Cyber Punk:

Cyberpunk is a relatively new cultural phenomenon but one that’s vastly influenced a large chunk of modern art and culture and more specifically our very own Deus Ex. I’m going to talk about some films and books that influenced the ideas and stories of Deus Ex.

Neuromancer by William Gibson

This novel was published back in 1984. With this one book William Gibson created the term “cyberspace” and wrote about “The Matrix”, a visual representation of the world’s databases. Case, a computer cowboy has been left near dead, double-crossed. He has to go back into the Matrix to steal from the world’s mega corporations in order to live. Gibson managed to make computer hacking and computer culture a mainstream part of science fiction literature.

To call this one novel seminal would be an understatement. Gibson predicted modern cyber culture by at least 10 years. He would go onto write novels “Count Zero” and “Mona Lisa Overdrive”. Short story, “Johnny Mnemonic” was made into a regrettable film starring Keanu Reeves. Gibson said the reason it failed was because the makers removed all the funny bits. A full-scale movie adaptation is in pre production with director Chris Cunningham and the Aphex Twin on soundtrack duties being rumoured.

Blade Runner directed by Ridley Scott

Blade Runner affected not only the design of Deus Ex; it also set a huge visual precedent is sci-fi movies that still stand today. Its vision of a dystopian Los Angles, cloaked in a permanent darkness, lashed by rain has stuck in the imagination for almost 2 decades. Director, Ridley Scott, had a background based in advertising and it was his ideas, along with “visual futurist” Syd Mead and cinematographer Jordan Cronenweth. The huge imposing buildings, light filtering through grates, the huge TV billboards, and the airship advert. Blade Runner is full of visual ideas that stay with people. This is probably best seen in the Hong Kong levels with the bustling market, bright neon signs. The obvious divide between the poor, boat people and the rich splendour of Maggie Chow aloft in her penthouse suite. This mirrors perfectly with Blade Runner’s beautiful Tyrell Building and the dilapidated Bradbury hotel, home of J.F. Sebastian.

Another thing that I felt was close to Deus Ex was the notion of the Replicants’ 4-year life span and the kill switch in UNACTO augmented agents. It posed the question, if mankind was to create life, then do we have the right to kill it? Deus Ex used the kill switch both as weapon and danger. It also showed how much control we could have over created life.

Ghost In the Shell written by Masamune Shirow

“Oh no, not anime” groan some of the more vocal members of the community but I’ll explain why this has had influence on Deus Ex:

“A government team of mechanically augmented cyborgs battle terrorist groups and discover a rogue AI.”

The plot outline for Deus Ex? Not quite but pretty similar. Even down to technical details such as Thermo Optic camouflage, first named in the Ghost of the Shell anime. When the feature film followed it was flawlessly animated but suffered from a problem that most Manga films have of trying to squeeze months of story lines into a 2-hour film. The Manga comic remains one of the best however, with fantastic stories, great technology and fantastic ideas.