Appleseed (2004)
Humanity's last chance for survival.
In a utopian society created at the end of World War III, a female warrior who has been plucked from the badlands begins to see cracks in this new facade. And what does this community have planned for the rest of humankind?
In Appleseed, consciousness is carried by machines — a plane of “technocratic city-state”. The story fights on E9/E10 of the E0–E14 reality ladder, compressing prejudice, power, technology, control, identity.
Same rung, same subject
Films fighting at the same level of reality, about the same things.
Same subject, different rung
The same preoccupations examined at another scale — one mind versus a nation.
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)E7/E12 · rare rung · power, technology
Ultraviolet (2006)E4/E11 · rare rung · power, prejudice
Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo (2012)E8/E11/E14 · rare rung · control, identity
Terminator Genisys (2015)E8/E14 · rare rung · control, power
Extinction (2018)E8/E14 · rare rung · identity, prejudice
Atlas (2024)E8/E14 · rare rung · control, powerAlso bends a rule of reality
Other films that change a standing rule of their world — ranked first by those bending it at the same rung.
Allegiant (2016)alters at E6 · same rung · loose
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)alters at E6 · same rung · rigorous
Ghost in the Shell (2017)alters at E6 · same rung · loose
Blade Runner (1982)alters at E6 · same rung · rigorous
Blade (1998)alters at E6 · same rung · loose
Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken (2023)alters at E6 · same rung · looseAlso hides consciousness here
Other films that move a human interior onto the same kind of thing.
Alita: Battle Angel (2019)consciousness in machines · cyberpunk scrapyard
Wreck-It Ralph (2012)consciousness in machines · arcade‑verse
The Emoji Movie (2017)consciousness in machines · emoji smartphone world
The Matrix (1999)consciousness in machines · simulated reality
Ex Machina (2015)consciousness in machines · AI confinement test
Oblivion (2013)consciousness in machines · post‑apocalyptic AI colonySame subject, different mask
The same preoccupations carried by a different kind of thing — grief told through the dead, an animal, a machine.
The Legend of Hei (2019)consciousness in monsters · identity, power
Underworld: Awakening (2012)consciousness in monsters · identity, power
Shrek 2 (2004)consciousness in animals · identity, power
Captain Marvel (2019)consciousness in aliens · identity, power
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998)consciousness in animals · identity, power
Barbie: Spy Squad (2016)consciousness in objects · identity, powerSame people
Shared director or cast.
