Science
Fiction
WILLIAM GIBSON
Cyberpunk
• Cyberpunk has been one of the most influential
SF movement since the last 50 years. The genre
gained critical acclaim with novels such as
William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984) and
films such as Blade Runner (1982). While
cyberpunk disappeared for a couple decades, the
genre returned to the forefront of culture
through music, films, videogames and novels.
Do you like this subgenre of science fiction? To
what do you owe its withstanding cultural
appeal?
Postmodernism and Cyberpunk
Anti-heroes: Anti-heroes that, at most, aim to escape the system by living at the
margins of society.
Film Noir: Detectives often find themselves in cases beyond the scope of their
understanding and involving complex corporate interests.
Technology: No longer the grand spaceships and awe-inspiring machines of
traditional SF. Cyberpunk focuses on technology, virtual reality and cyberspace, that
shapes the unconscious and transforms humanity.
Postmodernism and Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is notable for offering bleak dystopian versions of the future of capitalist
societies.
It encapsulates that we have advanced into a new stage of capitalism in which every domain
of life has been commodified: culture, politics, nature and the unconscious.
There are no alternatives to capitalism. The system is inescapable. It encapsulates the thesis
that it is easier to imagine the end of the world than some adjustments to the system.
William
Gibson
• American-Canadian speculative fiction
writer and essayist.
• Widely accredited with pioneering the
cyberpunk subgenre of science fiction.
• He was fascinated by the works of
writers such as J.G. Ballard and William
S. Burroughs but, also, the punk culture
of the late 1970s.
William He was dissatisfied with the political climate of
the US, which is why he moved to Canada in the
late 1970s.
Gibson
Along with Bruce Sterling in Canada, he
published a collection of short stories called
Burning Chrome (1980) that pioneered a new type
of science fiction.
His most widely acclaimed novel is Neuromancer
(1984). The novel contains some of the central
tropes of the subgenre: hackers, drug
hallucination, globalization, cyberspace.
William
Gibson
• His work moves away from the sense of
wonder about the universe and the future
that inspired prior SF.
• He explored taboo topics like drug
addiction, racial discrimination and
sexual violence.
• His prose was unconventionally
experimental for a genre that had been
opposed to formal innovations.
“Johnny Mnemonic”
“Johnny Published in the anthology of short stories
Burning Chrome in 1981.
Mnemonic”
“Johnny Mnemonic” outlines the journey of
Johnny who has found himself in the middle
of a conflict between the Ono-Sendai
corporations and the Yakuza.
He has been implanted precious information
in his brain to which he has no conscious
access and is the cause of this conflict.
• The LEDs that told seconds on the
plastic wall clock had become
meaningless pulsing grids, and Molly
and the Mao-faced boy grew hazy,
their arms blurring occasionally in
insect-quick ghosts of gestures. And
then it all faded to cool gray static and
an endless tone poem in an artificial
language. I sat and sang dead Ralfi’s
stolen program for three hours. (14)
• Once Johnny enters idiot/savant mode
he contemplates reality from a heavily
distorted point of view. What
cyberpunk elements can you identify
in this passage and other passages?
“Johnny Mnemonic”
Cognitive Estrangement: “Johnny Mnemonic” overwhelming flow of information and data is a form of
estrangement. The dystopian world estranges our view of social reality but, simultaneously, forces us to
draw parallels between it and our own world.
Scientific Discourse: The world-building is rationally accounted through an appearance of scientific
discourse. E.g.: Geomagnetic force, sensor units, monomolecular filaments, diamond analogs.
Technological Estrangement: The technology and devices are a source of estrangement. Technical
terms are introduced without being explained to the reader.
• “China. Yeah. See, Molly’s been Chiba, too.”
And she showed me her hands, fingers
slightly spread. Her fingers were slender,
tapered, very white against the polished
burgundy nails. Ten blades snicked straight
out from their recesses beneath her nails, each
one a narrow, double-edged scalpel in pale
blue steel” (8).
• Implants are represented throughout the entire
narration. Are these represented as a source of
emancipation or subjection in the short story?
Posthumanism: Technology redefines humanity.
Hi and Lo Tek implants shape our perception of
reality. E.g.: “I looked back down in time to see
him explode” (7).
Face: The availability facial modifications distort
“Johnny
the concept of identity. Ralfi looks exactly like the
leader of a famous Reggae band and Johnny has
done the same.
