What exactly is the definition of human in a society where a mind can be copied and the body replaced with a fully synthetic body? Where is the boundary between human and machine when the differences between the two become more philosophical than physical? Ultimately how do we define what it is to be human?
I’m not going to try and answer this today but these are the philosophical questions that form the basis of the futuristic manga and anime series ‘Ghost in the Shell‘ created by Masamune Shirow (first published in 1989). Whilst being nearly 30 years old the franchise is still alive and well with three movies, a TV series, game and trilogy of novels being spawned from it along with many aspects having slowly percolated into popular culture (it heavily inspired The Matrix).
With such a strong pedigree it’s rather worrying that Production I.G has sold the rights for a live-action movie to DreamWorks under the direction of none other than Steven Spielberg. For fans this is a pretty worrying development. Whist there is no denying Spielberg’s talent it’s an altogether different proposition when applying it to something like this, the main fear being that it will be severely dumbed down for a Hollywood audience.
If they can respect and stay faithful to the original maybe this has a chance but then again the likelihood of that is pretty low – the precedent is already pretty well established for ruining Asian cult classics.
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I’m feeling the pain, already.
I’m a huge fan of “Ghost in The Shell”, in all its forms, and knowing that something so sacred to me will end up in the hands of Spielberg, is like being stabbed.
*sigh*
Yeah, I can respect Spielberg’s work for what it is, but remaking something like this as a live action film for a predominantly western audience is nothing but bad news.
Speilberg’s work tends to be, generally, pretty light. I’m afraid he may not be able to convey the complicated philosophical ideas of Ghost in the Shell. Aside from that the violence level is sure to go down and just can’t imaging that it will be very good.