Movies - Ghost in the Shell

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	Movies - Ghost in the Shell

Ghost in the Shell (Japanese: 攻殻機動隊, Kōkaku Kidōtai, i.e. Mobile Armoured Riot Police), is a Japanese science fiction manga created by Masamune Shirow. A sequel, Ghost in the Shell 2: Man/Machine Interface appeared in 2002.

Two anime films have been adapted from it, as well as an anime TV series.

Setting

Ghost in the Shell is an existentialist search for meaning set in the 21st century. Superficially, it is a futuristic spy thriller dealing with the exploits of Motoko Kusanagi, a member of the covert operations section of the Japanese National Public Safety Commission, Section 9, which specializes in fighting technology-related crime. Although supposedly equal to all other members, Kusanagi fills the leadership role in the team, and is usually referred to as "Major" due to her past rank in the armed forces. She is capable of superhuman feats, and cybernetically specialized for her job; her body is almost completely mechanized, save her brain and a single spinal cord segment.

The setting of Ghost in the Shell is cyberpunk or postcyberpunk, similar to that of William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy and other post/cyberpunk works. However, Shirow's work is focused more tightly on the ethical and philosophical ramifications of the widespread merging of humanity and technology. The development of artificial intelligence and an omnipresent computer network set the stage for a reevaluation of human identity and uniqueness. More so than the films, the manga tackles these questions head on: Kusanagi and her colleagues face external threats and also suffer internal conflict over their own natures.

The overarching story of the manga is of the hunt for a cyber-criminal, the Puppeteer (known as the Puppet Master in the film), whose real identity is unknown. The Puppeteer commits a large number of crimes through a single modus operandi: "ghost hacking", that is, breaking into and taking control of human minds. As the agents of Section 9 start to unravel the mystery of the Puppeteer, it becomes clear that it is no ordinary criminal, but a unique autonomous artificial intelligence project (Top Secret Project 2501) created by another government agency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), also known as Section 6. The Puppeteer escapes Section 6 servers in pursuit of his evolution through merging with Kusanagi. Kusanagi, although initially skeptical, finally agrees to allow the Puppeteer to merge with her own consciousness, sharing her body, in what is no doubt intended to raise even more questions about the nature of human identity in a world where human consciousness is no longer unique.

The manga is notable for the proliferance of footnotes and commentary by Shirow himself on both the technology and the socio-political background of the setting (in the complete, English language graphic novel edition, these take up more than 30 pages).

The philosophy of Ghost in the Shell

Ghost In The Shell Summary: In the year 2029, the world has become interconnected by a vast electronic network that permeates every aspect of life. That same network also becomes a battlefield for Tokyo's Section Nine security force, which has been charged with apprehending the master hacker known only as the Puppet Master. Spearheading the investigation is Major Motoko Kusanagi, who -- like many in her department -- is a cyborg officer, far more powerful than her human appearance would suggest. And yet as the Puppet Master, who is even capable of hacking human minds, leaves a trail of victims robbed of their memories, Kusanagi ponders the very nature of her existence: is she purely an artificial construct, or is there more? What, exactly, is the "ghost" -- her essence -- in her cybernetic "shell"? When Section Six gets involved in the case, she is forced to confront the fact that there is more here than meets the eye, and that the Puppet Master may hold some of the answers she seeks. But little does she know that he has been seeking her as well.

Ghosts

In Ghost in the Shell, the word ghost is colloquial slang for an individual's mind or essence of being. In the manga's futuristic society, science has redefined the "soul" or "ghost", as the thing that differentiates a human being from a biological robot. Regardless of how much biological material is replaced with electronic or mechanical substitutes, as long as an individual retains their ghost, they retain their humanity and individuality.

The concept of the ghost was borrowed by Masamune Shirow from an essay on structuralism, "The Ghost in the Machine" by Arthur Koestler. The title The Ghost in the Machine itself was originally used by a British philosopher, Gilbert Ryle to mock the paradox of conventional Cartesian dualism and Dualism in general. Koestler, like Ryle, denies Cartesian dualism and locates the origin of human mind in the physical condition of the brain. He argues that the human brain has grown and built upon earlier, more primitive brain structures, the "ghost in the machine", which at times overpower higher logical functions, and are responsible for hate, anger and other such destructive impulses. Shirow denies dualism similarly in his work, but defines the "ghost" more broadly, not only as a physical trait, but as a phase or phenomenon that appears in a system at a certain level of complexity. The brain itself is only part of the whole neural network; if, for example, an organ is removed from a body, the autonomic nerve of the organ and consequently its "ghost" will vanish unless the stimulus of the existence of the organ is perfectly re-produced by a mechanical substitution(this isn't necessarily true, think of pain in phantom limbs). This can be compared, by analogy, to a person with innate hearing disability being unable to understand the concept of "hearing" unless taught.

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Movies - Ghost in the Shell

Setting

The philosophy of Ghost in the Shell

Ghosts

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