>> rhetoric of the cyberpunk
rhe 309K - Rhetoric of the cyberpunk
Fall 2000
Instructor - Matthew Russell
8.00 - 9.30 FAC 10
Computer Writing and Research Lab
University of Texas at Austin
"All of Western faith and good faith was engaged in this wager on representation: That a sign could refer to the depth of meaning, that a sign could exchange for meaning, and that something could guarantee this exchange---God, of course."
"But what if God himself can be simulated, that is to say, reduced to the signs which attest his existence? Then the whole system becomes weightless, it is no longer anything but a gigantic simulacrum---not unreal, but a simulacrum, never again exchanging for what is real, but exchanging in itself, in an uninterrupted circuit without reference or circumference."
"Whereas representation tries to absorb simulation by interpreting it as false representation, simulation envelops the edifice of representation as itself a simulacrum
Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation (1981)
>> introduction
The term cyber, from the Greek word kubernetes (meaning helmsman or steersman), has many meanings that have all been appropriated to meet certain agendas. It has been called postmodernist, deconstructionist and feminist, among other terms. But in juxtaposition with the word "punk," it is a term designating a progressive and reactionary response to the flux of the world and the fiction of its stagnation. Is cyberpunk a product of popular culture or a revolutionary "movement?" In films such as Total Recall, Dark City and The Matrix, elements of traditional science-fiction are merged with a new cultural and industrial underbelly, driven by computer technology, gothic images and extreme violence, to produce the category of the cyberpunk. Cyberpunk literature and films express a debilitating hopelessness for the future of our "faceless" and "unimportant" world which is, at the same time, charged with an insatiable and rebellious desire for change. To this degree, cyberpunk deals with several pressing themes of today's society and technology : the interfacing and commingling of humans and machines; the passage to the so-called "Information Age"; the crisis of human identity; and the new relationships between gender, race and science. The primary goal of this writing class is to investigate these problems, while negotiating popular culture's interpretation of what constitutes cyberpunk.
Although some proponents of the cyberpunk maintain that it is strictly a sub-genre of science fiction novels, we are going to broaden and deepen our perspectives of where and when the cyberpunk, as a cultural manifestation, exists. In this class, we will explore the various definitions and cultural appendages that have been attached to not only the term cyberpunk, but also, to the different societal concepts that are the essential components of the emergence of cyberpunk philosophies. We'll read both print and hypertext articles that describe how cyberspace itself may produced and arranged according to different and differing understandings of identity, sex, the production of gender and violence. To this degree, we'll read various cyberpunk "texts:" Neil Stephenson's novel Snow Crash, William Gibson's Neuromancer and Masamune Shirow's Appleseed graphic novel series; among the films, we'll watch the Wachowski brother's film The Matrix, Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, Tetsuo: Iron Man (I & II), and the anime films AD. Police and Ghost in the Shell.
During the semester, this syllabus/reference page will be under constant construction, so check regularly!
>>syllabus
>> definitions of cyberpunk
Week of Jan 15
T Introduction
Th read essays on-line from http://www.cyberpunkproject.org: "The Confusion Over Cyberpunk" "Cyberpunk and Social Theory"
Week of Jan 22 : Identity and Technology
T read "Cyber + punk = Cyberpunk" read "Towards a Definition of the Cyberpunk" read in Cyberreader (p63-107)
Th (Cyborgs: Bodies and Identity) read "Cyberpunk, technoculture and the post-biological self" (Hackers, Identities and the Law) read from "The Hacker's Ethics" read in Cyberreader (p.122-147)
Week of Jan 29 : Gender, Sexuality and Technology
T read in Cyberreader (p. 173-201)
Th (Gender Objectification and the Fetishizing of the Body) read "The Erotic Machine" (Donna Haraway, capitalism and gender) read from "The Cyborg Manifesto"
>> cyberpunk films
Attendance for all films is mandatory. While we are watching the films, our reading lists will be considerably shortened. I advise that you begin reading or review either Neuromanceror Snow Crash [even both, if you're ambitious!] during this time in order to avoid problems at the end of the semester.
Week of Feb 5
M watch Blade Runner at 7:00 pm in FAC 344
Th read "Picturing the Human (Body and Soul): A Reading of Blade Runner" discuss BR
Week of Feb 12
T watch Ghost in the Shell at 7:30pm in FAC 344
Th discuss GITS read "What are Manga and Anime?" read "Gender and Gender Relations in Manga and Anime" (both articles are located at http://gwu.edu/~koulikom/amess1.html) (NOTE: For this website, follow the "What is..." icon for the first essay and "Academic" icon to the right for the second essay; then, scroll down until you find the title of the essay on the left. We will use this website a few times during the semester)
Week of Feb 19
T watch Akira at 7:00pm in FAC 344 (plot synopsis)
Th discuss Akira
Week of Feb 26 T watch Lain : series experiement 1-8 at 7:00pm in FAC 344 (description of the layers)
Th compare Ghost in the Shell, Akira and Lain read the following essay: "Cyberpunk as the Postmodern Text" Is Lain a postmodern cyberpunk film/series? What does anime contribute to a definition of the cyberpunk?
Week of Mar 5
M watch The Matrix (or more of Lain) at 7:00pm in FAC 344
Th discuss The Matrix And just who is Jean Baudrillard and his "desert of the real"?? read "De-Coding the Deeper Structures of The Matrix" re-read "Cyberpunk as the Postmodern Text" read selections from Cyberreader on cyberpunks(p. 351-401) * Is there any difference between the American and Japanese versions of the cyberpunk? What is the relationship of mainstream, Hollywood film genres to cybepunk themes and concepts?
SPRING BREAK
>> cyberpunk fiction
Week of Mar 19 T read excerpts from Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Th Discuss Frankenstein; relationship of cyborgs and humanity (recall our discussions of Blade Runner)
Week of Mar 26
T Neuromancer, Part 1-2; "What is Cyberpunk as Literary Style?"
Th Part 3-4 and Coda discussion of Neuromancer consider (among other topics) identity politics, techonology and identity Appleseed magne (Masamune Shirow)
Week of Apr 2
T read "Unlikely Explorers: Alternative Narratives of Love, Sex, Gender, and Friendship in Japanese "Girls'" Comics" -(by Matthew Thorn, under the "Academic" subheading) comparison of anime and magna
Th Appleseed
Week of Apr 9
T Appleseed 2
Th discuss Aplpeseed series: consider the feminist views on identity and alleged 'misogyny' of Japanese anime, governmental and corporate entities, and cyborgs
W eek of Apr 16
T Snow Crash 1-14
Th SC 15-29
Week of Apr 23
T SC 30-44
Th SC 45-59
Week of Apr 30
T SC 60-70
Th class evaluation and discussion of Snow Crash final thoughts on the cyberpunk final paper due on May 7th in PAR 406 (my office)