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.
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I think eXistenZ is the perfect example of a biopunk movie. But would you also consider it to be cyberpunk? The majority of the movie takes place inside a virtual reality video game but there actually aren't many cyberpunk visuals. And while it does rely on new technology to access this virtual world, that technology is primarily biological.
This is the best trailer I could find but it's pretty low quality. You can watch it on Pluto or kanopy if you've never seen it.
It's a subset of cyberpunk. The only real difference is the tech is based on biology and not traditional electronics/mechanics. The movie is often put into cyberpunk categories when featured on lists or on streaming services.
Yeah, this movie is often included in lists of cyberpunk movies. And while I think biopunk is technically a subgenre of cyberpunk, I'm not sure if I'd categorize this movie as cyberpunk. So I figured it'd be a fun question to ask.
How much do we see that's "real" anyways?
I thought it was ambiguous if we ever saw any layer that was real, but if they had fully realistic VR, to the point you honestly can't tell if it's real...
The main level reality has got to be pretty cyberpunk. Even if in the "games" the tech was organic, that doesn't mean the real tech is as well
Yeah it ticks the boxes for me