Altered Carbon, and the punk genre

I read a lot of books, and when you do that, some novels sort of lose their definition over the years, it was this way with Altered Carbon, I can't honestly tell you if the Netflix series closely follows the plot of the books at all because all the cyberpunk novels I have read sort of blur together into a haze of anti-establishment witticisms, technobabble, and lax gun laws. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed them as far as I recall, but my memory isn't clear.

That said, if the first episode is anything to go by, Altered Carbon is gonna be one for the ages. It is very good, and relevant. Plot synopsis are easy to come by so I won't bother here, but it is very faithful to the genre in the best of ways.

Let's talk about the genre for a bit, because most people don't get it, or the point. ____-punk as a genre is pretty fucking irritating when it's just the aesthetic being adopted, particularly steampunk, all I want to do when I see someone with a fancy monocle and goggles on their tophat is slap them until they start liking things that look good, but I digress, the heart of the genre is in the name, just as punk as a musical genre began as being anti-establishment, rejecting excess and upholding a more independent attitude, it's counterpart in literature does likewise when it is at its best. I think a lot of people miss this for the aesthetic, they see the cool post human rebel, or genius hacker, or snarky detective and they think "I want to be that guy" but being that guy isn't the point, the point is that it is terrible that guy even needs to exist.

For a rebellion to be worth rooting for, it has to have something worth rebelling against, usually it is the rich, and for good reason, in these stories the rich own the land, they own the methods of transportation, they own the instruments of finance and education, in short, they own everything. This of course is inconceivable in today's world I know, but stretch your imagination a bit. The "hero" tends to be of the reluctant variety, very competent in their field and unwilling to get involved in things that aren't their business, but when push comes to shove they go to the wall for what is right. They are exceptional and their actions during the story make the mighty tremble in their halls if only for a moment.

That's the thing people don't get, it isn't the individual that is important with the punk genre, not really, the point is that society has failed when that individual is needed, it's about recognizing the rise in abuses of power and hopefully reacting before we have to wait for our somehow hyper-competent or lucky rebel with a hideout pistol and a devil may care attitude. That anyone wants to be that guy shows a remarkable willingness to ignore the suffering of millions and they forget that more often than not, that guy doesn't end up winning, at best they gain a temporary freedom for themselves or someone they care about, and at worst they don't even get to pick when they die.

There isn't anything romantic about the futile struggle of one cog against the hyper rich elite who control the world, in some ways our willingness to see that romance is harmful to the cause of preventing them from ruling the world in the first place. Not that much can stop them at this point, if it ever could I guess.

At this point, stuff like Altered Carbon is less about science fiction and more of a simple extrapolation of what is happening now to it's logical conclusion. In the corporate dystopia we have to look forward to individuality will not be stamped out, neither will religion or the lack thereof. You will not have your personal struggle interfered with because you are not important enough for anyone who matter to care about. You can keep your tattoos and drugs, write your anti-establishment blog, swear at the cops, no one will really try to hard to stamp it out, you will simply find that those things don't accomplish anything, because everyone is to busy surviving day to day to even try changing the world.

As a genre it's bleak and engrossing, as a reality it's horrifying and I don't know that people really get that enough.