The '17 Ghost in the Shell takes a Western approach to an Eastern story

NOTE: This essay contains some spoilers.

I was firmly in the skeptical column when I learned that Hollywood would be producing a remake of the anime/manga Ghost in the Shell. Hollywood's track record for anime adaptations had been previously dismal, churning out stinkers like Dragonball Evolution. Some adaptations were actually quite fine, like 1995's Crying Freeman, but they are, more often than not, exceptions to the rule. Having seen this version of Ghost in the Shell, I can say it's actually quite okay, given my low expectations coming in. While it doesn't quite live up to the source material, as a standalone feature it's okay science fiction.

To me, Ghost in the Shell has always been a story deeply rooted in Eastern concepts, linking technology and transhumanism to spiritual ideas of reincarnation and the soul. It's treated differently by the different adaptations of Shirow Masamune's original manga, the best being the 1995 adaptation by Mamoru Oshii. While Masamune's manga is lighter in tone, it still has a heavy emphasis on metaphysical concepts. Oshii's films are far more introspective, and the tone is noticeably dark. While Oshii peppers both films with Judeo-Christian images and symbols, the films are still deeply rooted in a very Eastern sensibility. The two anime series concentrate more on the political landscape of the manga, while still holding true to existential questions posed in the manga and films.

This adaptation, in contrast, provides a very Western approach to telling the story. It emphasizes the divide between ghost and shell - soul and body - to emphasize western ideas on individuality, identity and self. The Major is asked multiple times throughout the film "Who are you?" or "What are you?" and this is a question that she struggles to answer throughout the film. The film's outward appearance, its shell, if you may, copies a lot of elements from the source material. Its world is a Blade Runner/The Fifth Element-esque heterotopian landscape; it is a mashup of cultural identities, with signs in English, Japanese, Hangul and Chinese, with concrete landscapes modeled after the post-colonial sprawl of Hong Kong. Clint Mansell's synth heavy score is reminiscent of other science fiction works, with some moments evoking his work on (of all things) Mass Effect 3.

The revelations in the last part of the film make the statement that we are defined by what we do and who we are, and our outward appearance is unimportant. (In a metafictional way, it also addresses (and effectively, in my opinion) a certain criticism of the film.) Even in the '95 film, the Major was a blue-eyed, androgynous cyborg whose race, nationality and identity always remained uncertain, something taken to even further extremes with Masamune's follow up manga, Man Machine Interface, where the Motoko entity inhabits multiple cyborg bodies.

One can see the difference in the 'ghost' of this film and that of its Japanese siblings in how it treats the ending. This film and the 1995 film/original manga both end with a choice that the Major has to make. The western remake's ending is doggedly individualistic, with the Major asserting her identity as an autonomous individual with a strictly defined role and purpose, an ending that I believe is rooted in Western ideals. In the original film and the manga, on the other hand, this decision is very different. It takes a collectivist stand on the matter, where the individual merges with another to evolve beyond their original role and purpose. This emphasis on the harmony of the collective over the self is a cornerstone in the storytelling conventions of the Japanese and I see it in a lot of other Asian stories as well. In Eastern storytelling, we are but miniscule players in a grander scheme and we take in the enormity of the world around us. There's a segment in the middle of both the '95 and '04 films that encapsulate this ideal: an introspective, atmospheric sequence of shots that function like a tone poem, showing us the film's themes. This remake doesn't really have that.

Its a significant source of cultural dissonance, and it can seem jarring to many viewers. It's inevitable that one will draw comparisons between this film and the original, and that's one of the pitfalls of making an adaptation of a popular source material, especially if it's an influential cyberpunk masterpiece like Ghost in the Shell. Depending on how you approach the film, it can either be very disappointing, or one of the most accomplished western remakes of anime out there.