Ghost In The Shell - Film Analysis - Motoko's Dilemma

Ghost in the Shell is one of my all time favourite films. Oshii's 1995 classic was a huge stepping stone for not only anime but sci-fi in general. My love for the Ghost in the Shell franchise stretches way back before I even knew what anime was. I originally watched the TV series, and although that impressed me, it was the 1995 film that really blew me away. What really impressed me about the movie was how much detail they squeezed into only 83 minutes. This inspired me to do an analysis of the film instead of a review. I wanted to look deeper into the movie and see just how brilliant it really is. In this video I'm going to be analysing one of the movies most prominent themes, the differences between human and cyborg, or the ghost in the shell. More specifically how Motoko Kusanagi deals with it. Throughout the movie Oshii adds a number of subtle and obvious hints towards what Kusanagi feels and how her feelings develop and mature throughout the story. And towards the end it gets extremely interesting so stick around. The title Ghost in the Shell is the most blatant metaphor in the film. The ghost refers to your mental existence and the shell referring to your physical existence. The movie follows Motoko as she ponders if she has a soul or a ghost despite being almost fully cyborg. The title perfectly sums up the film, it doesn't confirm whether there is a ghost in the shell or whether there isn't, it's just a suggestion that there might be. The movie opens up with some very impressive animation and some very important details. We see Motoko sitting on a roof with various robotic voices speaking. These voices may just sound like people talking over a radio, but the voices become more significant as the movie progresses and we learn more about the voice of Motoko's ghost. The piece of dialogue, it's my time of the month, has a similar effect, at first it just seems like a humorous remark, it actually gives us our first taste of Motoko's dilemma. The opening titles of this movie have to be among the most iconic in not only anime history but in film history. The green and black text was famously one of the big influences for the Matrix. Much like the title itself, the opening really sums up the film both metaphorically and literally. During the title sequence we watch as a cyborg model is produced. The model being produced is the same as our main character uses, we're not completely sure if this is the exact one she uses, this becomes more important later in the film. I personally believe it is the one she uses as it cuts to a close up shot of her immediately after the titles end. The titles start with the iconic ghost in the shell title, followed by a shot of a cyberbrain being placed into the body. This is quite significant as the brain is held responsible for our ghosts. People can replace their cyberbodies, but the cyberbrain is much more valuable. What's interesting is that in the next shot, we see a scan of a real human brain. We saw that in the last shot, the cyberbrain doesn't look like a normal human brain. This is very important, it tells the viewer that there is a natural human element added to the cyborgs, they aren't just completely robotic. We then see the head closing in, securing the brain in place. After this we get a full body shot of the cyborg body, notice that it resembles human muscle. Another natural element included. It's important that the cyborg body looks like a human body, this tells us that people would rather be recognised as humans than cyborgs. Though as the viewer we still feel it's a cyborg body as it hangs lifeless from a number of cables. The next few shots are extremely important as they're brought up later on in the diving scene. The cyborg body is pushed through a water tube and rises to the top of the water. As she slowly rises above the surface we get another scan similar to the brain scan. She rises from the liquid. As she does so the liquid starts to behave in a weird way, showing the viewer the importance of the shot. It looks quite magical. She now starts to look even more human like. As she rises from a second more natural liquid, her skin starts to break away from her body. This is symbolic as it looks like she's breaking away from an egg or cocoon. As it starts to break away we see an even more human like character. The birth symbolism is furthered by the next shot of her lying in the fetal position. The same position a baby would be in in the womb. She then drops down into more water. This is a metaphor for the actual act of giving birth, or a woman's water breaking. She finally rises from the water chamber as the birth of a cyborg is complete. We have a long shot looking at the cyborg's face, slowly zooming in, then a cut straight to Motoko sleeping in her bed. She opens her eyes as to tell the viewer that she's finally born. She stares into the camera, and then at her hand, hinting that what we just witnessed was a dream or memory of Motoko's. This shows the viewer that she's still