I am now on my third try of watching the Ghost in the Shell 2017 Live adaptation. I'm 30 minutes in and I just don't think I'm going to be able to do it.
We'll never know if it was out of willful ignorance or the studio not trusting audiences but the exact theme of what makes GITS unique has been striped out and replaced with the well-worn "oh no what humanity be like with everyone becoming cybernetically enhanced??!!" plot that's been thematically explored in film since spoken dialog. The major constantly cringe whines about not knowing if shes human or she robocop, theres a subplot about her being a weapon, her boss doesn't trust her BLAH FUCKING BLAH. Fuck I just realized this is basically Robocop.
What makes OG GITS so unique beyond the design is that it asks the next, far more interesting, question of what humanity would be like once the ship has long since sailed on cybernetics enhancements. In a world where actually being even mostly human is exceedingly rare. It thematically explores the ID of a being who has never been human in the first place. The Major explores existence without any constrained frame of reference for being human. The Major doesn't, technically, even have a sex. It also helps that GITS takes place after WWIII and that "her" compatriots are hardened killers whos humanity is only explored in the quite moments like Batou owning a real dog simply for the sake of being near something more alive than he is.
On a personal irritation level the movie starts with everyone constantly using the term "ghost" instead of soul. In actual GITS thats a term the major uses privately due the fact that its possible existence is the only thing she has left of her humanity. People even quip that its not a real thing to the major at times. Hearing it used in the film grinds my gears because some idiot writer just copy and pasted it from probably scanned dialog and thought it sounded cool, not bothering to research its context.
This time I lost my shit because not only is Batou a clown but hes just now getting used to voice over cybernetic enhancement UUUUGGHH fuck this movie. It spends as much time mansplaining "hacking" to the audience as it does on the actual goddamn plot of the film.
Oh and for whatever needless reason she is flesh and bone in this to some extent so you ever get that disconcerting compelling sense of the Major welding her body like a puppet you did in the original. She bleeds and wax poetic about it. Fuck this movie.
This is one of the reasons I enjoy films like blade runner. I do not need future technology explained to me every goddamn time I watch a scifi film. Even if the audiences are idiots these tropes have been around 50+ years. Everyone gets it.
Fuck this 90s "spiritual adaptation" shit. Its old and it needs to be stop. Either respect the material or leave it alone.
We'll never know if it was out of willful ignorance or the studio not trusting audiences but the exact theme of what makes GITS unique has been striped out and replaced with the well-worn "oh no what humanity be like with everyone becoming cybernetically enhanced??!!" plot that's been thematically explored in film since spoken dialog. The major constantly cringe whines about not knowing if shes human or she robocop, theres a subplot about her being a weapon, her boss doesn't trust her BLAH FUCKING BLAH. Fuck I just realized this is basically Robocop.
What makes OG GITS so unique beyond the design is that it asks the next, far more interesting, question of what humanity would be like once the ship has long since sailed on cybernetics enhancements. In a world where actually being even mostly human is exceedingly rare. It thematically explores the ID of a being who has never been human in the first place. The Major explores existence without any constrained frame of reference for being human. The Major doesn't, technically, even have a sex. It also helps that GITS takes place after WWIII and that "her" compatriots are hardened killers whos humanity is only explored in the quite moments like Batou owning a real dog simply for the sake of being near something more alive than he is.
On a personal irritation level the movie starts with everyone constantly using the term "ghost" instead of soul. In actual GITS thats a term the major uses privately due the fact that its possible existence is the only thing she has left of her humanity. People even quip that its not a real thing to the major at times. Hearing it used in the film grinds my gears because some idiot writer just copy and pasted it from probably scanned dialog and thought it sounded cool, not bothering to research its context.
This time I lost my shit because not only is Batou a clown but hes just now getting used to voice over cybernetic enhancement UUUUGGHH fuck this movie. It spends as much time mansplaining "hacking" to the audience as it does on the actual goddamn plot of the film.
Oh and for whatever needless reason she is flesh and bone in this to some extent so you ever get that disconcerting compelling sense of the Major welding her body like a puppet you did in the original. She bleeds and wax poetic about it. Fuck this movie.
This is one of the reasons I enjoy films like blade runner. I do not need future technology explained to me every goddamn time I watch a scifi film. Even if the audiences are idiots these tropes have been around 50+ years. Everyone gets it.
Fuck this 90s "spiritual adaptation" shit. Its old and it needs to be stop. Either respect the material or leave it alone.
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