Why Cyberpunk as a Genre?
- Aleksey Savchenko
- Dec 29, 2024
- 3 min read
Thanks to my late grandmother, who was homeschooling me before public school, I started to read at the age of four. Being born that way into the world of myth and fairy tale, I would mature with science fiction and fantasy, fall in love as a grownup with Cyberpunk as a sub-genre, and later marry my style to dystopian and speculative fiction.
There is something incredibly alluring to me in the idea of a fractured society built on the supremacy of technology and one person or a group who challenges the status quo in impossible circumstances with their wits, intellect and personal belief. Stories of dreamers who, despite coming from disadvantage and taking part in a game that is obviously rigged against them, fight on to change the reality around them simply because they cannot do otherwise. Character arcs of transformation and evolution that make heroes adapt and change their world.
The Evolution of Cyberpunk and Its Real-World Echoes
When I was younger, Cyberpunk wasn't very popular in mass media, and it is somewhat ironic to observe how the world has changed into the reality depicted in those books. The colonised space of hard science fiction hasn't materialised, but Cyberpunk allowed us to glimpse into our future. We find ourselves in the overconnectivity of the early works of William Gibson, tech companies' speculations and vision-fuelled global projects from the pages of Neal Stephenson's novels, and communication protocol rewiring as imagined by Bruce Sterling. The reality of new tech and corporate elites who don't understand how poor people who are using their devices, technology and tools cannot eat cake if they don't have bread.
This realm is a cocktail mixed somewhere in a secret San Francisco bar from unaffordable living costs and homeless people on dirty streets, robo-taxis and android servants, shiny presentations of multi-billion startups from the Valley, and a hint of reality-denying Hollywood, with the glass topped with the cherry of corporate greed and absence of accountability of the power-drunk tech moguls who are deciding your way of life now. If I were the barman, I would probably name this drink "2084"; although this is not precisely the world described by Orwell, I'm pretty sure we will get there in 50-60 years in a slightly different setting.
The essence will be there still.
World similar to Night City of Cyberpunk 2077, holding humans utility for consumption, hooked up with drug prescriptions to keep up performance as in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. With a mandatory version of a Big Brother telling you that 2x2 is 5, and if you think otherwise, people at social networks connected directly to your mind will explain to you just how wrong you are.
How Cyberside Fits into the Cyberpunk Legacy
Cyberside is an interesting animal to compare with classic works and media products in the genre. It respects the roots of Cyberpunk, borrows a little from the techno-thriller and speculative fiction, yet remains a classic tale of a journey and personal road trip through various generations, metaphors and internal change, preserving a chance of redemption for any mistakes that might have happened in the past. It comes from experience as well; while I have taken an active part in building the world of modern technology and the next generation of immersive entertainment products and often criticise the current state of this industry, I still believe it holds a lot of good things in it, including being a home for a lot of good people. I also think that Cyberpunk and its literal evolution is a perfect form of Aesopian language for a discussion of where tech and entertainment are today, available for every creative person who, otherwise, doesn't feel like they have a voice to talk about problems they see in front of them every day. I believe that Cyberside: Level Zero is a dynamic example of this.
Why Cyberpunk Matters Today
Cyberpunk is more than a sub-genre; it can be a powerful storytelling tool for you, as it became for me. It can help to address issues related to unchecked corporate power, technological dependence, and volatility of societal transformation to the point where it's very easy to forget who you really are. And to maybe tell a story that will be able to make others think for a moment and change things around them for the better.
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