Washed Out but Primed for a Come back
Rising off the back of sci-fi horror movie Alien, Ridley Scott brings DADES to the screen with the flare in the casting and visuals of a “blockbuster”. But does it amount to the hype worthy of a philosophical and sociological sci-fi thriller novel? Guest reviewer, Robbie Cribb investigates.
We just can’t seem to leave Blade Runner alone. This cinematic adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s 1968 novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was first released in 1986. Since then, it has been re-released as both a Director’s and Final Cut, and will even score a sequel in 2018. What is about Blade Runner that feels so incomplete? Why the need for constant change?
Though it caused barely a ripple in 1968, DADES
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The film is set in 2019, 37 years after its release time in a vividly bleak and stripped-back Los Angeles. What is telling about this setting is Scott’s choice to represent this dystopian world through technology, large corporations and consumerism. Choices, that distinctly represented the film making era of the 80’s, where corporate greed, and technological advancement was unleashed and unregulated. This is such a clever choice by the director to transform the fears of the day into the future, creating a visionary world relatable to the modern …show more content…
Ridley’s choice to replace this symbol of destruction and defeat with rain leaves the viewers underwhelmed. Whilst the novel paints Earth as a broken and dying one, Blade Runner builds a still developing world with grand architectural feats. Although the setting creates an immersive and somewhat depressive atmosphere, people don’t seem in a hurry to leave this dying planet, undermining its relevance.
Even then, the exclusion of the major theme: human identity, shows Ridley’s lack of judgement in the importance of motifs over visuals. While it’s one thing to leave us with food for thought, it’s another to force us to claw through the movie for this stuff. The novel gives this theme to us up front with the title. We share a close bond with animals, identifying what makes us human. An empathic requirement. This basic instinct which allows humanity to unite and flourish is whittled down to just a Voight-Kampff machine, a fake owl and a snake in the film. Like I said, we’re left
The setting the setting is mostly in little rock 2014. The reason that it is 2014 is how they describe everything in the book. And it is in new york in the book it tell me a location in the new york area.
The central theme of Bladerunner is the relationship between humanity and nature. More specifically it has a purpose in showing how science can negatively influence this fragile relationship. Set in Los Angeles of 2019 we see the decadence of western society into an inhumane harsh impersonal, technology-dominated realm. The inhabitants who fight for their daily survival are in desperate want for nature, contact with which is denied to them by the unrestricted scientific progress and the consequent exploitation of the natural world conducted for the sole purpose of profit. Humanity is also losing touch with it’s own nature. The compassion, the empathy, the love and the emotion are all rare or absent. This ailing relationship between humanity and nature is conveyed through the means of scene setting, dialogue, plot, camera techniques and other film features. All these elements of cinematography synthesise to create an effective portrayal of the unifying theme.
I'd be working in a place like this if I could afford a real snake?"
The Martian is a story that involves a visit to the mars, and after that, the astronauts come out of the Mars leaving behind Mark Watney who his real name is Matt Damon. The team assumed Mark was dead after a strong storm. He tried to survive with the remains of the supplier till he was able to launch his way back to the Earth (MacIsaac, 2015). The story is represented in the Novel, and a movie and these two platforms have some similarities and differences. The movie is the representation of what is happening in the book. Therefore, not everything that it is in the book is covered in the one and half film, therefore several scenarios are left out.
It is commonplace within films to replicate aspects of society like the formation of cliques, and/or groups that are subsets of the whole population. In these kinds of movies filmmakers indulge in the attributes of these subsection as well as the social orders, which facilitates them. Sociologists, like Norbert Elias, have theorized the creations and replication of social strata within Western society since before the 19th century. Norbert Elias’s infamous works theorized the creation of a unified social control within a civilization and the extrinsic influences of that control on the individuals themselves. An example of his key ideas are inherent in the movie “Divergent” where the presence of an embedded subset group “threatens” the social order and thus becomes a target for eradication.
Therefore, although the film appears to send a revolutionary message of a rage against ‘the machine’ or the matrix and its oppression, ...
Blade Runner became a cult classic. “The film may have survived long enough to benefit from a renewed taste for darker, more violent sci-fi. It’s appeal has less to do with a fascination for outer space (which does not feature beyond reference in a few lines of dialogue) than with a vision of earth and humankind in the near future” (Roberts and Wallis Pg 157-8). Both films have a timeless quality to it, as they are representative of the future of our planet earth. I find it so interesting that even though these films were made in different times their ideas about the futuristic city and society are almost identical.
