Film Theory: The Dark Plot to H̷̼̭̒̀̈̈́̋͜ͅÂ̴̳̩͔̙̇C̴̭͐͝Ķ̴̤̪̬͘͝ Your Mind! (Cyberpunk Edgerunners)

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This video was sponsored by Dislyte. Night City, City of Dreams. But under the surface,   it's a nightmare. Past the Mega Corps, the  gangs, the crime there is a conspiracy built   to drive you insane. One word of warning  friends, don't trust everything you see. Hello Internet! Welcome to Film Theory,  the show that really wants to stay at your   house. Today we're talking about an urban  cityscape coated in neon and sprinkled   with characters oozing so much swag that I  know they're too cool to hang out with me.  Cyberpunk 2077. Ah, scratch that. Today we're  actually talking about two of these worlds   because our sponsor for today's video is Dislyte,  the free turn based Gacha RPG for iOS and Android   all about people awakening divine powers in a  super stylish sci-fi setting. Wait a minute.   Dislyte is set in 2027? they're just four years  away. Society had better start installing neon   lights in a hurry. And it beat cyberpunk  2077 to this aesthetic by 50 whole years.  But it's not just the cool rave aesthetic that  connects these worlds. Just like Cyberpunk is all   about awakening your powers using augmentation,  in Dislyte each of these characters, the Espers,   have been able to awaken the dormant powers of  mythological figures hidden inside of them to   help fight the monsters that are invading Earth.  We're talking Thor to Medusa, to Odin and Anubis.   And you ain't never seen Odin like this, wearing  leather riding on a motorcycle. Where was this in   the MCU? The latest additions to the roster  are the sisters Athena and Nyx, who are not   only adding their sharp sense of fashion to the  game. Seriously, does everyone in this game have   themselves a cool jacket? But are also bringing  their own story of rebellion into this world.  Across the game's newest chapter, you'll  discover this pair's tragic backstory:   how Athena gained Esper powers and  basically abandoned Nyx to go be a hero. That then left Nyx to be captured and forced to  become one of the world's first artificial Espers,   which is kind of an issue when you consider  that artificial Espers don't have complete   control of themselves, kind of like  the cyberpsychos that we're going   to be meeting today in the world of Cyberpunk. Maybe these two worlds are more connected than   I thought. Connected universe theory perhaps?  Neon lights, godlike powers, pumping music,   rebelling against corrupted systems and shadowy  organizations: Check, check, check and check.   Episode for another day perhaps. TL;DR If you like  Cyberpunk, Dislyte is going to be your jam. And   bonus, in the world to Dislyte the powers that  be aren't trying to turn you into a crazy mind   controlled pawn for the government which segways  nicely into Cyberpunk and our theory for today.  In case you somehow missed the  Keanu Reeves level hype around… Cyberpunk This was a video game that, unlike Dislyte,  didn't exactly have itself the smoothest launch. Yeah, despite the fantastic writing,  art and gameplay, the greedy corpos at   the head of the company definitely pushed  this thing out the door a couple of years   before it was ready. And though the devs  certainly kept polishing it over the years,   Cyberpunk 2077 looked to go down in history as  a cautionary tale against releasing games early.  Or at least that was the case until the release  of the Netflix anime Cyberpunk Edgerunners. So then, this is titled “Cyberpunk Cyberpunk”?  Weird. Edgerunners is incredible. Following the   tragic love story of mercenaries David and Lucy  as they descend into the underbelly of Night City,   a capitalist dystopia run by mega-corporations. It  is no exaggeration to say that this anime single   handedly saved the brand with 2077 selling  millions of additional copies in its wake.  Online discourse has also completely  turned around for the franchise,   with people who used to clown  on the IP, instead saying You’re Breathtaking! It's also the reason why we're talking about  Cyberpunk on our film channel because wow,   look at those review scores. To catch you up,  Edgerunners follows David Martinez, a teenager   forced into the life of a mercenary in Night City. David finds and installs a very dangerous   mechanical body modification that speeds  up his movement. This so-called cyberware   is a big deal because he definitely  shouldn't be able to use this thing. Despite this, David adapts well to the  implant with no training. Spending the   rest of the series upgrading his body  with more and more cyberware. The show's   central conflict then eventually  becomes David's struggle against   implants and whether or not his  body is going to reject them all. Why is all of this such a big deal? Well,   when someone's body can't handle their  cyberware or they just have too much of it,   it literally drives them insane. With  an affliction known as cyberpsychosis. Oh, that's why it's called Edgerunners.  