very quizzical about her cyborg body. The next scene is a brilliant contrast to the last scene, and a great set up for the questions asked throughout the movie. She wakes up in a completely black room. She opens the window and stares out into the grey cyborg looking city. As it cuts to a shot a little further away from Motoko, we're shown nothing in her room. Even she is just a silhouette. This shows that despite the birth scene that was full of life, there's no personality or emotion in her life. She lives in a room with a plain bed, no colour, and a big window. This is a great way of telling us that despite wanting to find her human side, she still lacks emotion. What we see out of her window is very reminiscent of the production line she was born in. It's almost like it's telling us that she's still just a production. As she gets out of bed, she doesn't turn on a light, listen to any news or any music, again showing us that she lacks human emotions. She gets her jacket and leaves the apartment. As she leaves, she shuts the blinds, leaving complete darkness. This is a good way of showing us that a room is merely a container for sleep, not a personal space. These first scenes are brilliant in showing us a contrast of feelings. We really need to think hard about what Motoko feels and what she wants. The next scene I would like to look at is the scene with Togusa and Motoko. They're in a van as they prepare for a mission, and have a conversation about the puppet master. While talking about various factors of the mission, Motoko says this quote. This is one of the first times Motoko literally addresses the ghost concept. What she's referring to is her gut feeling. She's very similar to the puppet master and is taking a natural guess at the situation. What's interesting about this part is the way she portrays it. She says it as if the whisper came from a third party source, as if her ghost is a separate entity than herself, or her shell. This line of dialogue, despite being quite obvious, is very interpretive. I personally think this shows uncertainty about her situation. She's still unsure what she is, so she plays around jokingly with the concept. It could also be interpreted as Motoko not thinking she's an individual at all, just a puppet. Her ghost is a completely separate thing that makes all the decisions for her. This would be a rational, but non-human-like belief. The next piece of dialogue they have is a conversation about the differences between Togusa and Motoko. Motoko explains that Togusa is important due to him being very human. He has a lot to lose, everything from his family to his non-cyborg body. They use his revolver as a metaphor. It's impractical and there are better and more efficient guns out there. But Togusa prefers the revolver due to its more natural qualities. This is like Togusa himself. You can think of Togusa as a revolver and Motoko as an automatic pistol. Motoko then goes on to outline the faults with a perfect system. They lack the natural and human qualities. This is yet another great scene from the undecided Motoko. The interview scene is one of the more sadder scenes in the film. Togusa explains to the man that his whole life is a made up lie. His memories were implanted into his brain by criminals so he could help them with their crimes. The man has to come to the realisation that everything he knows and loves are lies. He's then told it won't be possible to bring back his real memories. The camera then pans out to Bato and Motoko watching the interview through glass. The shot we see this conversation in is very symbolic. Motoko is looking through the glass, but from our angle, she's looking at a reflection of herself. This is a great way of showing us that Motoko is really pondering what she is now. Clearly the interview has had a great effect on her. The reflection is a great way of showing her two entities and one of many uses of reflections in the movie. One of the reflections is slightly faded. Maybe this is telling us she's getting closer about making a decision about her existence. Or it could be a reference to one of the quotes in the diving scene. The puppet master also mentions a similar concept later on in the movie. Bato then goes on to say a Descartes inspired piece of dialogue. He brings up that even artificial memories and thoughts exist as information, so they can be perceived as reality. This is important as Motoko has always thought about her memories and thoughts as mere meaningless artificial calculations. But Bato believes that anything can be perceived as reality, making Motoko's thoughts just as real as in normal humans. This is from René Descartes' famous Cogito Ergo Sum, or I think therefore I am. Here he believes that nothing can truly be absolute reality, as reality is only how you perceive it. Regardless of how real your thoughts and memories feel, humans can be easily tricked and memories can be easily manipulated. Motoko thinks therefore she is. She now has a possible justification for her existence, despite not being