Johnny Mnemonic was an enjoyable read considering my fancy for cyberpunk stories and films. I have been a fan of Ghost in the Shell for some time now as well as Akira and the cinematic masterpiece: Blade Runner. Ever since diving into this genre years back with Akira I have enjoyed any chance I can get to obtain related material.
I read the short story written by William Gibson for this week and thought it was a nice take on cyberpunk. I was a fan of how quickly Gibson set the tone for the piece and introduced the protagonist. The world took on its own unique look as soon as Johnny entered the Drome Bar. Body alterations were regarded with a sense of normality and even seemed mundane albeit quirky as with the twins guarding the door. Johnny clearly did not regard them with much indifference, aside from them being trained killers and exceptionally dangerous, considering they are regarded as "sisters" yet one was once male AND they are lovers. Stories like this estrange the reader and places them in a world that could possibly be seen as crude, vulgar, primal or perhaps downright abhorring to a degree that fans either really love it or would rather forget the sub-genre even exists. I make this assumption because my friends are quite black-and-white about the subject. I mention this because the story seems to follow a common denominator I have found in most cyberpunk stories, and that is exploitation of technology. Society in these times seem to have a "since now we can, we will" mentality. What I mean is; things such as body alterations to some individuals may be fantasy but are achievable in cyberpunk worlds. The divide between man and machine becomes such a small gap that, because of human nature, society could descend into the grungy, obsessive and advantageous state of being that allows these stories to be dark or even depraved.
The concept behind the character Ralfi Face in some way reveals the idea of "individual" in the setting of the book. Since technology allows one-self to change their face so easily, a person cannot be known by appearance but perhaps by what they do and how they do it. Face alteration is made to be such an easy day-to-day thing akin to buying shoes by regarding Ralfi's current face as "the Christian White" and through his explanation of the details to such a job, implies it as a cookie-cutter thing. For all I know there could be hundreds of people walking around with similar faces in this strange world who all probably regard each other with a certain content comparable to two people seeing each other with the same shirt. From this part of the story and on, I consider Johnny's world to be a place where someone cannot be just one person but a part of a collective whole; instantaneously connected to anyone and anything. Gibson wasn't kidding when the Sprawl was described as "grey".
In the story, Johnny is a data/info trafficker in a time of advanced technology. This scenario goes to show that the most important thing in his time and age is information, where words can still be the most powerful tool of persuasion. Johnny Mnemonic's cargo, as a result, is precious. For the right price, one could use Mnemonic as a "data whore" to get secrets from one place to another. I make this comparison because in my mind, Johnny is just that. People are using his body for personal gain at a price, so why not?
I am also a fan of the societal hierarchy and city-scape as explained by Gibson in his fictional world. I must say the concept of the Sprawl is really cool. Mega-cities and domes that encase vast amounts of space is quite intriguing and the idea of placing a whole society of its own high above the city is appealing to me. The dredges, slums and underworlds of cyberpunk have always held a certain interest for me because of the intriguing characters that can originate from there. I find it interesting that the Lo Teks are high above the city rather than typically underground. I find it furthermore interesting that they should be called Lo Teks even though they still, in some way, are connected with advanced technology because of their altered bodies.
I watched the movie adaptation of this short story and thought it was decent. Just as with any movie based on a written piece of fiction I found it lacking, but only because of the capacity of the human mind and the individual's ever-varying take on something that is read versus what is presented to us visually by someone else. It's amusing how Keanu Reeves played the lead in this movie and The Matrix as well. I would like to read more from William Gibson and the Sprawl Trilogy.
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