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All right belong to the following companies: The Ladd Company, Shaw Brothers, Warner Bros. Company This information is intended for educational purposes only.
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Blade RunnerIdentity, Memory
Blade Runner• Released 1982
• Directed by Ridley Scott
• Based on the Philip K. Dick novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
• Stars Harrison Ford, Rutger Haur, and Daryl Hannah
• Soundtrack by Vangelis, evocative both classic noir and science fiction
• Poor initial release, but has become a cult classic and gone through several changes (narrative and endings)
Setting
• Urban landscapes that are dark, rainy, and crowded
• Claustrophobic; lack of privacy- leads to postmodern anxiety/ paranoia
• Portrays (white) influx of “aliens” to southern california
Noir Influences• Suggestion of
panopticon or the feeling of always being watched
• Conception of a society that is always watching in effort to socialize and normalize applies to the film
• Ex. of American Consumerism
Narration• Use of voice over in theatrical
release (taken out in director cut)
• Faithful to noir but does not work in this film
• Put in film to help audience understand
• Indicative of how neo-noir can create its own niche.
Noir Influences• Deckard is both a detective and
hitman
• Tough guy and impotent male
• World weary and ambivalent to stress
• Rachel is the femme fatale (mysterious)- leads to conflicts
• Smoke- interior mood setter and environmental pollutants.
• Corruption pervades society (another comment on late capitalism being crushed under it’s own weight.
Noir Influences Cont.
• Theatrical release: Happy Ending
• Subsequently changed; added voice over.
• Ending not necessarily bad, but ambivalent
• Various cuts of the film provide a metatext understand the terms of postmodernity (texts aren’t closed)
Genre Hybrid • Indebted to film noir and science
fiction
• Could be part of the problem of initial reception
• Takes elements from both
• The setting makes the cultural commentary more palatable because it is in the future rather than the present
• LA as despotic (society in an repressive and controlled state)
• Predates William Gibson’s term “cyberpunk” in Necromancer (1984)
Memory
• City of L.A represents a vastly different from the LA we know; more like NY or Tokyo
• Plays with our memory or concept of what L.A. represents
Memory
• What is memory
• Memories of replicants are implanted/artificial
• Real to the replicants who have those memories
• Photos are reoccurring
• Photographs are mechanically reproduced
• Recycling and waste are important factors
• Waste used for initial purpose
Humanity
• What does it mean to be human
• Existentialism, indebted to classic noir
• Fatalism also present in the built-in obsolescence of the replicants
• How are humans and replicants contrasted-
• How much influence does noir have on the film?
Blade RunnerPeople, Landscapes, Influences
Influences• Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks (1942)-Conveys mood of
the film
• Fritz Lanes “Metropolis”- set design, class structure, lighting
• Jean Giraud “Moebius” (1938) Heavy Metal
• Phillip K. Dick- Do Androids Dream of Electric sheep= Loose adaptation
• Use of Drugs and Mood Enhancers
• Visual Futurist- Syd mead tried to implement “retrofitting”
• Heavy Asian influence
Location• Release in Japan two weeks later July 1o, 1982
• Multiple Magazine Articles and Reviews
• Poor critical reception
• Japan’s Bubble Era (1980-1989) Late capitalist consumerism
• Ranked 27th in Kineman Junpo’s Best films (E.T #1)
PeopleVertical Class Structure
Cops v. Little People
People
• Tyrell (Tyrell Corporation)
• Tyrell Employees- Fully immersed in job
• Mismatched of languages
Class
• Upper Class
• Wealthy Sector
• City People (dressed someone what dirty)
• Animoid Row
Replicants
• Interact with everyone
• Trying to figure out themselves
Vision of the Eye
• Appears through out the film as symbol of being watched constantly