Introduction
In the science of studying media and communication, there are many different ways of approaching the subject in which you are going to analyse. That is to analyse advertisements, texts, TV-series, films etc. and other media. My task for this assignment is to give an analysis of a film of my choice. A film is a quite complex medium to analyse; thus it is important to have analysis "tools" or some criteria to follow. In my analysis I am asked to consider the use and resolution of binary opposition and through analysis of narrative structure. In my assignment I am going to consider how the couple is represented, and how the narrative structure and binary oppositions have influence on the plot of the story.
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According to Todorov (in O’Shaugnessy, 1999, p. 107) there is a basic standard to narratives. In the start of the narrative, there is a stable situation (equilibrium) that is disrupted (disequilibrium) by a "villainous force" (Todorov in Taylor, L., & Willis, A., 1999, p. 76). This stable situation is restored in the end of the narrative. Or as O’Sullivan et al. says "A meets B; something happens; order returns" (O’Sullivan et al., 1994, p. 195).
According to Turner "most films start by establishing the lines of conflict which will determine or motivate the events and actions of the story "(1988, p.85). The opening sequence of Blade Runner displays the main conflict. Holden, who is a human interrogator, is killed by the replicant Leon. These are opposing forces that set the main conflict or the plot of the story.
However, this theory is not too easy to apply to Blade Runner. The movie does not start with what Todorov calls ‘equilibrium’ (O’Shaughnessey, 1999, p 107). In BR the equilibrium is quite diffuse. Even though the situation is going to get more unstable throughout the movie, there is a lack of stability, or plenitude, here. Deckard is in the middle of the chaos existing in Los Angeles in 2019, in a hostile atmosphere.
The disequilibrium starts when Roy and Leon (two replicants) enter the eye laboratory of the Tyrell Corporation. It is the first time in the film we encounter the replicants cold and
Identify and describe two conflicts in the story. Explain how the protagonist responds throughout the story and what his or her response reveals about him or her. Write in complete sentences.
Ridley Scott and George Orwell both continually depict control in their texts through the utilisation of various techniques, in order to portray the effect this has on the characters of Blade Runner and 1984 respectively. This is done by both Scott and Orwell expertly and provides the audience with further insight and depth of the characters. Orwell and Scott respectively utilise the surrounding setting of their protagonists to depict the control that they are under, each author does this by likening their protagonist to the setting and displays evidently that the setting has impacted the characters. Motifs and symbols are utilised heavily by Scott and Orwell to further emphasis the control that is currently
After a brief introductory text crawl which explains the world in which the movie takes place, "Blade Runner" cuts to a dark, futuristic Los Angeles. There are some flying cars, but mostly we see dark, smog-filled skies and smokestacks belching fire. As the camera moves across this landscape, blue eyes are
Roy Batty and Deckard are both able to show us what it means to be human. To what extent do you agree?
The result is that the dystopian future becomes a realistic possibility to the audience. This has two effects, in the first it makes the events of the film more plausible. Technological development and the creation of robotic life could eventually occur in our own reality. In this regard, the film is using image as presence by setting up this believable world. However, in the second arena it makes the audience reflect on the questions of urbanity and development that exist in our current paradigm, thus inviting discussion about the way human and planning elements are being merged together in our own technology driven world. These concepts are as relevant now as they were when the film was first released two decades ago. The camera continually roves over this world creating spatial continuity that implies that there is virtually no escape from this smoky, polluted, society. The landscape provides a site for making metaphor about the socioeconomic divide that characterizes the Blade Runner universe. The skyscrapers of the wealthy are clear symbols of how the poor are at the bottom of the socio economic
In contrast, the context at the time ‘Blade Runner’ was made was more concerned with the fragility of nature and the devastating effects the greed of the multinational corporations which were focused on the economical gain will have on the environment. The polluted world is shown through the
Contrastingly, the modern, technologically driven world of Blade Runner conveys man’s usurption of nature caused through his arrogance and desire for dominance. In this contrastingly industrialized, scientifically grounded world, nature has been relentlessly exploited and commodified, as man has attempted to ‘penetrate into the recesses’. The allusion to the Promethean myth through the symbolic use of fire is seen in the opening scenes of shooting fire, intercut with close up shots of an eye, symbolically representing fire as having the potential to both nurture and destroy life. The ignorance and metaphorical blindness of man, is highlighted through the self-imposed destruction of humanity, as nature is obliterated in favour of ‘commerce (being our) goal”, symbolically representing the destruction of our natural
Ridley Scott’s film Blade Runner reflects some of the key themes seen in Mary Shelley’s classic novel Frankenstein. For one, both the sources touch on the necessity of creators taking responsibility for their creations. Another key theme established in both works is the idea that emotional complexity and knowledge, over memory and appearance, allow people to be defined as human beings.
