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Decoder is an underground, counter-cultural, and cyberpunk film directed by Muscha (AKA Jürgen Muschalek) in 1984. A West German film based on the writings of the American author William S. Burroughs, it was written and produced on a small budget by Muscha, Klaus Maeck, Volker Schäfer, and Trini Trimpop. Decoder is a story about a burger shop employee, played by FM Enheit, who figures out that by changing the background music of the shop to industrial noise music, he can encourage people to riot against the looming power of the government. He stands in direct conflict with Jaeger or the "Hunter", played by Bill Rice, who is the hit man for the Muzak Corporation. Jaeger is in charge of surrpressing revolutionaries, and in this case, killing the main lead. Other notable actors include: Burroughs himself, Genesis P-Orridge, and Christane Felscherinow, with music from the bands Soft Cell, Psychic TV, Einstürzende, Neubauten, and The The. The only professional actor is Bill Rice, while all other integral actors and bands in the film pulled from the "counter-cultural" community.
Muschalek directed one other movie in his film career, Humanes Toten. Both were small projects made amongst friends and their connections in Allied-Occupied Germany.
Much of the inspiration of the film is from cassette tapes and audio media, of which William S. Burroughs was a contributor. His work is bleak, audio-noir full of discordant sound and themes of hopelessness. His work can be found (link: "here")[(goto-url:'http://www.ubu.com/sound/burroughs.html')]. The film is more than just the sum of Burroughs work, though, and the other influences of this work in the thematic and visual can be found [[here.->influences]]
Decoder belongs to the American underground and para-punk films because of its broad contra political perspective, but it belongs just as much to the European avant-garde and art cinema. ([[Naked Lense, Sargeant->sources]]) Read more about it in [[context->context]].
Decoder was created around the same time as the Cyberpunk genre. Read more into how that legacy grew [[here.->legacy]]
(Sasha+Taylor)
[[sources->sources]] Decoder, made within the last decade of the Berlin wall or “Antifascistischer Schutzwall”, which was built between 1961-1989, is titled a "west german" film but parallels the struggles of East Berlin and being trapped by an oppressive government. Just five years after Decoder was released in 1989, the the head of the East German Communist Party announced that citizens could cross this manmade border. Being a "powerful and enduring [symbol] of the Cold War," ([[Berlin Wall, History->sources]]) as it was descriptive of when Germany was controlled by outside forces, Soviet Union for East, US, Great Britain, and France for West, when the citizens swarmed the wall, some taking picks and hammers to it, they had their own version of revolution. ([[Ibid->sources]])
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Though it was considered it a "peaceful" revolution by German citizens, ([[Deustche Welle->sources]]) it still holds to its roots: the protesters calling for democratic freedom even at the cost of their own lives. Fueher, on the topic of carrying that strength into our present, added: "Today we need to rediscover the courage - the civilian courage - to get involved. We can't expect things simply to work out, we have to take responsibility for our country ourselves ...we want to be actively part of the democracy we fought so courageously for." ([[Ibid, 2009->sources]])
Christian Wulff, President of Germanyon the 50th anniversary of the Berlin wall, said: "... the dead and wounded, the hundreds of thousands who were imprisoned and politically harassed aren't the only victims of this Wall ... millions were also forced to renounce the lives they wanted to live," while Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit added: "The Wall was part of a dictatorial system, an unjust state." ([[Telegraph->sources]]) Before the Wall was taken down and able to be crossed, the people of Germany refused to be seperated. The citizens who found ways to get over the wall and onto the other side were the start of a voice that only grew louder.
This call for revolution and breaking out of dictorial system circles back around to the growing influence of Cyberpunk, where it leaked out of America and into other countries, most notably Japan. In Japan, Cyberpunk could attribute most of its continued success into the 1990s and later due to the Akira inspired manga and anime: Battle Angel Alita, Serial Experiments Lain, Cowboy Bebop, and Ghost in the Shell. ([[Polygon->sources]]) Cyberpunk was no longer "Undergound", it had entered the mainstream.