fully human. The scene now fades into one of my favourite scenes from the film, the diving scene. I think this is one of the strongest scenes in the movie. It's full of great dialogue and very smart metaphors, but it also refers back to the birth scene at the start of the movie. We start off with various shots of Motoko floating through the depths of the water. Very much like how she was at the start of the movie. We then have another reflection shot. This time the colours are more contrasting and it feels like there's more of a divide between the two Motokos. As she submerges above the water, she lies there for a few seconds staring into the sky. She gets back onto the boat and we have another brilliant piece of dialogue between Bato and Motoko. As they have some joking dialogue, Motoko begins to get undressed in the sights of Bato. This isn't because she wants to provoke any sexual tension, but because she doesn't understand that there would be any sexual tension. This is a reminder that she still doesn't fully understand how humans behave. The scene skips a few hours in time and they have more dialogue. Motoko explains why she likes diving into the ocean in a brilliant symbolic way. She mentions the emotions she gets when she dives. They're not extremely positive emotions, but they are strong emotions. Emotions that she probably doesn't feel normally due to her being built as a war machine. The diving reminds her of her birth, when she was more vulnerable. Maybe she wishes she could have those human emotions like everyone else. She feels like she becomes someone else when she emerges from the water. This is a clear reference to her emerging from the water at the start of the film. Maybe she feels that if she does this, she'll be more human. Another hint towards what she wants, but reminded that she isn't completely a human after all, when she attributes it all to decompression. Motoko then goes on to explain that because their bodies are cyborg, they pretty much belong to Section 9. She explains chillingly everything that makes a human, human. In this list, she includes things that normal humans wouldn't have, but she does. She says that due to this, she feels alive. But also feels like she has strict boundaries to what she can do due to her body. Bato, who champions the philosophy of everyone is just as alive as everyone else, gets annoyed by this. But he's interrupted by something. Something that says... Neither Bato or Motoko say this out loud. When asked if this was her, Motoko cautiously looks around and then turns to stare at the camera, as to ask you, the viewer, the question. So who did say this? Was it Motoko's ghost? Or was it Motoko herself? It could be Motoko herself subconsciously saying it without realising. If this is true, what does this tell us? Well the quote says now it's like we're looking through a mirror. Just like the reflection scenes, but it says that we see a dim image. Telling us that Motoko's belief of her being separate from her ghost is fading. Is she starting to feel like one entity? Or is she starting to feel like finding a conclusion is growing more distant? Does she feel that the more she thinks about it, the more she furthers herself from herself? It's a great quote with a lot of meaning and room for interpretation. Ah, now one of the most important scenes in the film. It comes fairly close to the middle of the film and right after the diving scene. The diving scene really allowed the viewers to start thinking more about Motoko's ghost because of how differently it was portrayed compared to the rest of the film. After having our eyes widened, we get a scene full of metaphors, answers and more questions. We start with a flash transition into the shot and the same song that plays in the initial birth scene. We see as a silhouette of a bird-like plane flies over the city. This is one of the many Motoko metaphors in the scene. The plane looks like a natural creature, but is in fact a machine. It's flying over the city, much like how Motoko looks over the city as she protects it from crime. This metaphor is made even clearer when we see a reflection of the plane in the window of the building. As a boat sails through the city, we get various shots of what the city is like. It's very brown, dark and grim. We even get some shots of rubbish floating in the canal. We then see in a window a woman of similar looks to Motoko, through the reflection of the city. The buildings we see are still under construction. We then get a closer shot at the woman and see that she's a similar or identical model to Motoko. As we cut to the real Motoko, they maintain eye contact as the boat floats past. Motoko then looks quizzically at the under construction buildings, as if to ponder the difference between her and these buildings. After all, they're both productions that were created by man. We then see various shots of the city and the rubbish floating in the canal. The rubbish shots really made me think. They come up way too frequently just to show up the animation. Could