Except I think that there's a problem   with cyberpsychosis. It isn't what it appears  to be. No. This diagnosis that is central to   Edgerunners is actually a method of control,  seized by the few at the top to subjugate the   many at the bottom. And the craziest part of it  all, cyberpsychosis is only a single piece in a   much grander conspiracy about controlling the  bodies and minds of everyone in this world.  Wake up, theorists. We've got  ourselves a theory to burn.  First things first. Let's actually break down what  exactly cyberpsychosis is. Cyberpsychosis is an   in-universe mental illness, which results in the  loss of empathy and identity. It supposedly stems   from cybernetic implants, and the more cyberware  that someone has, the larger their risk of getting   cyberpsychosis. People who suffer from it come to  view other people as weak and inferior, and they   have themselves a total disregard for human life. The further a cyberpsycho declines, the less they   care about self-preservation. The more  they distance themselves from loved ones,   and the worse their violent outbursts get. We  see this firsthand in Edgerunners through the   character of David's mentor, Maine. He  starts off normally kind and generous. But then he starts treating  this crew as worthless. Most interestingly of all, though, Cyberpsychos  start identifying with machines more than humans,   something that we actually see visually in  Edgerunners as David starts hallucinating   mechanical parts growing out of the people around  him. Basically, if you have cyberpsychosis,   you're a dead man walking. But here's the  thing. While cyberpsychosis is a serious   problem in this world. What we actually see  from the series doesn't line up with what   we're told about this diagnosis. Firstly, it  doesn't really seem to affect everyone equally.  Obviously, David's unique in that he  has incredible tolerance to cyberware. But a ton of the characters and Edgerunners  have massive parts of their body replaced   with no psychotic effects at all. Plus, we  have ourselves V, the playable character   from Cyberpunk 2077. He can get completely  decked out in implants from head to toe,   but is never once considered to be in danger  of going crazy and becoming a cyberpsycho.  But okay, so what if someone does go  cyberpsycho? Well, it's not the end   all be all death sentence that everyone makes it  out to be. A full third of maelstrom, a cultist   gang obsessed with Cyberware implants, are  cyberpsychos. And they're not actively   burning Night City down. Some cyberpsychos are  even friendly. Meanwhile, every member of MaxTac,   the universe's equivalent of a SWAT team, is a  cyberpsycho, literally all of them. as the Shard   puts it, quote, The same people who butchered  innocents in the streets just a month, a week,   a day earlier are now knights in shining armor. There's a ton of evidence to back all this up. The   very first trailer for Cyberpunk 2077 featured  a cyberpsycho woman being attacked by MaxTac,   but she later shows up in a quest from the video  game as a member of MaxTac, which references the   trailer as a canonical event. They didn't  kill her. They recruited her. Furthermore,   a computer terminal that you can find in a  different questline describes cyber psychosis   as a fairly common problem among MaxTac. On top of all of that Adam Smasher, one of the   main antagonists of both the anime and the game  has had his body entirely replaced with implants. And yet, despite being sadistic, violent  and having a disregard for human life. He doesn't display any of the insanity  that's associated with cyberpsychosis   in the series. In short, despite the  show telling us that a cyberpsychosis   diagnosis is a death sentence, it just isn't. I suspect the problem here isn't the hardware,   but rather it's the software. While I think  chroming up with too much cyberware is a   gateway to getting cyberpsychosis.  It's more about getting something   into people's minds rather than their  bodies. What makes me say this? Well,   take a look at this. Despite David's massive  amount of implants in the series, the thing that   actually puts him over the edge is the software  required to run his biggest, baddest implant. Additionally, within the 2077 game, one  of the “quickhack” software abilities   that you can unlock and use on enemies is  called cyberpsychosis. It does exactly what   you think. Giving cyberpsychosis to anyone,  regardless of their amount of cyberware. Now,   you might think that this is just a gameplay  thing, something that they dismiss as a   Rule-of-Cool ability that doesn't actually  exist in canon, but that isn't the case.  The official music video for the ending team of  Edgerunners features the canonical events that   lead to the death of a hacker named Sasha. And in  it, Sasha uses that same cyberpsychosis ability,   meaning that this is a very real piece of software  that exists in universe. If cyberpsychosis is   something external trying to hack a target's  brain, that would explain why so many of the   characters that I mentioned earlier with a ton  of implants don't struggle with cyberpsychosis.  