The Imitation of Reality : Effects and Affects
It had been over ten years since I've last seen Bladerunner in 2005. My friend Matty recommended it to me, told me it was his favorite movie - about life, death, God - heaven, hell, and living. I watched it over a weekend and shared with him that I had watched it. He asked me what I thought about the movie, and I can't remember what I told him, but I remember him being unimpressed with my response. "You need to watch the movie again, I think you missed some things and would get more out of it on the second time." I didn't watch it again - not until 2018.
In the film Bladerunner, robots - called Replicants are created by the Tyrell Corporation to do work off world that would be considered too dangerous for humans to do - have been made illegal. Replicants look physically like humans and have an, "equal strength and agility, and almost equal intelligence..." - but they are distinguished by a lack of their emotions that they can have in the world. The main character - Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is an ex-cop, an ex-bladerunner (the special forces police department that "retires" replicants and kept the public safe.) He's brought back on the job by the police chief to hunt down and kill four Replicants that have escaped from a shuttle and are back in the United States, in Los Angeles - a major urban metropolis: Roy Batty (combat model), Zhora Salome (female combat model, nicknamed 'Beauty and the Beast' by the chief), and Leon Kowalski.
It's a technology universe, and many of the things that are featured in the 1982 film - video chat calling, voice activated technology (elevator that Deckard takes up to his 97th floor where he lives) are showcased in the futurist movie, but are a reality today to us in 2018. It made me laugh that 1982 was expecting Skype and Facetime that we enjoy today as a fantasy of 2019. What a long way that technology and film making has come in the past 25 years.
Past the halfway point in the movie two of the replicants have followed a lead of how they could learn more about their identity by finding a man named J.F. Sabastian. Sabastian describes himself as a genetic engineer and invites Pris Stratton (another replicant, friends with Roy and Leon) into his home. He is somewhat of a "toy" maker and has what appear to be small robots in his home and workshop. He suffers from an aging disease and looks much older than his claimed age of 25. Pris sympathizes with J.F. to get him to help her and her friends.
Pris later brings Roy to Sabastian's apartment, and after spending some time with them Sabastian agrees to take Roy to meet Dr. Eldon Tyrell, the owner of the Tyrell company. The building's headquarters looks like a massive giant ziggerat form with multiple levels and lights visible from the exterior. They take an exterior elevator up to the top floors to meet Dr. Tyrell.
Here is an excerpt from that scene that follows:
Sebastian: Mr. Tyrell. I-- I brought a friend.
Tyrell: I'm surprised you didn't come here sooner.
Roy: It's not an easy thing to meet your maker.
Tyrell: And what can he do for you?
Roy: Can the maker repair what he makes.
Tyrell: Would you like to be modified?
Roy: Stay here. -- I had in mind something a little more radical.
Tyrell: What-- What seems to be the problem?
Roy: Death.
Tyrell: Death. Well, I'm afraid that's a little out of my jurisdiction, you--
Roy: I want more life, fucker.
Tyrell: The facts of life. To make an alteration in the evolvment of an organic life system is fatal. A coding sequence cannot be revised once it's been established.
Roy: Why not?
Tyrell: Because by the second day of incubation, any cells that have undergone reversion mutations give rise to revertant colonies like rats leaving a sinking ship. Then the ship sinks.
Roy: What about EMS recombination.
Tyrell: We've already tried it. Ethyl methane sulfonate as an alkylating agent a potent mutagen It created a virus so lethal the subject was dead before he left the table.
Roy: Then a repressive protein that blocks the operating cells.
Tyrell: Wouldn't obstruct replication, but it does give rise to an error in replication so that the newly formed DNA strand carries the mutation and you've got a virus again. But, uh, this-- all of this is academic. You were made as well as we could make you.
Roy: But not to last.
Tyrell: The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long. And you have burned so very very brightly, Roy. Look at you. You're the prodigal son. You're quite a prize!
Roy: I've done questionable things.
Tyrell: Also extraordinary things. Revel in your time.
Roy: Nothing the god of biomechanics wouldn't let you in heaven for.
The short reading this week (Architectural Design 47 no. 5, over a review of Delirious New York) describes the effects of an artificial life that was created on Coney Island on the south end of Brooklyn as recreational retreat for millions of New Yorkers on the weekend from the overpopulated island of Manhattan. The reading describes artificial - created, generated - activities that can't be a replacement of the real thing but can create a similar effect. Prior to such a massive population increase, the rich and wealthy enjoyed horseback riding in Coney Island. The large population of New York couldn't ride real horses - so Coney Island created an artificial track and artificial horses.
Can we have artificial things and they be true replacement of what we are missing in our lives? Milk from artificial cows? Perhaps, but I still want my blue milk.
