MLOP 4: Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004)

Welcome to Mona Lisa Overpod, the show that asks the question "What is cyberpunk?" On each episode, hosts Ka1iban and author Lyda Morehouse dive into the genre that helped define sci-fi fiction in the '80s and break down the themes which remain relevant to our lives in the 21st century. Pull on your mirrorshades, jack into the matrix, and start your run with us today! Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence retains the setting and characters of its predecessor, but Mamoru Oshii's sequel film is in every way an intensification of the first film. Where Ghost in the Shell balanced its philosophical introspection with decisive bursts of action, Innocence wends its way through ontology, Eastern philosophy, ecclesiastical blank verse, and Buddhist poetry before it reaches its kinetic and ambivalent conclusion. With the Major having transcended her life at Section 9, Batou is left to clean up the messes of the transgressive elite in New Port City. But when a trail of bodies leads him and his partner Togusa through a maze of warped reality, he'll have to decide who is innocent and who are the real victims. In this episode, we discuss the brutal world of the second GITS film, its blend of 2D and 3D animation, its Godardian mien, the preponderance of literary allusion, the difficulty we have in empathizing with the voiceless, the persistent question of Cartesian doubt, Motoko a Miltonic Satan, becoming the anti-elephant, and whether the body truly defines the self. We also talk about A Cyborg Manifesto, Billy Madison anime, Trek being the opposite of cyberpunk, cyborb Jim Caviezel, unimpressed girlfriends, Sexbots Gone Wild, proto-Stepford Wives, Hot Batou Summer, mullet implants, lies about Phineas Gage, swearing at Taco Bell trash cans, seagulls are cyberpunk, needs more explosions, loving pulling your arms off, and Lyda's GITS tie-in novel! Hope you like the color orange! Join Kaliban on Twitch weekdays at 12pm for the Cyber Lunch Hour! http://twitch.tv/justenoughtrope Put Just Enough Trope merch on your body! http://justenoughtrope.threadless.com MLOP is a part of the Just Enough Trope podcast network. Check out our other shows about your favorite pop culture topics and join our Discord! http://www.twitter.com/monalisaoverpod http://www.justenoughtrope.com http://www.instagram.com/monalisaoverpod https://discord.gg/49bzqdpBpx Buy us a coffee on Ko-Fi! https://ko-fi.com/justenoughtrope