Week Eleven: Cyberpunk and Steam Punk

This week, I read William Gibson's "Johnny Mneumonic", which was both confusing and enjoyable. When I looked up the story for a little more information, I was amused by the fact that there was a film adaptation starring Keanu Reeves. He probably knows he has a knack for playing these "super special", tech-based characters from the Matrix, and likes to stick to it. 

A recurring aspect of the sci-fi genres is they're willingness to dive straight into the immersive worlds the author has already created, without any hand holding. Right off the bat you can tell this world of cyberpunk deals with a very alternative reality. Looking "technical" versus "crude" doesn't bother to explain the difference, but the language behind the two and the tone of the styles is pretty clear without a lot of description. 

And then there's Molly Millions with her reflective glasses, professional assassin status and blades under her fingernails. It was kind of hard to wrap my mind around a character like Millions--while I picture Johnny as a sort of clunky, clumsy character trying to pull off a disguise to save his life, Millions is much more fluid and elusive. She embodies the "Cyberpunk Heroine" to a T, and I loved every minute of it. Not only is she in it for a cut of profits, but the character also agrees to help out for the challenge of being up against another professional assassin. 

In this alternative world, there's a clear difference between the classes and factions. As a reader I imagined the areas they were running around in as very grungy and dirty--the kind of place you'd expect to have a seedy assassin chasing after you. I got more confused at the Killing Floor, although perhaps this was the writer's intention. The description of the dancing and the Killing Floor didn't make sense to me, and as someone who tries visualizing the experiences described I'd say I was just as confused as Johnny was.

Overall, I really enjoyed the story and the way it portrayed the future society. It did get dated at times, particularly when Johnny was described as having "hundreds of megabytes" of information stored in his head, versus my travel 500 gigabyte portable harddrive. Still, the concept was really cool and the storytelling kept me interested the whole time.

Week Nine: Space Opera

Oh, space operas. I have such conflicting feelings about space operas--for the most part the space opera is exactly what I think about when thinking about "science fiction", and it's not exactly my cup of tea. At the same time...I can't stop. Space opera was such a huge part of pop culture and literature, using the principles of storytelling in the brave new world of the future. 

You can't ignore space operas, although I have been relatively successful in doing so. I haven't seen Star Wars, nor have I watched Star Trek, but I know the general plots of both, and cannot ignore how popular a fandom it has. Galaxy Quest is a hilarious tribute to the genre that I throughly enjoy regardless. There's something about the nostalgia of these tales, being able to examine them from the present-day and see what people in the past thought the future would hold. But the storytelling and narrative in these works transcend time, gripping most audiences with the humanity of it all. 

This week, I started watching Joss Whedon's Firefly TV series. I've been a fan of Joss Whedon for a while now, from Buffy to his latest Agents of Shield show. I'm a fan of the narrative form of television because it really lets the characters develop and grow, which works well with the space opera format. Look at the success and life of Star Trek, or even the BBC's wildly popular, 50-year long Doctor Who.