Blade Runner: A Cultural Analysis

By Guy Kortsarz

This book provides a detailed cultural analysis of the movie "Blade Runner".

• Language: English
• Publisher: Guy Kortsarz
• Release date: Dec 6, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005054113

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Blade Runner: A Cultural Analysis

Guy Kortsarz

Copyright @ 2021 Guy Kortsarz

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Table of Contents

1) Introduction

1.1 Stanley Kubrick as an influence on Ridley Scott

1.2 On Ridley Scott

1.3 2001: Space Odyssey (Kubrick 1968)

1.4 Short description of most of Scott’s films

1.5 An analysis of Alien

1.6 The different versions of BR

1.7 Reception of BR.

2) The city of angels as broken hell: style in BR

2.1 What is a film noir?

2.2 Post Modernism: the science fiction detective

2.3 Hating intellectuals and fake news: post modernism

2.4 Blade Runner and the decay

2.5 The start of the movie.

3) Some major themes in BR

3.1 Legends

3.2 The four replicants who survived

3.3 Eyes

3.4 Citing the German culture

3.5 The wish to be immortal

3.6 The Nazi culture in BR.

4) Ethics

4.1 Lies

4.2 The abuse of women continues: Zhora and Pris.

5) Cruelty

5.1 The artist as a cruel person.

5.2 Unethical cruel Tyrell

5.3 Tyrell gets what he deserves

5.4 Dr. Frankenstein

6) Influences on BR

6.1 Jung

6.2 Animals and what they represent

6.3 The names

6.4 Another influence: The two stories of the prodigal son

6.5 The quest and the Seventh Seal: Tyrell as death

6.6 The pyramids and the Mayan culture

6.7 Barry Lyndon

7) Natural Languages

7.1 Leon versus the human

7.2 The modernistic theory of Chomsky on language

7.3 The way humans talk

7.4 Leon and Deckard SPEAK

7.5 The emotions of the lowest replicant, Leon

8) Rachael and Deckard

8.1 The Rachael close-up

8.2 Rachael and Deckard first talk

8.3 Deckard tests Rachael

8.4 Emotions cause memories that cause emotions

8.5 Compassionate Rachael

8.6 Deckard forces himself on Rachael

8.7 The transformation of Rachael: just like in Alien

8.8 The bombshell: Deckard the replicant

9) Sebastian, the symbol for Blade Runner

10) Paradise Lost: Eyes and knowledge

11) Roy and Deckard fight: From Satan to Jesus

11.1 Fighting Deckard

11.2 The speech: a cultural (only) analysis.

11.3 We are the last to know.

1) Introduction

1.1 Stanley Kubrick as an influence on Ridley Scott

Ridley Scott started directing films because of Stanley Kubrick and because of "Star Wars" by Lucas.

Stanley Kubrick is a director that other directors tend to like.

While Kubrick is admired by critics, there are enough critics who hate him.

Many directors say that they became directors due to the film "2001: A Space Odyssey" (Kubrick 1968).

Scott called Kubrick The Big Daddy and The Godfather.

He directed his first film The Duellists as an homage to "Barry Lyndon" (Kubrick 1975).

He said that Kubrick is on another level and the best we can do is imitate him. Indeed Scott’s Alien (1979) is highly influenced by 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Kubrick is a legendary director today.

Kubrick hates machines. And the film Blade Runner (BR for short) shows a machine achieving redemption, an idea Kubrick would dislike.

Nevertheless, the final version of BR is similar to a films by Kubrick in the sense that Scott payed a lot of attention to every little detail. He worked on this film from 1982 to 2007. . Kubrick attention to details is legendary. Many critics say that Barry Lyndon is most beautiful looking film ever made. Even films such as Citizen Kane, Sunrise, Tokyo Story, and Blade Runner, itself, are not as beautiful as Barry Lyndon.

Scorsese summarized what these directors working today think by saying:

We are all children of Stanley Kubrick.

