Blade runner

The dystopian state of "Blade Runner" Chan Chun Ming, Clement Introduction "Blade Runner" directed by Ridley Scott, a British director, was released in 1982. This science fiction film was adapted from the novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” by Philip K. Dick in 1968. “Blade Runner” aroused plenty of heated criticisms among audience. There are seven versions of this film but this paper adopts the “Director cut’s version of 1992” so there is no voice over in the film. The theme of the movie points out the hideous side of selfishness among humans who make use of the replicants to work for them as slaves. The purpose behind creating those potential strengths of replicants, through the highly technological devices and sophisticated scientific knowledge, is to satisfy the needs of human beings. The background of the whole movie presents a dismal cityscape of Los Angeles in 2019.The streets are not only suffused with rubbish but also it is a crime-prone society in a futuristic ambiance and stuffy condition. It is strange why a futuristic city looks like a sterile environment. Furthermore, the only sunlight in the movie that can be seen is in the scene of Tyrell’s apartment while darkness is enshrouded in the entire movie, giving an unsettling feeling to audience. All the phenomena depicted in “Blade Runner” are to mirror the problems of our contemporary society nowadays. Furthermore, the superiority of technology fails to 2. build up an idealistic and harmonious society for people. The basic premise of this paper is to explore the reason behind a dystopian environment in “Blade Runner”. Any powerful functions or benefits that people can enjoy and satisfy through technological advantages of scientific achievement may become a nightmare in the future. In other words, a sense of insecurity becomes an ominous apprehension in a state of dystopian society in the foreseeable future. The definition of dystopia The entire text of "Blade Runner" is portrayed in a milieu of dystopian landscape and this paper, the first and foremost task, is to identify the definition of dystopia based on the binary opposition. The opposite of utopia is dystopia. According to the definition of utopia, it states that a fictive society based around notions of equality, social harmony, economic prosperity and political stability while dystopia refers to fictional societies that are incredibly imperfect, lacking the harmonious and egalitarian qualities of life depicted in utopias. The prefix of 'dys' means bad. Basically, these are two diverse notions in terms of a social concept. In addition, utopia was coined by Thomas More with a combination of Greek eutopia (a happy place) and outopia (no place) together. The difference between these two contrasting terms can outline the meaning of dystopia and examine the understanding of its counterpart about utopia. All in all, the definition of dystopia, which provides a useful vehicle to explore its meaning, can be used to vindicate how the environment of a society looks like and indicate what the problems of a dystopian state exists in the text. Problems of dystopian phenomena Numerous scenes of "Blade Runner" display plenty examples of the dystopian cityscape such as the gushing flames in the first scene, smoggy surroundings of streetscape, incessant falling of acid rain, rubbish-laden streets, insufficient sunlight in the city and the glaring spotlight of spinners (flying vehicles), illustrating the aspect of decadence in a dystopian city. The eco-disaster has devastated the whole city in an alarming degree. Furthermore, the impact of nuclear war produces the massive overkill that brings severe damage to human beings. That's why Sebastian is getting decrepit because of the toxic chemicals. The spotlights of spinners become the essential light source in the evening. Consequently, it constitutes the problem of light pollution as the spotlights give off glaring light at night. Crime is found in Los Angeles as the replicants kill humans as they take revenge on them because they have been under oppression by humans. The replicants are slave labours, working for 4. human beings and, most importantly and ironically, they are looked down upon in society. In fact, their status are the outsiders in society. It also reflects the problem of inequality existing in a futuristic society with such technological advancement. Said (2003:24) maintained that Orientalism not only offers a marvelous instance of the interrelations between society, history and textuality but also the cultural role played by the Orientin the west connects Orientalism with ideology, politics, and the logic of power. The replicants are treated as inferior class in terms of their identities as they are half humans and half machines. They are exploited to serve to humans. The rationale of Orientalism is to illustrate the imbalance of power which is found in society especially some group with stereotype in society. They are regarded to live in a fixed period at certain time in history. Thus, the status of the replicants is considered to be otherness and their identities of being replicants will last forever. To a greater extent, there exists two different classes in society, including humans and replicants respectively. The inharmonious aspect of society is noticeable since replicants are being oppressed by humans. It is ironical to say that inequality still turns out in a highly technology-orientated society in the future. Indeed, the rebellion of those relpicants is really caused by the selfishness of human beings who lead to the root of trouble