Directors (David Lynch)
The first director though which I am going to talk about and break down is one of my favourite directors ‘David Lynch’. Lynch since the early 80’s has become an influential filmmaker in history of film making starting out with his first film’Eraserhead’. This film sees the protagonist lead a life but when his wife is pregnant and gives birth to a premature baby he starts to have doubts weather it is his and starts to encounter lots of surrealism. Surrealism is displayed a lot in Lynchs Early Work and is what technique he uses the most in his film making from ‘Eraserhead’ to ‘Mulholland Drive’. In eraserhead it was shot in black and white and this technique is again used in his 1980 film ‘The elephant man’ which was his first Hollywood picture. He uses Black and White to create a much more of an atmospheric environment and picture in eraserhead and the sound used is based on his own experiences from where he grew up in Philadelphia such as the sound of the factories and in his hit tv show ‘Twin peaks’ which was around in the early 90’s he also references where he grew up again and this takes me to ‘Blue Velvet’ where he bases that on a small town but with a lot of goings on throughout the town so is represented as an idealic American dream form of town but with a seedy background. This is also apparent through his tv show ‘Twin Peaks’ where a murder happens and an FBI agent has to found out who has done it and why and then behind it there is a lot of goings on throughout it under this idealic town.In Lynchs 2001 film ‘Mulholland Drive’ it is again showing the idealic America but this time set in the ‘City of Dream’s ‘ Los Angeles,which is quite ironic for being a lynch film and what happens during the film.
Lynch also likes to use objects in a different form of manner to create surrealism,such as in ‘Twin Peaks’ he uses the fan from Laura Palmers house to create a form of artistic approach to it and In ‘Blue Velvet’ he sees an ear covered with ants to create a form of mystery and investigation surrounding it. In Lynch films there is always one thing that creates the film and the plot,such as in ‘Blue Velvet’ if he hadnt found that ear would we have still had a film? And for example in ‘Mulholland Drive’ there is also the car crash at the beginning that creates the narrative for that character and creates the plot that can drive the film on.
In Lynch films we also see the main protagonist as a form of just a normal character that just happens to get dragged into these sitiuations by chance like in ‘Blue Velvet’ with the ear. In Lynchs ‘The Elephant Man’ we are given the shock factor when doctor treeves first sees the Elephant man, he tends to use the shock factor a lot by using his surrealism technique and applying it to things that we have never seen before or that we are shocked by.
In Lynch films we are always seemed to be going on an investigation with the main character and we only find out stuff when they as the investigator finds out stuff,so in respect we are both investigators. This is apparent in ‘Blue Velvet’ ,’Twin Peaks’ and ‘Mulholland Drive’. Both ‘Blue Velvet’ and ‘Mulholland Drive’ are seen as a film noire genre in my eyes because of the content in the films such as the investigation throughout the films and the set used is very 50’s esque and very idealic 50’s setting. In ‘Eraserhead’ , ‘The Elephant man’,’Blue Velvet’ ,’Twin Peaks’ and ‘Mulholland Drive’ we often see a picture of someone mostly a woman of some sort which is quite important to the plot and has a form of attachment or link towards one of the characters in the film.
Lynch does tend to use dream sequences throughout his films such as ‘Ersaerhead’ when he experiences the woman behind the radiator and also in ‘Twin Peaks’ and most definitely ‘Mulholland Drive’ where his dream/subconscious technique is pushed to its extreme and is the film itself.
In conclusion Lynch is and has been one of the most influential directors /film maker since the late 70’s and has produced some pieces of work that will go down in cinema history for a long time. He has also created his own techniques and applied them to the cinema and also inspired other film makers. In my opinion I think he is an auteur because he does use his own techniques and styles throughout his films so that when we watch a Lynch film we no that it is a Lynch Film. In Lynchs 2001 film ‘Mulholland Drive’ it is again showing the idealic America but this time set in the ‘City of Dream’s ‘ Los Angeles,which is quite ironic for being a lynch film and what happens during the film.
Lynch also likes to use objects in a different form of manner to create surrealism,such as in ‘Twin Peaks’ he uses the fan from Laura Palmers house to create a form of artistic approach to it and In ‘Blue Velvet’ he sees an ear covered with ants to create a form of mystery and investigation surrounding it. In Lynch films there is always one thing that creates the film and the plot,such as in ‘Blue Velvet’ if he hadnt found that ear would we have still had a film? And for example in ‘Mulholland Drive’ there is also the car crash at the beginning that creates the narrative for that character and creates the plot that can drive the film on.
