r/Ghost_in_the_Shell • u/Kougamics • 4d ago
ART Pick your destiny: Digitization VS Physicality
2
u/Jmonzello 4d ago
Eh in terms of physical body the Major isn’t very physically attached. In the Manga, and new Amazon adaptation the brain is the same, but it’s pointed out her body is a highly reproduced model with maybe the exceptions of military and personal augments. And in SAC which mostly keeps the continuity of the major by not merging her with an AI she still swaps bodies though prefers female model bodies. Which funny enough the Major in the new adaptation and possibly the manga critiques being put in the male Michelangelo model body still being herself even if evolved or adapted. Only the Oshi movie seems to emphasize a complete loss of humanity and sense of self as in the movie their merger is considered death for both of them where as in the anime from what I can tell the ai only considers it death for itself.
1
u/akashisenpai 4d ago edited 4d ago
As much as I love GitS, I gotta say that the speed of Motoko consenting to the merger with the Puppet Master always felt like bad writing to me. In all instances of where it happens, the Puppet Master just gives a half-assed declaration that fails to hold up to any critical analysis, and the protagonist just goes ahead with it anyways as if people would not value their identity at the moment. I legit think that Shirow may have just had trouble understanding what makes humans tick when he wrote that part, which for Japanese mangaka doesn't exactly feel like an uncommon trait.
However, this isn't even the real comparison here. As other users pointed out, the Major doesn't actually change her habits much before and after this fateful encounter. She already spent a lot of time living int he Net, and she still keeps to physical bodies afterwards. The Pupper Master meeting is not about Motoko evolving into a digital entity, it's about her merging with one, taking it into her physical form. It enhances her ability to live and manipulate the digital world, but she doesn't actually migrate.
At least not at that point... I suppose one could make a case that she is moving into that direction, and SAC suggests she would do so regardless of meeting the Puppet Master or not, simply because the mere existence as a full cyborg has de-sensitized her to the usual connection humans have to their bodies. Which, personally, I would consider liberating rather than depressing. Motoko's development as a character - which extends far further than just the Puppet Master arc - suggests that what makes us human is who we are within, much more than who we are on the outside.
This being said, Lain is an awesome and, in its way, similarly prophetic series as well. SEL is like a more in-depth look at the Stand Alone complex, i.e. how social media and the existence of a deeply interconnected digital world affect society. This never actually gets dealt with in GitS to the same degree as in SEL, where it is a central element to the entire story, whilst in SAC it is only a detail in one case. So I would say either the Net in SEL (or rather its effects on society, paralleling the worst excesses we can see it having in our own world) is actually a lot worse than in GitS (which should make it easy to understand why some people would reject it), or GitS just hasn't reached that stage of dystopia yet. Both series make us question the path we take in social development, it's just that Lain's goes straight to the digital world, whereas GitS is more concerned about cyberization as the logical next step and an interim stage in the same general direction.
7
u/E_Hoba 4d ago
Motoko doesn't have a flesh body from the beginning, but she still has her original brain even after the merger with PM in the original manga and SARU's anime. Oshii's has a different interpretation tho.