What is Cyberpunk? (30 Examples)

Paul Davis, updated on January 25, 2026

Cyberpunk is a dark technological aesthetic that combines the chaos of the human condition with the strange glow of an advanced technological society. This was born out of dystopian fiction and films defined by the juxtapostion "high tech, low life." The first film to truly visualize cyberpunk was Metropolis in 1927. Other films that made major contributions to this culture include Blade Runner, Tron, Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Total Recall and The Matrix. Cyberpunk is viewed as retrofuturistic because it looks both old fashioned and futuristic at the same time. This gives it a lost in time feel. While dystopian, cyberpunk is a vision were the human condition with prevail with all of its complexity, chaos and struggle into a future where the system becomes increasingly complex and powerful. This aesthetic is punky, urban and requires something to symbolize the system. This is usually strange lighting such as neon.