Artificial Unicorns

The Cyberpunk readings and movies of this module revolve around adventures in an alternate reality. Whether the reality be in the past, the future, an alter ego or the psychology of the mind, a prevalent theme of self-discovery and the human condition is evident in each work.

Tim Powers’ book The Anabus Gate, is one of the first novels to be coined as steampunk. In traditional science fiction way, Powers uses time travel through holes created by magic and even lost love in a battle between good and evil. Doyle, the protagonist, is haunted by the death of his wife, Rebecca. He is deceitfully enticed to travel into the past with a scholarly ruse by an ill millionaire Darrow. Darrow, in reality, is attempting to find eternal life by taking on the persona of a werewolf located in 1800 in England. While in the past, Doyle is kidnapped by a gang of evil itinerants/magicians/followers of the ancient Egyptian gods. He remains truly human with ethics despite his changing identity and changing environment. He becomes the man who he was researching, Ashbless. His adventures lead him to bargain with the ancient Egyptian, declining to give the location of the Anabus gate even though his prize would have been the return of his wife. For the reader, Doyle remains true to himself and does not sacrifice his morals despite evil that tempts him. Magic is also dominant in the novel with a subtle undertone of its connection to science.

            In Ghost In the Shell II, a living cyborg is the protagonist. The alternate reality is in the future when the only thing human about a person is his brain and his memories. Cyborgs are turning away from their programming, slaughtering humans and then killing themselves.

Blade Runner is another movie that questions human worth versus technology in a future world. In this movie, the cops seek out replicants, artificial intelligence in human form, from off world colonies that come to earth. The movie causes its audience to consider technology and artificial intelligence. The viewer can empathize with a man who questions what is truly human after he encounters an android with emotion.

Paprika is an anime in the surrealist style of Dada or Lynch. The disturbing images that revolve around the human soul are displayed on the screen in an attempt to provoke an audience to discover what is beneath the surface of the human psyche.  Paprika is the psychologist’s alter ego as Dr. Chiba delves in the dream state of her patients and solve their problems. In this film, the alternate universe is the dream world, an exploration of the subconscious. Good versus evil is also a theme in this film with the misuse of stolen technology. The DC mini is the device used by Dr. Chiba but it is stolen to invade the dreams of others and allow them to escape into the real world. The dichotomy of science is also at the forefront in the battle of technology created to help humanity that can be turned against them.

My Left Hand

The readings and film from this week diverge from the science fiction surrounded by over the top, imposing galactic battles. They do not revolve around an apocalypse or being lost in space. They are directed at the human experience in creating and adjusting to a new society with different rules and roles. Nevertheless, Le Guin’s story of Genly Ai is a journey to another planet and is interrupted at times with myths and prophesies adding to the fantasy nature of the novel.

In Left Hand of Darkness, Le Guin’s protagonist travels to outer space to influence other beings to join the Ekumen, a United Nations of sorts. He is on a quest for peace, and the trade that accompanies it. Ai has traveled to the frozen wasteland of Gethen/Winter where the beings are gender neutral hermaphrodites. The Gethenians have both female and male features. They are asexual during “somer” and have the ability to procreate during “kemmer”.  From the introduction, Le Guin points out that no one should be treated differently due to their gender. This note is not surprising considering the feminist movement at the time she wrote the novel. Consequently, the ideas revolving around gender identity is a key theme in the book. Genly Ai, the alien, at times seems a little sexist when stereotyping the Gethenian’s female aspect with terms such as “lack of substance.”  He also has constant inner turmoil trying to identify each Gethenian as a male or female even though he knows they are both. Le Guin has been criticized and has admitted that the Gethenians actually seem more male than female throughout the novel. She even uses he to describe the characters in the book.

In addition, the novel deals with the ability to accept and adapt to these different cultures and species. Le Guin shows elements of similarity between Ai and Estravan. Ai is alone on the planet, trying to adjust and compute the alternate life style. Estraven travels to a self-imposed isolation, knowing there is something outside his small world. They join forces and journey together, even escape danger in Orgereyn. In the country of Karhide, Estravan has many names and many layers as he learns mind speech and speaks with his dead brother. The fantasy in this case is the inward journey as each questions his relevance. We also see the uniting of nations with these two individuals. Brotherly love is evident as Ai mourns the death of Estrevan at the end. There is also subtle evidence of influence of the Cold War on Le Guin with the conflict between with the totalitarianism of Orgoreyn and Karhide.

Like Le Guin’s novel, Truffaut’s Farenheit 451 also deals with a changing culture and a deviation from what is the norm in conventional society.  Books are not only banned but illegal to have in your possession. The government fears the liberated thinking that comes with education. Montag, a fireman charged with the burning of these books, begins to see their importance. Once part of the government, now he becomes the criminal on the run in an underground society. Like Le Guin, the film also deals more with the human aspect of difference.  It is also a story of betrayal due to ignorance as Mongut’s wife turns him into the authorities. Nevertheless, Mongut finds his place with the ostracized book lovers.

Through the characters of Ai and Estravan, two worlds unite as they travel across the glacier. Le Guin emphasizes the yin and yang, the light and dark in our journey to find inner meaning. At the time the novel was written, sexuality was defined in terms of male/female. Further, society was a male dominated world. These strict lines have become grey as bisexuality, homosexuality, transgender and transvestites have become commonplace. Books such as Le Guin’s prompt us to accept these differences, see the individual inside and promote equality on all levels. 

