Ghost in the Shell

     What does it mean to be human? Movies, novels, comic books all deal with this issue. What does the movie say about these questions? Ghost in the Shell is very popular in South Korea. There are comic books and movies. It was the first movie of the series, released in theaters in 1995. Ghost in the Shell is a futuristic police thriller. The main character is Motoko Kusanagi who is a member of the covert operations section of the Japanese National Public Safety Commission or Section Nine. She is a cyborg. Donna Haraway said, “a cyborg is a cybernetic organism, a hybrid of machine and organism, a creature of social reality as well as a creature of fiction” (A Cyborg Manifesto).

     Ghost in the Shell expresses the impossibility of defining what it means to be human, and that it is far too complex for a clear answer. The setting of Ghost in the Shell is the year 2029. The vast electronic networks have connected the world. It pervades into every person’s life. Section Nine members fight technology-related crime. In 2029, people are able to increase their bodies with cybernetic replacement parts. Some people like Motoko Kusanagi have almost fully replaced their human bodies, leaving only their brain. She is a cyborg which is not the same as a robot. Her body still communicates with her brain. She has a ghost. She keeps her ghost in her brain, and she still has personality and individuality. Japanese culture is so patriarchical compared to other Asian cultures. Mamoru Oshii, the director of Ghost in the Shell made the Kusanagi figure a woman. In many action movies, even Hollywood movies, women often help the male man character. Kusanagi thoroughly excludes Batou’s assistance; she has the absolute power of a main character without being a male character.

    

      Ghost in the Shell provides the best examination of the question of humanity. When I took a philosophy class in South Korea, I asked myself where I am from and where I am going. I asked some philosophy questions myself. This movie thinks like these questions. Ghost in the Shell tells about what it means to be human, and what it means to be alive. Is Motoko really still human? Even she does not know the answer. I watched television program ‘Survivor’. One young woman did not have one leg. She replaced it with a fake leg. She could run fast, and she could do anything. She is a human without doubt. How about Motoko Kusanagi? She doubts her ghost being real; she thinks she has already died and her ghost is a fake. How would she be able to differentiate a fake ghost from a real one? This is the dilemma, she finds herself facing. When she doubts herself, the Puppet Master is looking for Kusanagi; it is hacking human minds, and stealing their memories. The Puppet Master is a sentient program. Memories are the most important part of being human, so can we call the Puppet Master human too? This movie gives viewers many questions.

     Ghost in the Shell provides an interesting vision of the future. Technology is developed more and more. It will bring brightness or darkness to the future. We do not know. Many movies or novels show the darkness of the future. People are more isolated with developed technology. I watched the cityscape in this movie, and it looks like grungy. People in the city in 2019 look devastated. Some scenes are close up on the mannequins in the shop window, and as people pass the window, I cannot recognize, which of them are the real people. The director wants to show the viewer the nihilism in a developed technological future. It fills them with the most impressive technological horrors.

    
     Motoko Kusanagi said, “There are countless ingredients that make up the human body and mind, like all the components that make up me as an individual with my own personality. Sure I have a face and voice to distinguish myself from others, but my thoughts and memories are unique only to me, and I carry a sense of my own destiny.” Ghost in the Shell asks what the boundary is between human and AI.