Mnemonic”:
Posthumanism
Bodies/Commodities: Through the insertion of
protheses and implants, bodies have become
commodities: “We crouched in the narrow gap
between a surgical boutique and an antique shop”
(8).
Class: Implants and protheses are class markers. Hi
and Lo Tek signal your class. The Lo Tek
marginalized live in Nighttown at the margins of the
city.
Artificial/Real: Uncertainty about whether what we
observe is real or artificial: “Ralfi tumbled apart in a
pink cloud of fluids” (7).
Liquid Gender Identity: The Magnetic Dog Sisters
have modified their bodies to look the same:
“They’d been lovers for years and were bad news in
a tussle. I was never quite sure which one had
originally been male” (2).
“Johnny • I cupped my hands over my ears and knelt in a vertigo
of sound, thinking Floor and benches were on their
Mnemonic”: Social way down, down to Nighttown, and I saw us tearing
Darwinism through the shanties, the wet wash, exploding on the
tiles like rotten fruit. But the cables held, and the
Killing Floor rose and fell like a crazy metal sea. And
Molly danced on it (21).
• While Johnny seems to have no control over his
predicament, Molly seems to be the only character
able to navigate the situation and, even, enjoy it. What
makes her so adept at navigating this situation? Is the
story celebrating her mentality?
Social Darwinism: Savage universe governed by a
survival-of-the-fittest type of mentality. Competition
and outsmarting others is the imperative in society.
“Johnny
Mnemonic”
Violence: Molly seems to be the “fittest” animal in the
late capitalist landscape. She is not afraid to resort to
violence to obtain what she needs. She makes two deals
: Social
by threatening others.
Thrill: Molly is the only who seems to enjoy the
culture depicted in this dystopian future: “She grinned
and gave a little squeal of delight. “I’m gonna get that
Darwinism
boy. Tonight. He’s the best, number one, top dollar,
state of the art” (8).
“Johnny Mnemonic”: Social
Darwinism
Passive Agency: Johnny never has any type of control over what happens to him throughout
the entire story. His attempts to gain control over the situation are futile.
Civilization and Savagery: Gibson’s short story undermines the distinction between
civilization and wilderness by showing the savagery of contemporary reality.
Criminality: Violence is perpetrated by everyone in order to survive, regardless of their
criminal or legitimate status.
”Johnny
Mnemonic”
• William Gibson has been celebrated for
his distinctive experimental prose and
writing style. Did you like the way the
story was written? How would you
describe his prose? How is the form
connected to the world depicted in the
story?
“Johnny Mnemonic”: Capitalism
Beyond Cognition: Johnny is unable to voluntarily access the data stored in his unconscious:
“The program. I had no idea what it contained. I still don’t. I only sing the song, with zero
comprehension” (18).
Overwhelming Complexity: He is persecuted and targeted by economic conglomerates
beyond his understanding. Instead of clarifying the causes of his persecution, the complexity
of the situation is never resolved by the narrative.
Brand Names: Brands and corporations are displayed throughout the narrative and shape the
capitalist landscape of the story. E.g.: Adidas, Sony Mao, Ono-Sendai.
“Johnny Mnemonic”: Capitalism
Capitalist Unconscious: Capitalism has colonized the unconscious of citizens. Johnny is not in control of his
own memories which are the product of economic conflicts and interests.
Information Economy: Information has become a commodity in this dystopian version of the world. The
system is inescapable since everyone is a receptacle of information that can be traced and located.
Private/Social: The distinction between the personal and the social blurs. Memories are no longer the sign of
emotional depth : “I’d spent my life as a blind receptacle to be filled with other people’s knowledge and then
drained, spouting synthetic languages I’d never understand” (19).
• And we’re all making good money, better money than I
made before, because Jones’s Squid can read the traces
of anything that anyone ever stored in me, and he gives
it to me on the display unit in languages I can
understand. So we’re learning a lot about all my former
clients. And one day I’ll have a surgeon dig all the
silicon out of my amygdalae, and I’ll live with my own
memories and nobody else’s, the way other people do.
But not for a while (23).
• Johnny manages to escape the conflict with the help of
Molly. We are uncertain about whether Ono-Sendai still
seeks to capture him or not. What did you make of the
conclusion? Is this a happy ending?
