[…] Cyberpunk Movie Review http://cyberpunkreview.com/ Contains a growing list of Cyberpunk movies, with ratings, chronology and more. Movies are argualy the best way of illustrating the genre, which initially emerged as science fiction novels. See also: Cyberpunk Review - What is Cyberpunk? […]

Hey what’s happenin’?

I really enjoy this site and how it encompasses all the themes that cyberpunk is about. I took a look at the “what is cyberpunk?” portion and think you have nailed it on the head. I was wondering if I might be able to send you a couple question via e-mail that I might be able to use in a paper I’m writing. My thesis is the corrolation between technology and sexuality as seen in Japanese cyberpunk. The main film I’ll be analyzing will be Tetsuo: the iron man and will be using referneces from Rubber’s Lover and 964 Pinnochio. Thanks in advance,
lustafterzombies

Hi Lustafterzombies, welcome to cyberpunkreview

Your topic sounds pretty interesting. Tetsuo is definitely the best movie to use for that topic. If you’ve read my review (I’m guessing you have), I do touch on that somewhat. And please feel free to send me some questions at sfam@cyberpunkreview.com.

also very important , most cyberpunk heroines & razor girls are using hair coloring products ^^ with a tendance for flashy colors

[…] I’ve been doing a little thinking about what makes fiction “cyberpunk”, in hopes of coming up with some judging criteria for fiction reviews… since I will hopefully soon be contributing a few to www.cyberpunkreview.com. To that end, we’ve been trying to come up with a formal criteria list, similar to SFAM’s “What is cyberpunk?” Of course, one significant difference between cyberpunk fiction and cyberpunk film is the lack of visuals, which often are much of what makes a film c-punk. Of course a book has a sense of aesthetic too, but the “visuals” provided by words are much more open to interpretation. […]

Hey, it’s Jun.

I thought the explanation of what Cyberpunk is was definitely well thought out. When I think about it, and when I think about the movies i’ve seen in your list of reviews, they do fit in with this explanation.

Sorry if this question ends up being in the wrong place, but if anyone has the answer, or if you do sfam, when did Cyberpunk actually begin?

So although the big, revealing, telling-everyone-that-cyberpunk-exist movies happened in 1982, the first movie was in 1927.

… odd, why the big gap? Or is there more to this? I mean, I can’t see something happening for one moment, dissapear for a good 55 years, and then just all of a sudden, sprout out again.

Maybe a lack of an audience brought the whole idea down back then.

Well, in truth, Fritz Lang’s Metropolis is one of the most influential movies ever invented. If you were giving the history of scifi movies and had to list 10 key ones, Metropolis would be on everyone’s list. So while I and many others consider this a cyberpunk movie, it discussed cyberpunk concepts far before that particular term was invented. Metropolis certainly influenced many other non-cyberpunk movies as well.

Blade Runner was an adaptation of what I thought was a Phillip K. Dick novel ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep’. When did that come out?

Hi Kana, Philip K. Dick’s novel was first published in 1968.

Hi, I use Semiologic but for the life of my I cant figure out how to change the colors of the little links on the bottom of each post that say “email this” “comment” “edit” “permalink” and “print”. If you could tell me how you did that, I would love it! Thanks!

Jack

Hi Jack, it’s all in the CSS files for the theme. Go to the Theme selection in the Admin interface, and select “Theme Editor.” You’ll see a bunch of files with “css” extensions. All the settings to change the colors are in there.

Hi

Im pretty sure you guys have all noticed this and its not just the
“cyberpunk” genre but also alot of the other sci-fi areas. All the movies that are released nowadays are all shit! These films lack alot of everything that makes a true film that expresses current issues, ideas, or messages. What happend to this generations filmakers?? It seems movies are just products now, money is all these assholes care about. Im not saying fuck the money, money is great but thats no excuse to not make a decent film. This may seem way out there, but Im studying at this shitty college in hartford right now but I intendo to go to a decent film school. I will dedicate my life if I have to, I want to bring that those fuking awsome movies we all grew up watching, this era of shitty movies will have to end soon and I intend on stopping it. Thank you and take care, I love this site.

I don’t know, where to dipute about categories and movie submision so I try here.
I just checked “Cyberpunk Movies by Theme” categories.
What you think about new category: “gangs” (this motif repeats in many cyberpunk movies: Robocop opponents, characters from Akira, opponents of Mad Max…). If you agree, I have one submission: The Warriors ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080120/ ).

