Week Eleven: Cyberpunk and Steampunk

For this week I read the book Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson and watched Blade Runner. Personally for me, Cyberpunk and Steampunk are some of my least favorite sub-genres in Science Fiction, while I can appreciate them, it is just not some of my favorites. With that being said, Snow Crash was not bad. It certainly would not have been my first choice but I am glad I read it.  The humor of the novel definitely helped me get through it. I mean naming the main character Hiro Protagonist, clearly it does not take itself too seriously and I like that. Moving on to the film, I had never seen Blade Runner before but having seen other films by Ridley Scott I figured I would enjoy it, and if not at least I would get to look at a young Harrison Ford for the better part of two hours. Again, it would not have been my first choice, but I liked it. For me, I think the Cyberpunk genre is better when visual elements are involved because of the aesthetic. I guess personally I do not want to read about all of it when I could just look at it how visually stunning it can be from someone else’s interpretation of it – I can guarantee I am not imagining it half as cool and interesting as someone else who is really into the genre.