MOVIE
REVIEW: BLADE RUNNER
If any movie conveys
the importance and the role of home media and memory it is the film, Blade
Runner. This movie, set in the not so distant future, from the very
beginning shows the importance of home media. There are projection screens,
black market shops with all types of technology, the eerie watchful eye. This
made me think of a Private Eye because you never know when you could be watched
or photographed.
Memory chips serve as a key element because that is what helps one remember
their experiences so their android qualities will not override their human
qualities. Epistemological qualities are what make up the androids quest.
They want to find their creator so they can receive more life. They have also
acquired all these sights and new memories and cannot begin to explain their
origins. It can be compared to the questions that humans ask of a deity; who
am I? Where do I come from? What is my purpose? It was ironic when Rutger
Hauer has the nails through his hands and then lets the dove go into the sky,
because here is a man made creation displaying the attributes and role of
some peoples Savior and for everything to work out his life must end.
I think a key metaphor applied to the memory aspect is the character of Deckard.
Here is a man that has spent his career eliminating a certain group, yet can
not decipher between reality and technology, in reference to his love for
Roselliniís character. Also the notion that it seems as though Deckard
has a hard time remembering what he is, human or android, is another example
of how metaphor memory. I think a problem with the ìconstruction of
memoryî is just that, construction. Who is constructing it and for what
purpose should be questions asked. I do not feel that anyone has the right
to impose their memory on another, and I think this is what the movie gets
at. If we rely too much on technology then we in turn become technology relying
on other components to make us operate and function.
It is in my opinion that the notion of self and perception of self are what
really matter within this film. The main antagonist has no notion of self
and only comes to this realization once life, or the life he has perceived,
is close to its end. Dictation, within this film on the level of being told
how to live or what one should do, leads the viewer to a more extensive reality
of the characters within. This film serves the viewer with not only a broader
visual focus, but how that visual focus can enforce who one truly is.
