Like many films that are ahead of their time, Ghost in the Shell became an ever-growing monument. It's a cult classic that will slowly but surely become more popular as humanity advances into its next stage of technological, cultural, or social development.
Ghost in the Shell, the 1995 original based on the manga, paints a world where cyborgs run amok and artificial intelligence has become smart enough to argue like ancient Greek philosophers. for that matter, a lot of the dialogue in Ghost in the Shell will haunt the viewers and challenge their perception of existence. These are 10 of those quotes.
10 “Man is an individual only because of his intangible memory. But memory cannot be defined, yet it defines mankind.”
The very glue that defines a person or even a society is a record of their past, without history or memory, a sentient being is nothing.
Yet, memory-- even when jotted down on paper or recorded, is still hard to define. At best, they're hazy-- sometimes inaccurate translations of the electrical signals in the brain. Or it could be just the Puppet Master trying to argue that his cognitive functions are better.
9 “All things change in a dynamic environment. Your effort to remain what you are is what limits you.”
Charles Darwin will definitely agree with this though he might take it back once he sees who said it. It was the Puppet Master, the main "villain" of Ghost in the Shell. Being an A.I. who became sentient and conscious, some might consider it a new species.
Except it's more like an anomaly of nature than something nature actually intended-- unless nature intended for humans to create an immortal being that can break all its rules. To a certain extent, however, the Puppet Master's words ring true, it's the change is often the catalyst for growth.
8 “I feel confined, only free to expand myself within boundaries.”
This one might sound like it came from the Puppet Master except Major Motoko Kusanagi said this herself. She's an individual who apparently has changed too many cybernetic bodies and with too many augmentations that she's become more machine than human.
It's true that she's perfect in every way but the cost of it is her own biological shackle. That's why Major is often at a conundrum-- she might be free to change and have an unlimited growth ceiling but the room for improvement goes only as big as her humanity allows it.
7 “It can also be argued that DNA is nothing more than a program designed to preserve itself.”
Yet again, we have another quote here of the Puppet Master debating the foundations of humanity. Much like how Morpheus argues to Neo in The Matrix that human consciousness is nothing more than electrical signals in the brain, biological beings are nothing more than programs.
All of us started off as nothing more than mere DNA smears who are predestined to survive and propagate our race. At least, that's what the essence of biological beings is, according to the Puppet Master. One heck of an oversimplification but the frightening part is that it might be true.
6 “What if a cyber brain could possibly generate its own ghost, create a soul all by itself? And if it did, just what would be the importance of being human then?”
A human is only a sentient because of its consciousness and self-awareness, something that separates it from other animals. Then along came an A.I. invention, the Puppet Master who was able to create its own awareness and consciousness by itself.
It essentially invalidated the status of a human being as the top player in the food chain. The Puppet Master was merely the first of its kind yet it's already more intelligent and more resourceful than most human beings. Human hubris and ego simply cannot take that.
5 “If a technological feat is possible, man will do it. Almost as if it's wired into the core of our being.”
Speaking of hubris, ambition is also one of the things that make humans more peculiar compared to other apes. Because no other ape would dare explore the huge dark death sentence beyond Earth nor would it try to create something smarter than it.
Pushing our limits, whether physical, mental, or social has made modern society possible and this tendency is bound to become more exponential in the future. In the film, it's also the reason why the Major is chasing a murderous A.I.
4 “Any way you look at it, all the information that a person accumulates in a lifetime is just a drop in the bucket.”
Oh but Ghost in the Shell is not just about existentialism, but nihilism as well. Straight out of Batou's mouth is something that minimizes the struggles of each individual person in their effort to gain knowledge during their lives.
Not even the smartest scientist or the richest man can have all the most valuable treasure in the world, knowledge. Unless of course, an immortal sentient being existed that can actually accumulate all knowledge, in Ghost in the Shell's case, that would be the Puppet Master. Explains why its the perfect villain for humanity.
3 “There's nothing sadder than a puppet without a ghost, especially the kind with red blood running through them.”
That's a quirky contemporary way of saying that a dead organic human body is a sad sight. It's courtesy of Batou again. When one lives in a world where human consciousness can easily be transferred into a new shell or body, an organic human is bound to be a precious commodity.
The Major perfectly explains this notion perfectly well with her ennui. Since her consciousness is easily salvaged, it seems less precious or meaningful than a fragile human being who still depends on a flimsy fatty organ for their being.
2 “I guess cyborgs like myself have a tendency to be paranoid about our origins.”
That's one cynical way to look at the Major's predicament. She's a cyborg and a perfect one at that, except her idea of herself has gotten hazy and conflicting to the point where she no longer considers or considered herself human.
This is easily shown when she has no qualms on being naked in front of her comrades as it's technically not her original body anymore. Her whole being has gotten reduced to a transferrable consciousness-- one tends to suffer an identity crisis due to this.
1 “And can you offer me proof of your existence? How can you, when neither modern science nor philosophy can explain what life is?”
Ah, the age-old question, "what is life?" It's a good query to ask a cyborg in hopes of them frying their circuitry, which is probably why the Puppet Master fired this shot. Surprisingly, the question also works well at making organics freeze and scratch their heads.
It's not practically important question nor its answer that groundbreaking to mankind but it grows ever more prevalent as humans stray farther away from their animalistic humble beginnings. Just one of the many questions that Ghost in the Shell assaults its viewers with no answer in sight.
from ScreenRant - Feed https://ift.tt/30Bq1fu
![DC's Next Batman May Be [SPOILER], Not Bruce Wayne | Screen Rant](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uv3LAgqv6rb7XyisIWSSfX8lfqHHNl1kbSQCMDoFnphE7bt4H09BVPfr43cIKdmjv0SQ17xHDl-V48LP7dmgfSJQWJKGA9kYwFpw7CSat7QSb966n84x5nZBcj4RgUgzFkQQMkrFJhA3F-RPcxOOMe7c54HVh3gdLHP5ZH-dZIVg=w72-h72-p-k-no-nu)
0 Comments