Inspiring themes behind Ghost In The Shell

I've come upon a fascinating case of literary exegesis that got me thinking about several popular anime series, and low and behold, there is absolutely a common thread that I found to be quite inspired. An anime TV show with some spin-off films by Mamoru Oshii, based on graphic novels by Masamune Shiro, Ghost in the Shell.

You are familiar with Salinger's Catcher in the Rye? He also wrote a short story titled "The Laughing Man". These are core concepts that weave throughout Ghost in the Shell. The more I dig, the more stunning references I find in the TV shows and films.

"Ghost in the Shell" itself, as the title of the 1995 film, based on the Masamune Shiro graphic novel, is a reference to the concepts of growing up, coming into one's own, maturing, and both Oshii and Shiro convey through a fast action story with some very intriguing characters, the state of the world as it nears... yes, this part is mind blowing... Kurzweil's Singularity! And the common thread is this Laughing Man character, who is never caught, and believed to be an A.I. that spontaneously came to life from the inter-connections of the net on it's own. Not only is that a reference to humanity reaching puberty or growing up socially, religiously, politicially, economically, but also the parallel maturity of our technology in the form of this awakening A.I. And what is it trying to convey through a nickname such as The Laughing Man?

That goes back to Salinger. His character, Mary, in Catcher in the Rye, is the inspiration for the protagonist of GITS: Major Motoko Kusanagi. She is absolutely gorgeous, but tough as nails (Salinger's "beautiful but tomboyish" Mary).

"I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes" is a quote from Catcher that is seen regularly in GITS whenever The Laughing Man strikes. He is described as a super hacker (when in reality no human could do the things he can do, so he is clearly an A.I.). In the original GITS movie, this character was called "the puppet master", because he would hack cyberbrains and take control over people. At the end of this movie is a scene where the puppet master A.I. merges with the Major, which becomes a new person, or "ghost in the shell".

I find this all to be quite fascinating and it's why I love this show.

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