In Lynch films we also see the main protagonist as a form of just a normal character that just happens to get dragged into these sitiuations by chance like in ‘Blue Velvet’ with the ear. In Lynchs ‘The Elephant Man’ we are given the shock factor when doctor treeves first sees the Elephant man, he tends to use the shock factor a lot by using his surrealism technique and applying it to things that we have never seen before or that we are shocked by.
In Lynch films we are always seemed to be going on an investigation with the main character and we only find out stuff when they as the investigator finds out stuff,so in respect we are both investigators. This is apparent in ‘Blue Velvet’ ,’Twin Peaks’ and ‘Mulholland Drive’. Both ‘Blue Velvet’ and ‘Mulholland Drive’ are seen as a film noire genre in my eyes because of the content in the films such as the investigation throughout the films and the set used is very 50’s esque and very idealic 50’s setting. In ‘Eraserhead’ , ‘The Elephant man’,’Blue Velvet’ ,’Twin Peaks’ and ‘Mulholland Drive’ we often see a picture of someone mostly a woman of some sort which is quite important to the plot and has a form of attachment or link towards one of the characters in the film. Lynch does tend to use dream sequences throughout his films such as ‘Ersaerhead’ when he experiences the woman behind the radiator and also in ‘Twin Peaks’ and most definitely ‘Mulholland Drive’ where his dream/subconscious technique is pushed to its extreme and is the film itself.
In conclusion Lynch is and has been one of the most influential directors /film maker since the late 70’s and has produced some pieces of work that will go down in cinema history for a long time. He has also created his own techniques and applied them to the cinema and also inspired other film makers. In my opinion I think he is an auteur because he does use his own techniques and styles throughout his films so that when we watch a Lynch film we no that it is a Lynch Film.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Remake and the Original)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a film directed by Tobe Hooper and was released in 1974. Hollywood was changing in the late 60’s and the early 70’s due to the French new wave in which American film makers were being inspired by French cinema and adapting the ideas that they already had and bringing it to the American Hollywood.and it was no exception for the Horror genre in cinema.In the horror genre there was ‘Night of the living dead’ that started off the change of horror in cinema and films such as ‘I Drink Your Blood’ and ‘The Last House on the left’ were creating a new brand of genre of horror films and pushing the limits and holding no boundaries,The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was to follow suit. In 1974, Tobe Hooper came up with an idea for a new horror film,he wanted to create something different and hold no boundaries to horror films. The film was inspired by the Ed Gein, who used to kill people and use there flesh for food and for furniture. The killer Ed Gein also inspired legendary film maker Alfred Hitchcock to make his film Psycho. In both of these films the house used is very similar looking with the stairs being on the right and the room where ‘Leatherface’ takes his victims being on the left.
The killer leatherface is the most biggest,frightening and frightened character in the film,what with the audience being scared of him but the character himself being scared of outsiders and scared of anyone to break this routine that he, him and his family have.
In 1974, the Vietnam war was still going on and didn’t end till 1975, this tells me that there was horror happening in the outside of the real world such as the Vietnam war,so the film could be said to be made to coincide with what was happening as in even though there is wars going on in another country the film tells me personally that there is horror happening in there own country. In the film we see five friends travel across America to texas to see there old grandfathers grave,where he is buried,but are shocked to see that it has been vandalised. We then see them stop off at an old country house to rest up but then encounter the weird cannibalistic family and there son ‘Leatherface’ .
In 2003 there was a remake of the original film, to mark the 30th anniversary of the original film, the film was directed by Marcus Nispel and produced by Micheal Bay,and starring upcoming actress Jessica Biel.
The film itself came at a time when America was in mourning after Alqueda ordered a plane to be crashed into the twin towers in New York City on September 11th 2001. These events marked years of mourning for americans and drastically changed cinema forever. These events sparked a war between the western countries,America with help from the United Kingdom to seek out the terrorist leaders Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin laden from Iraq and Iran.
