Cyberpunk

     This blog was created for the 2018 spring class for Lit of Horror/Sci-Fi/Fantasy course at Ringling College of Art and Design. In this blog I will talk about the books we read and what they mean to me personally. If you have come across this blog and have not read the book I am talking about this week, I will warn you now that I will spoil it.
     This week is about cyberpunk, and I am going to take a different direction this time and talk about a video game instead of a book. Games and movies also follow the same confines of story structure, only differences is the visual medium and the length. but saying that isn't enough to prove my point, so I am going to analyze cyberpunk using a video game called Remember Me.
     I want to start this by talking about the strengths and weaknesses of the visual medium. The visual medium lends itself more to art, because a lot of the story can be told through how the characters move or react to situations as opposed to dialogue and descriptions. The visual medium is also more popular with contemporary audiences, most kids today are more likely to pick up a video game or movie than they are a book, unless it's a comic book or manga. Unfortunately it does limit the writer to things that can be visually depicted, which dosen't sound like a big deal, but in science fiction can be a huge limiter, and I will go more in to that when I talk about All in One Point. 
     Remember Me is a cyberpunk video game that takes place in Neo Paris, and the concept is that everyone has memory implants that is advertised as a device that makes it so no one forgets anything ever. but in actuality the device is used to control the mass population by altering and using their memories. You play as a young rogue, Nilin, who uses her abilities to alter other people's memories to work in her favor. This game is best described as dystopian future, but it has many elements of cyberpunk in it as well. For example, a key element of cyberpunk is the Anti-Hero (not to be mistaken for a villain). An anti-hero is a protagonist that doesn't do things because it is morally sound, they do things for their own selfish reasons, and in the case of Nilin that reason is her resentment towards her parents, who created the memory device. She even abuses their creation out of protest to it. 
     This game to me is the perfect example that video games offer just as much story and depth as a book, using different means. This game tells its story utilizing the fact that you control Nilin to affect how you feel, morally, about what the antagonist is doing. This game also shows the aesthetic of cyberpunk perfectly. It is a beautiful futuristic city on the surface, but when you see the slums you start to realize not everything is perfect like is advertised. A big part of cyberpunk is also the combination of cyber-mechanical parts to a human being, in this case instead of a metal arm or leg that part is attached directly to your brain (or more specifically the nape of the neck because that is where memories go when they are forgotten).