: Ghost in the Shell
Author: Kazunori Ito
Director: Mamoru Oshii
I’ve never seen any Japanese anime, but this caught my eye at the video store and I rented the DVD. Supposedly a classic, I discovered the critics were correct: I watched it again on Sunday! Stop thinking of Saturday morning cartoons — this is what I would call “live action animation.” It’s realistic in every category: wonderful artwork, dramatic camerawork, thoughtful characters, and an amazing story. It’s got action and violence (it’s definitely not a kid’s film) combined with a fascinating science fiction story. The term “ghost” is analogous to the soul — in this future world people are part computer (cyborgs), and your ghost refers to the part of yourself that is human. So the debate begins: what makes a human human? With enough electronic parts is a human a machine? With enough data could a computer be considered human? Fascinating.
Topic: [/movie] |