The reason that cinema changed was because films were being toned down and ideas were being remade during the noughties era because it was soo soon after 9/11. This film is a remake of the original, it was made for the 30th anniversary,but was it really though? Was it made because film makers were running out of ideas or was it because film makers were playing it safe so soon after 9/11 and going with ideas that they already knew existed. At the time throughout the noughties ,many horrors from the 70’s and 80’s were remade, such as ‘Halloween’ and ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ ,This again brings up the idea that did film makers run out of ideas or did they want to play it safe with ideas that already existed so soon after 9/11. Personally I think this film was remade for its anniversary of the original but was also a coincidence that it was made at such a tender time for America. Leatherface in it could be seen as a form of representation of the horrors happening to normal people exactly like what happened in 9/11.
The film itself sees a group of friends again travel across America but this time they aren’t going to visit there grandads grave,they are going to a concert, this could be seen as a more modern ‘MTV’ generation take on texas chainsaw massacre. They then pick up a hitchhiker, who is a girl,in the original it is part of the Hewitt family and also a male ,this can be represented as a form of woman’s rights are more prominent in this era then what they were in the 70’s such as in the 70’s version the Hewitt family are pretty much all male characters, while the 00’s version there are some female characters in the Hewitt family and more female characters actually in the film and can play on the fact that woman have more of a prominence in society as well as prominence in the family and the film itself.
The money used for both films are of vast difference the original was made on a budget of just over 83 thousand dollars while the remake was made with 9million dollars,this can be seen as the original texas chainsaw was an independant film and was not through Hollywood as in the remake was made with so much money and a Hollywood budget there is a vast difference.
The sound used in the original film is very rusty and not a clear noise, it was mixed with a lions roar and a chainsaw to create a much more darker effect of the chainsaw,while the remake, the noise of the chainsaw is very clean and not very noisy at all like it is in the original. In the original there seems to be no boundaries as there is a wheelchair prone character and it signifies that even though this guy is in a wheelchair leatherface wont stop at anything if someone disrupts his surroundings. Also in the original we rarely see any gore in the film ,as it is left up to the audience to wonder whats just happened to this character and what pain they are going through and what emotions they are feeling. In the remake we see so much gore, due to the gore being shown is just takes the whole mystery of whats happening to the characters and reveals it to the audience as it happens to the characters themselves. This extereme gore is part of the noughties horror generation where gore was pushed to the limit and nothing was left for the viewer to wonder because we have seen it there happen,such as ‘Saw’ and ‘Hostel’ . This plays on the fact that the 9/11 effect, we seen stuff like that happen in real life ,so why should we now hold back in films after seeing such horrid things in real life?
The lead female characters are different aswell, in the original the female lead is blonde and runs around screaming and does get stereotyped as someone who doesn’t think about her actions but just tries to survive by any means nesscary ,while in the remake the lead female character gets stereotyped as a woman who tends to think of her actions and is a born survivor and has different coloured hair,which is dark hair so it does just by looking at her stereotypes her as a strong character and she nos what to do in situations when it comes down to it ,like Ripley from ‘Alien’ and Laurie Strode from ‘Halloween’.
The original has a documentary feel to it as if we are witnessing what is happening to these characters from a realistic point of view and witnessing this family and what they do to ‘strangers’ with it shot rarely using images to show what is happening but more using sound to tell the audience what is happening. The remake seems like a film and seems like a very Hollywood produced film with it being funded by more then 9 million dollars, the remake has a grey colour throughout the film and it tends to be used outside of the Hewitt house,but when we are in the Hewitt house,we see a very yellow orange colour which can be referenced and paying homage to the original film,with that being set in the 70’s and the 70’s tending to use the colours yellow and orange to create a bright but dark gritty colour that can represent the 70’s. In conclusion both films were a success at the time,and both grossed financially making a lot more then what there budget was. The original though in my opinion will always be remembered and will go down as a great classical horror film for many years to come and a film many people can learn from. The remake however at the time was a good film and was remembered and does in some respects have its place in horror of the noughties,and is possibly one of the best remakes of horror films in the noughties. However the remake will in my opinjon not be remembered as much as the original as the original at the time was a breakthrough for the horror genre in cinema and will be remembered for many years to come,where as the remake is just a flash in the pan for cinema.
The Rise and the fall..and the Rise and Fall again Of Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando? Who is Marlon Brando? Star Theory? What is Star Theory? And what do both of them have in common?Marlon Brando was an actor born on April 3rd 1924,in Nebraska,USA. Brando first started out on the broadway stage in 1944 but eventually left in 1949 to concentrate on movie work. At first when talent scouts did come to screen test him so he could join the studio,he turned them down not wanting to be part of there 7-year contract as it was back then,was this the first sign of Brando being a rebel in Hollywood?
