this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2024
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Cyberpunk
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What is Cyberpunk?
Cyberpunk is a science-fiction sub-genre dealing with the integration of society and technology in dystopian settings. Often referred to as “low-life and high tech,” Cyberpunk stories deal with outsiders (punks) who fight against the oppressors in society (usually mega corporations that control everything) via technological means (cyber). If the punks aren’t actively fighting against a megacorp, they’re still dealing with living in a world completely dependent on high technology.
Cyberpunk characteristics include:
- Dystopian city setting where mega-corporations rule
- Full integration of technology into society, featuring cybernetic implants
- Outsider protagonists (punks) who often are very familiar with the technology around them
- Hard boiled detective and film noir vibes and influence
- Themes dabbling in trans-humanism, existentialism, and what it means to be human.
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You should read up on how Dick and his drug usage led to his own paranoia. This is practically a diary.
I also think you are confusing films made from his work with the actual work itself. To comment on the worlds Dick was creating you need to look at the text rather than adaptation that came decades after cyberpunk was already a thing (in some cases). An aesthetic veneer of cyberpunk works well with his narratives but not neccessarily with the writing style.
I understand this novel is practically a diary, but that doesn't mean it has to be a good movie.
I've read a lot of PKD's books and while i won't stop anyone from enjoying them, I personally felt like he had great ideas/worlds but struggled with telling a story in that world. So I'm not confusing the films made from his work with the actual work, I'm specifically only referring to the films. I think when films use his novels as a template for world-building, it turns out great. But attempting to accurately portray his novels on film tends to fall flat.
It's perfectly fine if you to disagree with me, but I wasn't making any comment about the novels or his writing style. I was only making broad generalizations of the film adaptations.
I'm specifically talking about the difference in time between when he wrote the story and when that film was made.
That is, one is pre- the conception of cyberpunk as a formal genre and the other is very much post- it.
I wasn't attacking anything you said, and I'm sorry you interpreted it that way.
Also, I'm not saying anything about the quality of the films made of his work. I sort of agree with you. They make fine books, but film is a different form and requites different ways of exploring narrative. If anything his work acts as a good launching point to explore ideas in film, rather than acting as templates for a movie.