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Eastern and Western Conceptions
of Justice and Suffering as Conveyed through Robocop and
Ghost in the Shell
by Timothy Cairo
Suffering, as a physical and
an emotional state plays a central philosophical role within
the conceptions of justice that exist in both Buddhism and Christianity.
But even though suffering is intimately tied to the notion of
justice in both, the role that suffering plays in regards to
each respective religion's notion of justice is extremely distinct
from one another. Within the context of Christianity, suffering
is often interpreted as stemming from some outside source of
conflict. Hence, the Christian conception of the Devil, the incarnation
of evil that is the malefactor of all our sinful behavior. As
a result of conceptualizing the source of suffering as extending
from an outside source in this manner, Christianity attempts
to curb this improper behavior with the threat of eternal damnation
for those who are seduced by the Devil's temptations. Buddhism
on the other hand, conceives of suffering in a very different
fashion. For the Buddhist, any suffering that is encountered
in his or her life is a direct result of some improper action
in which that person has him or herself partaken in. Hence, the
Buddhist belief in Karma, the concept that every voluntary act
will give rise to some result or reaction. Positive action begets
positive results and negative action begets negative results
(1). Thus, unlike Christianity, suffering
is not brought about by some external force but is instead a
direct effect of something that you have yourself done in the
past. Essentially, where Christianity places the accountability
for suffering elsewhere, Buddhism endeavors to make the individual
completely accountable for his or her actions in the absence
of any external scapegoats. The effect of these differing models
of suffering amounts to fundamentally different approaches to
the goals and administration of justice within each of these
varying belief systems. More specifically, where Christianity
takes a more punitive approach to the mitigation of suffering,
Buddhism proceeds with a much more holistic and compassionate
agenda. These differing approaches to justice are made more apparent
by undertaking an examination of the analogous cultural artifacts
that exist in Eastern and Western culture. In this instance,
the relationship between suffering and justice in Buddhism and
Christian can be illuminated through a comparison of Ghost
in the Shell and Robocop, two films that inhabit a
similar cultural space within their respective cultures.
 Robocop and Ghost in
the Shell are most obviously analogous to one another by
the fact that they are both situated in the same, very specific
genre; that being the sci-fi cop film. The protagonists of both
films are cybernetic law enforcement officers that find themselves
in a state of suffering as a result of trying to come to terms
with their respective status as partially fabricated human beings.
In the exploration of such existential questions each film introduces
themes of religion to help address these broad queries. Not surprisingly,
the American film, Robocop introduces Christian motifs
while the Japanese Ghost in the Shell opts for more abstract
philosophies invoking Buddhism. The differing religious undertones
of the films are illustrated via each films' treatment of the
sources of the protagonists' partially mechanical cybernetic
bodies. In Robocop much time is dedicated to establishing
the corporation known as OCP as the origin of Robocop's mechanical
body. In fact, almost half the film is allotted to determining
Robocop's origin and conveying the fact that the creation of
Robocop was the result of a malevolent insurgence gaining momentum
within the boardroom of OCP. While providing this exposition
to the audience the film presents the office tower of OCP, as
what could easily be interpreted, as a metaphor for heaven. The
OCP headquarters exists as a pristine white walled oasis, the
tranquility of which towers and rules over the crime infested
dregs of Old-Detroit. The President of OCP is a benevolent and
good hearted old man, a God-like figure who struggles to do everything
in his power to try and save Old-Detroit from its own criminality.
In attempt to accomplish this goal the "Old Man", as
he is referred to in the film, creates Robocop, thus imposing
the Old Man's role as the giver of life. Robocop's quest to rid
Old-Detroit of its malice eventually leads him to the boardroom
of OCP where the heart of this evil is found to exist in the
form of Vice President Dick Jones. The deviant Jones intends
to usurp power from the benevolent President of OCP, making a
direct allusion to Lucifer's attempted coup of heaven in the
Old Testament. Thus, Robocop directly grounds the source
of the film's conflict firmly within the ambit of Christian religious
scripture.