Hi Mike, while I certainly appreciate the concern that far too many crapfests have been coming out of hollywood, I don’t know that I’d blame the film makers. At the same time, there are BUNCHES of great indie films. Regarding scifi and cyberpunk, while I would agree that lost of the big budget productions are crap, I would strongly disagree that there aren’t any good cyberpunk movies made. I’d definitely put 2004 as being in my top 5 years for cyberpunk movies, for instance. We got Natural City, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, Casshern and Immortel, among others. 2003 had Wonderful Days, The Matrix sequels (which I like), Texhnolyze and Save the Green Planet. I could go through the rest of the years in this decade, but bottom line, there have been some absolutely terrific scifi and cyberpunk films (not to mention the LOTR films for fantasy). Again, most of the truly great ones have not been Hollywood productions. Such is life. I think most film afficionados would say that most great movies being made today are not coming out of Hollywood.

Come to think of it your totally right man, Theres a bunch of truly great indie films I forgot about those..hehe. I had a dream and it was seriously one of the most amazing dreams I’ve had inawhile, I dreamed about that movie “A clockwork orange” but not the old one, it was as if it was remade but with today’s stuff. Thinking about it now, that would be pretty cool id they remade that movie but with an even more sick and sci-fi twist to it. Don’t ya think’?

[…] Everyone, it seems, have their own definition of cyberpunk. It is hard to pinpoint and define, and that’s a good thing. The concept carries a subversive openness. “In some cases, it becomes a virus, introduced into the heart of the message – in a sense it becomes a trojan horse, ready to spring out when least expected to carry an altogether different message.” (SFAM) When talking about cyberpunk it is usually more adequate to talk about themes (and perhaps even style, mode and tone) then rigid definitions. With some minor modifications I agree with SFAM’s list of central themes, but I think we can narrow it down to two main themes: control and mutation. […]

[…] Attributes for rating cyberpunk movies: Negative Impact of technology on humanity Fusion of man and machine Corporate control over society Story focuses on the underground Ubiquitous Access to information Cyberpunk visuals and style […]

[…] Negative Impact of technology on humanity […]

Its me again, ive already commented on tetsuo, well, i agree with the control thing from the comment on sept 17, i think that control is a central theme. he

heya, i think the summary of the cyberpunk themes is to a T, im studying the sub-genre for my coursework, ive found it to be undefineable, u just ‘know’. can i ask how did ya find the info to clarify the themes? my work is ‘research-fussy’

Hi Ames, check your email

[…] Everyone, it seems, have their own definition of cyberpunk. It is hard to pinpoint and define, and that’s a good thing. The concept carries a subversive openness. “In some cases, it becomes a virus, introduced into the heart of the message – in a sense it becomes a trojan horse, ready to spring out when least expected to carry an altogether different message.” (SFAM) When talking about cyberpunk it is usually more adequate to talk about themes (and perhaps even style, mode and tone) then rigid definitions. With some minor modifications I agree with SFAM’s list of central themes, but I think we can narrow it down to two main themes: control and mutation. […]

[…] Some days ago I was thinking about Cyberpunk. What was Cyberpunk? I thought on some things and aspects of it. I really like Cyberpunk style and life. Well, I don’t like crime or drugs, but I love to read or see about it… maybe it’s because is the dark side… I don’t know xD So, today I was surfing the net and found a blog about Cyberpunk… and I found this wonderful definition of Cyberpunk. And what can I say? I agree with all the things he says! I thought on all except 2. So, please, if you want to know what’s Cyberpunk, read this article (cyberpunkreview): […]

hi SFAM, u have emailed me before with a response but unfortunately i deleted the email by mistake, i was wondering if u could tell me again how u came to summarise the conventions of a cyberpunk film, its for my coursework n they are research-fussy if u get my drift..(pain in the butt in other words) lol, would really appreciate it if u could tell me how u found the info, many fanx, great site xxx

I decided to raid my bookshelf, and when that didn’t produce what I was looking for, my secret section of my closet, just behind the mothballs and spiderwebs. Eureka. I found it…

Gurps Cyberpunk
“High Tech Low Life Roelplaying Sourcebook”
yes, I have this in my possession; please do not ask how I got it…

anyway…

let’s see…ah, here we are. On p4’s ‘introduction’

******
“Cyberpunk is vibrant”

“cyberpunk is a style defined by two elements, The first is the interaction of man with technology…the second…is that of struggle. The world is divided into two groups - the haves and the have nots- with a vast chasm between them”

****

Only a slight variation exists between this description and SFAM’s description.