This cross-cultural inspiration carried on further. Ghost in the Shell in particular inspired the Wachowskis to make the Matrix. The Matrix, a succesful film series made back in the US, details a "Virtual Reality - the Matrix - specifically designed to enslave humanity in a humdrum existence. Morpheus believes Neo to be the saviour of the human race, and persuades him to lead a rebellion against the powers of oppression." ([[Guardian->sources]])
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Cyberpunk was no longer a genre for fiction literature, nor film: it even expanded into games, such as Hideo Kojima's Snatcher, or more famously his Metal Gear Solid series.
Mike Pondsmith, an american roleplaying, board, and video game designer, best known for his work for the publisher R. Talsorian games, and his game "Cyberpunk" (1988), said: “I personally think that any cyberpunk work worthy of the name needs to show that dehumanizing, unequal relationship of power and politics as part of its makeup ... you don’t raise hell in a future where things are a Star Trekkian Utopia — you raise hell when all the forces in power are arrayed against you personally, and you have to fight back.”
Even the creator of the Netrunner card game, Litzinger, echoes this in an interview by saying, "to me, cyberpunk does feel inherently political in that its protagonists almost always operate on the fringes of the law, whether because of criminal activity or the inability for the law to keep up with technology. It can challenge us to think about the difference between something that is legal and something that is moral, and you will find a common thread of rebellion against ‘the system’ in a lot of cyberpunk narratives.”
In Decoder and even in Germany, the sentiment of common people, not heroes, but people desperate for a different reality, create a narrative of rebellion. A rebellion that remains heated and memorable in the minds of today.
In the most recent years we have gotten: Blade Runner 2049, the live action remake of Ghost in the Shell, Altered Carbon on Netflix, and the upcoming game, Cyberpunk 2077. The Cyberpunk genre does not seem to be dying anytime soon: only continuously evolving.
If you want to read more about the [[context->context]] or [[influences->influences]] of this film and the time it was made, follow those links.
(Sasha)“Berlin Wall.” History, A&E Television Networks, 15 Dec. 2009, https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/berlin-wall.
Bethke, Bruce. Cyberpunk - A Short Story by Bruce Bethke. Infinity Plus, http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/cpunk.htm.
“Decoder (1984) FULL ALBUM.” Youtube, 28 May 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3E6kWrooxI&feature=youtu.be&t=809.
Deutsche, Welle. Peace Prayers Helped Bring down the Wall, Says Leipzig Pastor. DW, 1 July 2009, https://www.dw.com/en/peace-prayers-helped-bring-down-the-wall-says-leipzig-pastor/a-3805080.
“Forgotten Film History: The Underground Cinema Movement.” Mysteries Behind Cinéma, BGSU, 23 Oct. 2013, https://blogs.bgsu.edu/thfm2620group1/2013/10/23/forgoten-film-history-the-underground-cinema-movement/.
“Germany Marks 50th Anniversary of Berlin Wall.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 13 Aug. 2011, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/8699626/Germany-marks-50th-anniversary-of-Berlin-Wall.html.
Nowell-Smith, Gregory. “New Politics, New Cinemas” (excerpt) Making Waves: New Cinemas of the 1960s, New York, Continuum, 2008
Philes, Robe. “A Brief History of Cult and Underground Film.” HubPages. HubPages, 2013. Web. 13 Oct. 2013.
Sargeant, Jack. Naked Lens: Beat Cinema.
Spencer, Alex. What Is Cyberpunk? Polygon, 30 Aug. 2018, https://www.polygon.com/features/2018/8/30/17796680/cyberpunk-2077-history-blade-runner-neuromancer.
Sterling, Bruce. 1986’s Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology.
Taro Nettleton “Toshio Matsumoto” Art Review, Winter 2017: web:
Tyler, Parker. Underground Film: A Critical History. New York: Da Capo, 1995. Print.
