Nate's Blade Runner Review
I'll begin this review with one of my favorite quotes of all time. Roy speaks this soliloquy to Deckard in the rain at the end of the movie.
"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tanhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die"
Whereas many dystopian and futuristic films tend to portray the future as homogenous and sterile, Blade Runner portrays a much different world. In a way that embodies digital culture, the film draws from a wide range of materials as a palate to create a dark and brooding environment. Akin to today’s ability to use the Internet to quickly assemble many different elements to form a cohesive whole and to William Burrough’s cut-up method, Blade Runner is a mish-mash of many different elements that work together to produce a film worthy of its cult status. Drawing from the omniscient and often threatening or oppressive element of observation from the Panopticon concept, Blade Runner expertly portrays a dystopian world where Big Brother is always watching. This feeling of being spied upon is alive and well even in our own time. We are constantly aware of corporations and individuals trying to find out more about is and watching us. We are always afraid that we are being observed, our actions in the digital world tracked, and our personal information collected.
One of the major thematic elements of Blade Runner is heterogeneity. This permeates the entire film and is especially notable in the musical score. It makes heavy use of ambient sounds and electronic music, but also incorporates elements of classical piano, trance, jazz, and cultural music. Even Blade Runner’s language of the future, gutterspeak, is a combination of different languages. Also fashion seems to have become an amalgamation of different clothing from different cultures and historical eras.
Closely connected to this sense of heterogeneity is the idea of juxtaposition. Throughout the film, they are in opposition to each other. On one hand there seems to be a more or less universal culture while on the other there is a jarring juxtaposition of opposites. For example, in a world of flying cars and extremely advanced cyber genetics engineering, there also exists old industrial fans and wooden chopsticks. Delicate origami figures are sharply contrasted to deadly Nexus 6 replicants. Even emotions are mish-mashed together as both Deckard and the replicants struggle with conflicting emotions and sense of purpose in life. All this contributes to a rhizome-like ride as viewers are taken on a journey that often has no clear pattern. For example, the action happens in subterranean areas and super-tall structures and everywhere in between. Emotions elicited range from pure rage to empathy to pity and sorrow. Viewers’ senses and emotions are assaulted from many angles. There are a lot of flashing lights and blight glares in the camera work. Also, the film forces viewers to continually reevaluate their emotions and concept of what it means to be human as both the replicants and Deckard struggle with who they are. This film not only pulls the viewer forward in time, but also simultaneously in a myriad of other—sometimes conflicting—directions.
Perhaps one of the most striking things about Blade Runner and the reason why it still resonates so strongly today is that it has, to an extent, accurately predicted the future. The Internet and today’s digital culture are defined by heterogeneity and juxtaposition. Applications like Facebook and Twitter have redefined our lives in multiple ways and have contributed to the blurring of cultural lines. Yet even in this trend towards the universal, digital culture still retains some striking juxtapositions. The flippant and the absurd co-exist in the same digital space with more serious works and events. Just like gutterspeak is a major language in the film, in today’s digital world, iTunes and Youtube as well as many other video and music sharing sites have helped make music a truly universal element. And above it all, there is still a pervasive feeling of always being watched in a connected digital world. So in the end, Blade Runner’s significance is that we all see a little bit of ourselves in both Deckard and the replicants and that on some level, their struggle is also our struggle.
"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tanhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die"
Whereas many dystopian and futuristic films tend to portray the future as homogenous and sterile, Blade Runner portrays a much different world. In a way that embodies digital culture, the film draws from a wide range of materials as a palate to create a dark and brooding environment. Akin to today’s ability to use the Internet to quickly assemble many different elements to form a cohesive whole and to William Burrough’s cut-up method, Blade Runner is a mish-mash of many different elements that work together to produce a film worthy of its cult status. Drawing from the omniscient and often threatening or oppressive element of observation from the Panopticon concept, Blade Runner expertly portrays a dystopian world where Big Brother is always watching. This feeling of being spied upon is alive and well even in our own time. We are constantly aware of corporations and individuals trying to find out more about is and watching us. We are always afraid that we are being observed, our actions in the digital world tracked, and our personal information collected.
One of the major thematic elements of Blade Runner is heterogeneity. This permeates the entire film and is especially notable in the musical score. It makes heavy use of ambient sounds and electronic music, but also incorporates elements of classical piano, trance, jazz, and cultural music. Even Blade Runner’s language of the future, gutterspeak, is a combination of different languages. Also fashion seems to have become an amalgamation of different clothing from different cultures and historical eras.
Closely connected to this sense of heterogeneity is the idea of juxtaposition. Throughout the film, they are in opposition to each other. On one hand there seems to be a more or less universal culture while on the other there is a jarring juxtaposition of opposites. For example, in a world of flying cars and extremely advanced cyber genetics engineering, there also exists old industrial fans and wooden chopsticks. Delicate origami figures are sharply contrasted to deadly Nexus 6 replicants. Even emotions are mish-mashed together as both Deckard and the replicants struggle with conflicting emotions and sense of purpose in life. All this contributes to a rhizome-like ride as viewers are taken on a journey that often has no clear pattern. For example, the action happens in subterranean areas and super-tall structures and everywhere in between. Emotions elicited range from pure rage to empathy to pity and sorrow. Viewers’ senses and emotions are assaulted from many angles. There are a lot of flashing lights and blight glares in the camera work. Also, the film forces viewers to continually reevaluate their emotions and concept of what it means to be human as both the replicants and Deckard struggle with who they are. This film not only pulls the viewer forward in time, but also simultaneously in a myriad of other—sometimes conflicting—directions.
Perhaps one of the most striking things about Blade Runner and the reason why it still resonates so strongly today is that it has, to an extent, accurately predicted the future. The Internet and today’s digital culture are defined by heterogeneity and juxtaposition. Applications like Facebook and Twitter have redefined our lives in multiple ways and have contributed to the blurring of cultural lines. Yet even in this trend towards the universal, digital culture still retains some striking juxtapositions. The flippant and the absurd co-exist in the same digital space with more serious works and events. Just like gutterspeak is a major language in the film, in today’s digital world, iTunes and Youtube as well as many other video and music sharing sites have helped make music a truly universal element. And above it all, there is still a pervasive feeling of always being watched in a connected digital world. So in the end, Blade Runner’s significance is that we all see a little bit of ourselves in both Deckard and the replicants and that on some level, their struggle is also our struggle.
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