His first major film that gave him his breakthrough into the acting world in hollywood was 1951 film ‘A streetcar named desire’ and eventually followed up roles in the 50’s,the golden era of Hollywood in films such as ‘The Wild One (1953)’ , ‘On the Waterfront (1954)’, and ‘Guys and Dolls (1955)’ , towards the late 50’s and throughout the 60’s his career went into decline up until the early 70’s,Everyone thought Brandos Career was over.
In the 50’s the Golden era of Hollywood,there was two more famous stars and still icons to this day,in the likes of ‘James Dean’ and ‘Marylin Monroe’. James Dean was one of the Golden Era in Hollywood and starred in some iconic golden age Hollywood films,such as ‘East of Eden (1955)’, ‘Rebel Without a Cause (1955)’ and ‘Giant (1956)’. Dean was represented throughout his films as form of rebel but towards the end he started to sort out the error of his ways. In 1955 during production of his last Film ‘Giant’ Dean Tragically died in a car accident,a head on collision with another car and died instantly,to this day dean is known as a star,an icon. In David Cronenberg’s film ‘Crash (1996)’, there is a scene which replicates the James Dean Car Crash which tragically took his life,for a Director to put that in his film and remember and reference James Dean nearly 40 years on does make him an icon,a star in his own right,but was it is tragic death or his career that made him such an icon? Was it because he was the first of a new breed of on-screen actor.
Marilyn Monroe was the Star Actress of this Hollywood golden Era in the 50’s starring films such as ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)’, ‘How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)’ and ‘Some like it Hot (1959)’. Monroe in her films portrayed the role of a form of angel with her blonde hair and was to some extent in some of her films portrayed in a dream like state with the studio using the light to its advantage to portray this. In other roles she was cast as the ‘stereotypical dumb blonde’ but was she really like this outside of her screen roles? Again like James Dean,she again died in tragic circumstances found dead at her home,supposedly it was suicide,but she died with having links with the mafia and the Kennedy brothers,her death is still unsolved to this day. Having made only 30 films in her career,she is still perceived as a star of the golden era and an icon.
Marlon Brando in the 50’s in the Hollywood golden era created a new form of acting which was known as Method acting. He used this new style of acting which was different from the acting used originally in films throughout his career and created a whole new type of acting for many actors in years to come to take note and follow.
In the late 60’s Hollywood changed the golden era was changing,the studio systems weren’t making enough money and were running out of ideas. The deaths of James Dean and Marilyn Monroe had come and gone,Brandos Career looked all but over.The Golden era of Hollywood was over.Times were changing. The studio system had changed they couldn’t afford to keep these actors on for 7-year contracts,films were moving out of these studios and becoming more independent. The studio had they controlled Brando and what he was made out to be in his films as a form of rebel in his films? Or was he actually a rebel throughout this life and career.
During the late 60’s the New wave started taking circulation and films started changing,especially in America. Directors had started taking charge of films and the power was with them now,not the studios. The early 70’s a new type of star was coming through,the likes of Robert De Niro,Dustin Hoffman,Jack Nickholson and Al Pacino. These actors were special,they weren’t tied down by studios,not like stars 20 years previously. These actors would star in films right up until now,and in respect they are stars and icons,they took Brandos acting methods that he ahd bought to the screen and applied it to there own acting styles. In our modern Hollywood, we see stars being constantly used by the directors now not the actors being used by the studios,we see Kyle McLachlan being used by surrealist Director David Lynch often in his films,we see Harrison Ford being used frequently in george lucas films,such as ‘Star Wars’ or ‘Indiana Jones’ or during the 70’s The New Actor just coming through Robert De Niro Working with Famous Director Martin Scorsese. Is the director more of a star in modern history then the actual actors/actresses cats in there films?
What was going to happen to Brando now? Where would he fit in? With all this new talented stars coming through who would want to take a punt on this old actor? His luck finally changed. Famous Directors, Francis Ford Coppola Decided to cast him in his film of the Novel by the same Name ‘The Godfather (1972)’. How would he fare in this film alongside the likes of Al Pacino and Robert Duvall. Brando was hard to work with wanting more money then the other actors or actresses cast in the film and even won the best Oscar for his role as the godfather but snubbed the offer,he was starting to show his true colours and showing the world that he was ‘a rebel’ like in his films that was starred in 20 years earlier.
