Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Blade Runner (Scott, 1982) - Coggle Diagram
Blade Runner (Scott, 1982)
Context
Institutional
- Warner Brothers forced an expository voice over and positive resolution on the original release - cutting the complexity and ambiguity created by unicorn daydream sequence implying Deckard may be a replicant
- Scott's background in advertising equipped him well for the New Hollywood shift towards high concept spectacle - aesthetics and atmospherics are privileged over plot (style over substance)
- As a New Hollywood film, BR reveals greater emphasis on visual spectacle and greater genre hybridity - mix of sci-fi, action, film noir, police procedural
- Studios in the New Hollywood era were wary to give directors creative and financial freedom after the disaster of Heaven's Gate (1980), which bankrupted studio United Artists - ultimately led to Scott's firing and Tandem taking control due to exceeding budget and tensions within production
- The New Hollywood era moved away from the oligopoly of the 'Big Five' studios to much greater market share - BR was financed by Run Run Shaw, The Ladd Company and Tandem Productions
- Unlike most earlier New Hollywood films, BR was shot largely on backlots due to its constructed sci-fi settings
Retro-futurism:
- New futuristic sets were built on top of traditional Warner Bros backlots - creating layered aesthetic/style
- Represents dichotomous aspects of BR - old traditional/new buildings, humans/replicants, technophobia/technophilia
Sci-fi genre
- Genre hybridity - combines sci-fi (popular in 1970s/80s) and film noir (popular in Classic Hollywood era)
- BR has iconography of the sci-fi genre, however it's future in comparison to other sci-fi films is very gritty and dirty
- BR does not feature outer space or the off-world colonies unlike sci-films such as Star Wars, it only alludes to them - subverting genre conventions of sci-fi
- BR does not have a narrative resolution or clear distinction between 'good' and 'evil' - there is minimal physical distinction between humans and replicants, plus questions over whether Deckard is a replicant - the dissolve transition from Deckard to Roy Batty suggests their commonality
Technological
- Corporations in the form of the Tyrell Corporation have come to dominate society - represents dystopian future where businesses and mega corporations dominate
- Towering above ordinary people in huge corporate headquarters, faceless and callous megalomaniacs rule with a ruthless capitalist energy - corporations build off-world colonies to fulfil dream of escape whilst simultaneously destroying Earth
- Blade Runner engages directly with the impact of technology on society and the individual (also technophobia) - taking philosophical viewpoint of what it means to be human
- Power of corporate private industry has taken place of a democratic society and is represented as corrupt and self-serving, manipulating technological advances to enhance profit whilst dehumanising people
-
Auteur
Scott as Auteur
Recurring themes include:
- Layering of visual detail in mise-en-scene
- Exaggerated use of sound
- Demonisation of oppressive males (Thelma and Louise) and corporations
- Huge scale production designs (Gladiator)
- Gritty dystopian approach to science fiction to science fiction (Alien)
Scott's influences
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick (1968) - however the book is fairly different from the film
Criticisms
- Significant creative partners - Syd Mead (designer), Vangelis (composer), Hampton Fancher (bought the rights to the book) and David Peoples (screenwriters), Michael Deely (producer who hired Scott)
Themes
Representation of women
- All female lead characters are artificial replicants who are sexualised by the men around them - the objectification of these women is given whole new meaning since they are manufactured
- The female androids are the only women characters that appear in the film - their purpose lies in the gratification of society's capitalist leaders, who own them
- Pris is described as a 'basic pleasure model', Zhora becomes an erotic dancer performing with a snake, and Rachael is supposed to be a copy of Sarah Tyrell (with implanted memories)
- Women are otherwise used as background decoration to the setting - in the scene where Deckard goes into one of the entertainment buildings, the backdrop is filled with women in Renaissance costumes
- The film noir setting provides further context of the portrayal of women, with the femme fatale character historically portraying women as dangerous, uncaring, devious and deadly