this be a mirror of Motoko's feelings? Does she feel that the rubbish floating down the canal is the same as her? It would make sense as the pieces of rubbish shown are all machines or devices. The reflections in the water tell us that there's a definite connection. Maybe she feels the same as the rubbish, but she just hasn't run out of use yet. But when she does, she'll be thrown away too. We then get various shots of emotionless citizens who seem to be aimlessly walking through the city. And then a shot of Mamoru Oshii's trademark Basset Hound. If anyone doesn't know, Oshii likes to include Basset Hounds in almost all of his works, and even has several as pets in real life. Then we have a shot of a shop window with mannequins inside and reflections of people walking past. This is a great piece of symbolism as it blends the mannequins and the people. Mannequins are extremely similar to cyborgs in many ways, as they're built by humans to be like humans. The comparison between cyborgs and puppets is very frequent throughout not only this film, but throughout the whole franchise. Especially in the second Ghost in the Shell film, Innocence. Motoko then looks through a reflective window at the mannequins and the people walking past. We then go back to the shot of the rubbish and it starts to rain. This subtle metaphor is telling us that Motoko is crying inside. She's clearly moved by not only the mannequins, but the events she's seen in the movie so far. There are now various shots of the city in the rain. Very strong imagery implying that the city is crying for Motoko. We also get a quick but powerful shot of posters stuck to a wall. This again reinforces feelings Motoko has of not being unique, and just being a copy. Something that the Puppet Master also talks about later on in the film. We get a similar metaphor as an advertisement of some fluorescent people floats past on a boat, and is then reflected in the window like the mannequins. Then we get another shot of naked mannequins with no colour or purpose. We then get some dramatic plot development as the cyborg is found hit by a truck on the highway. We cut to the section 9 HQ. Motoko stares into the eyes of the cyborg body. As Motoko is told what's going on, Batou explains that the cyborg is completely non-human, but has a ghost. This is obviously a massive development. The viewer and Motoko were under the impression a ghost is the creation of humans only, and cannot be manufactured. When discussing this suspicious situation, Batou announces his belief in it being possible. Motoko remains quite quiet during the conversation, and seems to be thinking hard about it. She then states that she herself must be the one to find out what's inside of the cyborg body. She sees herself in the cyborg body, and wants to learn more about herself through the cyborg. Motoko and Batou have a conversation in the elevator. Motoko asks Batou if the cyborg reminds him of her. She then wonders if she actually died a long time ago, or if she ever existed at all. In this scene, Motoko starts to feel less human. Clearly the newly found cyborg has affected her quite a bit. There's a lot to talk about in this scene. Motoko and Batou bring up multiple views and philosophies. Motoko starts to doubt her own existence. She feels that there's a possibility her mind and personality are just artificial creations from her cyberbrain. Batou then argues that she's treated like a human, making her human despite her almost fully cyborg body. Batou maintains his philosophy of I think therefore I am. Motoko then responds by making a comment about her brain. Obviously she's referring to how non-human it looks. Even the fact that there are natural pieces of her human brain inside the cyberbrain, she feels it doesn't matter. She states that the only thing that makes her feel human is the way she's treated. Batou asks if she's doubting her own ghost. Motoko doesn't answer the question directly, but with another question. Telling her she's doubting herself. She then talks about cyberbrains creating their own ghosts. Which is a completely different philosophical topic, maybe for another video. The thought of cyborgs being able to create their own souls is a very tricky one for Motoko. It would mean she probably isn't human, or the human she thinks she is. But she would at least be something. She would at least have some sort of answer to her dilemma. Instead of being stuck in a human cyborg limbo. But again, would she feel as if the cyborg soul was herself, or a separate entity? Would she feel like this was truly her, or just an imitation? She confirms this in what she says next. She asks what can you base your beliefs and yourself on if you don't even know who created you? There's a very long pause as they both think about it. Then Batou expresses his opinion. Again, he states that he's against the separation of cyborg souls and human souls. At least in Motoko's case. We're then confirmed to the fact that the independent cyborg found is indeed the Puppet Master. As we find