Cyberpunk course

Before examining both Neo and Case in more detail, I want to first begin begin by suggesting that the key protagonists in most cyberpunk stories are anti-heroes and that this, in of itself, may be the most significant and commonly recurring attribute or characteristic of an archetype — if one exists. When we consider that cyberpunk, as a sub-genre, deals with post-modernism, then we have to acknowledge and recognise that with post-modernism comes an inherent distrust of the sorts of ‘absolute truths’ which classical heroes embody, and which are at the heart of the hero-myth cycle, so instead of a flawless idealised hero, we now have the anti-hero. Robin Van Cleave discusses this in her essay entitled Anti Heroes:

“With his normal-person character flaws and failures at everyday living, the anti-hero is someone with whom readers of the 21st century can identify. Where heroes appeal to the inner child’s dreams for the future, the anti-hero appeals to the inner pessimist’s reality. The anti-hero often possesses flaws in his or her character with which readers can identify. We are expected to understand, or at least sympathize with the anti-heroes negative qualities because of his or her redeeming heroic qualities or intentions. Because of this realise nature of the typical anti hero, it has become an increasingly popular character in modern literature, and especially the relatively new genre of cyberpunk.”

With this in mind I’d like to examine Neo, from the Matrix, and Case from William Gibson’s Neuromancer. When we are first introduced to Neo he is living a duel life, by day he’s a computer programmer for a large company, and by night he is a hacker who steals information, which he sells. In fact when he is captured we are told that he is “guilty of virtually every computer crime we have a law for“. He is also very quiet, and when challenged by his employer to make a choice he appears to be contrite and non-confrontational. Neo lives alone, and we get the sense that there is an emptiness in his life as he searches for something, or as Trinity puts it:

“TRINITY: I know why you’re here, Neo. I know what you’ve been doing … why you hardly sleep, why you live alone, and why night after night, you sit by your computer. You’re looking for him. I know because I was once looking for the same thing. And when he found me , he told me I wasn’t really looking for him. I was looking for an answer. It’s the question, Neo. It’s the question that drives us. It’s the question that brought you here. You know the question, just as I did.

NEO: What is the Matrix?”

He has heard of the ‘Matrix’, but does not know what it is, but he does believe, as Morpheus later vocalizes, that “there is something wrong with the world“, and its that that drives him to seek out answers. We start to see a different, more confrontational, side of Neo when he is arrested by Agents, who ask him to help them apprehend Morpheus to which Neo responds:

“Yeah. Well that sounds like a pretty good deal. But I think I may have a better one. How about, I give you the finger [He does] and you give me my phone call.”

This disrespect for authority is a quintessentially punk. As one anonymous commentator noted, and I find myself agreeing with:

“Cyberpunks … have taken the punk ethic of disrespect for authority (and often for self, even to the point of nihilism)
and applied it to the real world. Cyberpunks are those who think that the street has its own uses for technology … they think that corporations are often a bigger threat than government … sometimes to the point of breaking laws … The only freedom these people are interested in is the freedom to be left alone, both physically and, in the data world, to be left out of the ubiquitous info files being accumulated on us all. This combination often leads to a “fuck you, jack” attitude.”
– Quote taken from a debate from e-zine Computer Underground Digest, 1991

Case, from Gibson’s Neuromancer, shares some of the same qualities but is a very different, darker character. When we first meet him, Case is a burned out, drug addicted, self-destructive, former ‘data cowboy‘. He used to ‘jack’ into cyberspace and steal information from high security corporate databases, but prior to the events in the novel, his ability to jack into the matrix was taken from him as punishment when he was caught stealing from his employers – who using a mycotoxin damaged his nervous system making it impossible for him to connect to the matrix. Case operates at the fringes of his society, he is ammoral, murderous, cynical, desperate to find a cure and on the brink of suicide –to escape the prison he now finds himself in:

“For Case, who had lived in the bodiless exultation of cyberspace, it was the Fall … The body was meat. Case fell into a prison of his own flesh”

Like Neo, Case, is also offered a choice, albeit a Faustian one, when Armitage offers to repair Case’ neural damage and in exchange Case has to work for him. The desperate Case accepts, and in so doing joins Armitage without really understanding what he’s signing up to – or really caring. However once cured he is told that he has to complete the tasks that Armitage gives him, or small sacs of poison, which have been left in his bloodstream, will burst and cripple him again ( as an aside, I cant help but think of how much this reminds me of Cyber City Oedo 808, in which cyber criminals are coerced into becoming police officers through the use of explosive collars – complete your mission or die),  thus Case is recruited against his will to help an Artifical Intelligence, Wintermute, free itself from containment.

The progression of the two characters in their respective story-lines is also different. Although an anti-hero, Neo’s progression is more traditionally aligned with the hero-myth cycle, he goes on a quest, receives aid from an outside source, struggles with obstacles, appears to fail at some point, fulfills the quest, and returns a changed man. Case’ progression doesn’t feel quite so formulaic ( or perhaps I’m not looking hard enough ? ), once he’s entered into his faustian arrangement with Armitage, its the very nature of that relationship, and I think the notion of control, which forces Case to find out more about Armitage and what it is they are actually working towards, Case is of course trying to figure out the conspiracy before it determines him to be expendable. When he does figure it out, the journey he takes in understanding Wintermute’s motivation, and desperation to be free, Case realises that it’s not really any different to him or any human, it wants freedom, life, the ability to explore and discover, and through this Case develops a better understanding of what it means to be human – How different are Case and Wintermute, really?

In their own way both Neo and Case are fighting for their own freedom. Neo is fighting against an artificial construct that is used to control and enslave himself and the rest of the human race. Case is battling against the situation he finds himself in, as someone elses pawn. But both characters want to be in control of their own lives. I think this too must be a key characteristic of any archetype.

In examining these two characters it appears that there are similarities, they are both loners, both looking for answers, both desire to be in control of their own lives, both operate outside the the legal boundaries of their societies: they are both considered criminals. One final thing, neither one of them strikes me as being someone who is happy to live a mediated existence, simply consider how significant a part the media plays in our lives. Neo eschewed a mediated life in search of Morpheus, and Case, would probably say its full of shit. Our anti-heroes are independent thinkers, they want to see with their own eyes, not through someone elses, or through some sanitised government or corporate veil: but then this has always been key feature of any hacker culture.

I’m not sure if I’ve succeeded in  defining anything that resembles a classical cyberpunk archetype, or come close at all. But I do think that investigating this piece, has helped me gain a better understanding of why I find these characters so compelling.

Additional Resources

As with last assignment I have tagged a number of resources on Delicious account as “cyberpunk” and “week2″, which I used to research this piece. Hopefully others will find them useful too. You can view them here.

Picture of Neuromancer Cover by Myles! CC-BY NC-SA: http://www.flickr.com/photos/35034347347@N01/3347216115/

Picture of Matrix- Is This The Real Life  by Kaptain Kobold CC-BY NC-SA: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaptainkobold/2682250700/

Tags: Coursework, Week2