Week Eleven: Cyberpunk and Steam Punk

by - 8:50 PM

Syd Mead concept art for Bladerunner
The recommended reading for this week is Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, a classic of cyberpunk. Alternatively you might read Neuromancer by William Gibson or if you need something shorter, you might try Gibson's "Johnny Mnemonic."  Cyperpunk ficition often takes place in "cyberspace," a term invented by Gibson. It also features characters whose bodies are modified or enhanced by mechanical means, cyborgs, in other words. The cyperpunk heroine is one of the character types of this ficiton that has become ubiquitous in speculative fiction generally; she is the alpha female, often dressed in black, body modified with armaments or weapons, working as a bodyguard. She is the perfect prototype for the new woman of the 21st century and we now see her in popular storytelling of all types, such as the best seller, The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo. She remains a staple of William Gibson's fiction where she made her debut, although she is no longer a character of the future but a character of the present just as his novels are no longer science fiction but mainstream.

The first landmark of Cyperpunk is the movie Bladerunner (1982) which is an important reference point for the sub-genre.  This film had a particular influence on the development of cyperpunk in Japan where it remains a very active subculture especially in the media of manga and anime.  The movies Ghost in the Shell and Akira are cyperpunk classics.  Paprika and Summer Wars are also excellent representations of cyberpunk. The Ghost in the Shell manga is one of the alternative featured selections you can read for this week.

We will also consider a number of Steam Punk novels are listed on the course resource page. A good place to start might be The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers or the Victorian supernatural romance novel, Soulless by Gail Carriger.

Link to the Cyborg Manifesto by Donna Harraway  Full Text

Report on microchips implanted in your hand.

Here is a link to this week's Activity Page.


Image from the play, Rossum's Universal Robots, from the novel by the Czech author of speculative fiction, Karel Capek, in which the word robot makes its first appearance.

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