What has happened here?
…”I am a cyberpunk princess, picotech advocate, Technomusicologist-in-training, and much much more. Autistic. Mostly Asian-Avatarian, 2X, reasonably tall. A bit bratty and snarky, but ultimately a friendly explorer in search of new experiences. I like to do crazy stuff with my awesome friends on here! Specialties: making conversation, wearing neon clothes, fly real bad. An honorable partygirl, analytical yet casual… the adventures go on and on & on + on.”
Or worse, here?
“CYBERPUNK SEEKING FEMME FATALE - 28….” This apparently generated so much controversy that it was modified by the cyberpunk in question, but there is a very fun blog entry about it that still has the original post, along with commentary. Now it reads:
“CYBERPUNK SEEKING FEMME FATALE - 28″ {translated as}
“ASSHOLE SEEKING DOORMAT - 41“, and goes down hill from there.
So when did this happen? When did cyberpunk as a term become objectified to the point that a “cyberpunk” could seek a femme fatale for a date, or, um, whatever a cyberpunk would seek a femme fatale for? Truly, it’s fascinating looking at how people use the term. The 80s crowd seems to have a very different definition than the 20-somethings. The 20-somethings look at cyberpunk more as a setting (or so I’ve been told) than as a philosphical outlook or commentary on society.
I’m married and pushing forty, so by definition I’ve been living under a rock for a while. So humor me - What does this mean exactly? Is this just someone who dresses goth or punk but likes hangin on computers? More to point, how would someone know if they were a cyberpunk?
This post has been filed under
Cyberpunked living by SFAM.
Year: 1998
Directed by: Abel Ferrara
Written by: Abel Ferrara, Christ Zois (Gibson’s name removed to protect the innocent)
IMDB Reference
Degree of Cyberpunk Visuals: Very Low
Correlation to Cyberpunk Themes: Very Low
Key Cast Members:
Fox: Christopher Walken
X: Willem Dafoe
Sandii: Asia Argento
Overview: It’s not cyberpunk, mkay? No, truly, it’s not!
- Yes, it was based on a very good cyberpunk short story written by cyberpunk Godfather, William Gibson,
- Yes, New Rose Hotel is on most every list of cyberpunk movies you can find on the internet, some of which are only 10 movies deep,
- Yes, this movie seems to be a throwaway mention in about half the cyberstudy reviews of modern cyberpunk movies.
Please trust me here - I’ve seen (and own) at least 95% of all cyberpunk movies currently in production and a very high percentage of the ones out of print (all that I can find out about and get). New Rose Hotel is NOT cyberpunk. These people are lying to you. I’m betting major bucks that the vast majority of those who have New Rose Hotel mentioned as cyberpunk have never seen it. If they had seen it, New Rose Hotel would not be on their cyberpunk list. Why do I say this?
- This movie has NO cyberpunk visuals,
- This movie has NO interesting philosophical message,
- This movie has NO cyberpunk themes embedded in it, and
- This movie takes place in modern time, not in a near future.
On top of its lack of cyberpunknesss, New Rose Hotel as a movie is boring as shit! Ferrara needs an award for taking a high quality cast consisting of Christopher Walken, Willem Dafoe (both of whom I LOVE as actors) and Asia Argento and producing this steaming pile of dung!
The story: So what’s it about, you ask? Dafoe and Walken try to use a hooker (Argento) to convince a high profile geneticist to defect from one corporation to another. If they do, they pocket major bucks! In short, things go bad after an affair develops between Dafoe and Argento. But the bottom line is nobody watching this cares as the story as the cinematography and the acting are poorly enacted and uninspired. Worse, the last 15 minutes involves replaying of scenes from the first half of the movie. Why? For absolutely NO reason! Believe me when say that I look for meaning in films even when there isn’t really a basis - there was absolutely no reason for the flashbacks.
Truly, this movie sucks on just about every aspect of movie making one can imagine. But I really don’t berate it for this reason - I intensely hate the fact that everyone has engaged in a cow-like groupthink in continually mentioning this as one of the main cyberpunk movies out. New Rose Hotel is only interesting in that it seems to have turned into a virus meme, infecting as many as possible with the mistaken belief that it’s something worthy of mention. As punishment for New Rose Hotel’s atrocities against good cyberpunk, I’ve dropped it a few stars in my rating (if I was unbiased, I might have given it a 3 out of 10 star rating). So in closing:
Memo to other movie sites who have this listed as cyberpunk: Admit it, you haven’t seen it. Please remove New Rose Hotel from your cyberpunk movie list.
Memo to cyberstudies researchers who list this movie as a representative cyberpunk movie: Please remove it. There at minimum 80 movies which would come before New Rose Hotel as far better examples of cyberpunk. If you are looking for specific movies to back up a particular point you are trying to prove, just drop me a line, and I’ll be happy to provide you detailed assistance in selecting more appropriate movies. Just PLEASE stop spreading the belief that this movie is cyberpunk!
And um, yes, there are MANY other selections due for a rant like this. Escape from New York, anyone?
~See movies similar to this one~
Tags: non-cyberpunk movie review rose hotel
This post has been filed under
1 Star Movies,
It's Not Cyberpunk! Mkay? by SFAM.
