 |
| Bladerunner - An Exemplary Postmodern Film
Blade Runner – An Exemplary Postmodern Film
Postmodernism is considered by many to be a general and wide
ranging term which is applied to many disciplines, such as Economics, art,
fiction and literacy criticisms. In terms of post modernity, this is when the
characteristics of postmodernism are conveyed through the medium of film.
An example of a landmark postmodern text is the motion
picture “Blade Runner”, directed by Ridley Scott in 1982, and its post modernity can be seen through a
range of features. Blade Runner is an exemplary postmodern text in the sense that
it both represents the conditions of post modernity and employs elements of the
postmodern condition to texture its narrative. In its form, content and
ideological center Blade Runner explores and utilities the strategies of
quotation, recycling, pastiche, hyper reality and identity crisis.
Baudrillard states that: "Another film often cited as
'postmodern' is Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982), in which science,
technology and progress are all questioned and shown in some way to have
'failed'. The world in Blade Runner is polluted by industry and overcrowding;
only the rich escape to the 'off-worlds'. One of the key themes of the film is
the 'blurring' of the differences between the real and the artificial, between
the humans and the replicants. Increasingly it is no longer possible to be
clear about what it means to be 'human'".
Throughout Blade Runner there is an overarching and insipid
postmodern identity crisis that seems to touch everything and everyone in the
film. Los Angeles 2019 is in a state of perpetual crisis. Composed of patchwork
of styles and fads it has no geographical centre, no 'original' past to refer
to, no secure history to be bound to and no concrete present to allow
communities to foster. In one sense this is why the replicants, including
Deckard, are drawn to its quarters they
share, imitate, and can plug into its schizophrenic state. But the relationship
correspondence is one borne out of the most despairing search for wholeness -
all anyone (good) really wants in the film is a place, a history, a biography
to call their own.
Another reference is to Pan Am, the airline company that was Scott's vision of the future. Ironically
this company went bust and is non longer in existence.
Also, in the 1980's, the Japanese were becoming increasingly
wealthy and buying up land in the Unites States, in particular, LA. There are
many references to this in the movie, as this was Ridley Scott's vision of the
future.
The inclusion of Pastiche is present throughout in the form
of the city, which is the most dramatically visible example of post
modernity. In addition, the idea of the
film being set in the future can be argued, as it can be considered to be going
back in time, despite being ‘set’ in 2019 in Los Angeles. This is why it can be
considered that blade runner is set in any given time. Textually, Blade Runner
quotes from different film genres and film movements/periods, as well as other
forms of visual media and actual historical periods.
For example it lifts scenes directly out of older films such
as Metropolis (science fiction) and Mildred Pierce (film noir). Also other pop
culture references are used such as the New York skyline, the pulp fiction of
Raymond Charles.
Despite this, there are arguements that suggest that
Bladerunner is infact not postmodern. Nick Lacey argues that director Ridley
Scott decided to shy away from a postmodern view of the world as Blade Runner
was “a production of mainstream cinema only films with an independent
sensibility are able to fully represent the disturbing post human this is because the ideals of romantic love
are central to patriarchal society’s needs”. He believes that the film “‘fails’
to represent the postmodern view of the human condition
Personally, I believe that Blade Runner is truly an exemplary
postmodern film at its core. This is because it follows a range of conventions
that follow that of which can be expected in a postmodern film. Furthermore, I
also believe that Ridley Scott purposely aimed to make this film postmodern,
evident through both the range of included features, and also previous works by
Scott, which also in many cases highlight a postmodern point of view.
|
Notes on Blade-Runner Readings
- Range of styles, including Asian and Western styles - Range of designs throughout Set in the future and made in the past. Due to this, it includes a range of both old and new features, from a range of cultures - The idea of the replicants not knowing that they are not humans. The film uses this as a metaphor for the postmodern condition in general - The idea of hyper identities. Unclear of the distinction between real life and an artificial world
- Compression of time and space. Focuses on the idea of a lack of time.
- Focus on mediation
-Aesthetic approach is focused on throughout the film.
- Potential idea that are minds are artificial. Links to the idea of replicants.
BLADERUNNER
Released: 1982
Plot Summary: In a cyberpunk vision of the future, man has developed the technology to create replicants, human clones used to serve in the colonies outside Earth but with fixed lifespans. In Los Angeles, 2019, Deckard is a Blade Runner, a cop who specialises in terminating replicants. Originally in retirement, he is forced to re-enter the force when six replicants escape from an offworld colony to Earth.
Character List
 | Harrison Ford | ... |
 | Rutger Hauer | ... | |
 | Sean Young | ... | |
 | Edward James Olmos | ... | |
 | M. Emmet Walsh | ... | |
 | Daryl Hannah | ... | |
 | William Sanderson | ... | |
 | Brion James | ... | |
 | Joe Turkel | ... | |
 | Joanna Cassidy | ... | |
 | James Hong | ... | |
 | Morgan Paull | ... | |
 | Kevin Thompson | ... | |
 | John Edward Allen | ... | |
| | Hy Pyke | ... |
No comments:
Post a Comment