Laughing Man (Ghost in the Shell)
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- This article pertains to a Ghost in the Shell character. For other uses of "The Laughing Man", please see Laughing Man
The Laughing Man (笑い男 warai otoko?) is a fictional character in the anime series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. His English voice is provided by Steven Blum. "Laughing Man proves to be the ultimate hacker, capable of such feats as hijacking multiple video streams simultaneously, taking over someone’s cybernetic brain entirely, or even editing his own images out of someone’s cybernetic eyes, and all in real time."[1] The character's name is taken from the title of J. D. Salinger's short story, The Laughing Man. The Laughing Man logo is an animated image of a smiling figure wearing a cap, with circling text quoting a line from Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, which reads: "I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes." Other references to Salinger's book The Catcher in the Rye, include the red hunting cap that the real Laughing Man wears backwards and the baseball mit with poetry written on it the laughing man carries while under the guise of a patient at a vocational aid center. Another is his reference to "phonies," a term used frequently by Rye's Holden Caulfield. Lastly, when Motoko Kusanagi enters the Laughing Man's library near the end of the series, the camera zooms on her hand moving over the phrase "Fuck you" written on the railing. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden says "You can't ever find a place that's nice and peaceful, because there isn't any. You may think there is, but once you get there, when you're not looking, somebody'll sneak up and write 'Fuck you' right under your nose." Another reference taken directly from J. D. Salinger's short story, The Laughing Man, occurs in episode 11 entitled Portraitz. In this episode a child at a vocational aid center refers to a character named Chief who is going to visit, Chief is the name given by the children to The Laughing Man as well as the main character's childhood idol in the short story.
It has been speculated by some fans that the appearance and style of The Laughing Man are based on the real life industrial street artist, Banksy. The characteristic look of The Laughing Man, heavy coat pulled up over sides of the face with Fisherman's cap to conceal all of the face is something that has employed by Banksy in at least one of his stunts.[2]
The complex story arc of Stand Alone Complex focuses on the Laughing Man case, and on a medical/governmental conspiracy tied in to the fate of the Laughing Man.
[edit] History
The hacker's first appearance in the GITS: SAC storyline is six years before the anime starts, when he assaulted the head of Serano Genomics in public, hiding his face from eyewitnesses and cameras with his Laughing Man logo. The Laughing Man is such an expert that he can "Steal eyes" of entire crowds, in real time — hacking their visual cyber-brain implants, either to make himself appear invisible or to hide his face with the cartoon logo. He can also alter memories, erasing all records of his existence. Many of those who indeed saw his face would only recall and refer to the stylized logo as depicted above. Togusa was one such person, as were many of the witnesses of the initial incident involving the head of Serano Genomics. His talents were recognised even by Motoko Kusanagi and Aramaki. When Section 9 finally tracked him down, they offered him a position on the Section 9 payroll; The Laughing Man was flattered by the offer but politely declined it.
The Laughing Man has quite a fascination with The Catcher in the Rye, as if the work greatly influenced him: like that novel's main character, Holden Caulfield, he can't stand "phonies" (corrupt politicians in this case), and tries to act like the titular "catcher"; helping the weak who might be hurt by said phonies. He also kept a prized left-handed baseball catcher's mitt for a time with a quote from The Catcher in the Rye written on it. Ironicaly, while the mitt is actually real, the term is described as being net jargon for "something people think exists, but really doesn't."
For an unknown amount of time before the storyline begins, the Laughing Man lived in the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's Rehabilitation Center, posing as, not-coincidentally, a deaf-mute in a wheelchair. He apparently revealed his ability to walk and talk to the other patients at the center, who knew him as "chief" and referred to his occasional periods of communication as "visits." When Togusa comes to investigate the center, he discovers that someone has written the famous Laughing Man logo text in a PBX cabinet but has added "or should I?" Apparently feeling that he was about to be discovered, the Laughing Man erases all record of his existence from the center, including wiping the memories of his friends (who apparently not only consent to this treatment, but seem to expect it as if they know of it happening before) and vanishes again before Section 9 can track him down.
The Laughing Man has made it a point that he never came up with the name "The Laughing Man" for himself: it was a label that the media gave that eventually stuck.
The Laughing Man's kidnapping of the head of Serano Genomics was actually a spontaneous act, and he did not strike again until some six years later. However, following the kidnapping there was, for some time, a large wave of "Laughing Man"-related graffiti attacks, corporate vandalism and extortion. It was later revealed that a corrupt power cabal in the Japanese government used the sudden appearance of the Laughing Man to their own advantage by carrying out acts of corporate sabotage, then heavily using the "Laughing Man" motif in order to fool the media into thinking it was the Laughing Man's doing, thus shifting suspicion from themselves and their illegal actions.
An unexpected element was that 39 people who were arrested in regard to the assassination attempt on Secretary General Daido all showed no sign of external influence by The Laughing Man, or anyone else. It was thought that many of the direct attackers were not influenced at all; they attempted the assassination to be a part of The Laughing Man's effort for the truth. The police, however, informed the public that they were forced to do it through ghost hacking.
"The Laughing Man" became something of a pop culture obsession for a time, much to the chagrin of the actual Laughing Man. The irony being that since everybody uses his icon and name for their own purposes, the original meaning of his actions, an artful forced confession of the truth through fear in the public eye, becomes "phony" itself. The effort to stand for and demand the truth was also lost forever. (A further irony is that the Laughing Man icon itself is a retooling by the Laughing Man of the fictional Starchild Coffee company logo (itself a reference to the Starbucks logo) and the Sunflower Society logo)
The Laughing Man admitted that he embarked on his notorious kidnapping caper after chancing upon a letter in the depths of the Net detailing the extensive corruption in the corporate world, leaving the true identity of the propagator of the aforementioned incidents a mystery. The identified Laughing Man confesses to have been a brash student at the time, but had mellowed out somewhat over the six years since the Serano Genomics event, seeming to now prefer a more intellectual approach over his former overzealous and radical approach. His real name, as far as can be ascertained from the number of events where he appears, is Aoi, meaning Blue in Japanese. [citation needed]
After the events of the Section 9 raid by the Umibozu and the last meeting with Motoko and Aramaki, it was discovered that Aoi, thought to be the original Laughing Man, wasn't. Turning down a chance to join Section 9, he disappeared again for the last time from Japanese society; he is probably employed as a librarian in the National Library.