One of these plot points is the character Roy Batty, aka the sadistic fuckhead that gets pleasure from mankind’s heartbreaking distraught caused by Buster Friendly (who ain’t that friendly, friend). In the movie, Roy Batty and the other andies are violent criminals. They murder quite a few people who get in their way, but they never kill out of some sort of psychopathic detachment. They murder because they are afraid of dying, because they are plagued by the fear of the unknown. And when Deckard dangles from the roof of Sebastian’s apartment, Roy reaches out and hauls his enemy onto the roof. In short, the Batty of Blade Runner is a flawed hero who empathized with Deckard in his last
“War is peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength”, These are the moral codes and social conventions citizens of George Orwell's 1984 live by. With high level surveillance and publicly inflicted ideologies that promote the governing force puppeteering its nation, 1984 shares shocking similarities with increased security, political power and technology seen in today's world. In the same vein, Ridley Scott's dystopian futuristic thriller Blade Runner, set in an overpopulated, corrupt, corporation governed world can be compared to the world of today in terms of the rapid development in technology and the political influence large corporations can have on governments. Both texts create a futuristic world that is able to form connections with its audience to varying degrees. But how do George Orwell's 1984 and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner depicted futuristic worlds specifically relate to the audience of today?
Bound by different contexts, authors often use a popular medium in order to depict the discontent of the ideas of society. This is evident in the module Texts in Time; as Blade Runner, having been written more than one hundred years after Frankenstein is still able to reflect the ideas proposed in the latter. Blade Runner by Ridley Scott deals with the effects of globalisation and consumerism during 1980’s. Alternatively, the epistolary novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley deals with the kinship to the natural world set in the Romantic Era and enlightenment period. However Blade Runner, although subjected by a different context, also portrays a similar idea to Frankenstein; the fear of science and technology coupled with the value of the definition of a human. Through this commonality, we are able to utilise the values of Blade Runner in order to truly understand Shelley’s purpose.
‘Blade Runner’, the film adaption, directed by Ridley Scott in 1982, of the 1968 novel ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ by Philip K. Dick. This essay will explore the meaning of the Tyrell slogan “More human than human” by following Deckard on Earth in Los Angeles 2019 as a futuristic, dark and depressing industrial metropolis by looking into and discussing what is real and what is not, the good and the bad and why replicants are more appealing than humans. This essay will analyse and pull apart the “Blade Runner’ world, the condition of humanity and what it really means to be human.
It opposes the values of love, empathy and community with the innovative forms of technology and social life under advanced capitalism. The binary opposition between man and technology is represented by three characters in the plot: Deckard, apparently a human. Roy, an android who fears death and longs to be human and Rachel, who thinks she is human and who enters a relationship with a human. These replicants represent capitalism’s oppressive characteristics and also to a certain extent the rebellion against exploitation. Deckard's realization of how the Tyrell Corporation exploits him, and the rebellion of the replicants against their oppressors, is the ultimate critique of capitalism. Since both sides — killer and killed — reject their status as servants of the corporation and refuse further exploitation. (Kellner, et all) The corporation in the Blade Runner that is used to illustrate capitalism’s destructive characteristics is The Tyrell Coporation. The Tyrell Corporation invents replicants to have a controllable labor force that will perform difficult and dangerous tasks. Similarly applicable to today, where capitalism turns individuals into machines that have only the function of productivity. Ironically, the replicants form a human rebellion; while the actual human characters in the film seem to submit to corporate domination and live a life like the corporations sees them to. It seems as if the humans have become so dehumanized that the replicants form a rebellion against their oppressor instead of human beings. Capitalism has dehumanized the population to such an extent, that technology is actually more
This can be observed through Blade Runner’s hero Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) who struggles throughout the film to remember his past. A retired detective, Deckard was specialized in tracking down and destroying human replicants who attempt to live on earth. In 2019 the power of human replication has reached a new peak with the NEXUS 6; replicants that are far more advanced than their predecessors. They are stronger and more specialized than real humans because they are sent to off-world colonies as slave laborers. Deckard the best blade runner in Los Angeles is asked to return to duty a final time to find four NEXUS 6 replicants; Leon, Roy, Zhora and Pris, that returned to earth on a high jacked space shuttle. The replicants leader Roy wants to meet the designer of the replicants Elden
"Blade Runner" made its smashing entrance into the world in 1982 and quickly gained a cult following with its depiction of a bleak future consisting of