Sci Fi Genres: Cyberpunk

Of all the sci-fi genres, cyberpunk is the one that has drawn the most outside media and literary scrutiny.

Is the story set in the near future? Does any, or most, of the action take place in cyberspace? Is a totalitarian society controlled by overpowering soul-less entities, whether government, religion or corporation? Are the good guys 'disaffected' and/or loners? Could the culture be reasonably described as hedonistic or materialistic? Does the phrase 'dystopic future' apply? Is the milieu or feel 'noir-ish'?

If so, you have stumbled into Cyberpunk territory.

It is worth noting that George Orwell's 1984 predicted a fairly grim 1984. Totalitarian control, thought police, grim, humorless masses - if Orwell had anticipated computers, he could have invented cyberpunk. As it was, it is fair to say that 'Orwellian' certainly applies to many cyberpunk works.

Coincidentally, William Gibson's novel Neuromancer, published in 1984, is widely considered to be the first cyberpunk novel. It set the parameters of cyberpunk as surely as Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade series defined the hard-boiled 'tec genre. Featuring a loner (and arguable a loser), the quintessential tough-guy down on his luck, the online playing field, the mysterious female sidekick, Neuromancer won both the Hugo and the Nebula awards.

Cyberpunk is almost always an earth-based sci-fi genre. Not for the punkster the vast reaches of space or the cramped quarters of the space station. If cyberpunk action enters 'real space', it is more likely to be the crowded and dirty streets of a noir Chicago, gritty Toyko or hostile Los Angeles. One rarely sees a rural setting in cyberpunk. Odd, because in the world of the near future, physical location in real-space becomes more irrelevant, and one would think that a hacker/loner could be based out of a farm community in Ohio as easily as a crumbling apartment building on the East Side. But no - Cyberpunk is all about urban decay.

If written cyberpunk is all about the feeling - loss and hopelessness in the face of The Machine - then filmed cyberpunk is all about the 'look'.

Cyberpunk is: Crowded cityscapes, rain, nighttime, ginormous neon signs that overpower the stars, faceless masses and speeding rapid transit.

Cyberpunk is not: Daylight, sunshine, meadows, baby animals, country roads.

You get the picture.

Max Headroom was perhaps the first view American audiences had of cyberpunk. Set 'twenty minutes into the future', the world was controlled by massive corporations (much like today, in fact) and Max himself was the first AI character. It also introduced the deliberate anachronism, such as the oscillating fans and manual keyboards in the newsroom of Network 23.

1982's Blade Runner has the 'look' in spades. It's always nighttime and raining in Rick Decker's world.

The Matrix series is also considered cyberpunk, and the first movie quite clearly is. It could be argued that since the first movie, subsequent installments have become Kick-boxing-in-cyberspace action adventures, however.

Some argue that Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, while otherwise fitting the definition of 'Cyberpunk', actually defines a new genre, 'postcyberpunk'. The distinction they make is that true sci-fi genre cyberpunk emphasizes the dystopian effects of computers and cyberspace on society, while 'postcyberpunk' accepts computers and cyberspace as part of the reality and any social ills to be deplored come from humans.

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