Originally posted on sciy.org by Rich Carlson on Sun 27 Apr 2008 09:11 PM PDT
Film Review: Bladerunner by Giovanni Ferri
In 1985 Ihab Hassan noted that the term [postmodernism] is an oxymoron'(1)and like the term itself, any attempt to pin down its meaning is problematic. However although Cristina Degli-Esposti points out that the debate over the conception of that which may be considered [postmodern] is far from being exhausted', she goes on to argue that: Our culture is indeed postmodern in this oxymoron-like manner as it transcends the notion of present. It reaches back to the past and forward to the future trying to synthesize these two imaginary places'' in narrative fashion'(2). So if trying to synthesize' the past and future is one factor for deciding what is postmodern, then this may be one reason why Ridley Scotts' Blade Runner (USA, 1982) can be considered postmodern, as this feature is central to the film. Blade Runner is set in L.A in 2019, yet there are constant visual features in the film that reminds us not only of the 1980's, the period in which it was made, but also the film-noir genre popular in the 1940's.
Cristina Degli-Esposti also identifies several other features unique to postmodernism which include intertextuality, parody and pastiche, questions about what is perceived as real, the search for identity, and the idea of the fragmented self or a fragmented society (3). Robert Stam lists some further aspects considered to be key in understanding postmodernism, these include skepticism about the [West's] faith in progress, science, or class struggle'(4)along with the shift from the production of objects to the production of signs and information'(5). Lastly, in his essay Screen Replicants and Social Realities', David Lyon complicates this further by adding that the notion of simulacra and a sense of apocalypse are also important postmodernist features(6). He also identifies the corrosive effects of capitalism' and consumerism and consumption' as central postmodern motifs'(7). There are many other features considered by critics to be postmodernist, however, I feel that those features mentioned here are the most central to the most common idea of what postmodernism is, and all of these features are clearly evident in Blade Runner'.
Blade Runner' is set in a dystopian future, and perhaps no picture since Fritz Lang's Metropolis' (1927) has presented such a compelling, forbidding vision of the future'(8). The film consequently has a post apocalyptic sense in its setting, the sun doesn't shine on the overcrowded, rubble strewn, neon-lit streets of cold Los Angeles'(9) where it is always raining, the suggestion being that the rain is most probably acidic. The planet has been selfishly consumed, exploited and left in ruins, so those that can afford to have left Earth for a new life in the off world colonies'. The Tyrell Corporation have produced replicants through genetic engineering, the replicants are not robots, but skin jobs, simulacra',(10) they look human but are in fact androids. L.A's police captain Bryant often refers to the replicants negatively as skin jobs'. They serve as workers in the off world colonies' but are illegal on Earth. The film follows Rick Deckard, a human detective known as a blade runner who hunts down fugitive replicants. Deckard is searching for a small gang of replicants who have escaped from the colonies and [are] on a mission to have their four year life span increased, but Deckard's mission is to retire' these replicants, retire' being a euphemism for execution in the film.
If we consider the scene where Deckard chases a replicant known as Zhora, many postmodernist features in the film can be acknowledged. Zhora has been working as a snake dancer known as Miss Salome, when Deckard speaks to her in her dressing room he asks her if her snake is real, but Zhora replies that if she could afford a real snake she wouldn't have to work as dancer. This reinforces the idea of the consumed planet where real animals are rare and therefore reduced to being a product that can only be had by the rich. Her snake, like Zhora herself, is a man made imitation, and therefore an example of man playing god, having both the power to destroy the planet and create life'.
Zhora runs away from Deckard who pursues her, she exits through a door which takes her onto the crowded, polluted street. Above the exit, the neon sign is broken so the impression is that the building, like most of the city at ground level, is in ruin. Deckard exits through the same door and this time the camera glimpses an advertisement for Budweiser' beside it. This reminds us of consumerism, and is also a sign that is recognizable to the audience, so it is an example of intertextuality in this scene.
The ruined buildings at ground level contrast greatly with the grand architecture of the huge skyscrapers seen at other points in the film, the rich live far above the streets in some of these structures. Referring to Blade Runner's' design, conceptual artist Syd Mead who worked on the film has stated that buildings were over three thousand feet high' so the street level would be a service alley to these towering mega-structures' and have a subterranean sewer look'(11). The immediate area outside the dressing room, seen as both Zhora and Deckard leave, contains people living on the streets having fires in bins, and also a broken car which appears to be stripped of parts. This imagery suggests a dump, and is further reinforced by the detail that those people who walk on the foul streets are literally of the low-life'' variety' as Danny Peary points out (12).