Brando went on to star in films in the 70’s such as ‘Last Tango in Paris (1972)’, ‘Superman (1978)’, and Another Coppola Film ‘Apocolypse Now (1979)’. He got offered the role of Don Vito Corleone again for the sequel for ‘The Godfather Part II (1974)’. He didn’t turn up for the last scene the one scene that he was needed for after being publically humiliated during the production of ‘The Godfather’ by this New studio system that was in place (Paramount Pictures). Brando didn’t like this New studio system.
On the set of Apocolypse Now,Brando turned up late for shooting,came without even reading the script and didn’t even try to even look the part. This time he wasent rebelling against the studio system he was rebelling against his former director of ‘The Godfather’ Francis Ford Coppola. This would be his last role in such a major film.
Brandos Career soon went into freefall again and he only starred in B-Movies until his eventual death on 1st July 2004 with,Obesity and stress eating the cause of his death.
In Conclusion stars have come and gone and the meaning of the word star has changed. In the 50’s we had Icons such as James Dean and Marilyn Monroe. In the 70’s we has this new breed of acting with the likes of De Niro, Pacino and Nicholson gracing our screens and now we have the likes of Di Caprio, Bale and Gosling Gracing our screens still using the technique that Brando himself bought into film known as method acting. Brando will go down in the history of film for his acting in the golden era of Hollywood in the 50’s,his comeback in the 70’s and also his two downfalls sadly,but lets not forget how much Marlon Brando has influenced Cinema,Acting and Stars.
Bladerunner:Final Cut
Bladerunner is a feature length film directed by Ridley Scott and starring actor Harrison Ford as ‘Bladerunner’. The film itself opens up with the credits and as soon as the credits start to cut to each different credit a sound is played as soon as each credit hits,this could be interpreted as a form setting the genre for what film it is but for what genre it is could be seen as many genres either interpreted by many people as an individiual genre of a mix of genre, also known as a genre within a genre also known as a sub-genre.The opening credits are very straight to the point with Ridley Scott giving us a prologue at the beginning of the film with the date and location telling us where the film is set ,the film itself is set in Los Angeles. Ridley Scott also includes the date of when the film is set so even though it is Los Angeles and we see the words on the screen saying ‘Los Angeles,2019’ we are left with a form of enigma or mystery for about 10 seconds as to what is happening in 2019 Los Angeles. The Prologue then concludes and tells us what is happening in 2019 just with words on the screen and because we are left in form of enigma we want to no whats going in 2019,the future. The film itself though with the words on screen gives us, the audience the knowing of that this is most possibly a Sci-Fi genre film, the reason that us the audience are most likely going to interpret it as a Sci-Fi genre film is because of just a simple date ‘2019’. Codes and conventions of Sci-Fi film are, set in the future,a form of new species (aliens from out of space or robots) or something in our reality just isn’t possible in ‘Real life’.