- The film can be read as misogynist as Pris and Zhora, who are both seen as strong, independent, non-subservient women, are killed, whereas Rachael, who represents the opposite, lives
- However it could be argued this is more due to the film's dystopian and authoritarian setting, in which strong, independent characters of either sex are typically systematically removed
Rachael
- Rachael's creator says 'Rachael is an experiment, nothing more'
- Rachael's ambiguous part-secretary, part femme fatale character can be seen as objectified - one of the questions in her Voight-Kampff test questions to sexuality
- Deckard, Rachael's love interest, both exposes her lack of life/humanity and coerces her into sexual acts - she appears as a sexual object who is forever at Deckard's disposition
- Some have argued Rachael's survival is a triumph for feminism in the film, showcasing her agency and ability to assert herself as an individual
- However others argue her survival is a reflection of patriarchal values, where women are only valued if they are viewed as objects of male desire
- The scene of Deckard's sexual assault of Rachael highlights this tension, and raises questions about her agency and whether her survival is tied to her ability to be viewed as a desirable object for men - this is furthered by the fact that Rachael is a replicant which compromises her ability to assert her autonomy
Zhora
- Zhora is a rebellious replicant who has fled to Earth
- Senior detective Harry Bryant, describes 'Zhora was built to allure, then destroy'
- In her first scene, she wears a skin tight outfit exposing her bare chest (her makeup is similar to Mystique of the X-Men movies)
- Zhora and (Pris') character highlights the disposability of women in patriarchal societies
- Her death, at the hands of Deckard, is brutal and graphic, emphasising her lack of agency and disposability of women in patriarchal societies
Pris
- Pris is portrayed as a disposable object of male desire - she is depicted as a seductress who uses her sexuality to manipulate and control men
- During the fight scene between Pris and Deckard, Pris wraps her legs around Deckard's neck, exemplifying her manufacture for sexual purposes, even in combat
-
Key scenes
Zhora's death
- Zhora's clear plastic outfit reveals much of her body and skin, could represent the male gaze and her objectification as a women/replicant
- The glass panes Zhora crashes through as she is shot could link to the 'glass ceiling' coined during the second wave of feminism - referring to the social barrier preventing women being promoted to jobs in management
- The slo-mo shots and use of neon lighting almost glamourises Zhora's death and makes it beautiful or enjoyable to watch (perhaps the audience are encouraged to be entertained by the death of this independent female character)
- However the blood that runs down Zhora's body presents her as more human than android, perhaps encouraging sympathy or an emotional response to her death (her death is a death for feminism?)
- Zhora's struggle after she is shot, which forces Deckard to shoot a her again, represents her strength and perseverance - however it could be argued this is ultimately destroyed by the patriarchy
- Zhora falls to the ground and dies surrounded by mannequins dressed similarly to her in revealing outfits - also represent the male gaze and the patriarchy's view of women as sexual objects - once Deckard has retired her, she effectively becomes one of these lifeless mannequins (although it could be argued being a replicant she always was)
- Combined with the slo-mo shots, the scene's score is calm, ambient and atmospheric which is arguably contrapuntal and contrasts the violence on screen - perhaps glamourising or normalising Zhora's death, encouraging the audience to 'enjoy' her death
Pris' death
- Pris hiding from Deckard amongst mannequins and dolls highlights her lifeless status as an android or replicant, and her skin tight outfit emphasises her role as a pleasure model/sex object
- The fact that Pris blends in by pretending to be a mannequin represents how 'sex object role' is the accepted or normal view of women in the patriarchy
- The sheet over Pris' head resembles a wedding veil - perhaps highlighting women's lack of agency without being attached to or 'serving' a man
- Pris attacks Deckard by wrapping her legs around his head, emphasising her role as a sex object even in combat and ultimately death
- Unlike Zhora's death scene, the lighting is similar to chiaroscuro and the score is intense, the scene is far from glamorous to watch as Pris' performance as she writhes and screams on the floor is very unsettling - perhaps encouraging empathy for her death