Frankenstein and Bladerunner
Blade Runner: What It Means to be Human?
Our times are dominated by transforming technologies. Advances such as artificial intelligence, mechanical implants, biotechnology, voice-activated programming, virtual reality, robotics and computer graphics—all once thought to be mere science fiction—are now a reality. These have not only blurred the distinction between human and machine, they have also opened the door to cloning and genetic manipulation.
This was the overriding message of director Ridley Scott's ground breaking film Blade Runner. However, when Blade Runner opened in 1982, it was routinely panned and attacked. And even though it opened in over 1,200 theatres, it was a certified box office flop. Three key, yet profound, questions contribute to the core of Blade Runner: Who am I? Why am I here? What does it mean to be human? Fortunately, the film's discovery on cable TV, videocassette and in revival houses revealed not only a cult film par excellence but an emotionally challenging, thematically complex work whose ideas and subtexts are just as startling as its now-famous production designs. Moreover, according to a recent poll conducted by the British newspaper The Guardian, Blade Runner was chosen as the best science fiction film ever by sixty of the world's top scientists. With this latest honor, perhaps the film will finally gain the audience it deserves and the truths it has to teach us can be revealed.
Set in Los Angeles in the year 2019, Blade Runner shows a world where the sun no longer shines. Instead, a constant rainy drizzle adds to the dark character of this futuristic landscape. The opening shot's aerial perspective suggests a modern Los Angeles, but the audience soon discovers a very different city—the endless archipelago of suburbs have been replaced by a dark and ominous landscape lit only by occasional flare-ups of burning gas at oil refineries. An energy shortage has crippled life in the future. The earth is decayed, and millions of
Our times are dominated by transforming technologies. Advances such as artificial intelligence, mechanical implants, biotechnology, voice-activated programming, virtual reality, robotics and computer graphics—all once thought to be mere science fiction—are now a reality. These have not only blurred the distinction between human and machine, they have also opened the door to cloning and genetic manipulation.
This was the overriding message of director Ridley Scott's ground breaking film Blade Runner. However, when Blade Runner opened in 1982, it was routinely panned and attacked. And even though it opened in over 1,200 theatres, it was a certified box office flop. Three key, yet profound, questions contribute to the core of Blade Runner: Who am I? Why am I here? What does it mean to be human? Fortunately, the film's discovery on cable TV, videocassette and in revival houses revealed not only a cult film par excellence but an emotionally challenging, thematically complex work whose ideas and subtexts are just as startling as its now-famous production designs. Moreover, according to a recent poll conducted by the British newspaper The Guardian, Blade Runner was chosen as the best science fiction film ever by sixty of the world's top scientists. With this latest honor, perhaps the film will finally gain the audience it deserves and the truths it has to teach us can be revealed.
Set in Los Angeles in the year 2019, Blade Runner shows a world where the sun no longer shines. Instead, a constant rainy drizzle adds to the dark character of this futuristic landscape. The opening shot's aerial perspective suggests a modern Los Angeles, but the audience soon discovers a very different city—the endless archipelago of suburbs have been replaced by a dark and ominous landscape lit only by occasional flare-ups of burning gas at oil refineries. An energy shortage has crippled life in the future. The earth is decayed, and millions of