The actual first shot of the film that we see is an establishing shot of the City and gives us the audience a first chance look as to what ‘Los Angeles 2019’ will be like from Ridley Scotts Perspective. We see not much of people wandering around in the street for the first few minutes we see the camera use establishing shots to establish locations for the audience as to what sort of environment we are in and is used to ‘set the scene’. During this time we see cutaways of an eye,human or not we are not sure and it dependant on how us the audience interpret it, I interpret this eye as a sign of the film and how the eyes will drive on the plot of the film or be a good focus point in the film, and to me personally it represents a ‘Replica’ (The name of the robot life forms in the film) . The Eye that we see itself is used as a reflection of the city and when the eye is in shot we see the city landscape as if we are seeing it through the eyes of the eye. The establishing shot then takes a lead towards just on building.what is inside this building,we don’t as of yet but when the camera focuses on the building and zooms slowly onto the building itself we see cutaways of a man standing up in a room with the littlest glimmer of light coming through the window into the room. The cutaways to this shot of the man on his own in this room while the camera is still zooming in and focusing on one building tells me that this is what is going on in the building and who is inside the building. The first time that we see Harrison Ford’s Character he is seen sat down at a form of stall in a busy market purchasing food, the market stall or the market in general and the other different stalls around it including various buildings and the figure of the asian woman on the big screen tells me that this place is a form of representation to the place in Japan called Tokyo because throughout the film we do actually see various market stalls majority of them with asian women running them and we see a language which represents the foreign lanauage of an east asian country such as Japan or China. This tells me that’s there is form of eastern asian culture around Los Angeles and is at its highest . There are various themes running throughout the film with themes such as Good/Evil and Light/Dark. The main obvious theme running throughout the film is obviously Good and Evil what with the Bladerunners trying to stop the Replicas,but towards the actual end of the film it could be interpreted as still good and evil but as the other way round because all the Replicas want is too just stay alive and be human like because all they can stay alive for is 4 years and the Bladerunners could be seen as Evil because there setting out to stop these people by any means necessary. Another theme which I seemed to pick up on throughout the actual film is Light and Dark and this does play a big part on the film, throughout the film we see there is very little light,natural light anyway because the majority of the light that we see is coming from lights off building or out or in buildings and this would mean that this light is coming from electricity so isn’t very natural at all and like the Replicas is just a form of ‘Technology’. The light which was used in rooms wasent very much and was usually from the light outside from all the electricity but when the light did come through the rooms it did only shine on important things in the room that were important and beneficiary to the audience. There was though 2 points in the film though which I picked up on the use of natural light coming from the sun itself and that’s when we first see Harrison Ford’s Character meeting the woman Replica in which he starts to develop feelings for such as caring for her and starting to possibly love her. This light comes from the sun through the window when both the characters are both in the same wide shot meeting each other,this could be represented as a form of something between these two characters is about to blossom either friendship or maybe even love. In this scene ford does complain about there being too much sunlight in the room so this does tell us that either he isn’t used to the sunlight or the fact that possibly the light may effect the eyes of the Replicas when he goes to question them on weather they are Replicas or Humans,this again tells me that the eye at the beginning of the film is a signifier that the eyes are part of the plot of the film. The other and only the 2nd time that we see a form of natural light is when the last living Replica dies on the rooftop next to the ‘Bladerunner’. This could be interpreted as many things such as the ‘Good’ has prevailed with the good finally destroying the last replica and the ‘bladerunner’ can now finally take a sigh of relief or maybe even so that the Replica when he died did see the light and the good and did want to finally do Good but for him it was too late. A point at the end of this film though that can be used with the light is when the dying Replica is holding a dove and when he does die the dove flies off and can be represented to some people as a sign of peace and to me this signifies to me that the Replica has at least come to peace with the World and Bladerunner but quite possibly himself. There seems to be a lot of panning shots such as when Bladerunner is on the piano and it shows him just before he goes into his dreamlike or imaginative state. There seems to be pan shots whenever something scientific that isn’t actually available to us to use in our reality such as when Bladerunner is on the computer searching for a clue as to where one Replica looks like and where she might be hiding. Another pan shot is used when it pans across the blue cells and when both the male and female replicas go to hold hands with each other there is a crossfade onto some eggs so this could become an interpretation of human life and birth.
There are various close ups especially of Bladerunners face when he is talking because this could seem as even though we have Bladerunner in shot what we hear him say is important and we don’t need to see his mouth to no what he is saying as we can hear it and don’t need to see his mouth.
Close-ups wise there also seems to be various close-ups of objects or stuff of importance when Bladerunner picks up objects throughout the film this tells us the audience that this is important and not only Bladerunner needs to no about it so it can lead him on in his investigation into the Replicas but also is importance to us because like Bladerunner we don’t know where the Replicas are either and pieces of evidence will help us the audience and Bladerunner throughout the film.
Speaking about Objects of importance it does lead me to believe that this film can also be interpreted as a Film Noire film what with the main key plot points of the Film Noire genre,so this has lead me to believe and intepret this film as a film with 2 genres the main genre being sci-fi to set the scene and the sub-genre of the film being Film Noire to help drive the plot on and give the film depth.
