Ghost in the Shell (1995) Film Review

An Anime For The Masses?

If there's one thing to note in relation to the films that are shown today and the many different film-making practises that are utilised, it's how much directors 'pay homage' to other works that have come to print their mark on this lauded artistic medium. As much as film-makers of this generation are trying to be distinctive and different from the auteurs that have come and gone, it's easy to notice just how much some of the most iconic moments, narratives and scenes in cinema history have been inspired by the films that have come before them. A noticeable example of this happening, is by looking through Darren Aronofsky's pieces of Requiem For a Dream and Black Swan and how much both of these films instrument scenes and contextual themes from Satoshi Kon's Japanese Animation of Perfect Blue. This however, isn't the only anime film in recent memory which has had its thematic and formal constructs been extracted towards another filmic piece that made a name for itself. Ghost in the Shell, an animated film that holds its lauded status presently due to its amalgamation of complex themes and idiosyncratic animation, indeed influenced prominent film-makers in the forms of The Wachowski's and their respected sci-fi flick of The Matrix. However, Mamoru Oshii's 1995 animated splendour is simply more than just an inspired piece. In comparison to many lacklustre Japanese animations of today, the film of Ghost in the Shell attributes to both entertainment-lovers and methodical viewers alike as it moulds it's visualisation towards the themes it's trying to evoke and focuses on sci-fi idiosyncrasies in an astute and complex fashion.

The year is 2029. The world has become intensely information orientated and humans are well-connected to the network of data and information. In a time time when crime has developed into a sophisticated stage by hacking into the interactive network, cyborg federal agent Maj. Motoko Kusanagi trails "The Puppet Master", a being who willingly hacks into the computerised minds of cyborg-human hybrids. As the pursuit of this online perpetrator, who can modify the identity of strangers, intensifies to the point of absurdity, Motoko ponders her own self and questions what life might be like if she possessed more human traits. With her partner Batou, Motoko's encounter with the famed hacker is drawing nearer. But will her curiosity about her own identity send the case in an unforeseen direction?...

As its title openly suggests, Ghost in the Shell proceeds in telling its heavy-handed and complex story in a philosophical mode of means that differentiates itself from other sci-fi flicks. Indeed, as mentioned in the introduction, while it's easy to simply point out Oshii's films legacy mainly through The Wachowski's film of The Matrix and how it incorporated the green digital text seen in the opening credits of this film and how people access information through the holes in the back of their necks, it's clear from the way in which the main protagonist of Motoko Kusanagi consistently questions her self-being and what it means to be 'human' and to have a soul in an artificial body just shows how much the film masterfully delves into the philosophical disparity between people and technology in such a small running-time. While the persistence of these complex themes being shown can be overwhelming to grasp at first glance for Japanese animation lovers and general audiences alike, director Oshii seamlessly manages to encompass these well-discussed and analysed themes in a thought-provoking yet beautiful way through the central character. We clearly see the character of Kusanagi being created and we thoroughly understand that she is a fully cybernetic-being, through the whimsical and vivid opening score. However, it's our understanding of the 'ghost' inside her 'shell', this fluttering aura of 'humanity' within her, that establishes these intricate themes of the 'soul', what it means to be human and the defining disparities between people and technology. Much of this, and Kusanagi's curiosity of her self-being, is flourished throughout the course of the running-time. Most notably, envisaged in a beautifully lengthy montage sequence of Kusanagi gazing at her surroundings; environments that are dingy and rugged and not only mirrors the realistic nature of Hong Kong's economic deprivation (at the time), but viscerally contrasts and detriments the central's characters understanding of the placement she's in. From this scene and the blank-mechanical stare that she inhabits freely, it's evident that Kusanagi, through her curiosity around her and within herself, is overwhelmed by everything; inquisitive of how close she is to being human or not. One of the more intriguing contextual notions that Oshii brings into Ghost in the Shell from his cult-followed OVA of Angel's Egg, a short-animation completely devoid of any dialogue and heavily reliant on visualisation and religious symbolism, is the stylisation of using water to illuminate a characters feelings. To test her limits of her cybernetic-self, there is a catalytic moment in which our heroine ventures into the water to go swimming and to see what it feels like which, in turn, has the secondary character of Batou concerned; questioning her about going-under and if she is worried about sinking. With her responding to Batou's worry, by simply stating that she felt fear, anxiety and even hope, Kusanagi's response not only indicates the films evoking and contemplating of 'humanity' and what it could potentially mean in the near-future, it's a scene that visually and subtly outlines the characters defining specifics. When she's down in the water, in seeing her reflection from the top, it's as if we're viewing Kusanagi touching her 'ghost', her essence of humanity, that she didn't feel otherwise beforehand; bringing about the subtle motifs of gender and how she doesn't place herself in any given gender. It's clear from the way in which she freely dis-robes, wearing her skin-tight suit that allows her to use therm-optic camouflage, that Kusanagi doesn't consider her form from a sexual perspective; despite others gazing at her in a sexual manner. Even though she appears to be a woman from the outside, her feelings of "confinement within her own boundaries" show she's clearly plain and robotic on the inside. Her law enforcement partner and fellow-cyborg, Batou, serves as an interesting contrast to this behaviour, considering he's the same as Kusanagi and never concerns himself to quell over these questions of being 'human' despite the fact that he needlessly acts 'human' when he modestly looks away when the central heroine un-dresses. With this at hand, does this mean that the partner character is more human than Kusanagi? Or is it that she doesn't identify as a female or even as a human being? What is evident to notice from what has just been slightly detailed in regards to the themes that the film explores, is just how much Ghost in the Shell, more than what any similar live-action film can produce, stems philosophical questions of life in a thought-provoking way. As we venture our view to the last moments of the film, as much as it can be argued that the themes presented don't necessarily give us a definitive answer, it can be considered that Kusanagi does receive some form of clarity through the goals of 'The Puppet Master'. While she protests to the demands of this entity who wants to merge his consciousness with hers, explaining that "all things change in a dynamic environment...Your effort to remain what you are is what limits you", it's easy to perceive that Kusanagi, through this subjugation, is ironically set 'free' and inevitably experiences a high-level of consciousness along with the hacker that can't be defined. Unlike most films of similar ilk, Ghost in The Shell triumphs in whimsically establishing ambiguity that inspires us to come up with our own ideas of computerisation and the perception of living and feeling. It's no wonder as to why Oshii's Japanese animated film has been analysed and discussed as long as it has.  

