The Imposition on the World

Having been my first-time watching Blade Running (1982), I didn't know what to expect other than a film that takes place in the future (only I was thinking about the new one with Ryan Gosling). So, it was definitely interesting to see 2019 from the perspective of the writers and director in 1982. 

 "Architecture = the imposition on the world of structures we never asked for and that existed previously only as clouds of conjectures in the minds of their creators."

The built environment was so overwhelming that the sky was hardly visible during any scenes in the entirety of the movie. I noticed that, although the scenes on the street were overcrowded with people, cars, and plenty of noise, the interior scenes had hardly any people in them. It made me think that the technology of the time was the reason for building/expanding cities while the social considerations took the back seat. The idea that cities were being built because it was possible to do so lead to the rise of huge, abandoned towers and disgusting living conditions everywhere. So, what was it about architecture in the years leading up to 1982 that made a writer, director, etc. decide that this is how they wanted to portray the future of cities? 

Manhattan was the archetype of the Metropolitan Condition according to Koolhaas. Having been the place where the elevator, the "sign" of the Metropolitan Condition, was unveiled, Manhattan was a perfect place to bring up when explain perfection as a metro. When considering the characteristics that Manhattan had at the time, huge growth of buildings, booming population, development of new technologies, it is no wonder that the future of cities looked the way it did in Blade Runner.   

                                         

One last thing that I found interesting about the movie and its relationship to cities today. The connection the city had to nature was next to none... There was no nature in the movie. The closest thing to nature was a "replicant" owl that was cheaper than an actual owl. It seems like the movie, the way it made animals and plant such a rare and precious sighting, predicted a problem we are now trying to avoid for our future generations.