What cyberpunk work (movie, book, tv show, etc.) would you say is the most “punk”? What has the best non-conformist middle-finger-to-authority “punk” feel?
I mean, it’s obviously Hackers, right? Nothing says “punk rock” like roller blading down the streets of NYC. Or maybe something more gritty like Hardware, with a cameo from Iggy Pop?
Obviously those are terrible examples. I was just trying to think of which cyberpunk work really captures the punk part of cyberpunk and I can’t think of any really good examples. I’m sure there’s something obvious I’m forgetting though.
Not an entire work, but I thought the character in the book Mona Lisa Overdrive who had misc brain/nerve damage and created strange robotic sculptures in the rural warehouse he was squatting at, with robot names like ‘the judge’ and ‘the witch’, was super punk. especially the climax of his plot line (no spoilers). It was very analogous to punk musicians creating aggressive anti-authority music in a trashed out garage.
I’m kind of leaning on recency bias, but I feel like ‘Trouble and her Friends’ was pretty punk, both in terms of the character’s style and the fact that the principals are very explicit outsiders.
Would you recommend ‘Trouble and Her Friends’? I’ve been aware of it for awhile but never got around to reading it. I am a fan of the Hacker archetype in cyberpunk, which I believe this book has, but that’s all I really know about it.
Yes, I definitely would. If you liked Neuromancer, I think you’ll find it’s very much of the same mold. If I were to be highly critical I would say it drags a little in the middle, but overall I highly enjoyed it.
One area in which it differs from other cyberpunk novels is that the main characters are all gay or lesbian and the novel strongly reflects how the gay experience was felt when it was written in '94.
How about Mr. Robot? Not sure if it could be called cyberpunk, but since you mentioned Hackers, I thought it might fit.
Hmm, that’s an interesting thought… Mr. Robot is a fantastic show and it definitely has a middle-finger-to-authority yet I never considered it to have a punk attitude. Good call!
Akira! I haven’t seen it, but from the previews Chappie might fit the bill.
Akira definitely starts out punk with the biker gangs but then… kinda goes off the deep-end in the second half of the movie.
Chappie is actually a good call, it definitely feels “punk”. Although I’m not a fan of Die Antwoord so I didn’t like the movie all that much.
