Blade Runner

I recently had to write a paper for my film/video II class on the whether film or digital video was better and what were each medium's advantages and disadvantages. Digital video, I concluded, is much easier to use, is of better quality, and is easier when it comes to putting in special effects. However, film definitely has that 'look' to it, and I think Blade Runner is just one of those films that I'm glad didn't have the option of using digital video. It'll always look better on film.

Blade Runner is a grainy, dark, and overall gritty film, and I love it for it. The way in which it was filmed brings the world of replicants and the year 2019 to live, and scares me a little bit. More specifically the replicants themselves scare me, and not because they're strong, fast and deadly. They scare me because sometimes they seem to be the most "human" characters in the movie.

The replicants have such a strong desire to live, to find out who they are and where they came from, it puts the real humans to shame. Deckard seems to care less whether he lives or drinks himself to death, but the replicants are the ones who are really interested in life and real emotion. The human desire/will to survive has long been a strong quality of the human race but seems largely abandoned in 2019 LA except by those who aren't human at all. The replicants to me represent much of what a human should be, they are almost role models, minus the killing and eye-gouging.

Specifically, Rachael has a very strong will to experience love and intimacy, and gives in to Deckard. Funny that the most romantic moments happen in a scene with a replicant (or two if you really must include Deckard). Also, exhibiting the strong will to survive is Roy, doing everything he can to save himself and his fellow replicants. That's another human quality too, saving your fellow persons, as Roy seeks a cure to his eventual death, but not only for himself.

Humans scare me in Blade Runner's depiction of the future. Sometimes being a replicant is just more "real".