in society. Different ethnic groups with a mishmash of various languages can be discernible in the movie especially in the crowded streets. The crucial point is to convey an important message that the process of diaspora has been underway and they are left on earth because they have little economic capabilities to settle in the off-world colony and, what's more, they are the underprivileged in society. The society is not in a state of idealistic entity in terms of economic prosperity. It is due to the fact that the economic resources of the society are dominated by a few conglomerates. The Tyrell Corporation, which is a striking example in the text, controls the production in society. It reveals how the capitalists exploit the economic opportunities in a post-industrial stage in the future. Instead of following a right track of utopian development with an evenly economic distribution, the society tends to go down into an abyss of dystopian swirl. The perfectness of society is far way from people. Williams (1988:384) claimed that the following items can be subsumed as the features of dystopia, including irreversible environmental pollution, numbing overpopulation, frighteningly violent crime, intractable bureaucratic administration and authoritarianism and the most heartless forms of economic exploitation. "Blade Runner" can find the above-mentioned characteristics of dystopia. The role of film noir Ostensibly, the dark lighting effect is one the vivid elements of film language to construct a predominant mood of the movie. The centrality of this lighting technique successfully builds up a unique aura to match with the production design of a dystopian degradation prevailing the movie thematically, powerfully highlighting a strong contrast of dark and light visual images. The movie belongs to a film genre of film noir, which was a major film movement in 1940's. Dick (1990:96) illustrated that in film noir, the interplay of light and dark is accomplished by high-contrast photography and low-key lighting, which create a monolinear world of white and dark. Actually, "Blade Runner" is not a black and white film. It makes use of film noir as a medium or a production design to reflect the atmosphere of a dystopian problem to audience, thereby giving a sense of insecurity and uncertainty towards a futuristic city with a strong emphasis of technoscience-based infrastructure. In doing so, it is highly critical of the age of modern technology and science because these two elements do more harm to humans totally. One point is worth noting that the essence of film noir turns into a momentum to reinforce the message of a dystopian state in the whole text thematically and aesthetically. All the crimes are committed at nocturnal timeframe. Several scenes of murder happen at night, including the killing of Holden, Leon, Tyrell, Zhora and Chew. The most stunning visual stimulus is the deadly fighting between Batty and Deckard at the ending of the movie with the downpour of rain elegiacally. It delineates how awful a dystopian situation it is. Darkness is a symbol, implying something terrible that is going to happen. Thus, the foggy streetscape is enveloped in darkness whereas the shining lights of the flying vehicle produce a sharp contrast in lighting effect artistically. There are certain traits of characterization found in film noir such as private detective and a female character who is a femme fatale. Deckard is a blade runner who hunts down and kills those replicants. Actually, his job is similar to a private detective while Rachael is a replicant who belongs to femme fatale. Lacey (2000:65) added that the conventional protagonist of films noir is an alienated male, a drifter or private eye detective and the character of the femme fatale. Deckard comes across Rachael in the course of chasing the replicants and the former becomes infatuated with the latter. The story line turns out a twist as Deckard saves Rachael's lives and they flee together out the dystopian city. In fact, it is an open ending as it leaves plenty of room for audience to figure out their final destiny. The interesting point is that the life span of a replicant lasts for 4 years so it triggers the audience to think of their romance whether it is a happy ending or sad ending. In film noir, the male character will change his fate when he meets a female character. Deckard has to choose to escape with Rachael as their decision because the outcome of being a replicant has to retire, implying extermination. If Los Angeles were a utopian city, social harmony and stability would co-exist in society. However, tolerance and mutual respect will become extinct in a futuristic society so there is nothing more to describe the social milieu of Los Angeles than a dystopian degeneration. The incorporation of film noir in the movie can strengthen the negative aspect of dystopian state. The dreadful nightmare in the movie is an epitome of our deep worry in contemporary society in which the technology has already brought us. Indeed, technological-determinism is not a panacea to everything although technology can help humans make their dream come true to a certain extent. The theory of postmodernism "Blade Runner" has been regarded as a classic example of postmodernism and Sunderland (2009) thought that "Blade Runner" has been seen as a quintessentially postmodernist film. The central notion is how the affinity between dystopia and postmodernism can be bound up together. Basically, postmodernism is anti-technology and skeptical to progress because nobody can guarantee technology is absolute security. Scientists