Unlike Robocop, Ghost in the Shell does not find
some external source to be the generator of the suffering in
the film, but instead internalizes this conflict within the existential
angst of the film's protagonist, Major Kusunagi. This emphasis
on internal causality over Robocop's external conflict
parallels Ghost in the Shell closely with Buddhist philosophy:
They (Christianity and Brahmanism) all try to find out the
first cause and establish a law in which God's power controls
everything. But Buddhism advocates that man himself is the real
person who is in charge of his own fate, not someone else. (2)
 In
Ghost in the Shell, Major Kusunagi suffers as a result
of her on-going obsession with the nature of her own being and
whether her, almost entirely, cybernetic body exempts her from
being human. By foregrounding Kusunagi's mental and emotional
suffering as the film's main conflict Ghost in the Shell
roots itself directly within the context of Buddhist philosophy
which maintains that,
This kind of disharmony between the mind and the self is much
harder to overcome than the disharmony of the body. When the
body becomes sick, we can cure it with all kinds of medicines.
But when the mind is sick, it is not so easily cured… Our
mind is our worst enemy. Because we fight with our mind all the
time , therefore we suffer.(3)
Buddhist philosophy directly
distinguishes itself from Christianity by identifying suffering
as an internal emotional state rather than an external conflict.
In this way Ghost in the Shell mirrors the distinction
made by Buddhism by internalizing the external conflict found
in Robocop, and most other Hollywood movies, and identifying
suffering as an individual and internal emotional state.
By establishing an external threat to be the source of suffering
in Robocop, the film necessitates this source to be physically
removed in order for justice to be done. In Robocop the
source of suffering is established to be the corrupt element
that exists within the OCP Corporation, which causes a great
amount of societal suffering as well as the direct suffering
imposed on the film's protagonist. In regards to Robocop, the
Corporation has done him an injustice by stripping him of his
memory and transforming him into to an inhuman instrument of
law enforcement. Within the logic of the film, in order for justice
to be done and for Robocop to regain some semblance of his humanity
he must first dispose of the source of his suffering by ousting
Dick Jones from his position as Vice President of OCP. In the
Christian conception of justice those whom act unjustly are dealt
with punitively by being sent to hell. Likewise, in Robocop
justice can only be done once Dick Jones is punished for his
crimes and banished from the white halls of OCP.
In Robocop the protagonist's quest for justice is directly
linked to his role as the vindicator of the humanity stolen from
him by the malevolent factions of OCP. This is illustrated by
the way that the film intricately links Robocop's re-discovery
of his humanity with the furtherance of his quest to punitively
bring the guilty parties to justice. As such, the closer Robocop
gets to punishing Dick Jones the more he finds out about his
former self. For instance, the first memories that return to
Robocop from his life as Officer Murphy are of him being killed
by OCP's minions. Thus, from the start, Robocop's quest to alleviate
his suffering and re-gain his humanity are linked to a recollection
of the crimes committed against him and a desire to vindicate
these actions. The next major step for Robocop towards re-acquiring
his humanity occurs when he is caught in a hail of bullets fired
at him by his former colleagues on the police department. By
formally breaking ties with OCP Robocop marches closer to bringing
those responsible for his fate to justice, and in turn marks
the first time the audience is shown Officer Murphy's face since
he became Robocop. Murphy's face acts as a symbol, not only,
of Robocop's break with the establishment and the furtherance
of his quest for justice, but also as a symbol of the re-propriety
of his humanity as well; once again conveying the idea that punitive
justice is required to alleviate Robocop's suffering and obtain
justice. It is only after Robocop severs his ties to OCP that
he endeavors to inquire into who he was before he became Robocop.
However, in this scene Robocop still refers to officer Murphy
in the third person, not yet associating himself with Murphy
and illustrating that it is not until he punishes Dick Jones
that he will be able fully regain his humanity and cease his
suffering. In the final scene of the film Robocop finally succeeds
in punishing Jones by physically banishing him from the heavenly
OCP office tower to the abyss below. It is only at this point,
once Jones has been punished, that when asked his name Robocop
replies "Murphy", conveying to the audience that the
transformation is complete and through the punishment of Dick
Jones justice has been done, suffering has been alleviated, and
the protagonist has regained his humanity as a result. Thus,
inline with the Christian notion of justice, suffering cannot
be alleviated in the film until the individual responsible has
been directly punished. It is not until Dick Jones, the Lucifer
figure in this Old Testament narrative, is banished to hell that
justice is in fact done.