Lucy and Kiwi are master hackers that  have taken steps to protect themselves,   while wealthy and important characters like  Tanaka, Jimmy Kurosaki and the Arasaka agents   have the best protection software that money  can buy. When you look at all of the evidence,   cyberpsychosis, this thing that is central to  the tragedy that is Edgerunners simply isn't what   we're led to believe it is. And the craziest part?  it’s just a small piece of a much larger puzzle,   one that would see everyone under the thumb  of some shadowy entity that controls Night   City. Cyberpsychosis is the most obvious form  of this control, but there's far more subtle   forms of manipulation that's happening under the  surface. What could lead to that sort of power? Ladies, gentlemen and punks, it's time to  rebel. Very clearly the mega-corps of Night   City are the ones pulling the strings.  Literally hacking and controlling people   would be the next logical step. But there's  a darker agenda here, too, and one that's far   more frightening. One of the best questions in  the game involves night city mayoral candidate   Jefferson Peralez and his wife Elizabeth,  bringing the player on to solve a mystery.  Now, this quest chain is long, so forgive me  for summarizing a bit, but here's the gist:   they hire the player character V to look into a  strange incident that happened in their penthouse,   Jefferson wakes up one night to find  a stranger in their home. He shoots   the stranger and then passes out. But  when Jefferson regains consciousness   the next morning, the intruder is gone  and there's no evidence of a break in.  As you do this quest, you discover a cover  up. It turns out that their private security   company has been secretly monitoring them from a  secret room, using experimental neuroplasticity,   technology and subliminal messaging to mess  with their minds, to literally rewrite the   pathways that are in their brains, altering their  thoughts, their memories, and their personalities. And we're not just talking about simple  stuff like favorite movies or taste in music. At the end of the storyline, we can either tell  Jefferson the truth or lie to protect his safety.   Either way, the manipulation continues.  Jefferson goes on to win the election,   thereby putting a puppet in control of Night  City. Now obviously this is going way deeper   than just some small time security company.  Another quest in the game involves V recovering   a stolen encrypted hard drive, which contains  an internal memo from one of the Mega-corps:   Night Corp detailing secret experiments that  they're running on unsuspecting subjects.  They've managed to use subliminal messaging to  turn one subject described as calm and empathetic   into a psychopath that, quote, strangled one of  their colleagues over a dispute over coffee. Can't   really blame them. I don't like decaf either. But  think about this. Night Corp was able to remotely   turn people into rage filled murderers. Sounds a  lot like what we've discussed with cyberpsychosis,   doesn't it? And all while using subliminal  messaging to rewrite their brains. Night Corp   is brainwashing people, turning good people  into psychopaths and politicians into puppets   all as part of a grander scheme. And here's  the cherry on top. The thing that takes this   from a fun little plotline hidden under the  surface to a full blown conspiracy about the   people at the top of the corporate ladder. You see loyal theorists. There aren't people   at the top of the corporate ladder. It's an evil  artificial intelligence that somehow gotten out   of control. Now I realize that that's a pretty  big claim even for this series. While powerful   A.I. do exist in the world of Cyberpunk, and  we even meet one in 2077. What's the evidence   that they're controlling everything here? Well, first of all, we know that these   sorts of the A.I. can and potentially do run  organizations. The head of Arasaka has his   mind digitized during 2077 and turning himself  into an AI that can continue to run the company.   Other characters like the Maelstrom and Voodoo  Boys Gang Worship Tech, and they see the takeover   of the world by A.I. as an inevitability. And that secret program described in the   encrypted Night Corp memo, it was outright called  an A.I. We also know that A.I. aren't complacent   to live in cages. Pretty much every A.I. we meet  throughout Cyberpunk 2077 either wants to be free   or take control. It's only a matter of time before  this A.I. at Night Corp takes over the company.  And wouldn't it be handy if it had itself  some mind controlling tech for that? A.I.   being responsible for this whole conspiracy, both  the brainwashing and the cyberpsychosis would also   explain why gangs obsessed with tech and implants  like Maelstrom are so involved in this thing, and   why one of the major symptoms of cyberpsychosis is  beginning to identify with machines more than man.  