Il cielo sopra Night City: il cyberpunk tra immaginario narrativo e critica sociale = The Sky Above Night City: Cyberpunk Between Narrative Imagination and Social Critique

Abstract

This essay explores cyberpunk not only as a literary and media genre but also as a critical tool for interpreting social, political, and technological transformations from the late twentieth century onwards. Originally emerging as a literary movement, cyberpunk has gradually taken on a broader cultural and political dimension, shaping an imaginary that intertwines body, technology, identity, and power. Recurring themes such as human-machine hybridization, brain-computer interaction, artificial intelligence, and corporeal transformation - as developed by authors like Gibson and Sterling, as well as in Asian media works like Ghost in the Shell - reveal a deep rethinking of subjectivity and interpersonal relations. In Italy, cyberpunk found significant resonance through editorial projects which linked it to countercultural practices. This diffusion helped foster a national production that, while heterogeneous, drew inspiration from the genre's aesthetic and thematic codes. Today, cyberpunk is firmly established in audiovisual and video game media, exemplified by the Cyberpunk 2077 franchise, and functions as a recognizable category across digital content platforms. Beyond its narrative dimension, cyberpunk offers a critical lens through which to explore the tensions between technological innovation, social control, and individual agency, affirming itself as a genre that remains relevant and insightful in analyzing the dynamics of the present.