(note: this was a 1990 publication; covers both literture, comics and film; published by Steve Jackson Games for purposes of roleplaying..when THAT was big stuff in the 80s and early 90’s)

Hi Darren, I love it! Yeah, the definitions are very similar.

Although I haven’t read it myself, I beleive Mary Shelley’s book ‘Frankenstein’ (first published 1818) was a much earlier commentary on the possible future horror of the man/machine merger.

Hi Clint, I can certainly see the negative use of technology aspect for Frankenstein, but I’m missing the man-machine interface part. Are you referring to the electricity used to start Frankenstein’s body up?

I think it’s a valid suggestion - remember, the monster was assembled from various parts of different bodies artificially, and outfitted with mechanical parts so it can be brought to life using electricity… we may just have the first rudimentary cyborg right there…

I’ve never ruled out Frankenstein as being a cyberpunk flick, although I haven’t read the book. I really should, I think. I hadn’t realized there were mechanical parts there - but then again, perhaps there is in the movie as well.

I was refering to the cyborg aspect, at the philosophical level if not technological, Frankenstein’s monster was created by man and brought to life by electricity (did it have a ghost?). But it’s probably not cyberpunk. The concept of technologically augmented humans in fiction far preceeds the dystopic techno-futures that were imagined after industrialisation began.

Hmm…did Frankenstein have a Ghost? Good question! Regarding whether Frankenstein was a cyborg, I suppose we could just as convincingly argue that Frankenstein was a zombie. But the electricity does have an interesting man-machine component. I wonder if Mary Shelley addresses this. I have a copy of the movie as well so I’ll give it another viewing soon.

I think Frankenstein is cyberpunk, it’s just biopunk cyberpunk is all!

One thing to remember though is that Frankenstein entered into ‘popular culture’ which means there are all kinds of mutations and manifestations. Most people know the story of Frankenstein but have never read the novel, just like most people know the story of Adam and Eve without everhaving read Genesis. So most people don’t know that there is no ‘apple’ in genesis, just the word ‘fruit.’ In some paintings it is depicted as a fig. Just as some people don’t realize the monster didn’t have a name, Frankenstein was the name of the scientist.

I don’t think there is a ‘man-machine’ element to the monster but he is clearly transhuman, which after-all is what the ‘upgrades’ in cyberpunk are about. I could probably go into great detail if you like.

Frankenstein seems to take the Gene Generation tagline, “Death is just an upgrade!”

You Don’t going to understand what I will tell you but…I don’t care!!

Soy de Venezuela y me encantó este sitio! me parece muy original y genial que este tipo de cosas se den y que la gente se interece por eso!ya había oído sobre el punk (en realidad más de la cuenta!) y todos los tipos de este pero JAMÁS había escuchado a cerca del cyberpunk y al leer esto, por lo que entendi tienen toda la razon hay que luchar lo que creemos verdadero y adorar a Aeon Flux! Bueno me despido, fue un placer hablarles bye bye.

From Venezuela…I Say Good Bye!! Thank 4 the information!!

I luv this site!!! I have to do a report on the cyberpunk genre, and this site is soooo helpful (I’m serious, no sarcaticness or whatever) But have you ever heard of biopunk? I was looking cyberpunk up on Wikipedia (But I can’t use it for school) and saw an article about biopunk. If you have ever read the “Uglies” triology - sry, I have no idea on who it’s by - then you will know what I’m talking about. Biopunk is like cyberpunk, but instead of cybernetics and that, it is to biologically transform someone by litterally changing their DNA and chromosom count!!

Hi Meghan, I’m glad this site is helpful. And yes, I have definitely heard of biopunk. Many of the movies here would qualify.

It’s a great site indeed; somehow is helping me a lot to know some new ciberpunk anime…. well ciberpunk it’s not quite dead…. on everyday’s life we can see how reality seems to be shocked by technology and progress evolution itself…. pretty ciberpunk to me….

an excelent website ¡¡¡¡ greetings ¡¡¡

Hi Cleanshot, I appreciate the complements. And Cyberpunk certainly isn’t dead as a genre - there are bunches of great movies, animes and books still being made. Most of the movies though don’t come from Hollywood. This, I think, is a good thing.

