cyberpunk is a really strange genre

its both incredibly varied and yet quite untouched. most people could count on one hand how many 'cyberpunk' movies, tv shows, books and comics they know, if they even recognize 'cyberpunk' as its own genuine genre at all.
cyberpunk is a really strange genreits both incredibly varied and yet quite untouched. most people could count on one hand how many 'cyberpunk' movies, tv shows, books and comics they know, if they even recognize 'cyberpunk' as its own genuine genre at all.
cyberpunk is a really strange genreits both incredibly varied and yet quite untouched. most people could count on one hand how many 'cyberpunk' movies, tv shows, books and comics they know, if they even recognize 'cyberpunk' as its own genuine genre at all.
cyberpunk is a really strange genreits both incredibly varied and yet quite untouched. most people could count on one hand how many 'cyberpunk' movies, tv shows, books and comics they know, if they even recognize 'cyberpunk' as its own genuine genre at all.
cyberpunk is a really strange genreits both incredibly varied and yet quite untouched. most people could count on one hand how many 'cyberpunk' movies, tv shows, books and comics they know, if they even recognize 'cyberpunk' as its own genuine genre at all.
i've been waiting patiently for a cyberpunk resurgance (or just, surgance, lol) for many years (was cyberpunk ever even popular?). you'd hope that the build-up of interest in Blade Runner (from cult film to popularly recognized masterpiece) would one day bring the genre back...
and that build-up sure was slow... but eventually it was strong enough to lead to a sequel. as the trailers started dropping i thought: "is this it? the cyberpunk resurgance i hoped for??"

but, despite being LITERALLY THE BEST SEQUEL EVER MADE.... Blade Runner 2049 was a flop.😭
and that build-up sure was slow... but eventually it was strong enough to lead to a sequel. as the trailers started dropping i thought: "is this it? the cyberpunk resurgance i hoped for??"but, despite being LITERALLY THE BEST SEQUEL EVER MADE.... Blade Runner 2049 was a flop.
and that build-up sure was slow... but eventually it was strong enough to lead to a sequel. as the trailers started dropping i thought: "is this it? the cyberpunk resurgance i hoped for??"but, despite being LITERALLY THE BEST SEQUEL EVER MADE.... Blade Runner 2049 was a flop.
and that build-up sure was slow... but eventually it was strong enough to lead to a sequel. as the trailers started dropping i thought: "is this it? the cyberpunk resurgance i hoped for??"but, despite being LITERALLY THE BEST SEQUEL EVER MADE.... Blade Runner 2049 was a flop.
and that build-up sure was slow... but eventually it was strong enough to lead to a sequel. as the trailers started dropping i thought: "is this it? the cyberpunk resurgance i hoped for??"but, despite being LITERALLY THE BEST SEQUEL EVER MADE.... Blade Runner 2049 was a flop.
why did Blade Runner 2049 fail? honestly, i've been wracking my brain about that for years. did we just miscalculate? did we hear the small but vocal cult of Blade Runner fans and interpret that as popular film concensus? i dont want to believe that... but it is likely.
maybe Blade Runner is still a cult film, after all? maybe the interest in cyberpunk is just as small as its always been. cyberpunk was meant to be an evolution of the (now dead) Film Noir genre. but maybe by tying itself to that genre its been dead since the beginning??
maybe Blade Runner is still a cult film, after all? maybe the interest in cyberpunk is just as small as its always been. cyberpunk was meant to be an evolution of the (now dead) Film Noir genre. but maybe by tying itself to that genre its been dead since the beginning??
maybe Blade Runner is still a cult film, after all? maybe the interest in cyberpunk is just as small as its always been. cyberpunk was meant to be an evolution of the (now dead) Film Noir genre. but maybe by tying itself to that genre its been dead since the beginning??
personally i dont want to believe that. i dont want to believe that a film genre can be dead on arrival. dead ever since its inception. but again i ask myself, was cyberpunk ever popular??? and if not, what will it take for it to be?

maybe something fresh and new?
something completely, UTTERLY disassociated from the western ties that led it to the genre's instant demise. maybe if cyberpunk was less slow, less downbeat, less... film noir?

how about a cyberpunk movie that's a living, breathing anime??