The film has many detective aspects to the film and can be compared to films such as ‘Se7en’ because of the fact that in both of these films the rain and light does play a big part in both films and they both do well to contrast emotions, Bladerunner though does rain loads to create a Film Noire detective film and to make it dark and the rain does help create an enigma in the film. In bladerunner the key detective does get emotionally involved with one of the key suspects,them being the Replicas like the film ‘Chinatown’ in which the detective gets emotionally involved with one of the key suspects in a murder case. The film ‘Minority Report’ is also very similair to Bladerunner and most possibly was influenced to a certain extent by it, both films are set in the future and both are very film noire sub-genre with them both being dark and having very little light only when light is needed to show important scenes or objects, an influence from ‘bladerunner’ that influenced one part of ‘Minority Report’ is the fact that it revolves around the eyes and with the eyes in ‘Minority Report’ that’s how people are registered in the film and are caught during crimes and like in ‘Bladerunner’ its how you can tell the difference between a ‘Replica’ or a Human. The sound in ‘Bladerunner’ plays a big part with convincing the audience that ‘Bladerunner’ is actually shot in 2019 and not shot in some Hollywood studio, the sound is used to create noises and sounds for the hovercrafts which are on the screen so the audience can escape from reality and actually believe it. The sound I thought did create moods for characters like loneliness for ‘Bladerunner’ and when the chase scenes were on the sound used there did tend to make things abit tense and put you in ‘Bladerunners’ shoes because like him you wanted to succeed in capturing or possibly killing the Replicas. The scene when ‘Bladerunner’ is in his hovercar we can see that detective ‘Bladerunner’ is sitting in his car and listening to the audio coming from the car,by hearing this the audience no that ‘bladerunner’ probably has some past demons psychologically and is struggling to deal with them as we do see in his dreamlike sequence. The film has many ambience sounds throughout the film that do suit the genre and keep up with both genres involved (Sci-Fi and Film Noire). When he is in his room we can hear jazz trumpets playing which is coming from the Film Noire era so even the sounds playing back up both of the genres which are involved. in the end sequence when the Replica is chasing him the Replica howls like a wolf this could be interpreted as a the Replica being the wolf and is wanting to hunt his prey down. When ‘Bladerunner’ looks at photos there are in black and white and this signifies to me that they must not only be old pictures but also may be of someone he has lost and is struggling to cope without such as his mother or a former love. With the pictures being black and white it again backs up the reason that Film Noire plays a massive part in this film.
When the ‘Bladerunner’ kills the first Replica the time slows down and I interpret this as a form of message to the audience that the ‘Bladerunner’ will actually stop at nothing to stop the Replicas and wont let anything stand in his way until he has done his job.
During the scene where ‘bladerunner’ encounters the Replica in the nightclub dressing room he also entouners a snake aswell. This snake may be interpreted as a signifier for the Replicas as a form of a ‘snake in the grass’ that no one can see,unless you look hard enough, because also like the ‘snake in grass’ the Replicas are almost impossible to spot in public unless you do look hard enough (into there eyes). The snake may also be a reference to the bible and story of Adam and Eve about the snake in either which the snake is a signifier of all evil or like the devil in this story taking up the identity of something else destroyed gods image that he wanted for the world, in which the film ’bladerunner’ the Replicas are trying to do. In the end scene we see ‘Bladerunner’ and the Replica go into the lift together but during this ‘Bladerunner’ steps on a unicorn origami, which is seen frequently throughout the film. The ending itself can be perceived as either they ride off into the sunset together or he kills the final replica. The ‘Bladerunner’ though keeps seeing this unicorn origami and I have interpreted it in my own opinion as a form of object which helps him distinguish wheather he is a Replica or a Human, and the film ‘Inception’ takes slight influence from this with an object being present for each member of this ‘Team of Dreamers’ so that they can distinguish what is dream or reality.
Both endings are similar with both objects the reason what is real? But in ‘Bladerunner’ there is a dream or imaginative sequence of a unicorn being present and this can either be this unicorn is a symbol of replicants and he keeps trying to block it out of his head so he could believe that he is a human being or it could be a sign that maybe he is a human being misled into being a replica by the woman. The sequence itself does make the film possibly not non-linear but I have interpreted it as linear because the film runs in a chronological order.
In conclusion the film itself holds its own and has many different signifiers and interpretations that are very different for everyone on how everyone views the film but I have my own respect and opinion for this film that it is a good film and does hold many interpretations about it and has many themes through it like good and evil, and good and evil can also correspond to the light and dark,light being good and dark being evil which is the stereotype and code and convention for these themes. The film does hold its own in cinema history with many other Sci-fi movies and other movie great films and It has many different views about it from fellow directors and has definitely gone down into cinema history.
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