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| Bladerunner, 1982. LA pictured as it would be in the future of 2019. Notice the skyline is broken by a series of skyscraper towers and they burn with the industry of manufacturing and making. In the left hand corner is a flying car. |
In the film Bladerunner, robots - called Replicants are created by the Tyrell Corporation to do work off world that would be considered too dangerous for humans to do - have been made illegal. Replicants look physically like humans and have an, "equal strength and agility, and almost equal intelligence..." - but they are distinguished by a lack of their emotions that they can have in the world. The main character - Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is an ex-cop, an ex-bladerunner (the special forces police department that "retires" replicants and kept the public safe.) He's brought back on the job by the police chief to hunt down and kill four Replicants that have escaped from a shuttle and are back in the United States, in Los Angeles - a major urban metropolis: Roy Batty (combat model), Zhora Salome (female combat model, nicknamed 'Beauty and the Beast' by the chief), and Leon Kowalski.
It's a technology universe, and many of the things that are featured in the 1982 film - video chat calling, voice activated technology (elevator that Deckard takes up to his 97th floor where he lives) are showcased in the futurist movie, but are a reality today to us in 2018. It made me laugh that 1982 was expecting Skype and Facetime that we enjoy today as a fantasy of 2019. What a long way that technology and film making has come in the past 25 years.
 |
| Bladerunner, 1982 - Decker makes a video phone call to Rachel |
Past the halfway point in the movie two of the replicants have followed a lead of how they could learn more about their identity by finding a man named J.F. Sabastian. Sabastian describes himself as a genetic engineer and invites Pris Stratton (another replicant, friends with Roy and Leon) into his home. He is somewhat of a "toy" maker and has what appear to be small robots in his home and workshop. He suffers from an aging disease and looks much older than his claimed age of 25. Pris sympathizes with J.F. to get him to help her and her friends.
Pris later brings Roy to Sabastian's apartment, and after spending some time with them Sabastian agrees to take Roy to meet Dr. Eldon Tyrell, the owner of the Tyrell company. The building's headquarters looks like a massive giant ziggerat form with multiple levels and lights visible from the exterior. They take an exterior elevator up to the top floors to meet Dr. Tyrell.
 |
| Bladrunner, 1982. Tyrell Headquarters. This is a dramatic scene for me as they show the power of the corporation manifested in the architecture. |
Here is an excerpt from that scene that follows:
Sebastian: Mr. Tyrell. I-- I brought a friend.
Tyrell: I'm surprised you didn't come here sooner.
Roy: It's not an easy thing to meet your maker.
Tyrell: And what can he do for you?
Roy: Can the maker repair what he makes.
Tyrell: Would you like to be modified?
Roy: Stay here. -- I had in mind something a little more radical.
Tyrell: What-- What seems to be the problem?
Roy: Death.
Tyrell: Death. Well, I'm afraid that's a little out of my jurisdiction, you--
Roy: I want more life, fucker.
Tyrell: The facts of life. To make an alteration in the evolvment of an organic life system is fatal. A coding sequence cannot be revised once it's been established.
Roy: Why not?
Tyrell: Because by the second day of incubation, any cells that have undergone reversion mutations give rise to revertant colonies like rats leaving a sinking ship. Then the ship sinks.
Roy: What about EMS recombination.
Tyrell: We've already tried it. Ethyl methane sulfonate as an alkylating agent a potent mutagen It created a virus so lethal the subject was dead before he left the table.
Roy: Then a repressive protein that blocks the operating cells.
Tyrell: Wouldn't obstruct replication, but it does give rise to an error in replication so that the newly formed DNA strand carries the mutation and you've got a virus again. But, uh, this-- all of this is academic. You were made as well as we could make you.
Roy: But not to last.
Tyrell: The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long. And you have burned so very very brightly, Roy. Look at you. You're the prodigal son. You're quite a prize!
Roy: I've done questionable things.
Tyrell: Also extraordinary things. Revel in your time.
Roy: Nothing the god of biomechanics wouldn't let you in heaven for.
 |
| Bladerunner, 1982. Human. Replicant. Human |
The short reading this week (Architectural Design 47 no. 5, over a review of Delirious New York) describes the effects of an artificial life that was created on Coney Island on the south end of Brooklyn as recreational retreat for millions of New Yorkers on the weekend from the overpopulated island of Manhattan. The reading describes artificial - created, generated - activities that can't be a replacement of the real thing but can create a similar effect. Prior to such a massive population increase, the rich and wealthy enjoyed horseback riding in Coney Island. The large population of New York couldn't ride real horses - so Coney Island created an artificial track and artificial horses.
Can we have artificial things and they be true replacement of what we are missing in our lives? Milk from artificial cows? Perhaps, but I still want my blue milk.
#Bladerunner #MovieReview #ArchitectureHistoryandTheory #FilmSeries #ClemsonArchitecture #ConeyIsland #FuturistArchitecture #Technology
... Six, seven. Go to hell, go to heaven.
I find it funny that not only has the film predicted several technological improvements that we now have today, but the question of real/natural vs artificial is still a common question we ask ourselves (primarily with food [GMO and added flavorings vs Organic]). Maybe we need another movie specifically for this topic.
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