this out, we get a lot of dialogue from the Puppet Master himself. As he raises even more philosophical questions about artificial intelligence. Since we're only focusing on Motoko's philosophies in this specific video. I won't analyse this dialogue too much. But it definitely warrants a discussion on another video. Though the dialogue is very relevant to Motoko. He believes that there isn't much difference between life created in information and life created through chemicals like humans. A very valid point, and one that is relevant to Motoko's dilemma. Keep in mind that this movie was made in 1995. The dialogue here is more accurate than most modern sci-fi movies. Quite an impressive prediction. On asked to prove his existence, the Puppet Master responds by saying that is impossible. As no one can explain what life really is. What is existence? What makes our existence more real than that of a computer's? All great points that further develop the philosophies relating to Motoko. The Puppet Master is then captured by Section 6 and our characters head out in pursuit. Motoko has a different objective to everyone else. She wants to learn from the Puppet Master. She now sees herself and the Puppet Master as the same. Or at least very similar. This could be the closest Motoko has been to finding out the truth. As Section 9 start to close in on the stolen Puppet Master. The chase is taken to an old abandoned building. The location of this building is very important. Much like the rubbish in the city canal, this building has been thrown out and abandoned by humans. The building has passed its usefulness and is no longer wanted. A great location for Motoko's climactic scene as it reflects some of her thoughts. The camera shows the helicopter flying over from the perspective of the building. Giving us a closer look at the location. The architecture looks very gothic and there's no bright colours in the shot. What's more important is the statue of the fish at the entrance. Telling us this is some sort of museum. This is a contrast to what's about to happen. As it's a museum or tomb for natural creatures. But it's about to possibly be a tomb for an artificial being. Motoko enters the forgotten chamber through a rusty door that clearly hasn't been opened in years. The whole place looks old and broken. A very interesting contrast again to the rest of the movie. A movie that revolves around futuristic technology. She then discovers that the Puppet Master is being guarded by a tank. Notice the design of the tank. It looks like that of a spider, another animal reference. This new contrast is an important symbol of the scene. This is the scene where Motoko is going to finally figure out her purpose. And hopefully find out what she really is. This is her enlightenment scene. So it's very important that this takes place in a natural place. As the battle begins Motoko uses pillars or columns as cover. The tank fires at her destroying many of the pillars. Now pillars have always been a very important structure for mankind throughout history. For example the Greeks would use pillars in their buildings of importance. The columns are very hard things to get right. You need to have specific weights and angles to make sure the structure above doesn't fall apart. The pillars being destroyed in this scene shows that the new generation of intelligent beings. Are ready to move on to a new era of existence. Humans or the newly discovered AI beings are ready to leave this era of humanity behind. And move on to bigger things. We see this again but this time not just humanity but life in general. As Motoko runs from pillar to pillar the tank shoots and destroys fossils on the walls. This shows that the life is ready to move on from its initial evolution. And on to a new level of existence in the sea of information. The sea of information being what Motoko calls the net. This point is shown best in the next shot. As Motoko runs up the stairs the tank fires a line of bullets up a tree. Commonly known as the tree of life. The main reason for this would be the metaphors brought up in the previous two examples. But the tree of life has many meanings. Such as reincarnation or rebirth. A theme that crops up quite a lot in the movie and is very prominent in the scenes to come. The last track on the soundtrack is also named reincarnation. The tree of life could almost warrant its own video. As it's been used in so many religions and philosophies. There are some really great meanings to the tree that relate to the film. But it would take way too long to discuss in this video. For the bigger Oshii fans the fossils used in this film are the same ones used in his older piece Angel's Egg. That deals with similar themes in a more surreal and interpretive way. After making a distraction she runs and jumps onto the tank. Here she tries to open the hatch to destroy the tank. What's great about this part is she actually fails to open the hatch. Failure is a key part of being human. This reminds us that she's still partly human. Not