Science Fiction in a Movie Writing Assignment

Student Name
Professor Name
Course
Date
Science Fiction in a Movie
For the purpose of this assignment, I have chosen a science fiction/action film, Blade Runner. This is the original version of the film which was released in 1982, and Ridley Scott directed this classic. The movie starred Harrison Ford in the iconic role of Deckard. I will be analyzing this movie on different levels as below.
Rhetorical
Blade Runner has been adapted from the novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (by Phillip K Dick). Its story is based on 2019 (nearly 40 years ahead of its time) where human androids are functioning in the society, called Replicants, who are programmed in such a way to have self-awareness of being androids (Bukatman 23). The movie does not only promote action and science fiction genre, but it plays on multiple levels with its themes and underlying ideas of a futuristic world.
Blade Runner mainly plays with the idea of genetic engineering and how humans are mastering this skill with time to control everything. The director presents this futuristic concept with the help technology and creates a unique link between the past, present and the future. The mise-en-scene has been used to enhance the sub-text of the film and high-tech environment is created to show the future whereas dark and gleamy places depict the past.
The film shows how humans and animals are created and programmed as a commodity, and their role is to serve the master, and they cannot use their own intellect (Bukatman 11). The human lust for power and to control everything is beautifully crafted with the use of genetic engineering concept. The movie also shows the domination and penetration of Japanese pop culture in America with large scale adverts on the big screens in LA. This prediction made in the film over 30 years ago has come true in today’s America and is evident and apparent across many industries.
Blade Runner also presents the on-screen concept of globalization back in the 80s with the help of some Asian characters. It goes on to hint towards climate change and global warming in the future since the temperature of the LA city has been shown very differently as rain continues to pour in the entire movie. This climate change is the reason for the increase in pollution fueled by industrialism.
On the religious level, the film has the character of Roy Batty (a sub-text of Christian allegory) whose characteristics are depicted as of Lucifer (Spiegel). There are many ideas and sub-texts used in the film, but we cannot enlist everything here due to certain constraints.
Ridley Scott has created a superb cinematic experience in the form of Blade Runner that is ever-young due to its sheer achievement in its core theme.
Media/Technology
Ridley Scott builds a world of futuristic ideas and concepts with the help of technology and the sheer efforts of his team. What he tries to show is the dystopian future in which the Replicants have a life mission, and they follow commands. Where the director presents the image of a future which is dark, mystical and cold in its nature the visual design of the film has some melancholic elements appear throughout the film which is also nostalgic in some ways. The visual look was achieved with the collaboration of Syd Mead who is an American designer and artist mastered in neo-futuristic designs.
Mead is not the only person who was up for this job as he worked alongside with the VFX artist, Douglas Trumball, and Lawrance Puall who was the production designer in Scott’s team. These three people worked and built on the early sketches of Mead to bring out a final design and image.
The world created in Blade Runner has traces of Asian cities’ neon color the cinematographer, Jordan Cronenweth, used Xenon lights for the first on a movie set to create a futuristic look that would sit well with other elements of production design and technology played a major role in achieving everything during the entire process.
It is almost impossible to imagine a science fiction movie without making use of technological advancements (Atkins 31). Each area such as VFX, production design and visual design rely heavily on the use of tech to create a visionary world to support the director’s vision so he or she can convey a message that he or she wants to convey. Not all movies efficiently do this but those that do leave us in a state of ‘Wow.’ Movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey and A.I. are the sheer examples of...