ghost in the shell i & ii: the mythology of dolls & cyborgs in post-modern japan by...
TRANSCRIPT
Ghost in the Shell I & II:
The mythology of Dolls & Cyborgs
in Post-modern Japan
By Alessandra Sabelli
Ghost in the Shell I & II
Post-modernism– Images: reality vs. illusion
– Body [entity]: visions of identity in Japan
Identity displacement in Japan
Societal “Shocks”• WWII: Defeat
– National identity crumbles– Atomic bombs
• Rapid Industrialization – consumerist culture
• Economic bubble burst– Fall of Salary-men and “Wise” mothers scheme
• Hyper-Technology – consciousness
“The Other” - the place of dolls & cyborgs
Japan and the conception of “The Other”:– Spirit world
• Shinto • Animism
– Western world– Cyborgs/robots & dolls
• Defining identity in relation to dichotomies
• De-familiarizing narratives
From Cyborgs to Dolls
GITS –
creating mythologies
• Cyborgs: towards a life on the Network
• Dolls: Return to the Real
Cyborgs (1 of 2)
GITS -• Progressive recreation of human body
• Implications for a “bodiless” life
Cyborgs (2 of 2)
Embodiment of needs in Japanese culture– Memory– Repetition– Rebirth
Dolls (1 of 3)
GITS -
Dolls: “who” are they?– Created for entertainment
– Suicide?– A new social class– Ugly dolls: metaphor for mass production and consumerism & identity
Dolls (2 of 3)
• High art and artisanship
• Animism• Dolls as masks
Dolls (3 of 3)
Origin of GITS doll design• Hans Bellmer (1930s)– dismantling and rearranging female bodies
Dolls & Cyborgs in Japanese popular culture
Mechanism(?) of popularization:• Karakuri: the birth of the mechanical doll• Admiration of Western technology• Friendly robots: postwar manga representations
• Contemporary search for Realism
In between fantasy and reality
A possible future?
Why to like the category of “robot”?
• Anthropomorphizing robots• Human response to “living” behavior• world of fantasy and dreams• psychodrama