Bladerunner Info

To be able to write about Bladerunner, you obviously need to understand a little more about the context of Ridley Scott's film.

Due to the fact the 1980s weren't so long ago, sometimes it can be difficult to really understand the historical context of the period. To unpack the 19th Century is a lot easier as there is a wide scope of people - including historians - who have written about it. Thus, we are able to research, analyse and write about the times of Mary Shelley.

However, when it comes time to delve into the 1980s, the task isn't always so easy.

I've attached below a few paragraphs that will summarise what was going on at the time in the hope it may not only show you the time period in a clearer light, but will also show you how you can compare these ideas to Shelley's Frankenstein.

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Historical Context

The 1980s were typified by social unrest and disillusionment. Long established social practices and economic values were being challenged by aggressive advertising and marketing. This was brought about - among other things - by technological advancement, which made it much cheaper, easier and quicker to mass-produce items, especially in Asia. This lead to an increase in Asian-focused xenophobia as, in a relatively short period of time, the world became rather dependent upon the Asian workforce. The already heavily-populated countries - such as China and Japan - are represented in Bladerunner as being the overtly dominant races in the film. More than 2/3 of the extras for the film were Asian.

Then the world voiced their grouped concern on the world as it was becoming heavily polluted. Commercial exploitation, industrialisation, urbanisation and the excessive use of fossil fuels were the major concerns.

Science Fiction

You must know that Bladerunner mixes science fiction, detective fiction, film noir and the epic genres. The most prevalent two must be science fiction and film noir.

• Science fiction questions what it is to be human
• Advertising and mass-media dominate the landscape; this strange introduction from Scott flies in the face of the typical science fiction film, yet seems to work very well in conjunction with the film noir genre, made famous when French critics were describing Hollywood films of the 1980s

Film noir / Neo-noir

• An acid-rain infested, decaying world with an overarching atmosphere of impending danger
• Film noir (apart from being a film technique) is also view on humanity. As such, it presents a nihilistic opinion on the world, where morals, ethics and religious principles are ignored with the basic underlying notion that life is meaningless.
• Chiaroscuro lighting techniques and the discorded mis-en-scene compositions depict a dehumanising environment marked by human anonymity and vulnerability.

As Susan Doll and Greg Faller assert, "in film noir, the site of morality IS the protagonist, the lone detective" BUT in "science fiction, society as a whole questions its assumptions of morality".

I'll post some more information on the setting of the film and how it relates to the context later today, along with some notable information about characters in the film.

M