By Frankie-Robin Cooper
With Cyberpunk Edgerunners, Cyberpunk Red and Cyberpunk 2077 rising in popularity, it’s no wonder that Cyberpunk and its aesthetic are now in style in the world of digital art. From Pinterest boards to music to makeup to full cosplays, its new-found popularity cannot be denied. Cyberpunk is often defined as “high-tech, low life.” It often features bright neon blues, purples, greens and pinks and a backdrop that is inherently brutal and dangerous. The movement began in the 1980s when artists began to use scifi to explore topics such as technology, drug culture, and the sexual revolution. Otomo Katsuhiro’s AKIRA manga and William Gibson’s Neuromancer are often credited as being the quintessential “Cyberpunk” pieces of the time.
The world of Cyberpunk is flashy and bright, often overwhelmingly so, and unquestionably violent. It completely enmeshes human life within technology, creating a futuristic world that isn’t quite dystopian (as many sci-fi worlds are). Buildings light up, cars fly, people are more machine than human. It’s highly futuristic, but also corrupt. Of course, this is only one facet of style in Cyberpunk. Cyberpunk Red and 2077 feature the world of the Nomads who travel on the outskirts of civilization and rock a techno-western look. And there are also Corpos who radiate exaggerated, futuristic neatness and sophistication. Whatever the case is, the world of Cyberpunk represents a world in which human life and technology can no longer be distinguished from one another. It doesn’t just feel old-fashioned–it feels unnatural that a person wouldn’t have some version of Chrome in their bodies. The aesthetic of the world does its best to encompass that concept in a highly-technical and colorful way.
In terms of fashion, there is a lot to love about the Cyberpunk genre. Chrome is not only badass, deadly, and convenient, but it also looks great and is super impressive if you can pull it off in real life. In Cyberpunk, hair glows and eyes flash different colors. It also features bright colorful lights, circuit boards, and metal finishes. Usually character outfits consist of “punk” clothing with electric, neon flairs, but there are a variety of different looks depending on what sort of character you are playing. Characters such as Lucy Kushinada wear the sexy/flashy look with colorful and revealing clothing, while characters such as David and Maine wear a tough, gritty tactical look with leather, studs, and big sunglasses.
Cyberpunk also blends an Eastern and Western aesthetic to create a unique look. According to Jerzy Skarżyński, Night City itself was inspired by cities such as Los Angeles, Tokyo, Detroit, Chicago, and Hong Kong. Buildings can be categorized into four unique styles based on what part of Night City’s history they were built in. These four styles–Entropism, Kitsch, Neo-Militarism and Neo-Kitsch, give Night City and Cyberpunk as a whole its dizzying, chaotic, dynamic look. Cars in Cyberpunk tend to look cool and slick and are armed to the teeth. Much like human beings, vehicles in Cyberpunk are both functional and deadly weapons. Kaneda’s bike from AKIRA, for example, buyable as an in-game bike called “Kusanagi” is a great example of this. “Kusanagi” is both the surname of Kusanagi Motoko, the protagonist of Masamune Shirow’s manga “Mobile Armored Riot Police” (more commonly known as “Ghost in the Shell” in English), and (per Benjamin’s random factoid) the name of a semi-mythical Japanese sword from folklore. It’s also a great bike to chase down Maelstrom on with a katana, Witcher 3—style (whoa there, cyber-Roach).
Cyberpunk vehicles tend to wear a more Western aesthetic when paired with the nomad characters, who are essentially techno-cowboys. With most of the horses of the world gone, nomads have taken to cars and trucks to support themselves and their families. As with other design elements, nomad vehicles also appropriate other dystopia or sci-fi, since one brand of nomad car in 2077, the Thornton, features a truck based on vehicles from Mad Max: Fury Road, which might have partially inspired Panama’s quest line.Narratively, Cyberpunk revolves around a sense of hopelessness and nihilism. Cyberpunk stories usually display lower classes being exploited by higher classes, corruption, poverty, and crime. And in true Cyberpunk fashion, everyone dies in the end and there was no point all along.
Cyberpunk also loves to touch on themes of artificial intelligence, gang warfare, and transhumanism, which is one of the reasons this genre is so appealing. It offers a channel in which to explore these real and difficult concepts that is artistic and palatable. The world of Cyberpunk is both visually appealing and repulsive. There are moments where you as an onlooker are in awe of the colors and lights and amazed at what humanity might one day achieve. There are also moments where you are disgusted by the poverty, violence, and apathy. In this way, Cyberpunk captures the human experience in a very real sense. Storytelling is a mode of exploration or experimentation. The most nihilistic and morbid among us believe that humanity is doomed. However, the storytellers, especially the ones interested in the Cyberpunk genre, ask “If we are doomed, what comes next?” This genre picks up right at that moment that everything goes to shit and finds things that are beautiful and worth making stories out of anyway.
Photo credits: Image collages by Frankie-Robin Cooper. Source images credit of R. Talsorian Games, Netflix, CD Projekt Red, and Trigger. Featured image credited to Netflix, CD Projekt, and Trigger.