enter: ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL
also enter: middling box office numbers.

god fucking damn it.

here you had a cyberpunk movie FOR OUR TIMES. don't like the cynical vibe of Blade Runner??? here's a film that is OVERWHELMINGLY heartwarming. alita it one of the most caring, loving, compassionate characters ever
and yet even SHE can't revive this genre. we expected a resurgance after Alita, a fresh new cyberpunk masterpiece that's everything blade runner isn't, and yet, AGAIN, what we got was essentially another BR

a cult film with a loving, vocal and enthusiatic (albeit SMALL) fan base
the #AlitaArmy is living proof that Alita: Battle Angel is in every way the modern day equivalent to 1982's Blade Runner. unfortunately that's both a blessing and a curse....
the #AlitaArmy is living proof that Alita: Battle Angel is in every way the modern day equivalent to 1982's Blade Runner. unfortunately that's both a blessing and a curse....
the #AlitaArmy is living proof that Alita: Battle Angel is in every way the modern day equivalent to 1982's Blade Runner. unfortunately that's both a blessing and a curse....
it's a blessing cause it means an underlooked masterpiece (Alita) gets some recognition...

but its a curse because it means Alita now must be lumped into the same place Blade Runner has been in for the last 30+ years....
i just find it amazing how we can try so desperately to avoid replicating the past, yet end up with such cyclical results. rodriguez and cameron tried to reignite this genre by cutting the elements that tethered it to its noir roots and all that did was lead to ANOTHER cult film
i wish we lived in a world where good movies were recognized for being good movies. i wish we lived in a world where Blade Runner was more than a cult film and Blade Runner 2049 did well in the box office. a world where the #AlitaArmy was bigger than it was...
but maybe that's the appeal of cyberpunk? like film noir, its determined to stay dead. cyberpunk is all about anti-corporatism. humanitarian values over capitalistic consumerism, so maybe its place as a cult genre is already predetermined as a result of the world it's reflecting?
Cyberpunk 2077 was going to be the next big reignition of the genre (christ it's even in the TITLE). i've never seen anything more unashamedly cyberpunk in my life. the hype for this game was unbelievable.

yet ironically it was undermined by bad corporate decision-making.
Cyberpunk 2077 was going to be the next big reignition of the genre (christ it's even in the TITLE). i've never seen anything more unashamedly cyberpunk in my life. the hype for this game was unbelievable.yet ironically it was undermined by bad corporate decision-making.
Cyberpunk 2077 was going to be the next big reignition of the genre (christ it's even in the TITLE). i've never seen anything more unashamedly cyberpunk in my life. the hype for this game was unbelievable.yet ironically it was undermined by bad corporate decision-making.
Cyberpunk 2077 was going to be the next big reignition of the genre (christ it's even in the TITLE). i've never seen anything more unashamedly cyberpunk in my life. the hype for this game was unbelievable.yet ironically it was undermined by bad corporate decision-making.
Cyberpunk 2077 was going to be the next big reignition of the genre (christ it's even in the TITLE). i've never seen anything more unashamedly cyberpunk in my life. the hype for this game was unbelievable.yet ironically it was undermined by bad corporate decision-making.
just like how Blade Runner 2049 flunked because they apparently 'didn't know' how to market it, now Cyberpunk 2077 ends up being this big disappointment because the marketing was disingenuous
so let me get this straight

a genre that's all about anti-corporate humanism

is consistently getting stamped out

not as a result of the artists who make it

but by bad marketing and bad corporate decision-making.

in short:
or... it's just a sweet bit of irony.

either way, this all kind of adds to the beauty of the cyberpunk genre, does it not? the spectral ghost of cyberpunk will continue to haunt us all, always in the limelight long enough to gather a small following...
...but never in the public eye long enough or consistently enough to grow into something bigger.

the cyberpunk genre is truly the hidden zeitgeist of the people. that's why the #AlitaArmy represents something purer to me than just a small group of people who like a movie....
they're the key to cyberpunk's cultural resurgance. maybe it wont be today, maybe it wont be tommorrow, but one day, this genre will EXPLODE just like the superhero genre did in the 2010s.

it might take 100 failed cult films like Blade Runner or Alita... but i have hope.
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