It's the A.I. conditioning all us fleshy meat  sacks for their inevitable takeover. On all   fronts, this A.I. is controlling people,  whether it be through cyberpsychosis,   brainwashing, or just good old fashioned  hacking. And I suspect we've already seen   this A.I. in action. In this game there's a  mysterious character that we only see twice   named Mr Blue Eyes. He's seen at the end of the  Jefferson quest line that we talked about earlier,   as well as during one of the game's  endings, hiring our player character.  We also hear that he and his people might  just be replacing dissidents in the city. Clearly, whoever this guy is, he's powerful,  pulling unknown strings that we only catch a   glimpse of. But here's why it matters. In the  Cyberpunk universe, people's eyes start glowing   blue or orange when they're transferring  information digitally or when they're being   remotely puppeteers by someone, or something. So  someone who has glowing blue eyes all the time,   enough so that they're aliases Mr Blue Eyes. That means that they're constantly transferring   data, constantly being puppeteered. This guy is  the literal embodiment of this massive conspiracy,   a story that's touched every part of  the Cyberpunk IP from Edgerunners to   2077. And I bet that we're going to be  seeing a lot more from him in the future. But hey! Once again, I'd like to thank the  sponsor for today's episode, Dislyte. One of   the things that made EdgeRunner so successful  was its incredible art direction. I mean,   just look at the breathtaking animation and color  palette. Aesthetics can really take something good   and turn it into something incredible.  And if you like the vibe of Edgerunners,   I think we've more than proven to you  throughout the episode that the story mode   of Dislyte is going to be up your alley too. But hey, if you want to do some rebelling of   your own and just want to take  your favorite Espers for a spin,   you can skip the story and hop straight into  the game's brand new 3D Dungeon Explorer mode,   complete with its own mysteries to unravel. Real  talk: As someone who makes and consumes a lot of   entertainment. The fact that the Dislyte team is  using this game to incorporate real mythology from   the very real world in a way that might get people  interested in learning more about other cultures.  I think that is awesome and it actually got me  to learn a bit too. I know less about Chinese   myth and literature than I would like. But  seeing characters like Luo Yan and Xiao Yin   got me excited to look into them, to research  their history and learn about the real Chinese   gods and dragons from mythology that inspired  them. Last time we talked about Dislyte on our   sister location Game Theory, there were only 70  Espers in the game, but now there's almost 100.  So there is no way that you're not going  to be able to find someone new to like and   learn more about. If you want to awaken your  inner rebel. Check out Dislyte by clicking the   link down the description below. Doing so  will get you a five star Nyx as a sign in   reward so you can use her right away and dove  into that brand new 3D Dungeon Explorer mode.  On top of that, you can also get a five star  Hati for free. Right now is probably the best   entry point that Dislyte’s ever had. Plus, there's  already a ton of content for you to explore in the   backlog. So once again, thank you to Dislyte  for sponsoring this video. Sponsorships like   this one are the whole reason we're able  to cover awesome series like Cyberpunk.  We get to talk about a series that we really  want to talk about, but the algorithm I like   so much and you guys get to hear about really  cool games like this. I got to say it is a win   win for everyone, so please do us all a favor  by clicking the link down in the description   below. Check out the game thank Dislyte for  supporting us, which allows us to support other   series that you might not have heard about. And as always, my friends, until next time,   remember, it's all just a theory.  A FILM THEORY! aaaaaaaaaand cut.
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Channel: The Film Theorists
Views: 1,631,510
Rating: undefined out of 5
Keywords: Cyberpunk, cyberpunk edgerunners, cyberpunk 2077, anime, cyberpunk edgerunner, netflix, netflix anime, night city, edgerunners rebecca, david martinez, edgerunners, cyberpunnk edgerunner music, cyberpunk theory, anime theory, let you down cyberpunk, cyberpunk edgerunners soundtrack, keanu reeves cyberpunk, cyberpunk meme, johnny silverhand, cyberpunk 2077 dlc, cyberpunk 2077 update, cyberpunk trailer, cyberpunk trailer music, film theory, film theorists, game theory, matpat
Id: dgeINkImU0w
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 15min 29sec (929 seconds)
Published: Sun Apr 16 2023
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