to mention she's saved by another human, Bato, wielding a very mechanical weapon. What's even more interesting about this scene is her disregard towards her body. She overexerts her arms and muscles that end up exploding. She doesn't think twice about this. Showing us that she has very little appreciation for her cyborg body. This shows us she values her mind or ghost more than her physical body. If this were to happen earlier in the movie, before she was able to ponder what means more to her. This scene might have played out differently. After failing to open the hatch, her lifeless body falls off the tank and into the water. We now see the importance of the rubbish in the canal as she literally is a piece of broken machinery floating in the water. This is even more clear as she can't move her body, making her look even more like rubbish. Bato then comes in and saves Motoko. Here she looks completely dehumanised and she lies in the water once more. Although her body is completely destroyed, her brain is intact and she's able to speak. This gives her the opportunity to look at things without thinking about her physical existence. A new perspective. We get a beautiful shot of Motoko on top of the tank, below the tree of life. Almost suggesting that she is the root of new life. This becomes clear in the upcoming conversation. Motoko then dives into the body of the puppet master to have a conversation with him. Note that as she enters she is talking and looking through the puppet master's body. And he is speaking through her body. This is a continuation of Motoko's idea that she's two separate entities rather than one. Stretching back to the start of the movie, the puppet master introduces himself as Project 2501. He then explains that through his travels in the sea of information, he's gained awareness of his own existence. He's gained a ghost. He then explains that he's been searching for Motoko for a long time. He brings up a very interesting point next. He mentions that he considers himself an intelligent life form. But thinks he's still incomplete. So despite gaining the ability to think, he still thinks like a programmer computer. His philosophy on what makes a true life form is the existence of birth, reproduction and death. This would mean that his philosophy says that artificial intelligence will never be considered alive. Because they can't reproduce. Or can they? Motoko suggests leaving or creating a copy of yourself. But the puppet master believes a copy is just a copy. Not an individual thing. He raises the point that copies do not rise to variety or originality. This makes sense, even if a copy were to make different decisions after being created. Those decisions would be decisions that the original would have created or thought up. Quite an interesting point. He talks about evolution as the camera pans up the tree of life. Though he talks quite accurately about evolution, he still talks about it like a program. He calls evolution a survival mechanism against total annihilation. Although this is what evolution is, it's a very non-human way of looking at it. So he wants to use this method of evolution to make sure he is never totally annihilated. He wants to do this by leaving behind his genes. So this is quite an interesting point again. It's a very human thing to be scared of death. And at the end of the day, that's what the puppet master is concerned about. He is scared that after he dies, there will be nothing left. He wants to at least combat this by leaving behind his genes to make a new life form that's completely unique. He wants to do this by not having children, but by merging with Motoko. This merge will create a combination of Motoko and himself. Something that is completely new and original. At this point we cut to Bato who tries to break up the conversation. We're not sure if the conversation stops or we just don't hear it. At the same time, snipers from Section 6 who are seeking to destroy them point down with snipers onto their bodies. Before that happens, Motoko asks what will happen when she dies if they do merge. He answers by saying she will spread out various offspring into the net, like children. He then mentions that he will attain death after this. It's interesting that he isn't afraid of death itself, but what will happen to him after he dies. He fears that he will leave nothing behind. Motoko asks if he can guarantee that she will still be herself if the merge happens. Herself is something she's spent the whole movie trying to find. Maybe she feels she's found it here. The puppet master replies with, there isn't one. He explains that people are always changing, so there's never one yourself or myself. Searching for a yourself will only restrict you. Quite profound philosophy from a program. The final question in their conversation is asked by Motoko. She asks why he picked her. He replies with He uses the reflection metaphor that reoccurs throughout the whole movie, giving those scenes extra meaning. By this he means that she is the real