A lot of this genre’s works uses techniques from
detective fiction.
Through William Gibson’s Neuromancer these characteristics are best seen. It is considered to
be the main representative of this genre. Main character of the novel, Case, is a hacker. He
gets caught stealing from his employer. As punishment for his theft, Case's central nervous
system was damaged, leaving him unable to access the global computer network in cyberspace,
a virtual reality dataspace called the "matrix". Case becomes unemployed, suicidal and starts
abusing drugs in order to escape from reality. Many cyberpunk protagonists are manipulated,
placed in situations where they have no choice but to do as told and so is Case. Themes of drug
use and escape from reality are heavily present and fight between humanity and technology.
What is also a component of cyberpunk works and is present in Neuromancer is losing touch
with humanity, or in other words people become more like machine they themselves created.

Cyberpunk can be intended to disquiet readers and call them to action. It often expresses a
sense of rebellion, suggesting that one could describe it as a type of cultural revolution in
science fiction

Many of Cyberpunk plots are set in Japan which is the case for Neuromancer as well as the
movie called Blade Runner that is a representative of this genre in field of televison. This
movie wasn’t popular at the time of its release only late when it found viewership in the home
video market and it became a cult movie. This movie served inspiration to many even Gibson
admits that this movie captured his vision for Neuromancer he was writing at the time of its
release.

Cyberpunk was popularized by Japan even more nowadays and it is present everywhere in
movies, video games, TV shows, comics, animations and even in real life itself as we are now
literally living what these writers wrote about back than.