Suuuuuh dude. I recently watched Cyberpunk Edgerunners and oooooooh baby was that a pleasant surprise. It was much better than I had anticipating and it ended up being my favourite studio Trigger show. I planned to make a blog post about, but I decided to turn it into a YouTube video instead. Check it out if you got an extra 20 minutes. I might do more of this style of blog posts, where I insert a video version of what I would have written. That being said, I don't want this to turn into lazy reposting so if you decide to watch the video, you can return here and read an exclusive bonus section of analysis only found on my blog. Hope you enjoy!
Adapting:
Responding to the world around us is the only way to ensure our own survival. Although our internal self is inevitably affected by our environment to a varying degree, it's safe to say we still have most of the control. We're still behind the wheel, even if external factors are changing the gears.
One could argue adaptation is the act of bending your inner self to accommodate your outer world. Through the sacrifice of your own identity, you're able to move on and proceed. Imagine there's a fictional wall between you and your current goal. Now imagine there's a crack in said wall. You see pieces of it crumbling so you use your hands in the hopes of turning the crack into a hole you can fit through. You make solid progress until your hands are too damaged to expand the gap any further. The gap has certainly widened but not enough for your whole body to fit through unless you make yourself as small as possible and try to enter sideways. So that's exactly what you do. You come out on the other side... your hands are busted and can no longer function in some ways, but you make it to the other side and immediately start walking again.
You sacrificed a part of your inner self in at attempt to proceed. The wall was already an obstacle in your way and although you made progress by turning the crack into a hole using only your own will, you can't go through unless you modify your body even further. A fictional wall within the fictional wall, if you will. So you decide to sacrifice more and more until you finally make it to the other side and start walking, while anticipating the next wall. This is the process of adapting. Every time you come out on the other side, you're not the same. You've changed. Then again... and again... and again. By the time you go through the next gap, you've altered your inner self countless times. You thought those changes were minor at first, but their frequency started stacking up and before you realize it, you're a completely different person.
You decide what your internal self looks like. If you choose to be a liquid you can make your way into anything, though the environment dictates your shape. If you chose to be a solid, you won't be able to proceed, but you'll be as authentic and genuine to yourself as you can possibly be. Perhaps the ultimate state of being is a fusion of both forms. A small piece of solid, surrounded by a pool of liquid. You can easily fit through most holes, while living by a set code you absolutely can't violate if you want to remain genuine.
If we chose to view Edgerunners through that lens, David would be completely solid. Being headstrong and stubborn can make you a legend only until your flame inevitably burns out. His death at a young age is proof he wasn't able to adapt to the world around him. A solid state that couldn't fit through the gap and was stopped in its tracks.
That being said, how much of our internal self is really us? We see newborn babies having distinct personalities, which were not taught to them. Where do they come from? How can two brand new organisms with supposedly no experience in the world have different attitudes and interpretations immediately? Why would one newborn cry twice as much as another? Why does one refuse to eat certain foods, while the other doesn't? Where would these reactions come from if they weren't learned? Perhaps it's some remnant of a past live that carries over? Certain preferences which some have attributed to personality traits are actually subject to change. Fashion sense and beauty standards are two prime examples of how seemingly solid states become malleable through our geographical location combined with the passage of time. Do you want to go to the moon because you watched it as a child or because of the media around you that romanticises the idea? Was it your inner inexplicable fascination or a poster on the wall?
Thanks for reading!
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You are such a great writer, Mindblown!
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