Ghost in the Shell (film)
By Masamune Shirow,
Ghost in the Shell (film)
Originally aired in 1995
·
The
film deviated from the manga mostly towards the end where Makoto in the manga
was part of a manhunt and pretended to be killed by the police due to the
accidental killing of a surrendered criminal. In the film, Makoto merged with
the Puppet Master before her old body is destroyed and her death had no bearing
on her being on trial.
·
They
included a completely non-cyborg companion to Makoto who unfortunately played
no major role in the film other than to note that not everyone in their
universe are enhanced. However, this officer is noted for pointing out things
the more by-the-program cyborg police fail to note.
·
Makoto
in this film is noted to be much more philosophical and mature than her manga
counterpart who is more bubbly and silly towards her colleagues until her
merging with the Puppet Master.
·
The
film focused on the first and last chapters of the manga and skipped out the
parts with child trafficking and the narcotics trade that Makoto tackled in the
manga.
·
The
film notes the details of Makoto's body being made in the beginning of the film
and the details of the environment that the characters live in. It is to note
that like the manga it appears that they are in a world where though there are
cyborgs about the rest of the world's architecture and social structure did not
change in the slightest since the introduction of such technology.
·
The
film ends with Makoto's head/ a likeness of Makoto's head being in a body that
resembles a younger version of her, which contrasts with her obtaining a male
body by the end of the manga. This younger version resembles the original's
personality more than the male body of the manga.
·
The
talk of identity through augmentation and the talk of genes and memory happen
in narrative in the film alongside the relevant portions of the plot whereas in
the manga most of it is exposition dump towards the end when Makoto merged with
the Puppet Master.
·
The
film makes clear that Makoto is NOT seen as a criminal by the end of the film
and that she is choosing to work in the shadows as Section 9 has too many
restrictions on her being free to do what she wants. It appears that she still
has good relations to everyone that isn't Kusanagi. With the manga, on the
other hand, Makoto is branded as a criminal and even her likeness is not
allowed to be seen by those who she previously cared for save for Kusanagi. She
also wasn't disgraced publicly in the film as her killing a surrendered
criminal was excluded.
·
The
VHS forced us to sit through by the end an exposition dump on how the film was
made, which would have been extra content if this was done on VHS.
·
Although
the manga and the anime ended on similar endings with Makoto going into hiding
and operating from the shadows to fight cybercrime, the film's ending felt like
the story could continue on while the manga's ending made the original Ghost in
the Shell story feel self-contained. It could be that Makoto is in a
drastically different body by the end in the manga which would give this
feeling.
·
Makoto
is noted to be extremely flat chested when in clothing in the film and have
more female traits when nude in the film. This contrasts to the manga where her
body maintained a base female form.
·
Makoto's
dive into the Puppet Master's body does not result in her exploring the meta
feel of sensory where she sees an "angel" before the Puppet Master's
demise. Rather, in the film they simply switched bodies and the merging of
their forms makes the angel appear.
·
Overall,
this is an excellent film. There are many iterations of the Ghost in the Shell
series, each with its own interpretation of Makoto. With this, however, Makoto
is not seen as a childish figure like in the manga and serves as a good basis
for the other Ghost in the Shell stories in other adaptations, as this film is
literally the first anime done on the series.
Bibliography
Ghost in the Shell. Dir. Mamoru Oshii, Perf. Atsuko
Tanaka, Akio Ōtsuka,Iemasa
Kayumi. 1995. Manga Entertainment (international release). VHS.
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