A paradox of the information age I find interesting is that the net has given rise to the proliferation of copious amounts of non-information, too.

(imagines subcutaneous spam filters in his neural net implants… shudders..)

[…] excellent short explanation/definition of cyberpunk can be found here. The first characteristic is titled “Negative Impact of technology on […]

Resident Evil: Apocalypse is cyberpunk.

There’s Corporate Control Over Society - i’m referring to the Umbrella Corporation.

There’s Ubiquitous Access to Information - computer hacking plays a key role. (especially the character of Dr. Ashford)

It features a lot of the Negative Impacts that Technogy had on Society - a viral outbreak, unwilling victims subject to experimentation, and the results were lethal..

to cyberpunkreview.com STAFF,
Can you tell me, please, how I can get permission to use photos on your website? I am producing an illustrated academic lecture for my non-profit organization. I will not charge for the lectures or materials, nor make any profit from them. My charitable organization has no funds for photos. I would have a printed credit line with the photo with name of copyright holder. A couple photos–apparently from movie advertisements– are: www.cyberpunkreview.com…i-robot,i-robot02.jpg, & www.cyberpunkreview.com…i-robot,i-robot07.jpg.
Thank you for considering this. I appreciate it!
-Paul Champoux

thanks for this page
i don´t kown a spanish space about these themes
i love your colaborations and i´ll visit you frecuently to see films information, etc
people write always the same about sci fi by the general characters, is different here
congratulations
from spain

[…] There are many definitions of cyberpunk and varied opinions. However, I am incline to agree with the above highlighted themes complied by the Cyberpunk Review. […]

Cyberpunk is more live then many people realise! Of course the people exploring the idea through media arnt comming from holiwood, or mainstream america. And the reason why.. is that like many people know, through many aspects of Cyber-punk/ation is a great tool to control the masses. Many aspect have negitive effect on humans and “soceity” as it currently is but, maybe this could be a good thing. Once people see all this going on, maybe then we can evole to a “better” soceity… As for cyberpunk genera [and some aspects] it will never fade, because now technology is so imbedded into human life, i think we will depend on it to evole.

Meh, i’m just rambeling now. and spelling = bad.

[…] Home|What is Cyberpunk?|Movies by Decade|Movie Ratings|Forums|Cyberpunk Wiki […]

Hi, my first contact with cyberpunk was with the novel ‘Neuromancer” from William Gibson in 1984. I am a prolific sf reader, and the first three Gibson romans have made a lasting impression on me. The main problem is that SF, let alone cyberpunk is a genre that falls outside the taste of the average movie-goer, wich keeps big studios from investing in it. Another problem is that the themes in high quality SF and Cyberpunk demand some general technical (or philosophial) knowledge in order to appreciate the medium. Most mainstream productions dump indepth and interesting themes in favour of action and readily accessible drama to attract mainstreams audiences, as mostly allways with mixed results.

However, thanx for an extensive database to more or less relive many movies I have seen, or am interrested in seeing.

Keep up the good work!

Onno.

you might be interested in:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YVgmJ16zhY
Regards, Luigi

Fat people with dreams of Utopia. Hahaha.

[…] WordPress.org What Is Cyberpunk? February 24, 2008, 10:13 pm Filed under: Uncategorized http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/what-is-cyberpunk/ No Comments so far Leave a comment RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI […]

I AGREE WITH EVVVVVERY THING YOU SAY SIMPLY BECAUSE ITS TRUE!!!!

Have you ever watched Serial Experiments Lain? If not I think you should. It’s pretty good and from what you say, is purely a cyberpunk anime. Actually what you say is pretty accurate and I agree.

[…] What is Cyberpunk? […]

Great site! However, I’m really interested, as an outsider (who is a HUGE fan of these movies by the way) asking someone who knows - about the cyberpunk fashion side of things - do you, and people who consider themselves cyberpunk believe that the fashion is also an important aspect of this culture? I noticed that there is no link to cyberpunk fashion - do you wear cyberpunk clothing and do you believe it is valid as a form of the Cyberpunk culture? I ask because I am interested in the movement and am writing a paper on the subject.
Cheers!