“What Is the Matrix?” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 4 June 1999, https://www.theguardian.com/film/1999/jun/04/1. The term 'Cyberpunk' originated from a short story by Bruce Bethke, (1983) titled "Cyberpunk". "I was trying to invent a new term that grokked the juxtaposition of punk attitudes and high technology", he wrote. "I took a handful of roots--cyber, techno, et al-- mixed them up with a bunch of terms for socially misdirected youth, and tried out the various combinations until one just plain sounded right" ([[Cyberpunk Foreword, Bethke->sources]]). Bethke added that cyberpunk fiction "belong[ed] primarily to William Gibson, whose 1984 novel, //Neuromancer//, was the real defining work of 'the movement'." (Ibid.)
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//Neuromancer// as a novel detailed a vision of the future that was divided "between the grubby, crime-filled meatspace and the bright glare of cyberspace," as this critic describes it. ([[Polygon->sources]]) This is the general mood established by proto-cyberpunk dystopian/apocolyptic media that cyberpunk runs with, a world eroded by moral degeneracy that leads to physical brutalitiy and the often machiavellian exploitation of the cyberworld and information.
Bruce Sterling, another author associated with cyberpunk, identifies key themes in his preface to the Cyberpunk Anthology, published in his book Mirrowshades in 1986. Key themes, according to Sterling, include: "body invasion: prosthetic limbs, implanted circuitry, cosmetic surgery, genetic alteration. The even more powerful theme of mind invasion: brain-computer interfaces, artificial intelligence, neurochemistry – techniques radically redefining the nature of humanity, the nature of the self.”
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Decoder, considered a (link: "forgotten gem")[(goto-url:'https://web.archive.org/web/20140113193502/http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/decoder%E2%80%9D-is-a-forgotten-star-studded-indie-film-about-sonic-terrorism')] as an underground and cult film, is tied to the history of the Underground cinema movement that originated mostly in the 1950s and 1960s. With U.S. motion pictures that challenged societal norms (religion, politics, etc.), these films questioned taboo and were racier than their predecessors. The dangerous subject matter caused pushback, and the pushback caused vocal retaliation, enter counterculture cinema; critiques of the times. It combines themes of proto-cyberpunk dystopian sci films like //A Clockwork Orange// (1971) and //Escape From New York// (1981) with the newly Crystalized aesthetic of cyberpunk developed by works like //Blade Runner// (1982), //Heavy Metal// (1981),// The Long Tomorrow// (1975), and// Akira // (1982) and combines it all with both a deadly fear of an authortarian surveillance-state (link:"as well as some great European electronic beats.")[(goto-url:'https://youtu.be/B3E6kWrooxI?t=809')]
These films were inherently political. The idea of political film came mainly from the 1960s, reflective of a political climate that was consistently and rapidly changing -- the Cold War era in full swing, Cuba revolutionized as a 'free territory of the Americas', the Algerian and Vietnam wars -- and that gave rise to new filmmakers who were political radicals. These films were created as an act of protest with no lesson to learn, a reminder to not "repeat past mistakes" by documenting the mistakes of the time. ([[New Politics, New Cinemas, Nowell-Smith->sources]])
Then, taking on characteristics of the Avant-Garde experimental film movement by using avant-garde styles of editing and techniques (fluid handheld movements, abstract imagery, use of superimposition, and editing rhythms that are unpredictable), ([[Forgotten Film History, BGSU->sources]]) Underground film easily melded into the idea of Cyberpunk, the genre where Decoder is mainly set.
Decoder is a susinct encapsulation of cyberpunk at this time minus the budget--the theming, color and artistic direction is all there, but the newly solidified sub-genre of sci-fi would need some more time in the oven before anyone would be jacking into the Matrix.