and technicians have a set of beliefs based on truth and reasoning to underpin their conceptualization. Their truths become grand narratives. However, postmodernism totally denies any grand narrative. Science, with its importance of truth behind a set of grand narratives, fades away as it cannot overcome all the problems that human faces in reality. Lyotard (1984:37) asserted that the grand narrative has lost its credibility, regardless of what mode of unification it uses, regardless of whether it is a speculative narrative or a narrative of emancipation. Dr. Tyrell, a scientist, thinks that the replicants can help humans through sophisticated technology. However, it is not case. His purpose is based on the mentality of profit-making. Science, indeed, causes a lot of disastrous result to the earth and even the mutiny of the replicants. That is, the nature of science becomes malfunction. The technological devices or gadgets only make the society become a consumerism-orientated mode. Thus, consumerism is a major trend and a spectacle of society takes shape. This term is suggested by Guy Debord. The advertisement billboards are the bombardment of visual images of commodities found in "Blade Runner". This is the trait of late capitalism put forward by Fred Jameson and Barker (2008: 209) explained that late capitalism extends commodification to all realms of personal and social life, transforming the real into the image and simulacrum. The present trend of emphasizing superficial value through purchasing is a not a healthy practice. "Blade Runner" depicts this phenomenon in a futuristic society in order to satirize the acts of humans in existing society. It demonstrates that people are under economic exploitation and their living standard is not as idealistic as it seems in a technological city. It is apt to mention that some traits of postmodernism can be used to explain how the state of dystopia is formed in "Blade Runner" . The animals shown in "Blade Runner" are the replicas of the real animals as Zhora mentioned that she could not afford to buy a snake. The reason why all the animals are not real is that the eruption of eco-disasters kills all the animals on earth. It is ironical to say that all the animals look more real than the real one. Baudrillard (1983:148) claimed that it is reality itself today that is hyperrealist and we live everywhere in an 'aesthetic' hallucination of reality. It is hard to distinguish all the visual images whether they are real or fake because the age of simulation has already become a way of life in the postmodern period. The outlook of all replicants are as same as human beings except their limitation of memory system because they do not have past memory. Furthermore, their future also looks gloomy as they have 4-year life span. The design of the building identifies the particularity of postmodernism. The golden skyscraper of the Tyrell Corporation is an amalgam of the Gothic design and the modern architecture, becoming a kind of pastiche in artistic formation. The Tyrell building implies a symbol of economic exploitation in Los Angeles. This building does not signify economic prosperity but it denote how Tyrell enjoys a special status, controlling economic resources in society. Kuhn (1990:185) commented that the city is not an orderly layout of skyscrapers and ultracomfortable, hypermechanized interiors. Rather, it creates an aesthetic of decay, exposing the dark side of technology, the process of disintegration. The stylistic design of the building is only for the sake of artistic function rather than for making any positive contribution in a fair opportunity of economic development. The significant point is that advanced technology only results in bringing a dystopian society because the financial resources of a society are controlled by a few people. Conclusion The central focus of this paper places special emphasis on a dystopian state. In fact, it is the selfishness of humans who create the trouble to themselves. Most importantly, technology leads to a dystopian cityscape pessimistically. "Blade Runner" triggers our contemporary society to do reflection concerning technology that brings worry in society and it seems that "Blade Runner" offers an apocalyptic insight towards technological futurity. The significance of postmodernism, with it denial of truth towards science and acceptance of diversity, refuses to acknowledge technoscience as the sole contribution to society and, what's more, espouses heterogeneity, broadening a new horizon for people in contemporary society. In short, postmodernism, so to speak, is a new way of thinking in terms of zeitgeist. References Barker (2008) Cultural Studies Theory and practice.Sage.3rd Edition. p.209 Baudrillard, J (1983) Simulation. New York. Semiotext(e). p.148 Lacy, Nick (2000) Blade Runner- York Film Notes.Longman. Longhurst, B, Smith, G. Bagnall, G. Crawford,G&Ogborn, M (2004) Introducing Cultural Studies. Pearson: Longman. (1stEd) p.214 Lyotard, jean Francois (1984) The Postmodern Condition. Manchester. University Press. Kuhn, Annette (1990) Alien Zone.Verso, London and New York. Said Edward W. (2003) Orientalism. Penguin Books. http://dc-mrg.english.ucsb.edu/WarnerTeach/E192/bladerunner/Dystopia.Blade.Runner.Hoffpauir.htm - information about the meaning of utopia and dystopia. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1600763 (Ideology as Dystopia: An Interpretation of "Blade Runner" : Douglas E. Williams from International Political Science Review. Vol. 9 No.4 Sage Publication. http://cinemaroll.com/cinemarolling/blade-runner-and-postmodernism 14.