Ghost in the Shell is a 1995 neo-noir cyberpunk thriller anime film, directed by Mamoru Oshii based on the manga of the same name by Masamune Shirow. The film stars Atsuko Tanaka, Akio Otsuka and Lemasa Kayumi. Set in japan in 2029 the film follows Motoko Kusanagi a cyborg public-security agent that hunts down a mysterious hacker known as the puppet master. The film ultimately explores the question what it means to be human but instead of the tired cliché of machines taking over the world Ghost in the Shell offers up the idea of a syntheses between the two as a natural stage of human evolution.

The setting of Ghost in the Shell in very much a dystopia. Society in now hyper connection thorough corporations and computerisation erasing nationality and races bringing humanity to the brink of a technological revolution. This idea of the synthesis between man and machine is shown throughout the film with the idea of the major connecting herself directly into mainframe. In Ghost in the Shell, they must track down a program known as the puppet master. The puppet master as well as the major showcase idea of the next stage of human evolution with the puppet master being liked to a bug in the program. Ghost in the Shell shows that we would not fear technology and should instead synesis’s with it as it as technology is ultimately the key to the next stage of human evolution. Throughout the film the major disrobes and is naked. Ghost in the Shell is a post-gender/post-sexuality film, she lacks sexuality and therefore has a freedom from it. In Ghost in the Shell freedom and power is very much projected onto the female character allowing the film to take place in a post gender/post sexuality world.

Ghost in the Shell does not see technology as evil. Instead in showcasing that within this dystopian world full of corruption that maybe synthesis is the right decision. When sergeant Kusanagi kills the politician, the film shows the differences between man and machine. On one hand she is cold to human emotion however the humans don’t want to compromise with machines showcasing the idea between man and machine cannot end in bloodshed and connecting is the only way to move forward. In the creation of Motoko, we see a human brain is transported into a machine body with her structure being a combination of man and machine. This synthesis shows her journey is an embryonic state into something better than both man and machine again showcasing a post-sexual world. Throughout the film she has a conflict between her article and human self’s as she drams about her birth.

Ghost in the Shell shows how technology used through political corruption will ruin humans. When they scan the foreign ministers hacked brain, they find out the puppet master is responsible for this. Throughout the film there is ghost throughout the film as human like computers. The film is about the conflict between of man and machine and the connection between the two. Ghost in the Shell has a fascinating master/slave dynamic with the puppet master created by humans to be a slave but though gaining knowledge becomes the master making the human masters the slaves, again the conflict between this master and slave dynamic showcases that the synthesis is needed to survive. In the film the puppet master is wanted for crimes the film asks questions revolving around the idea of the self-awareness of machines and possible political ramifications of that. Throughout the film the puppet master uses old technology not to be tracked. The puppet master ultimately feels limited by its perfection and needs human imperfections to evolve. With the major she has a ghost within her like a soul and therefore craters a new identity.

One of the people on the major’s team is a human with an old-fashioned gun. With the idea of a human being needed to help with the team the film showcases that in perfections are needed to adapt, evolve, and overcome. In one scene a garbage man ghost hacks his wife and breaks his barriers holding back emotions showing the merge of man and machine. Throughout the film the major hacks into the network connecting herself too everything. She craves knowledge and as shown in the film this can only happen with a synthesis of man and machine. This also shows the master/slave dynamic were the machines grow and become the master and gain more experience than their human masters. This idea of machines being human like with human characteristics which is why a garbage man that is a machine freak out. The section that hunts robots is made up of both humans and robots as in this conflict between man and machine there is no winner. This is shown with one of the characters having robot eyes showing the merge of man and machine. She then beats the guy up with her inviable ghost powers whilst naked.

Throughout the film there is a constant use of the major’s nudity however none of it is sexual. The film goes against the normal use of Japanese nudity were a freedom and power are projected onto the main character. The film takes place in a post gender/sexuality world were the male partner who is more human clothes her, but she does not register herself as having sexuality. When the rubbish man is integrated by section 9 he believes he is spying on his wife when in reality he is just a tool. The puppet master makes people do his bidding implanting memories to make machines feel human with his wife and daughter being fictional implants used for control. This idea of real and fake information links into the idea of slaves and masters with section 6 pulling the strings of the puppet master as the film ultimately asks the question who the master is and who is the slave.

