Week 4 - Tutorial Task: Cyberspace and Cyberpunk

Cyberspace is a collaborative creation of the imaginations of multiple human beings. It is designed as a whole new world in a digital universe. People are able to escape and become something new and someone complete different to who they are in reality. Cyberspace can actually become somebody's reality, because it can take over their life to the point where they only exist on the internet. To a certain extent Facebook can be a version of cyberspace. People are able to create a new profile and become somebody new, although on the other hand there are people that use Facebook to showcase their true lives and not the ones that they wish they had.

An example of a cybernetic product in my life would be my car. I am in control when I am driving, I can steer to communicate where to go, I can brake to communicate to stop and it communicates when to change gear based on the speed that I am going, because it is automatic. It is a machine that involves command, control and communication.

iTunes can be perceived as a cybernetic system, it has various functions of control by both Apple and by the consumers operating it. The music is where the communication comes into it, because music sends a message  to the receiver. The University is also a form of a cybernetic system, it is a research, education and communication facility with multiple students making up the body of the system.

An example of cyberpunk in my own media consumption would probably be the Terminator. The instance whereby a robot can live with a fully functional human membrane is extraordinary. It is a development out world is yet to see, but it is a futuristic idea that brought life to the cinema when it was released. It shows a world where computers are in complete control and they aim to destroy the humans that created them.

Hunger Games is a form of cyberpunk. It shows the world a possible future of the human race. The technology is advanced and humans interact in a war-torn society full of various districts. The actual games take place on a completely virtual platform and they are controlled by humans operating various virtual technologies. It could be considered a fantasy themed genre, but it is more about predicting the future of technology which makes it a cyberpunk genre film. Fantasy films are those with creatures that are developed to simply entertain and the stories generally don't involve the development of technology. For example, the Twilight Saga and Harry Potter are more fantasy genres, because they involve no new technologies and are set in the present time.

REFERENCES

Butler, A 2000, Cyberpunk, Independent Publishers Group, Chicago.

Lister, M 2009, 'New Media in everyday life', New Media: a critical introduction, Routledge, London.