In truth, cyberpunk themes existed in film long before the phrase did. Fritz Lang’s 1927 film Metropolis envisaged wealthy elites, oppressed masses and a unnerving fusion of woman and machine – all themes explored in the remake of Ghost in the Shell. That lineage can be traced through to Blade Runner, based on Philip K Dick’s 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which was set in a smog-filled futuristic LA, dominated by the Tyrell Corporation, where Harrison Ford’s retired cop hunts “replicant” cyborgs while musing on humanity’s metaphysical quandaries.