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“Blade Runner is not ‘about’ social stratification or identity, cultural alienation, or urban decay. Blade Runner is about death. The death of everything.” — Paul M. Sammon; Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner
Longevity is one of the themes of Blade Runner, Ridley Scott’s 1982 science fiction masterpiece. One’s total lifespan, if not their impact on the rest of the world. In the story, Rachel asks Deckard if he knows how long she, a replicant, has to live. In perhaps merciful ignorance, he replies that he doesn’t know. Yet unlike the manufactured characters in this neo-noir narrative, the movie itself has proven its durability. It is a cult classic. A warning from the late 20th century that continues to inspire audiences well into the 21st.
But have we heeded the film’s warnings? Were we merely entertained, or did we pay attention? Was it a meta comment on our own longevity?
This is the fourth and final of my essays on Blade Runner, one of the most influential films of the past four decades — and, I’m certain, in the decades to come.
Blade Runner warned us about ecological disaster due to climate change, mass extinctions, human trafficking/slavery, corporate power, police corruption, and the dehumanization of others. Some of these cautionary messages were implicit; others, more subtle. Yet they’re…
