Ghost in the Shell I & II:

The mythology of Dolls & Cyborgs

in Post-modern Japan

By Alessandra Sabelli

Ghost in the Shell I & II

Post-modernism– Images: reality vs. illusion

– Body [entity]: visions of identity in Japan

Identity displacement in Japan

Societal “Shocks”• WWII: Defeat

– National identity crumbles– Atomic bombs

• Rapid Industrialization – consumerist culture

• Economic bubble burst– Fall of Salary-men and “Wise” mothers scheme

• Hyper-Technology – consciousness

“The Other” - the place of dolls & cyborgs

Japan and the conception of “The Other”:– Spirit world

• Shinto • Animism

– Western world– Cyborgs/robots & dolls

• Defining identity in relation to dichotomies

• De-familiarizing narratives

From Cyborgs to Dolls

GITS –

creating mythologies

• Cyborgs: towards a life on the Network

• Dolls: Return to the Real

Cyborgs (1 of 2)

GITS -• Progressive recreation of human body

• Implications for a “bodiless” life

Cyborgs (2 of 2)

Embodiment of needs in Japanese culture– Memory– Repetition– Rebirth

Dolls (1 of 3)

GITS -

Dolls: “who” are they?– Created for entertainment

– Suicide?– A new social class– Ugly dolls: metaphor for mass production and consumerism & identity

Dolls (2 of 3)

• High art and artisanship

• Animism• Dolls as masks

Dolls (3 of 3)

Origin of GITS doll design• Hans Bellmer (1930s)– dismantling and rearranging female bodies

Dolls & Cyborgs in Japanese popular culture

Mechanism(?) of popularization:• Karakuri: the birth of the mechanical doll• Admiration of Western technology• Friendly robots: postwar manga representations

• Contemporary search for Realism

In between fantasy and reality

A possible future?

Why to like the category of “robot”?

• Anthropomorphizing robots• Human response to “living” behavior• world of fantasy and dreams• psychodrama