Comments on: Battle Angel Alita and Cyborg Feminism

By: ken

ken — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 19:35:00 +0000

Cyborg feminism, strong female lead character…

Now we know why Hollywood refused to make the big-screen adaption of this manga.

By: Stephen B

Stephen B — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 09:41:53 +0000

Yay, cyborgs! I have so much time for Motoko Kusanagi, the female-shaped cyborg from “Ghost in the Shell” (especially the tv series, which is extremely nuanced and challenging in places). I say ‘female-shaped’ because she’s the one who has gone furthest into the machine side of things in that story, and even the doll body she wears can be unexpressive a lot of the time – not bothering to look at people when speaking, often showing no expression.

There’s a scene where she’s hiding in a cupboard with a (only slighly cyborg) man who is in love with her, and even after watching many hours of the series up to that point you *genuinely can’t tell what she is thinking*. As always, she stands there unreadable, apparently completely untouched by his proximity.

Part of it is the allure of the unknowable or mystery woman, sure. But it’s a great example of how cyborgs can transcend gender, by making the outer shape and previous body chemistry totally unrelated to the sum total of who they are now.

I’ve seen the anime of Battle Angel Alita, but the manga looks as though it covers deeper issues (I found the opposite to be true with Ghost in the Shell, where the tv series asks very profoud questions on identity in a much more accessible way). Can’t wait to see what Cameron makes of it, but I think you might be right about it him turning it into Kick-ass chicks with nice CGI backgrounds…

By: JenniferRuth

JenniferRuth — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 09:31:51 +0000

I was pleasantly surprised to see this article! I have been a fan of Alita since I was about 15 (I’m fast approaching 30!). The books are simply brilliant. You have done a great job of explaining why here so I’m not gonna wax lyrical on it. I would only add that one of the things that made me love Alita was the fact that she also has “negative” qualities to her. She is a fully-rounded character. She is arrogant, quick to anger and supremely over-confident as well as compassionate, brave and kind.

I’m gonna end up dragging these comics out of a box to re-read tonight!