Every film can be related back to socially significant issues that occurred during the time it was released. It’s a snapshot of the issues during that time period. Film is not created in a vacuum. As described in our textbook, film “Conveys “the temper of an age of a nation” as well as that of the artists who produces it” (Belton 22). Films tend to reflect current society, country ideals or beliefs in order for the audience to relate. Some of those techniques used include, the American dream, family, corruption, divorce, and crime. If a director decides not include current social issues than it becomes harder for an audience to relate to the film because they will not be able to connect to the characters and get into their shoes. One film that encompasses all of these current social issues is American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013). This film is a melodrama because of the context and social issues this film deals with. American Hustle has a social significance to today’s current culture, society, beliefs and social issues through the use of the American dream, corruption, divorce, crime and family.
The only real way to truly understand a story is to understand all aspects of a story and their meanings. The same goes for movies, as they are all just stories being acted out. In Thomas Foster's book, “How to Read Literature Like a Professor”, Foster explains in detail the numerous ingredients of a story. He discusses almost everything that can be found in any given piece of literature. The devices discussed in Foster's book can be found in most movies as well, including in Quentin Tarantino’s cult classic, “Pulp Fiction”. This movie is a complicated tale that follows numerous characters involved in intertwining stories. Tarantino utilizes many devices to make “Pulp Fiction” into an excellent film. In this essay, I will demonstrate how several literary devices described in Foster's book are put to use in Tarantino’s film, “Pulp Fiction”, including quests, archetypes, food, and violence.
The culture and philosophy of Ridley Scott (pp. 231-243. United States: Lexington Books, Inc. Pramaggiore, M., & Wallis, T. (2005). Film: A critical introduction to the film.
In recent times, such stereotyped categorizations of films are becoming inapplicable. ‘Blockbusters’ with celebrity-studded casts may have plots in which characters explore the depths of the human psyche, or avant-garde film techniques. Titles like ‘American Beauty’ (1999), ‘Fight Club’ (1999) and ‘Kill Bill 2’ (2004) come readily into mind. Hollywood perhaps could be gradually losing its stigma as a money-hungry machine churning out predictable, unintelligent flicks for mass consumption. While whether this image of Hollywood is justified remains open to debate, earlier films in the 60’s and 70’s like ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ (1967) and ‘Taxi Driver’ (1976) already revealed signs of depth and avant-garde film techniques. These films were successful as not only did they appeal to the mass audience, but they managed to communicate alternate messages to select groups who understood subtleties within them.
Although “Thriller” is beloved as a classic 80’s pop music video, it manages a successful dive into the social and political issues that make zombie flicks so great. Pulling from a history of work on zombies, Michael Jackson packs so much history into such a concise package. Through using the texts of Amy Devitt and Kerry Dirk we are able to uncover Jackson’s experience and social commentary in “Thriller”. He simultaneously writes a hit song, revolutionizes music videos, and still remarks on the societal problems of the early 1980’s. However, the story goes much further than that of a number one hit. “Thriller” owes its success to an important cultural figure that looms as large as
Essentially, when all is said and done, "Blade Runner" is really a film about questions, questions that we should ask ourselves of humanity. What is a human? What does it mean to be human? Do humans have more of a right to life than replicants? Have humans and androids become the same thing? It is not so important that one answers these questions, but that he or she asks them.
After reading the book and watching the movie 1984 there were similarities and differences between the two. The novel is about manipulating people in believing in something that isn’t really there and about erasing history. Both the book and film focused on: authority, government, and war. The book and film follow the theme of conformity to control society.
The film Pulp Fiction was an immediate box office success when it was released in 1994 and it was also well received by the critics, and celebrated for the way it appeared to capture exactly a certain pre-millennial angst and dislocation in Western capitalist societies. The term post-modernist, often used to refer to art and architecture, was applied to this film. The pulp fiction refers to popular novels which are bought in large numbers by less well educated people and enjoyed for their entertainment value. The implication is that the film concerns topics of interest to this low culture, but as this essay will show, in fact, the title is ironic and the film is a very intellectual presentation of issues at the heart of contemporary western culture and philosophy.