this post was submitted on 13 Apr 2024
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Cyberpunk

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What is Cyberpunk?

Cyberpunk is a science-fiction sub-genre dealing with the integration of society and technology in dystopian settings. Often referred to as “low-life and high tech,” Cyberpunk stories deal with outsiders (punks) who fight against the oppressors in society (usually mega corporations that control everything) via technological means (cyber). If the punks aren’t actively fighting against a megacorp, they’re still dealing with living in a world completely dependent on high technology.

Cyberpunk characteristics include:

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The futuristic city with flying cars at the beginning of the movie definitely has all the cyberpunk visuals, and technically Zorg is the head of an evil corporation. But the real villain of the movie is incoming force of evil/darkness. And the plot is resolved through the power of love. Even the President of Earth is actively trying to help do the right thing and save the planet.

While there are some great cyberpunk visuals at the beginning of the movie, I don't know if the themes are there to call this cyberpunk. What do you think? Would you consider The Fifth Element to be cyberpunk?

Here's a trailer. It's currently streaming on Hulu.

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[–] Hammerjack@lemmy.zip 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Like the other person said, I'm just trying to start a discussion. I don't actually care what the answer is, I'm just providing a topic. I try to find movies where i could see the arguments for and against being cyberpunk and I'll post it here to see how others feel.

Honestly, I consider these posts a success if the top two comments are "of course it is!" and "of course not!" because that means i picked a good movie that walks the line between cyberpunk and not and typically leads to a good discussion.

Also, I've been trying to post something here every day for almost three months now and it's hard to keep coming up with items that fall firmly into the cyberpunk category. So I start to question how I define cyberpunk and these posts help quantify it.

[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 4 points 7 months ago

Yo, I really appreciate your efforts. Lemmy can be a ghost town. Folks like you are what bring it life.

I also appreciate your shout-outs. I'm putting a bunch of movies from this community on my watch list.