BLADERUNNER

1. BLADERUNNER Ridley Scott 1982

2. PLOT OVERVIEW • Blade Runner is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott. • The film depicts a dystopian Los Angeles in November 2019 in which genetically engineered organic robots called replicants—visually indistinguishable from adult humans—are manufactured by the powerful Tyrell Corporation. • Their use on Earth is banned and replicants are exclusively used for dangerous, menial or leisure work on off-world colonies. Replicants who defy the ban and return to Earth are hunted down and "retired" by police special operatives known as "Blade Runners". The plot focuses on a brutal and cunning group of recently escaped replicants hiding in Los Angeles. As Tyrell Corporation Nexus-6 models, they have only a four-year lifespan, and have come to Earth to try to extend their lives. Burnt out expert Blade Runner, Rick Deckard, reluctantly agrees to take on one more assignment to hunt them down.

3. Why is this a dystopian society? • Most people in society have relocated to off-world colonies. Earth has been ravaged by disease and poverty. Only those with money and who have passed a medical test qualify to “relocate” to these new worlds. • People who remain on earth are considered “second-class” or suffer from some medical issue – or are there to exploit these people, like Tyrell.

4. THEMES: • Moral implications of human mastery of genetic engineering • It also draws on Biblical images, such as Noah's flood, and literary sources, such as Frankenstein. • Religious theme • The replicants coming "down" to earth are like angels descended from Heaven. • Tyrell, as creator of the replicants, represents a (flawed) representation of God. He lives in a Mayan pyramid-like structure high above the rest of the population. His bed is a replica of that of Pope John Paul II. • Roy Batty is a Christ-like figure, but has also elements of Lucifer, the Fallen Angel, who rebels against God, and is cast out of Heaven because of it; again, a flawed analogy: he does not sacrifice himself, and even rebels - and finally destroys - his god, his "father". • Blade Runner delves into the implications of technology on the environment and on society by reaching to the past, using literature, religious symbolism, classical dramatic themes, and film noir. This tension between past, present, and future is mirrored in the retrofitted future of Blade Runner, which is high-tech and gleaming in places but decayed and old elsewhere. • Control over the environment is depicted as taking place on a vast scale, hand in hand with the absence of any natural life, with artificial animals substituting for their extinct predecessors. This oppressive backdrop explains the frequently referenced migration of humans to extra-terrestrial ("off-world") colonies.[

5. LINKS TO REAL LIFE: • Concern over genetic engineering. • An organism that is generated through the introduction of recombinant DNA is considered to be a genetically modified organism. The first organisms genetically engineered were bacteria in 1973 and then mice in 1974. Major debate occurred as to the potential of this technology and moral implications.

6. SPECIAL EFFECTS: • Budget: 28 Million • Box Office: $33,139,618 • Read the SFX handout and watch the short video clip. • Complete the following questions: • What examples of special effects technology can you see used in this film? • How do the special effects used in this film contrast to that of films like Minority Report and Surrogates? Explain the reason for this contrast and development.