It is not that the style of directors such as Scorsese reminds me of the films of Kubrick. Kubrick is impossible to imitate.

Those who did try to imitate the style of Kubrick like David Fincher, failed.

But an unusually large number of directors living today, 75 according to Wikipedia, said that they were influenced by Kubrick which is rather amazing.

BR achieved something amazing.

Blade Runner is mentioned today in the same breath with 2001: Space Odyssey as the best two science fiction films ever done. A larger honor cannot be given to BR.

Every 10 years the Sight and Sound Journal questions a large collection of critics (and separately, directors) for their best 10 films of all time. Then they compile the results. 2001: Space Odyssey was chosen in the last poll (2012. Another is coming in 2022) as the 6 best film of all times according to the critics. Blade Runner came into place 69.

In the directors poll 2001: Space Odyssey came as second best film ever, tied with Citizen Kane (I told you the directors love him more) and BR came in place 68.

1.2 On Ridley Scott

Scott was raised in a military family. His first film, "The Duelist", is about the military.

And some other films as well (G,I Jane and Black Hawk down).

He likes epics, but this is exactly the type of film he does not know how to direct. See a short comment on some of his films which appears below, with a long comment on "Alien".

He said that his two favorite films are the epics "The Seven Samurai and Lawrence of Arabia".

The problem is that Scott is no Kurosawa.

The analysis I give of Blade Runner is restricted to cinema language and western (and Mayan) culture.

I will not speculate on mystical things as so many did. Few films have caused so much speculation.

So many words were written on Tannhauser gate which is mentioned at the final speech of Roy.

A replicant is a robot made to look and act in a way humans looks and act.

Here is an examples of baseless speculation.

In the initial cut from 1982, it was stated that there were six replicants, who escaped by getting a hold on a spaceship. One of them came to earth and tried to enter Tyrell’s tower. This replicant was electrocuted to death during this action.

This should leave 5 replicants but there were only four. Leon. Pris, Zhora and Roy.

Mountains of speculation has been written on who is the sixth replicant. In the final cut, the head of police Bryant simply said that two replicants were electrocuted, when trying to get into Tyrell’s tower, and not one. It was a continuity error.

The speculations were ludicrous. At best.

Film analysis is the opposite of speculation.

Moreover, since BR is a post modernistic film the main thing to do is to analyze it relatively to existing art the film cites. Postmodern films should get a cultural analysis. The number of influences on BR is unusual.

In turn, BR influenced many other films.

Ridley Scott directed high level commercials for TV, for years.

When he turned to cinematic directing, his experience made him a director with his own unique look.

He is also a master of technique of cinema, with long uninterrupted complex shots, use of stark bright light, and many other tools.

BR was clearly influenced by the expressionistic and dark German cinema of the 1920s. "Metropolis" and "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" are examples of films that influenced BR.

The outfit which Rachael wears when we see her first, is highly influenced by the film noir "Mildred Pierce." BR takes a lot from Greek Mythology, Mayan culture, German culture and the Old Testament. Also, it is strongly influenced by the (long) poem Paradise Lost. And it is influenced by Jung.

Officially it is based very loosely on Philip K. Dick’s book "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" The film and book may start the same but then diverge.

I would say that George Orwell’s "1984" has larger influence on BR than "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? "

BR asks some important questions such as If we make replicant as human as possible then how should we treat the replicans? And if so are we allowed to kill such a replicant?

Is it better to know that a terrible thing will happen or are we better not knowing?

BR discusses questions of the responsibility of the creator towards those he/she created, and describes many rebellions of created creatures against their creators.

These are eternal philosophical questions.

BR is a science fiction film that has nothing to do with science.

There will never be a replicant like Roy even 1000 years from now. It is not possible.

I will explain why it is not possible when I talk on the computer.

In Artificial Intelligence, a topic in computer science, and a subtopic is machine learning. Some researchers claim that if the machine can learn and learn, until they it becomes something beyond what it was when it was created.

This is complete nonsense, even though the greatest computer scientist in history Alan