![]() In addition, the Puppet Master alludes to a Biblical quote about glass to refer to how deceptive Major Kusanagi’s understanding of reality is. In other words, the fallacies of the movie world apply to our world, too. As viewers we are surprised to find they were only holographically present- literal tricks of the light, representing the idea that what seems concrete could easily be an illusion. For instance, in Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, after a seemingly normal business conference ends, nearly all of the attendees vanish. Interestingly, this weakness of human vision isn't just limited to the characters- Oshii wants the audience to experience it, too. “.One of the main functions of Oshii's work is to draw attention to the limitations of human vision and bring the viewer to a point where he/she can recognise the abstract, possibly transcendental, world underlying the seemingly solid object-oriented one we inhabit.” (Richard Suchenski, “Mamoru Oshii”) These images are all deliberate- they consistently symbolize the ‘slipperiness’ of reality and our inability to perceive what is real. Kusanagi thinks through her identity crisis underwater, wanders through glassy stretches of city, and flickers in and out of visual existence with her futuristic thermoptic camouflage. To begin with, the world of Ghost in the Shell is visually loaded with reflections, water, glass, distortions, and tricks of light. Finally, we find it in Oshii’s reasons for choosing to use Christian imagery in a film that paradoxically tears down the ideas of God, values and belief systems. ![]() We find it in the concept of the Ubermensch, which Oshii brings out through his characters. We find nihilism in the visual motif of reflections, which Oshii uses to make the viewer feel how illusory the ‘real world’ on screen is. Both of these types of nihilism make up much of the philosophy of the movie, Ghost in the Shell, and knowing them turns a confusing (if visually awesome) action flick into a fascinating and subversive philisophical manifesto (slash action flick). Existential nihilism is the belief that life has no meaning, purpose or value, and epistemological nihilism is the idea that it is not possible to really know anything. Why, you might wonder, does Oshii want us to be so happy about finding out that we have no concrete identities? A possible answer lies in the philosophies of existential and epistemological nihilism. Yet, she ends the movie by transcending herself in an uplifting scene replete with angel feathers and symbols of rebirth. In Ghost in the Shell, Kusanagi completely fails to find out who she is- the question she has been doggedly asking throughout the whole film. ![]() Kalia Pickett 10-6-2010 Nihilism in Ghost in the Shell
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