Blade Runner: How it Changed Sci-fi Forever
It’s easy to say that Blade Runner is a classic movie that tackles some large and mind-provoking topics. But this now world-renowned classic was once a blockbuster flop. When it first hit theaters in 1982, hardly anyone cared to see it. It wasn’t until the 90s did it slowly start to gain the recognition it deserved. To this day, three versions of the movie have been released to the public. The most popular and most preferred of the three is the final cut since this is the version that Ridley Scott had complete control over. No scenes were cut without his permission, and the story was told the way he saw fit, resulting in a movie that not only changed film forever, but changed cyberpunk, and even sci-fi as a genre forever.
Scott didn’t even read the book it was based on- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. In fact, all he read was the blurb and ran with it. And in a way, it's good that he did that. Because his perception of such a short concept pathed the way to a groundbreaking film that shaped how we view the sub-genre of cyberpunk. Unfortunately the author- Philip K. Dick- died before the movie was finished and never got to the full finished piece. But I’m sure he would have been blown away at how his story had been wonderfully interpreted by another creative mind.
Cyberpunk as a genre deals with what is often referred to as “High tech low life.” This means that it’s a genre that delves into the lives and the social structure of a world that has been so overrun by high-tech enhancements that it’s begun its inevitable spiral into a worsening economy.
Blade Runner- in the boldest of terms- started this genre and pathed the path for other pieces of media to do their own rendition of this concept. So much so, that it somewhat inspired another piece of work very popular in the literary world called Neuromancer by William Gibson which is said to have solidified the genre after Blade Runner started its faithful beginning.
For plot, Blade Runner is a story about an ex-bounty hunter named Rick Deckard who is assigned to one final mission. Retire rogue replicants who escaped Mars and fled to earth to start a new life for themselves. The thing about these replicants- which is a fancy word for androids- is that they look identical to humans. The thing that differentiates these things from humans is their lack of empathy and emotion. So Rick needs to use something called the voight kampth test to determine if one is a human or a replicant.
The whole message of the movie is to challenge one's perception of humanity. Rick fights with his morals as he slowly starts to learn more about the replicant's intentions to wanting to be free and happy. Even as he begins to fall in love with one, things get messy. The movie covers a large range of moral questions, and even at one point makes us asks ourselves if these replicants can be objectified. After all they are just objects, right? Correct, but they also have enough intelligence to understand and gain human emotions to become- as the movie’s catchphrase states- “more human than human.”
The complex plot, heavy themes, stunning visuals and well-composed scores changed how the film industry and creative entertainment as a whole view sci-fi. I for one had to do a double-take when I first saw a clip from the movie. I thought it was a movie made only a few years ago from the graphics alone. But after learning it was made in the early 80’s, I had to google it to believe it. The thought process and talents put behind the wheel of this movie put a spin on sci-fi as we know it, changing a genre that no longer just speaks of possibilities for the future, but shows a more realistic and grim side to this not so distant reality. Sci-fi isn’t just flying space ships and wacky robots like many films, shows, books and other pieces of media presented before that. Blade runner puts a more complex twist on the genre, and delves into the concept of morality, and why humanity is more complex than we might want to believe. It shows the black, the white, and most importantly, the grey of our world. It brings out many different types of opinions from many different people who try to analyze it, showing that humanity and its mortals are too complex when presented with questions like the ones brought up in this movie. It only confirms the truth that it is simply impossible to box people into certain categories when it came to our moral beliefs. Sci-fi wouldn’t be the way it is today if Blade Runner never existed, and we can say for sure that it walked- slowly and surely- so sci-fi as a genre could run.