The first people we see there are wearing hats or helmets, as are most of the crowd both Zhora and Deckard pass during this sequence. Perhaps the hats offer some protection from the rain, but both Zhora and Deckard stand out as their heads are not covered by hats, their eyes are not hidden under dark goggles, and they do not hold umbrellas like most of the crowd. Although the replicants are stronger than humans, this similarity between them puts Deckard on the same level as Zhora. Neither needs protection from the rain, he will not stop pursuing her and she will not stop running, so they are contrasted against the walking crowds who are very mechanical like robots in their endeavors. This link between them may also be a hint that Deckard is in fact a replicant himself, Terry Rawlings, the films editor has stated that: Ridley himself may have definitely felt that Deckard was a replicant, but still, by the end of the picture, he intended to leave it up to the viewer to decide' (13).
The question of identity is a clear postmodernist concern, and critic Scott Bukatman has added that he believes the issue of human definition is clearly central to the work, and thus the ambiguity is crucial'(14). This view is similar to the philosopher Slavoj Zizek. He argues that Blade Runner' stages a confrontation with our own replicant-status', so it is only when we as humans realize that our notion of self is very much constructed by the world around us, that we can become a truly human subject' (15). The idea that the audience is not sure about the protagonist is another feature of postmodernism; the audience has to work at decoding meaning. Despite Deckard's hard boiled narration which links him to the detectives of film-noir and the past, he is also the unreliable or uncertain narrator which is another common element in postmodernist narratives.
The crowds walk towards the camera and we see a multicultural society, lots of Asians, Orientals, Punks, and even dancing Hare Krishnas. Along with car noises including sirens, glimpses of Zhora and Deckard in between people, railings and transport creates a sense that the streets are overcrowded. Heads or objects come in between these lead characters and the camera, and partly block their action in this shot.
The punks remind us of the 1980's as do some of the neon advertisements such as an Atari' sign seen behind Deckard as he shoots Zhora. The sign is showing another product or service that can be brought, and therefore represents corporate power, capitalism and consumerism along with signs for , Budweiser', Coca-cola', and even Pan Am' that are seen elsewhere throughout the city during Blade Runner'.
The crowd illustrates variety and consequently a fragmented society, they show little warmth towards each other, there are no smiles and no concern for Deckard or Zhora. They do not even react with screams when Deckard pulls out his gun, although that reaction is common in many films if a character pulls out a gun and shoots in a crowded space. Most of the crowd wears dark clothing, the notable exception being the Hare Krishnas who also appear trance like or mechanical in their dance. The grey clothing emphasizes the dark, grim streets with the neon signs that provide its only light, David Harvey suggests that: The chaos of signs, of competing significance and messages, suggests a condition of fragmentation and uncertainty at street level that emphasizes many of those facets of postmodern aesthetics' (16). The neon signs like the people are overcrowded and represent chaos, and fragmentation. The signs compete for space and for people's money, so they also mirror people in capitalist society according to Marxist thought. If we are to assume that this is the case, then it is competition and individualism encouraged by capitalism that explains why the crowd is so mechanical and distanced from one another. Harvey notes that the crowd are like the third world come to Los Angeles'(17) and this would support that they are victims of both capitalism and consumerism as I have suggested. In Blade Runner' it is Orientals that make the eyes and other parts for the Tyrell Corporation. The link between the crowd and the revolting replicants becomes evident here; both are exploited by the rich and capitalism. The replicants are victims of exploitation or slave labour', as said by Batty, the leader of the replicant gang. This is also evident in the fact that they are considered less valuable than animals' and have no legal rights'(18).
Deckard fires at Zhora whilst she runs through an arcade of shops, past windows where mannequins can be seen in the background advertising punk and sexual looking clothing, Zhora falls through glass and dies. Her clothing is in fact similar to that on sale breaking down another barrier between humans and replicants. As Deckard fires, non-diegetic music plays, the music is sad and electronic, and is juxtaposed with a heartbeat that stops when Zhora dies. The heartbeat, like the mannequins show that although she is not a human, she is not lifeless either until she is retired'. The sad music may also reflect the hopelessness of her condition despite her struggle to survive a little longer which is essentially a human characteristic. It also illustrates that although Deckard does his job, he takes no pleasure in what he does.
