This was my second time watching Blade Runner. The first time I was it was several years ago, and at the time I didn't like it that much. This time around I enjoyed it much more. I was able to appreciate aspects like the film noir inspiration more, and the christian symbolism at the end. Harrison Ford was great as Deckard, and he was able to recapture the detective noir from older detective films. I think Rutger Hauer was the best though, and had the most powerful screen presence. His goal to find his creator and get the other replicants to live past their four year life span shows a being who has more humanity than those on Earth. The dystopian society that Earth has become has diminished the humanity left on Earth, and those left are bombarded with advertisements of a better life off world. It's a dystopian world with the dream of a utopian life that most will never reach. That idea was also used recently in the Neil Blomkamp film Elysium. The off world was shown, but those left on Earth are lower class, in a broken, totalitarian life. That's just one of many examples of the inspiration that Ridley Scott's film has had.
Ridley Scott's Blade Runner was ahead of it's time, with ideas and great effects for the time to create the a postmodernist and brilliant depiction of a futuristic Los Angeles. Klein's article states how there were enthusiasts of the film who after its release wanted a Los Angeles built in the same fashion. That idea in itself is odd to me, because the city is overpopulated it seems, grimy, and doesn't seem like a desirable place to live. Aesthetically it's a very cool city and has some really good designs, but it would not be a good place to actually live in. As far as the claims of style over substance, I do get what critics meant by that. There is a heavy, and awesome style to the film, but there is still a good deal of substance, especially in analysis like we had in class. The religious symbolism, the idea of the replicants being more human than the actual humans. Also Ridley Scott's films pretty much always have some great substance to it, and Blade Runner doesn't fail in that aspect to me, and that's something I didn't appreciate as much when I had seen it when I was younger.
I also want to mention, I really like the point that was made in class about the possible connection between Scott's Blade Runner and Alien and how the Tyrell Corporation may have been a competitor for the Weyland-Yutani corporation. It's interesting because both corporation created organic beings that were essentially slaves.
I also do not understand where there was no substance in the film. The discussion opened my eyes to ideas that exceeded the ideas of post-modernism altogether. I thought it was interesting that Blade Runner also have strong Christianity symbols right after our discussion of E.T being a Christ figure. I think that bother created different ideas of Christ but at a time in history that is stereotyped with baggy pants and big hair it is odd to think of it as an era where religion and Christian beliefs were so prominent in society.
ReplyDeleteI never had seen Blade Runner before and from natural custom of watching movies I viewed Roy as the antagonist. However, after our discussion in class I can openly see how Roy's rage was not selfish but selfless. He possessed emotions for others that were beyond human capacity in both extreme, rage and love. I can see how Roy was a Christ figure as he was willing to sacrifice in order to give other's life. However, there is one large difference between Roy and Jesus. Jesus always forgives. Roy did not forgive his creator for giving him and his fellow Replicants a short life span. He held grudges and vengeance. This does not mean I don't believe Roy has Christian references in his character. The white dove is a large topic of debate. I personally felt it was the holy spirit that was within Roy whether people believe he has a soul or not. I felt the flying away of the dove represented his destruction by the dark, demolished, totalitarian life that is mentioned in this post. His purpose when created was to do better than humans but by becoming more than humans he succumbed to the cravings, temptations, and trials humans face and was the result of this future society.
After seeing the film, seeing the life style and trials it goes through, I would never imagine someone let along multiple people would want to replicate this in L.A. My only reaction to this is, they tried to replicate humans in the film and look where it got them. Replicating the society and city where it took place cannot lead to anything better.
This is good! I'm glad you enjoyed the film more this time around--sometimes it takes a couple of viewings to see what's going on. You incorporate the reading reasonably well into your discussion, though you could have taken it a bit further--the main point isn't so much that some people thought that real cities should look like that, is the ideas of nostalgia and artifice, which fit into some of the themes you're touching on. So since you're noticing things like the noir elements and the blurred line between humans and replicants, what do you think this movie is ultimately about, and how do those elements contribute to your interpretation?
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