According to the super dependable and accurate site, Wikipedia, cyber punk  “features advanced technology and science, such as information technology and cybernetics, coupled with a degree of breakdown or radical change in the social order.” The plots tend to be staged in dystopian futures and revolve around protagonists that are rebelling against some form of system or government.

The movie I have chosen to watch and write about, Æon Flux, contains all of these elements and more. The story takes place in the walled-in city of Bregna in the year 2415 after 99% of the population has been killed by a virus. The city is run by the Goodchild family, however,  the rebels, The Monicans, are trying to bring down the regime. The leader of the Monicans communicates with the rebels through the subconscious and electric neural pathways. An ingested chemical allows the rebels to enter their own mind where they find the leader of the rebels who then gives them information on their next assignment.

Later in the plot we see that the Goodchild regime is actually not multiple generations at all, but the same man over and over again. Trevor Goodchild, has actually saved his genetic makeup in a gene bank and remakes himself every time. I’m unsure how the population doesn’t realize that he look sooo similar to previous generations. There’s even posters of himself next to other posters of himself and the people still don’t notice that it’s the same guy! However, the leader of the regime is not the only person whose genes are being replicated. Every person in the city suffers the same fate, but they are unaware of the replication. It further becomes clear that the people have been chosen to live this way because they are immune to the virus. This being said, the inhabitants are not allowed to have children of their own because natural genetic mutation could render them susceptible to the virus once again.

The genetic replication is indeed advanced technology and the secrecy of the government makes an easy target for the rebels to try to defeat. The breakdown or change in social order arises when the blimp flying around the city crashes into the wall and lets the people free. The blimp, or Rellicle (sp?), is actually an information bank for the government and they keep their secrets from the citizens right under (or I guess above) their noses.

Dani dms10