Collective Body (P)Arts: Female Cyborg-Subjectivity in Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell

This article explores the tension between humanistic ideas of subjective wholeness and the networked and fragmented, conceptualization of female cyborg subjectivity presented in Mamoru Oshii’s anime Ghost in the Shell (1995). The article argues that the anime exposes the mediated nature of female cyborg subjectivity through its treatment of its protagonist in three key moments in the film: in the title scene, the dream passage through the city and in the final confrontation between the Puppet-Master and Major Kusanagi. This article suggests that the always already split and alienated consciousness of women due to their objectification both creates anxiety and tension, as well as enables the recognition of the fragmented and networked status of female cyborg subjectivity in the anime.