Cyberpunk 2025: I wouldn't want to be a liar

Literary theorist Raymond Williams coined the phrase “structure of feeling” to describe the cultural and temporal totality that any artist draws from. It’s another interpretation of the concept of zeitgeist or, for cyberpunk and this series, it’s the 70s’ and 80s’ cultural milieu I’ve written about before.

But the concept of structures of feeling is larger than the art world. It can be (and is) applied to history, sociology, and broader culture. And even reality.

The Running Man

I know this is kind of a Hear Me Out™, but I think it’s time to talk about 1987’s Running Man. The Running Man is not a good movie. The action is goofy and boring, and Arnold’s one-liners are particularly bad and forced. At the same time, The Running Man is a goddamn delight to watch.

I have not read Stephen King’s The Running Man. I also have not (yet) seen the new Edgar Wright adaptation which sounds like a more faithful adaptation. I do know that the 1987 movie doesn’t have a lot to do with the book, and it kind of becomes its own thing. And that thing is not-not-cyberpunk. And it’s just cyberpunk enough that I think it’s worth talking about.

"By 2017 the world economy has collapsed. Food, natural resources, and oil are in short supply. A police state, divided into paramilitary zones, rules with an iron hand. Television is controlled by the state and a sadistic game show called ‘The Running Man’ has become the most popular program in history. All art, music, and communications are censored. No dissent is tolerated and yet a small resistance movement has managed to survive underground. When high-tech gladiators are not enough to suppress the people’s yearning for freedom … more direct methods become necessary."

The Running Man opens with police captain Ben Richards piloting a helicopter full of heavily militarized cops to a food riot when he’s given the order to fire on the unarmed crowd. He defies the order, but is overpowered by his squad who go on to massacre the rioters. The police (and the police state) use Ben as a convenient scapegoat for the slaughter and he’s sent to prison.

Later in the movie, we see the government’s version of the movie’s opening — a little creative editing of the same footage we saw earlier completely changes the narrative — Ben goes from refusing to fire on civilians to refusing not to — and he becomes the “Butcher of Bakersfield.”

Unless they’re playing false tapes

We here in 2025 don’t have state-run television that does manipulative editing. Instead, we got a shittier version — Fox News. Fox News is biased, pushes false information and conspiracy theories, and mostly just serves as the propaganda arm of the Republican party.