Ghost in the Shell (1995)

 I was surprised by this movie. I expected to not like it, but I didn't mind it. The only anime I had seen before this was Sailor Moon and My Neighbor Totoro. I liked both of them, but Japanese media is definitely different than American media. I know Ghost in the Shell was dubbed in English, but it felt like a normal movie I would see isn't anime. The storyline did feel a little rushed to me, and I wish it went into more detail. It gave the bare minimum of details to make sense. I think it was only mentioned once or twice explicitly that a ghost is a soul. I was also shocked at how similar this movie was to the Matrix. This one came before the Matrix, so it is clear that it heavily influenced the Matrix. I mean it was so similar that I almost feel like the Matrix ripped off Ghost in the Shell. I feel like that is somewhat common because many Westerners don't heavily consume eastern media, so it easy to do. The Masked Singer was a show for years in Korea before Fox created an American version, and now Americans love it and believe it is an originally American show. While researching, I learned a live action one was made in 2017. I am curious to see how they revamped the storyline, but I am more interested how they went about Major. She was very open in her nudity, and I am curious how they translated or changed that when Scarlett Johansson played the role. 

As far as Asimov's Laws, I feel that they are unreasonable. In the context of Ghost in the Shell, anything that is any part human has free will, so they cannot be expected to follow strict, vague "laws". But even expecting pure robots to fall within the laws is unreasonable. Everyone's interests are different, and expecting countries to fight their wars without technology is absurd. I think Asimov's Laws should stay within the fictional realm because it is completely unrealistic to apply them to situations today.

Notes from Class

Ghost in the Shell

• In the near distance futures where humanity is not yet too computerized to erase societies and races
• Eagle eye view and several different voices talking over each other
• Girl sitting on tall building
• She unplugs wires plugged into the back of her neck 
• She takes all her clothes off???
• She has a gun holstered to her thigh
• She jumps off the building
• Suitcase turned into a sub machine gun
• Diplomat is refusing to work with police
• He says he has immunity
• The girl from the building kills him and she’s falling
• She turns camouflaged so she can’t be seen
• Very reminiscent of the matrix
• Came out 4 or 5 years before the matrix
• Her body is being coded while she is floating in water
• She wakes up in a bed in the dark
• Shot of her bed and her window w/ the skyline
• Leader os section 9 meeting with head of foreign affairs
• Affairs leader thanks section 9 leader for help with the other political refugee
• Robot working on a government worker’s brain
• A hacker is hacking people
• Puppet master
• Thinks it was trying to listen to secret conversation
• Thinks could try to kill important diplomatic figures
• Using outdated virus
• Refer to something as their “ghost”
• “Overspecialize and you breed in weakness”
• Using a trash man as a ruse
• His wife is cheating on him so he was shown how to hack into her ghost
• He only does it at certain spots because its hard to trace
• Trash truck changes spot every 7 minutes
• The girl connects herself to the car and drives it while also hacking into the trash truck
• Trash man says they found him and he has to warn others and deviates from trash path
• The guy they chased doesn’t even know who he is
• A ghost hacked human
• Section 9 leader recording someone getting off a plane
• Talking on the phone about everything that just happened
• The man they were recording looked back and smirked
• The trash man was “hacked” and his story about his wife and daughter were fake
• Used by puppet master to try ad get into secret government meeting
• His memories will never be restored
• Girl is in water again but she’s wearing clothes this time
• She was diving in her spare time
• Does Bateau like her?
• She likes diving because it makes her feel
• “Not long ago this was science fiction”
• Major monologue
• Major was hacked???
• She’s acting weird
• Stole some clothes
• Was late
• Blonde woman (naked) standing in the road and a truck can’t stop in time
• The blonde was an unprogrammed cyber body (no instructions)
• No human cells
• Back up brain
• Found evidence of a ghost
• Major wants to dive into the ghost directly and first
• Treasuries leader wants to meet section 9 leader
• Section 9 leader says major is moody and bateau says she’s been acting weird since the puppet master started
• Major tells Bateau in the car what if there’s no humanity in her left and what if complete Borgs can create their own ghost
• Ghost = soul
• Section 6 is up to something
• Fingers/hands are augmented so he can type faster
• The body’s eyes are moving
• Section 6 forced/tricked the puppet master to get into a cyber body and then killed his real body
• They want to take the body back to the U.S.
• The body wakes up and speaks in a deep (man’s) voice and says he chose this body and never had a physical body and as a sentient being he demands political asylum
• “DNA is nothing more than a program designed to preserve itself”
• “A memory cannot be defined but it defines mankind”
• Project 2501 - not A.I. a living, thinking entity created in the sea of information
• Invisible people ambush the lab and take the puppetmaster/project 2501
• Section 9 leader tells major to destroy body if it cannot be captured
• Section 6/foreign affairs doesn’t know why project 2501 ran to section 9
• “Maybe he’s got a girlfriend there he has the hots for”
• MOFA is hiding information
• They think project 2501 got away and they can’t control it anymore
• Bluetooth ear piece
• One car is stopped by road block and gruesomely killed
• Bateau calls for backup for Major
• “Since when did she ever need a hand?”
• Major says there’s a reason she can’t wait for backup
• Foreshadowing from major but foreshadowing what?
• The white sedan is in the empty warehouse and major is being shot at
• She calls for the helicopter to shoot the ceiling out
• It uncovers an invisible tank
• Major says this could be her only chance to dive into the puppet master
• She signs off
• Bateau says bad major
• Ew she’s weird and muscley but still has tits
• She’s trying to open the tank but she tore an arm off 
• The tank grabs her
• Bateau is there and stops the tank
• Bateau gives her car keys and says the password is 2501
• Major tells him that can be their secret password when they meet again
• She’s on the top of a sky scraper???
• She says “And where do we go from here? The net is vast and infinite.”