Lit Log #2 - Bigger Connections

For my second lit log I chose to write about Blade runner and the films connections to society, technology and the environment.

Though I didn’t enjoy the film much, due to its oddity It definitely has some very prominent connections to society and the real world. Many things in the media are evolving and gaining a more futuristic perspective. Blade runner is set in 2019 which is what people in 1982 thought the world would be like then but we know from living through 2019 that it was nothing like that. The concept of what’s real and what’s not is a big theme in the film and plays a big role in how the characters interact with each other along with their characterization. A key distinction which separates the humans from the replicants is a test along with glowing eyes. The concept of what’s real and what isn’t is seen a lot nowadays with the production of artificial intelligence. Technology will keep evolving and at some point these forms of artificial intelligence may even have more power than us which is scary to think about.

There are many examples of things that are easy to tell if they’re real or not such as a real apple and a toy apple. However when these forms of artificial intelligence start to resemble the real thing to the point that they are almost identical we may not be able to tell them apart so easily. Though people find the virtual reality experience to be interesting, it’s actually pretty scary that we could put on a pair of goggles and see a totally different reality which would seem and feel real. Even though Artificial intelligence can be scary it can also be used for good such as in the medical field and more similarly how the replicants could also be used for good as well.

Blade Runner is important as a cultural artifact because it shows society’s perspective on what is real and what isn’t and also shows how society has these big grand ideas for what the future will look like however it most likely won’t be anything like that for centuries to come. People in the 90’s and early 2000’ thought we’d have flying cars by now but we don’t. A question the film starts to raise is “ What defines humanity?” Which is a pretty prominent question in the world today and the answer varies depending on the person. Having the ability to love, express emotions, and have a consciousness are some of the building blocks of humanity which the replicants didn’t have. The one exception was Rachel who had feelings but they had to be developed and taught over time.

Thinking back to the setting, the way that the film portrays Los Angeles in 2019 is very odd to say the least. Los Angeles is a very sunny place and in the film it’s the total opposite. It’s gloomy and rainy. Not only that but it has a sci-fi star wars like aura to it and it makes me wonder why they chose this instead of still portraying it as a sunny place. Out of curiosity I read an article on the portrayal of Los Angeles in the film and the decision behind it. The reason that Los Angeles looked that way in the film was because the goal was to portray a city in the midst of environmental and social collapse, which it most definitely did. Thinking about the society we live in now and the issues with global warming the movie almost gives us an insight to what life would be like with no trees or really anything real, and it’s scary. Would living in an artificial world really be living at all? Overall there are many societal connections that can be drawn from the film that really make us think about the world we live in and what it would be like to live in an “ artificial” world where the sky is gray, robots walk around, and there aren’t any trees in sight.