Does a hacker protagonist immediately make a movie cyberpunk? Can a movie be cyberpunk if it takes place in the modern day?

I had an online argument once with someone who thought Sneakers wasn’t just a cyberpunk movie but essential viewing for the cyberpunk genre. I don’t consider Sneakers to be cyberpunk, or even a very good movie, so that argument was crazy to me. But maybe I was being too much of a gatekeeper; maybe other people consider Sneakers to be cyberpunk.

At least WarGames had a curious high schooler hacker rather than a bunch of old guys in suits hacking, but I wouldn’t really consider either movie to be cyberpunk. Are they cyberpunk-adjacent though? Are cyberpunk fans likely to enjoy WarGames or Sneakers?

Here’s a trailer for WarGames. You can watch it on Max. Fun fact: when Ronald Reagan watched WarGames, he asked his staff whether something like that could actually happen. They looked into it and came back to say “The problem is much worse than you think.” This led to the creation of the first National Security Directive regarding computer security.

Here’s a trailer for Sneakers. I’m not aware of any presidents having watched this movie. I don’t think it’s streaming anywhere either.

  • Sergio@slrpnk.netEnglish
    3·
    2 hours ago

    I consider them to be techno-thrillers.

    One of the few useful conversations I ever had with a modern LLM was thinking through the difference between a cyberpunk story and a techno-thriller.

    • Techno-thrillers take place in the current day (at time of writing), while cyberpunk stories take place in the near future
    • Cyberpunk stories involve an overt dystopia usually involving corporations that control the government, while techno-thrillers involve the morality of our modern world (which may involve conspiracies related to corporations and government, but these tend to be more realistic, e.g. “ripped from the headlines” in techno-thrillers as opposed to more sci-fi as in cyberpunk.)
    • Techno-thrillers usually focus on one technology and the danger that it poses to the modern world; usually this danger is neutralized by the end of the story. The technology is something that could be created within the next couple years or so (or may even exist in prototype, at time of writing.) Cyberpunk stories usually involve several different types of technology as they would exist several decades from time of writing, such as AI, VR, robotics, nanotech, space flight, etc.

    There were a couple other points. But you can see how the two movies in question check those boxes.

    • Modern day at time of writing (not near future),
    • government is kind of the bad guy but things are cleared up by the end (not full dystopia),
    • focus on the dangers posed by a single near-generation technology (as opposed to several future-generation technologies.)

    But this is a great question to debate with your friends!