If Major ever wanted to undergo physical change to affirm her humanity, she would need to forfeit her augmented parts to the government that employs her. She drinks beer, but explains she’ll never feel drunk or hangover because of the augmentations. Major finds herself constrained by the control authorities impose on her. The Puppet Master tells Motoko she’s looking through a mirror that reveals a dim image. About a third into the film Motoko hears the voice of the Puppet Master - the political terrorist her department was hunting down. Motoko does not realize it, but she negotiates her dysphoria underseas for it is that exact internal conflict that defines her as consciously human. What she does is inherently dangerous, but as Motoko floats up and sees her reflection until it breaks - a shot recycled from Oshii’s Angel’s Egg (1985) - she transcends her physical boundaries in ephemeral sensation. It’s seemingly the only natural part of the world left, far away from New Port City’s decadent slums and dystopian skyscrapers. Motoko remedies this corporeal crisis through contradiction as she dives into the sea at night. Major Motoko Kusanagi is a cyborg - a human brain in a robot body - desperately clamoring to confirm her fleeting experience as a conscious ghost rather than a mere shell. Mankind is reduced to a science of individual parts where memories become replaceable, meaning that identity comes to be intangible. Its Japan of 2029 flickers with collective cynicism as its residents’ techno-evolution has been hijacked for empty consumerism and branded billboards sprawl across slum buildings. Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell is that of modernist ruin, picturing a decaying late-stage capitalist technocracy led by a slew of conspiracist diplomats. Directed by Mamoru Oshii, manga by Masamune ShirouĬontains spoilers for Ghost in the Shell (1996)
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