Other influences to take note of are: Andy Warhol, a large influencer in Underground Films, such as his film Chelsea Girls, directors William Castle, Kroger Rabb, and Kenneth Anger, and director Toshio Matsumoto, who made films up into the 1980's that encompassed "some of the most important moments of postwar Japanese Art". ([[Toshio Matsumoto, Nettleson->sources]])
If you want a more detailed discussion of influences head [[here->influences]]. If you are interested in what comes after, head [[here->legacy]].
(Sasha + Taylor) //'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'// Phillip K. Dick (1968) was adapted into the film //Bladerunner// (1982), which solidified many of the developing tropes and aesthetics of 80's cyberpunk including some Decoder too indulges in. The Muzak hitman, Jaeger, is a gritty, hard-boiled trenchoat clad stoic reminiscent of a noir detective. The world of decoder is one of slight "moral decay" and more excessive enforcement of law. These are common tropes in Cyberpunk and "Proto-cyberpunk" alike.
The protagonists that rise out of Cyberpunk don't tend to be our normal type of loveable hero. Instead, as a critic mentions, "the protagonists tend to be outsiders -- criminals and noir-style antiheroes -- who exist on the margins of society," ([[Polygon->sources]]) which help build another type of narrative. If not a protagonist more relateable, than an underdog you want to root for. In the case of Decoder, we get both.
//Akira//'s manga serialized the same year //Bladerunner// got released
//A Clockwork Orange// (1971), which depicts a futuristic world riddled with moral decay and media is used to mediate behavior. Here, violent imagery and noise music cause revolutionary acts, not too dissimilar from Kubrick's Film. Behavioralism and government control are major themes of both dystopian works.
Germans in the era of occupation probably could relate to the situation depicted to John Carpenter's //Escape from New York//(1981), another dystopic work like //A Clockwork Orange// that's like Proto-Cyberpunk. Many post-war affected country's faced a period afterwards where familial relationships were challenged and stressed due to the lack of fatherly figures and skilled laborers. England had crime waves after both world wars, theUnited States had an infamous crime wave in the 70's and 80's after the Vietnam War, and Japan did too after WW2. During the period of allied-occupation, Germany was actually a post-war crime-ridden state under tyrannical foreign rule. Decoder takes a distrust in the government, maybe some inspiration from some other popular films of the time, and the grassroots, avant-garde nature of cassette/audio art and runs with it in a very fun way.
The "mindless" and "hedonistic" forms of media that are mediated by the government as a way to keep the populace docile is very Farenheit 451, another dystopian work that comments both on the control of information and the proliferation of dangerous media.
The occult- Using special-bred death Frogs to "put people under a spell", in the dream sequences we get (link:"incantations")[(goto-url:'https://youtu.be/B3E6kWrooxI?t=472')] and some talk of an "unworthy vessel". The film already very avant-garde in its cinematic execution, the lighting and shots feel like a combination of the panels of a graphic novel and the shots of (link:"surrealist film, //Meshes of the Afternoon// (1943).")[(goto-url:'https://homi.neocities.org/2019/t/Meshes_of_the_Afternoon.html')] The entire piece feels like a dream, but the actual dream SEQUENCE harkens to this and other surrealist classics like (link:"//Alice in Wonderland// (1949).")[(goto-url:'https://homi.neocities.org/2019/t/alice.html')]
//Neuromancer//(1984)- Decoder feels like a smaller scene in a piece of Gibson's fiction. Specifically, this story feels inspired from a scene in Neuromancer, where terrorists send some kind of drug through the airducts of a building and sends everyone into a rampage. As it turns out, though, Neuromancer was released later in 1984, so it's clear then through these, and really many works of the Cyberpunk genre that mass hysteria, a looming sense of tyranny, and a fear of terrorism and political upheaval are all part of a broader zeitgeist at the time.
Stylistically by this point we have //Bladerunner//,//Heavy Metal//, //Akira//, //The Long Tomorrow//,// Metropolis//.
If you want to learn more about the film in context, head [[here->context]]. If you want to learn about the film's legacy, head [[here->legacy]].
(Taylor)