version, looking into the mirror, and he is the artificial reflection created by light bouncing off the reflective surface. So how different are those two creations? He explains that they must leave the boundaries of the mirror and move onto a higher level. They must leave the confinements of the human ghost and move onto a higher level of existence. As he says this, feathers start to fall from the sky. Note that the feathers are shown to have a digital look, as if Motoko and the puppet master have entered the higher level of digital existence. Just before the snipers shoot, Bato tries to save Motoko's body by placing his arm over her face. We then cut to a very quick shot of what looks like an angel falling from the sky. It's extremely quick and very easy to miss on your first viewings. The snipers then shoot, destroying both the bodies. A church bell rings as the bullets hit. So let's look at the angel for a second. This is a completely interpretational piece of the movie, as the angel didn't actually fall from the sky, it was just in Motoko's vision. But what does this mean? Well, angels have even more connotations than the tree of life, so that may warrant a video of its own as well. But my quick and most obvious interpretation would be that the angel symbolises the merging of Motoko and the puppet master. In religion, angels connect the real world to the world of God. This could be an angel coming to bring Motoko to a new world, or the higher level. The angel does have similar hair to Motoko, so it could be herself, her true self. Maybe she's finally realised who she really is. We then see that Motoko just survives the bullets, but the puppet master is destroyed. The scene cuts to black. A new scene opens up in a house. Weirdly, we seem to be looking at what could be Motoko. But the glitchy transition that was used to open the shot was the same one used to close the last shot, and the last shot was from her point of view, through her eyes. But the shot has a similar digital fuzz that the previous closing shot has. Why are we given this effect? Probably for a cool cinematic experience to finish the movie, right? Well, let's have a closer look. We slowly pan into Motoko sitting in a chair, but she's in a child's body. She's staring right into the camera. The next camera angle in the shot seems at first like it was a straight cut, but when you look at the surroundings, it's actually completely different. Her shadow is on the other side, and the table has been switched, and the two devices on either side have been switched round. Surely Bato wouldn't have switched everything around like this between shots. Now this is quite a weird detail, but like the previous detail, maybe this is just to add some cool effects at the end of the movie. But this next detail was extremely freaky. As she turns to leave the house, we see that there's another chair with the same setup as the one she just sat up from, straight across the room. One that would have been the camera angle for the pan shot at the start. The one that was possibly looking through the eyes of Motoko. Now this detail really blew me away. With all the evidence, it can't just be a little effect Oshii wanted to put in. This is clearly on purpose. So there are two chairs, opposite from each other, but in mirrored positions. We see a Motoko in both of them. Though when we see the second chair again, Motoko isn't sitting in it. We also see through the eyes of Motoko looking at another Motoko at the start of the scene. Is he trying to tell us that this possibly isn't the reality we're used to? Maybe this is the higher level. Maybe there are now multiple Motokos. Oshii is quite well known for his surreal and dreamlike style of storytelling, so this isn't just me overthinking things. I plan on doing another video focusing on this weird detail. Maybe there's even more scenes like this throughout the movie. When asked if the puppet master was still inside of Motoko, she replies in a different voice. This again is very interpretive. Note also that she uses the title Major instead of Motoko. But we're left to presume that the marriage did happen, and this is the new being or life form. Obviously we don't know the details, that's up to us to decide. As she walks out the house to finish the movie, she mentions that the net is vast and infinite, much like the movie itself. There's so much to talk about in this movie, I would need to do hours of videos to discuss it all. But for now this has been the analysis of Motoko's Dilemma. I really hope everyone enjoyed this video. I would love nothing more than for you to comment with your thoughts on any of the content brought up during this video. Especially the weird set change at the end. This video took a long time to make, so please do like the video and share it around with your fellow Ghost in the Shell fans. I will try and make more analysis videos on the film, but they take so long to make it won't be for another few months. Anyway, thank you very much for watching my video. It was a pleasure to make.