One of my favorite things about studying genres of fiction is finding ways to mix elements of them together in new and interesting ways. Sometimes, this adventure leads me to understand a genre more based on its roots with older styles of fiction. Of course, I’m not the first to do this, and there are some genres that already have been paired together time and time again with amazing results. One of my own stories, The Night Trilogy, draws from both the cyberpunk and hardboiled detective genres (and by association, film noir), a tried-and-tested pairing. Since these two genres work so well together, I thought it would be worth examining why the fusion of these genres feels so seamless.
Shared Tropes of Hardboiled Detective Fiction and Cyberpunk
So, what is it about these genres that make them such a natural combination? I think it lies in the tropes they share in common. When one compares the two genres, it’s easy to spot a lot of similarities. Here are ten tropes that cyberpunk fiction and hardboiled detective fiction have in common.
1) The Anti-Hero
The anti-hero, even more than the reluctant hero, usually isn’t out to save the day. Indeed, their motivations are often selfish rather than selfless. They might be out for revenge or a simple payday. They’ll often have character flaws that are looked down upon by society, such as antisocial behavior, alcoholism, drug use, or even violent tendencies.
2) Crime
It’s no surprise that in the hardboiled detective genre, crime is part of the routine. Since we’re dealing with a detective, it goes without saying that dealing with crime is part of his job. This is a big part of the cyberpunk genre as well. Plenty of these stories already involve a detective of some sort. The film Blade Runner and the book by Phillip K. Dick it’s based on—Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?—are great examples of this. That aside, many of the protagonists in cyberpunk stories are criminals themselves, often hackers or activists working to bring down a corrupt system. It’s also not uncommon for a detective in either genre to go outside the bounds of the law himself and do whatever it takes to get the bad guy.
3) Corruption
Speaking of the devil, corruption is the next item on our list. From crooked cops to mega-corporations with political power, both the hardboiled detective and cyberpunk genres often touch on this theme. It might be the subject of a side plot or an aspect of the setting, but very often it’s at the center of the story either by way of the plot, thematic exploration, or both. Especially in the cyberpunk genre, government and corporate corruption (which often go hand-in-hand) are usually at the crux of the story’s primary conflict.
4) Guns, Lots of Guns
Now, I might just be an action junkie, but in almost all of what I’ve read or watched in both hardboiled detective fiction, film noir, and cyberpunk, somebody is going to get shot. You don’t always get a big set-piece action sequence (with the obvious exceptions, like in The Matrix, shown above), but the climactic showdown between the detective and the perp—or the cyber-resistance member and the corpo boss—is often going to involve some shooting.
5) Darkness
“It was a dark and stormy night…” This opening phrase from Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s novel, Paul Clifford, could probably serve as an opener for any hardboiled detective or cyberpunk novel. In fact, I’d be surprised if a few aspiring pulpsters haven’t put this particular string of words to work. (See more about this phrase in Setting the Mood, an article I wrote not long ago about opening lines.) Dark nights, rain, and lurking in the shadows are all common elements you’ll see in both these genres.
6) Substance Abuse
Speaking of dark, we’re going there. Maybe because we’re likely to be spending time with an anti-hero, or maybe because these settings are about as grim as a dead kitten, substance abuse almost always shows up in these works. It might not even be a part of the story, but at some point, there’s going to be chain smoking, bourbon sipping, or stimulant injections. In many of the cleverer works from these genres, the substance abuse is subtly woven into the deconstruction of the effects living in a dystopian society has on the individual.
7) Dystopian Societies
Speaking of dystopian societies… Both hardboiled detective fiction and cyberpunk take stabs at the dangers of commercialism, materialism, and uncontrolled capitalism in their own ways. The former might make a caricature of the greedy, rich wife as the femme fatale, while the latter goes big with mega-corporations controlling every aspect of day-to-day life. It was arguably dangerous to explore these themes in the 1940s and 1950s in America, so your hardboiled authors had to be subtle. But in the post-McCarthyism America of the 1980s, cyberpunk authors turned these quiet grumblings into an outright rebellion, if only on the page.
8) Women
It would be hard to dig into either hardboiled detective fiction or cyberpunk without finding a woman who is central to the story. They can be the protagonist (such as Major Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell, pictured above). However, since these genres are dominated by male protagonists (especially in hardboiled detective fiction), women most often take up the role of an important secondary character. Perhaps they’re the ones hiring the detective, a love interest, or the villain. They might be all three at once. They might even turn out to be the one to save the day. Either way, from the sultry femme fatale to the action on the side, there’s often a woman playing a central role in the story.
9) Mystery
For the hardboiled detective genre, this should go without saying. It also is arguably redundant with the above-mentioned element of crime; but I say not every crime is a mystery and not every mystery involves a crime. However, when it comes to our detective stories, it’s usually going to be one and the same—quite often a murder. With the cyberpunk side of the coin though, the door is open to wider possibilities. The mysteries here are often on a larger scale, such as finding out how some corporation was hacked and taken for all it was worth or how the same entity is mind-controlling their customers through the net.
10) Cynicism
I’ve saved the best—and arguably the most important—for last. There’s a certain feel that hardboiled detective fiction and cyberpunk have in common that can be summed up in one word: cynicism. The worlds are dark, the governments and corporations are corrupt, and people die horrible deaths. Often, the only escape is found in the bottom of a bottle (or with some futuristic street drug). Our anti-hero isn’t just edgy, he’s damaged, and that didn’t happen in a vacuum. If all these stories have one thing is common, it’s a bleak outlook on the world. Don’t expect happy endings here. Don’t expect the hero’s journey. Expect to get slapped in the face by a grim reality.
My own cyberpunk hardboiled detective trilogy, The Night Trilogy, can be found below!
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B.K. Bass, Author and Editor 