The police arrive instantly to collect the body, they turn her around and neon can be seen flashing in the glass under her head, the lights pulsate replacing the heartbeat sound effect, life will go on without her as if she never existed. This highlights her temporal existence but also ours. This idea is taken up again at the end of the film, before Batty's time runs out, he recounts to Deckard how experience is washed away in time like tears in the rain'. The only explanation Deckard needs to give to the police for what can be considered murder is that he is a blade runner. The replicants are offered no protection from the law; authority wants only to use them and can destroy them at any time. This argument can be applied to both humans in our real capitalist society, and also the crowd in this scene. We are controlled by an authority to which we have no link and so we have in a sense, already given our lives over to someone else who can destroy us, especially if we consider the idea of extinction due to nuclear war. We can be seen as zombies or robots living mechanical lives, and in this way, the crowd are reflections of us.
Following Zhora's retirement, Deckard goes to a stall and buys a drink, a Budweiser' advert can be seen above the bar so this sign has been seen before the chase and again now that it is over. Perhaps this is supposed to represent the cyclical, repetitive nature of life and the illusion of progress.
At the end of the film, Deckard reflects that: The replicants are just like most of us. They simply want to know where they have come from, where they are going to and how much time they've got'(19). So apart from their appearance, the replicants are human simulacra. Animals like the snake and Tyrell's owl are also imitations of the real thing. Blade Runner' is full of imitations, the Pyramid of the Tyrell Corporation has a mish mash' (20) of style from its Egyptian shape to the classical columns that decorate the interior, and this also mixes the future with the past. Furthermore Rachael, a replicant who doesn't have a four year life span and becomes Deckard's lover, reminds us of a femme fatale when we first see her at the Tyrell Corporation. We are uncertain about her at that point yet she is attractive and stylishly dressed. Pris, another replicant, looks like a punk, another reference to the 1980's, and Zhora wears a transparent jacket over a very revealing and sensual outfit which looks futuristic; so the film clearly plays with time and intertextuality. Space is also a factor, with the buildings and signs consuming most of it, and the crowd squashed between what little is left on the ground. The idea of corrupt authority, the corrosive effects of capitalism'(21), the film's use of levels to demonstrate differences between rich and poor; and lastly the look of the city with its huge mega-structures demonstrates that it is undoubtedly influenced by Metropolis, which was made at the height of Modernism. Uncertainty, unreliability, questions about reality and identity are also elements evident in Blade Runner. All these features allow the film to not only be considered extremely postmodernist but also influential in the evolution of postmodernism and its effect on film. In the words of Robert Stam: Postmodernism as a discursive/stylistic grid has enriched film theory and analysis by calling attention to a stylistic shift towards a media-conscious cinema of multiple styles and ironic recyclage -for example the relation between Madonna's Material Girl'' and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Much of the work on postmodernism in film has involved the positing of a postmodern aesthetic, exemplified in such influential films as Blade Runner' (1982), Blue Velvet' (1987) and Pulp Fiction' (1994)' (22).
(1)Cristina Degli-Esposti, Postmodernism', p.4.
(2)Cristina Degli-Esposti, Postmodernism', p.4.
(3)See:
Cristina Degli-Esposti, Postmodernism'.
(4)Robert Stam and Toby
Miller, Film and Theory: An Anthology (New York: Blackwell,
2000),p.753.
(5)Stam and Miller, Film and Theory, p.754.
(6)David Lyon, Postmodernity (London: Open University Press,
1994), pp.1-3.
(7)Lyon, Postmodernity, pp.2-3.
(8)Danny
Peary, Cult Movies Three (London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1988),
p.35.
(9)Danny Peary, Cult Movies Three, p.32.
(10)Lyon,
Postmodernity, p.1.
(11)Danny Peary, Cult Movies Three, p.35.
(12)Danny Peary, Cult Movies Three, p.35.
(13)Scott Bukatman,
Blade Runner (London: BFI, 1997), p.80.
(14)Scott Bukatman, Blade
Runner, p.82.
(15)Scott Bukatman, Blade Runner, p.83.
(16)David
Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell,
1989),p.311.
(17)David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity,
p.311.
(18)Danny Peary, Cult Movies Three, p.37.
(19)David
Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, p.313.
(20)David Harvey,
The Condition of Postmodernity, p.311.
(21)Lyon, Postmodernity,
p.2.
(22)Stam and Miller, Film and Theory, p.756.
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