Cyberpunk

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What is Cyberpunk?

Cyberpunk is a science-fiction sub-genre dealing with the integration of society and technology in dystopian settings. Often referred to as “low-life and high tech,” Cyberpunk stories deal with outsiders (punks) who fight against the oppressors in society (usually mega corporations that control everything) via technological means (cyber). If the punks aren’t actively fighting against a megacorp, they’re still dealing with living in a world completely dependent on high technology.

Cyberpunk characteristics include:

Dystopian city setting where mega-corporations rule
Full integration of technology into society, featuring cybernetic implants
Outsider protagonists (punks) who often are very familiar with the technology around them
Hard boiled detective and film noir vibes and influence
Themes dabbling in trans-humanism, existentialism, and what it means to be human.

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Do you consider Demolition Man to be cyberpunk? (lemmy.zip)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Demolition Man takes place in a world with a large income gap, where the rich (or at least the middle class) live on the surface while the poor (or at least those wanting to be "free") live underground. And there's a lot of futuristic tech involved (like cyber sex!). But this is primarily a story about political correctness in a police state and it doesn't include any all-powerful corporations (aside from Taco Bell, of course). So what do you think? Do you consider Demolition Man to be cyberpunk?

Here's a trailer. It isn't streaming anywhere right now though.

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[–] [email protected] 42 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

It's got all the hallmarks. Even before he's frozen and sent to the future, the small bit of the world we get to see at the beginning is more like a traditional cyberpunk dystopia.

Also, the implication of Taco Bell winning the "restaurant wars" and that now all restaurants are Taco Bell could mean that Taco Bell is also pretty much in control of everything else. And I tend to believe that the restaurant wars were literal wars, with people killing each other in the name of fast food franchises. (And the Europeans who had Pizza Hut as the restaurant in their version of the film might be confused lol)