Stay Gold Space Cowboy

Action, adventure, space, and fantasy, even the title, The Martian screams science fiction. Weir, like other sci fi writers, has mingled elements of the western genre with a hint of a sea story in this novel. Additionally, the importance of science is a key element of this narrative of the botanist, mechanical engineer’s battle to stay alive on Mars. 

The influence of the western genre is first to surface in the sandstorm of the red desert environment. The main character, Mark, is injured by an antenna and left for dead in an adverse environment. Like the west, he is left in an uninhabited frontier. He has to settle the land in order to stay alive. He plants potatoes and uses his feces to fertilize the crop. He separates hydrazine to get hydrogen and makes oxygen. These combine to form the H2O he needs to water the plants. He uses ingenuity to battle the elements as he waits for someone to save him. He rides the land on his mechanical horse, the rover. The villain is the environment of Mars that he must tame with the supplies he has from Earth. Once NASA is aware Mark is alive, they even send the Calvary to save him. Mark has a western adventure with the background of outer space, the strength of humor and perseverance when faced with adversity, and that stresses the importance of science.

An analogy can also be made to the sea stories. Mark is marooned and left for dead on Mars like a Robinson Crusoe or Cast Away on their island. Like these protagonists, he then proceeds to use his brain to survive the elements. Unlike these protagonists, Mark is only alone at the beginning of the book but begins to have communication with NASA through the rover. He is ultimately saved by the crew that left him.

In contrast to space operas like Star Wars and Serenity, The Martian is missing the romantic features, the community on Mars, as well as the huge military battles.  The frontier is the same as well as the fiction created by the fantasy of the future. In some cases, the fantasy of The Martian seems more like reality than fantasy when things go bad, especially with his exhaustion at getting water, food and oxygen to his failed back to lost communication on the last leg of his journey.

Mark Watney has a type of hero’s journey as he faces and overcomes conflicts for a return to Earth. The only difference is that Mark’s character does not evolve; he is the perfect astronaut from beginning to end. In fact, the book almost ends as it begins --- with a dust storm that threatens Mark’s survival. There is unity shown between humans, even US’s rival of the Chinese, joining together to save Mark and bring him back to Earth. The west and space has been conquered and the land on Mars has created crops. A future society can survive in this untamed desert.

Myths (Or A Grave Thing Happened on the Way to the Water)

“The boundaries are always there—between the graveyard and the world beyond, between life and death, and the crossing of them.” - Neil Gaiman

There is no denying the subtext of myth in Neil Gaiman’s novels. In The Graveyard Book, a maze of classical mythology, Christian mythology and even the female myth are intricately woven and overlap within this storyline. Each type of myth offers a small hurdle that Bod must overcame but ultimately leads our hero to an escape and victory. Gaiman makes myth relevant to contemporary world as a coming of age for his main character, Bod, and also his portrayal of the different genders.

Unlike the Lady in the Water and Gaiman’s Ananzi  Boys, the myth is not specifically spelled out at the beginning of the story. Nevertheless, the myth slaps you in the face in the first chapter. The Christian myth of the Christ child is prominent. Everyone around the infant is killed but the child escapes to the graveyard where he is protected by the community. Nevertheless the Jacks, spurred by a prophesy, continue in their attempt to find and kill him. To the Jacks, Bod represents someone that will destroy their evil way of life. Additionally, the theme of intersecting the spiritual world and the earthly world is also similar to Christ as he is both God and man. Bod is not afraid of death and has the ability to pass between the living and the dead. The setting of graveyard/nature preserve also supports the living dead theme.

Myth and tradition is important in the graveyard where the ghosts of the past live beside the newly dead and begin to educate Bod. The ghosts have the voice of the past where contemporary world is evident with Scarlett’s cell phone and talk of videos. Even in the dance of the dead, you have the living present dancing with the ghosts of the past. Bod accepts all of the residents and even goes so far as putting a headstone the witch Liza’s pauper grave. These traditions of the past seem to give him a moral sense and influence his choices. In contrast, the Ghouls (Honorable Archibald Fitzhugh, Bishop of Bath and Wells, Duke of Westminster) represent peer pressure and making bad choices.

This narrative also bring in the traditional myth of good vs evil with the backdrop of the macabre. The hero in the middle of a mystical world that battles evil and overcomes the mystical forces that surround him.  Bod passes through the Gates of Hell to the underworld. The underworld is frequently seen and its residents battled in Greek mythology.

The female myth is also prevalent in the roles of women in the book. They are represented as educators with Mrs Owens and Ms. Lupitzo, a common role. But these characters are also strong as the Lady on the Grey Horse gives the final world and Ms. Lupitzo, a werewolf, saves Bod from the underworld.   Gaiman also shows the Jacks of All Trades, a male society driven by greed. In contrast, the female leadership is more balanced. Indigo Man and the Sleer are the guardians of the Master and the treasure and also represent the evil that lurks in the oldest grave.  

Just like Giamati’s character in The Lady in the Water, Bod is able to overcome his differences and the past death of their family with the help of the spiritual world. Bod’s journey involves making sense of the real world and the spiritual world.  It is a journey of self-awareness for the young boy trying to overcome his differences as he travels from the fantasy world in the graveyard to the world outside its gates. This is the same journey for teens trying to fit in with social groups. Gaiman also puts a twist on this journey. Perhaps because this book was inspired by his son toddling through a library, Gaiman also deals with parents allowing their children to venture out into a different, scary world where they cannot protect them. Possibly this theme is a parent’s coming of age? The traditional and the contemporary play against each other at times in the novel but end up in a state of balance.