In one sequence in the film the major dives into the water and touches her mirrored self with a planet reflected in the background. The major’s journey in the film is ultimately one of finding identity as she knowns she is an artificial tool and seeks to understand herself. Also, conciseness is a big part of her character as well as self-awareness as she is in a conflict between her two selves’ in wanting to know herself ultimately being a machine. Again, her male college looks away rom her nude body showing he is more human. The diving scene that reflects her image also reflects her psyche as she states she feels fear, loneliness, anxiety, darkness, and hope whilst diving. With her human mind but limited identity she ultimately feels like a slave and wants to evolve into something else. This is shown through the idea of their bodies being like machines and constantly improving through cybernetics. This ultimately links to the idea of self as she can access a sea of information, but this ultimately creates her own limitations as she does not have a self. A quote from the puppet master goes “for now, we see through a glass darkly but then face to face” meaning we will eventually happily break down the boundaries between ourselves, between man and machine and become one.

During one scene in the film the major looks out at the buildings on a boat ride with childlike wonder. The film is about the depiction of Motoko’s identity and her ontological concerns. The protagonist embodies this driven dissatisfaction with her limited perspective. Convinced that a more perfect reality is available to her the protagonist has a human mind but although unique is contained by her limited personal identity. Ghost in the shell states that we must merge with technology. We must interact with the world, resolve our confrontation and merge stronger. We should not cling to outdated beliefs about humanity at it will stifle evolution, technology is just a necessary step towards progress. When the puppet master is on the side of the road, he gets hit by a truck getting to showcase a symbolic relationship between the puppet master and the major. Throughout the film there is the idea of a ghost being in other body with the ghost being inside the woman’s soul, asking the equation could the major have a soul. The puppet master might be subservient to humans, but it eventually transitions beyond them, it is using its hacking powers to make people do its bidding again asking the question who the master is and who is the slave.

Almost everyone in section 9 is a hybrid of man and machine. The major is driven by a determination to seek out her own identity. The film showcases the manipulation of her identity and the limitation and, lack of identity within her. From this the major questions her own identity asking philosophical questions about the nature of her own being did she die? Did she really exist? Could a machine possess a soul? With section 6 decoding the puppet master the cybernetic implants of one of the agents again shows a synthesis between man and machine. When the puppet master gets integrated by section 6 its links congruous up philosophical questions about life as the machine requesting asylum. The film asks the question is here truly a difference between man and machine. With the puppet master saying his life being. In the sea of information like genes, both humans and computers are made up of and store memories. Ghost in the Shell asks the question can you prove or define a lifeform. 

The character of the puppet master enjoys the idea of its own death from a lifetime of existing in cyberspace. The puppet master has an unlimited understanding but wants to be like the protagonist by having knowledge and limitations by having a personal identity with the main character rejects he does not want to stagnate and believes he must evolve. The film discusses the politics of artificial life, the major wishes to confront the puppet master as they both have what the other lacks. The puppet master wants humanity, the section created the puppet master and didn’t tell anyone they ultimately wanted to control life but lost control. The major then comes face to face with the puppet master and fights the robot tank.  As the tank obliterates fossils before going up the tree of life destroying the old extinct humans before landing on homo sapien. This reenforces the idea of the merge between man and machine, not to destroy humanity but to create the next stage of evolution. In using her ghost technique to fight the tank we again see post-sexualisation. In fighting the tank, she nearly destroys herself until she is saved by her partner. There is a nice little moment afterwards were the major and her partner show they do care each other.

The puppet master explains that the machine has a consciousness and was considered a bug and tried to disconnect it. The puppet master and Motoko connect to each other because they want what the other lacks hence the puppet master likeness for section 6. The puppet master wants to be a true lifeform capable of life and death. The puppet master wants to be an individual and not a copy. Life constantly sacrifices itself and improves naturally and the machine believes it could evolve like humans. The puppet master wishes to fuse to evolve further with the major, although throughout the film her changing means that by the ned she has a fear of death and becoming nothing, whilst the puppet master wishes to die to appreciate life. The puppet master believes machines are just another evolved state of man. In the film both Motoko and the puppet master are two sides of the same coin both wanting what the other has. The puppet master wishes to have limitations sating that he cannot see the sun only code, but she can, with the angel like feathers in the scene showing this to be a biblical like transcendence.

Just after this however they get shot to pieces by a helicopter meaning the merge must happen. At the end of the film, we are shown the major as female doll/puppet which is a combination of both herself and the puppet master. This links back into the idea of the merge of man and machine is something that should happen and that its ultimately a good thing. This assimilation should not be feared as both the puppet master and the major have been assimilated, they are one in the same, the only way to move forward is assimilation. The film ends with her being free but wondering were to go like a child ready to explore life.

Ghost in the shell is a film about not clinging to outdated beliefs about humanity as it will stifle evolution and that we must mere with technology in order to become stronger and survive as a species.