However, aside from dubious themes that many have tried to perceive as clearly as they can, what Mamoru Oshii accomplishes in providing a complex and though-provoking text, is equally honed in the animation-style and how much we're drawn into the contrapuntal space. As it is used in every meaningful feature, locations and mise-en-scène are inherently used to express the significance of a characters placement in a story. The shapes of buildings, the way people are portrayed and the absence or presence of nature and more, contribute to how we perceive a space. In a heterotopia such as this one, where the space, as discussed already with lengthy montage segment, is dominated by intersections of old and new structures, connected by roads, canals and technology, and where humans scurry about move about like electricity along these avenues 'plugged' into the body of the metropolis, not only illuminates the conflicting powers of struggle that Hong Kong has gone through in the past (since the city portrayed in Ghost in the Shell is based on said place), but also mirrors the conflicting points of view between human and technology. In many ways, the chaotic multicultural futuristic city that we're presented with, acts as a metaphorical character that is designed to control Kusanagi's mental claustrophobia of who or what she really is. This is neatly shown within the three-minute aspect-to-aspect interlude in the middle of the film as it breaks away from the rhythm of the main story and euphorically forces our perspectives to consider the parallels between city and body, network and ghost. In sticking with this profound amalgamation of styles and themes, the formalisation of the animation aesthetics is equally as important as to what this film offers on a contextual basis. the stunning and seamless blend of traditional cell animation CG effects accentuate the necessary fluidity seen within the characters body-movements and how they interact with highly-detailed juxtaposing backdrop. The stylisation not only heightens the complexity of the themes shown, it rather simply underlines the basic action-orientated nature that the story upholds along with the thorough motifs; making it an animation that all demographics can enjoy.  

The only real slight-issue that first-time viewers will expectantly face when watching Ghost in the Shell, is its heavy-handed nature of presenting the complex story-info and themes through the needlessly fast dialogue. As much as the voice-work of the characters are performed to a level that modern, less-significant Japanese animations can never fulfil to, it does have to be mentioned how the insufficient lack of spacing between characters talking and interacting with one another can be jarring to understand at first. With their being so many compounding story-ideas being exhibited all at the same time, it's a little frustrating at first glance just how much characters quickly spread information, unlike it live-action films where there's always adequate room for audiences to understand what's going on.

While Japanese animation is specifically known for it's outlandish and fantastical elements, as seen in the Ghibli strain of films, it's also a medium that has presented science-fiction films that have challenged our viewing perspective and have equally rivalled the popular status of features such as Blade Runner and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Along with the cult-followed Japanese animation of Akira, Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell is an example of how meaningful animation can be in comparison to live-action. Along with its arresting visuals which cleverly integrate drawn animation with subtle computer effects, the feature at-hand very much doesn't shy away from unveiling themes and contextual concept of humanity, technology and gender that provoke us into thinking about said ideas. For its short-running time, the feature truly demands its attention and doesn't disappoint audiences, due to its action-orientated story that is filled with recognisable cyber-punk tropes. As the industry itself is economic disarray, it's rarity that we'll ever seen a film such as this surface in this present day and in the near future. However, one can only hope that the soon-to-be-released live-action re-adaptation of 'Ghost in the Shell', starring Scarlett Johansson, can not only re-kindle what was shown in the 1995 animated mastery, but also prove doubters wrong over anime-adaptations...

On that note, it's time for me to end this week's review. As always everyone, thank you for reading my latest film review of Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell and I hope you've enjoyed the read! 😉. If anyone has an opinion on either my review or on the film itself, please feel free to drop a comment down below. As for next week, I'm not entirely sure was to what I want to review for you yet. While I'm interested in seeing/writing about Kristen Stewart's latest film of Personal Shopper, I do also want to, perhaps, take a week off so I can re-evaluate the things I want to review in the near future. Anywho, as always thank you to everyone for reading this wee's Blog Post and I hope to see you all very soon!! Have a nice weekend!! Adieu!! 😁😎✌

9/10 - Alex Rabbitte