The conclusion of Robocop is a very typical heroic ending,
recognizable to anyone familiar with Hollywood conventions. Ghost
in the Shell, on the other hand, ends in a manner that is
both unconventional and somewhat un-heroic from a conventional
Hollywood perspective. Aristotle distinguishes our Western notions
of courage and heroism to be antithetical to the emotion of compassion
(4), a distinction which appears to
be accurate when assessing why the conclusion of Ghost in
the Shell might initially seem un-heroic for a Western viewer.
Unlike Robocop where justice is attained by Robocop physically
punishing the ones responsible, the ending of Ghost in the
Shell is absent of any such confrontations. By internalizing
the conflict within the protagonist, the film makes it impossible
for Kusunagi to alleviate this suffering by engaging in any sort
of heroic confrontation. Rather than having a showdown with the
Puppet Master (the main source of physical antagonism in the
film) Kusunagi instead shows compassion for his situation, relating
it to her own, ultimately causing her to join forces with her
former enemy. From Aristotle's Western perspective this compassionate
conclusion might be interpreted as cowardly, however this is
not the case when it is put into the context of Buddhist philosophy.
Buddhist philosophy maintains that "The root of suffering
is the "self"-self- attachment, self love and self
view" (5). This is true also of
Kusunagi in Ghost in the Shell. Her internal suffering
is completely the product of her obsession with herself, and
continual questioning of who she is and whether or not she is
human. By rooting the Major's suffering internally around her
notions of her self the film directly aligns itself with Buddhist
philosophy and makes it impossible for justice to be achieved
via some physical confrontation as in Robocop. Instead
of punishing someone else as in Robocop, Kusunagi sacrifices
her own identity and merges with her former adversary in order
to alleviate her suffering and achieve justice. This notion of
sacrifice is also reciprocated by Buddhist philosophy:
A real Buddhist does not make unreasonable demands from the
Buddhas or Bodhisattvas. Instead, he should follow the way of
the Buddhist and Bodhisattvas, and be willing to sacrifice himself
for all beings.(6)
Indeed, this is reflected by
the ending of Ghost in the Shell. Rather than punishing
the Puppet-Master for what he has done, Kusunagi listens to his
woes, feels compassion for his plight, and understanding for
his cause. As a result, Kusunagi decides to sacrifice her own
identity in order to merge with the Puppet-Master to form a new
entity. Unlike the punitive approach to justice evidenced in
Christianity through Robocop, Ghost in the Shell employs
compassion to arrive at a conclusion that is centered around
the notion of selflessness. In linking compassion with selflessness
Ghost in the Shell again parallels Buddhist philosophy
in that "selflessness in Buddhism has the meaning of…
great compassion"(7) . Thus, like
Robocop, at the end of Ghost in the Shell the protagonist's
suffering is alleviated and justice is done, however, unlike
Robocop, the film arrives at its ultimate goal through
a doctrine of compassion and self-sacrifice rather than through
the direct punitive action taken by Murphy.
Certainly, these films merely act as one example of how suffering
plays a role in different religions' conceptions of justice.
With that said, these films appear to be quite accurate manifestations
of the way that the predominate religions of the films' respective
nations of origin tie together notions of suffering and justice.
Both films employ almost direct quotations of their respective
religious texts and in doing so steep their conceptions of justice
and suffering directly in the religious milieu of their distinctive
cultures. As such we can directly relate the notions of justice
and suffering that arise within the films to be somehow representative
of the connections that exist between suffering and justice extant
in each religion. In the case of Buddhism and Ghost in the
Shell the connection is rooted in compassion and selflessness,
where Christianity and Robocop, instead, tie suffering
and justice together with notions of vindication and direct punitive
action.
(1)
Venerable Master Hsing Yun, Two Talks on Buddhism, (Hsing Yun:
Fo Kuang Publishers, 1987) at pg. 4
(2) Yun, supra at pg. 45
(3) Yun, supra p. 38
(4) Aristotle trans. W. Robert Rhys, Rhetoric Book II, online:
pg. 3
(5) Yun, supra at pg. 43
(6) Yun, supra at pg. 42
(7) Yun, supra at pg. 43
Posted November 30, 2004
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