1990 VHS • Cyberpunk 60 FPS

About

A documentary examining the cyberpunk movement across literature, technology, subculture, and art, credited to Chris Sand and David Severio. The program opens with an extended treatment of William Gibson's novels, including Neuromancer, Burning Chrome, Count Zero, and Mona Lisa Overdrive, situating them within postmodern science fiction and tracing their influence on real-world hackers and technophiles who adopted Gibson's mythology as their own.

Coverage moves through several interconnected themes. Hackers are profiled as both a subculture and a legal category, with discussion of phone phreaking, database access, and the ethics of software trading. Cyberpunk's influence on art, music, and fashion is examined, with the industrial music movement identified as the primary musical component. Mind machines and legal cognitive enhancement substances are covered as cyberpunk lifestyle elements. Body modification and elective surgery are discussed in the context of Gibson's surgically altered characters. The final third focuses on cyberspace and virtual reality, documenting eight companies and academic institutions working to realize Gibson's central concept at the time of production.

The program closes with philosophical reflection on virtual reality as alternate universe and the role of technology in transcending material limitations.

Archive

Internet Archive, in The VHS Vault

Licence or status

The Internet Archive states none for this item.

Credit

The Vista Group®

Language

English

Subtitles

English

Who can watch

The archive gives no rating. Invisible Network shows it to Teens profiles and older, judged from its collection and subjects. How films are placed