Welcome to Mona Lisa Overpod, the show that asks the question "What is cyberpunk?" On each episode, hosts Ka1iban and author Lyda Morehouse dive into the genre that helped define sci-fi fiction in '80s and they break down its themes which remain relevant to our lives in the 21st century. Pull on your mirrorshades, jack into the matrix, and start your run with us today!

If it walks like a punk and hacks like a punk...is it "cyberpunk"? Since its inception in the 1980s, cyberpunk has been one of the most visually and thematically distinguishable genres of science fiction, featuring stylish punks fighting against corporate and societal oppression. But how necessary to the genre of cyberpunk are the qualities that we associate with it? Can "punks" be clean cut? Can their bodies be intact and unwired? And what if it's not raining and all the neon is broken?

In this episode, we discuss the seemingly essential mise en scene of cyberpunk, the original inspiriations and intentions of the Movement authors, the visual density that filmic depictions rely on, how commercial elements participate in a work's classification, the importance of scale, the "lack of power fantasy" that cyberpunk presents, and the constant evolution of the genre acfoss the decades. We also talk about dressing up like blue cats, bossin' styles, Tokyo on steroids, Kurt Vonnegut = cyberpunk?, deconstructing being "The Guy", Japanese Syllabic Dyslexia, lobster brains, giving Blade Runner 2049 a second chance, port gazing, monogamous reading, and cyberpunk as a Gen X genre, and Lyda's experiences at Worldcon 2024!

Keanu Reeves is the avatar of Cyberpunk!

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