Of Cats and Backpack: Utopian Possibilities in Cyberpunk Worlds

Submission Type

Paper

Start Date/Time (EDT)

21-7-2024 2:15 PM

End Date/Time (EDT)

21-7-2024 3:15 PM

Location

Narrative & Worlds

Abstract

As a subgenre of science fiction, cyberpunk draws on the possibilities offered by digital technologies, most notably Internet networks, to describe dystopian universes (Rumpala 2021). But these fictions also depict diverse inclusive worlds: their universe dematerializes societies, thus bypassing communication and mobility issues. These realities developed around advances in technology explore the ethical ambiguity of technology, between human advancement and resource exploitation. They confront the potential inequalities and precarizations with EDIA issues and universal accessibility (echoing the founding utopia of Internet [Cardon 2019]) in a social perspective which reminds of the hopepunk subgenre (Burk 2019). Going beyond the dystopian framework of cyberpunk gives insights on its structure, testifying to the possibilities offered by the analog-digital interlocking.

In this talk, we will analyze two digital displaying worlds in which technology is an imperative for production and survival.

1. In the post-apocalyptic Death Stranding (2019), the player’s goal is to connect different human communities, enabling them to communicate (Bostan 2023) and to exchange plans and patterns to 3D-print objects needed for survival (Radchenko 2023), similar to contemporary fab lab models (Bouvier-Patron 2015). Through these exchanges, the characters can develop forms of militancy to oppose the government in power. This network recreates society in a world where the environment has become extremely dangerous.

2. In Stray (2022), the player takes on the role of a stray cat who stumbled into an enclosed underground city devoid of human life: streets are infested with mutant bacteria, and the robots have built their own society. With the help of a human scientist’s consciousness uploaded into a drone, the cat can communicate with robots and solve puzzles as it travels the city for a way out. One of the player’s goal is to reconnect neighborhoods and enable communities to communicate once again, thus solidifying the robots’ communities (Homo Ludens 203) while assisting those who wish to leave the underground city.

Bio

Emmanuelle Lescouet is a PhD candidate and lecturer in literature at the Université de Montréal. Her project focuses on reading gestures in the digital environment, on reading for entertainment and immersion. She coordinates the Répertoire des Écritures Numériques. She is a member of several labs: CRCEN, LQM-Littérature Québécoise Mobile, LAB-yrinthe, Laboratoire des cultures de l'imaginaire à des stella incognita lab.

Pierre Gabriel Dumoulin is a PhD student in semiotics at Université du Québec à Montréal. They specialize in translation practices in video games, with an interest in their ethical dimension. In their thesis, they study the theoretical issues of translation as an ethical object and how it can impact the ability to grasp otherness. A professional translator, Pierre is affiliated with the NT2 Laboratory and the research group Homo Ludens, and works on the executive committee of Kinephanos. Their doctoral thesis is financed by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Amélie Vallière is a PhD student in education at Université du Québec à Montréal. While writing her thesis, titled Joueur·euse·s adolescente·s et jeux videos littéraires: études à visée éducative de corpus et de cas multiples, she teaches classes in language didactics. Her research focuses on digital literacy and literature, video games as well as youth digital culture and their empowerment.

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Jul 21st, 2:15 PM Jul 21st, 3:15 PM

Of Cats and Backpack: Utopian Possibilities in Cyberpunk Worlds

Narrative & Worlds

As a subgenre of science fiction, cyberpunk draws on the possibilities offered by digital technologies, most notably Internet networks, to describe dystopian universes (Rumpala 2021). But these fictions also depict diverse inclusive worlds: their universe dematerializes societies, thus bypassing communication and mobility issues. These realities developed around advances in technology explore the ethical ambiguity of technology, between human advancement and resource exploitation. They confront the potential inequalities and precarizations with EDIA issues and universal accessibility (echoing the founding utopia of Internet [Cardon 2019]) in a social perspective which reminds of the hopepunk subgenre (Burk 2019). Going beyond the dystopian framework of cyberpunk gives insights on its structure, testifying to the possibilities offered by the analog-digital interlocking.

In this talk, we will analyze two digital displaying worlds in which technology is an imperative for production and survival.

1. In the post-apocalyptic Death Stranding (2019), the player’s goal is to connect different human communities, enabling them to communicate (Bostan 2023) and to exchange plans and patterns to 3D-print objects needed for survival (Radchenko 2023), similar to contemporary fab lab models (Bouvier-Patron 2015). Through these exchanges, the characters can develop forms of militancy to oppose the government in power. This network recreates society in a world where the environment has become extremely dangerous.

2. In Stray (2022), the player takes on the role of a stray cat who stumbled into an enclosed underground city devoid of human life: streets are infested with mutant bacteria, and the robots have built their own society. With the help of a human scientist’s consciousness uploaded into a drone, the cat can communicate with robots and solve puzzles as it travels the city for a way out. One of the player’s goal is to reconnect neighborhoods and enable communities to communicate once again, thus solidifying the robots’ communities (Homo Ludens 203) while assisting those who wish to leave the underground city.