Blade Runner: Postmodernism In Film

Movies are one of the most popular forms of entertainment and also have one of the highest grossing markets around the world. The different genres and their popularity have shifted from the likes of old westerns, to blockbusting comic book movies. The many popular genres and methods of postmodern films today would have been frowned upon by the filmmakers and audiences of the past. Postmodernism has affected the art of filmmaking by transcending the traditional boundaries of storytelling and becoming an influential part of the postmodern world. Postmodernism is “any of a number of trends or movements in the arts and literature developing in the 1970s in reaction to or rejection of the principles, or practices of established modernism”(“Dictionary”).

This movie was inspired by Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and starred Harrison Ford as Detective Rick Deckard a retired “Blade Runner” that is assigned to eliminate “Replicants” which are androids that resemble humans (“Blade Runner Summary & Analysis”). Blade Runner has been seen as one of the faces of postmodern film genre, and was not recognized for it until after its release (“Postmodernism in Film”). Its use of pastiche, hyperreality, and the thought of artificial intelligence are the main postmodern focal points used in this movie. This movie took place in the year 2019 in Los Angeles and gave the audience a look into a “version of earth that is dark, grimy and depressing”(“Blade Runner Summary & Analysis”). Pastiche is textually used through this film by quoting from different genres of film as well as other visual media and actual historical periods (“Postmodernism in Film”). Pastiche is visually conveyed by giving homage to Metropolis, the New York skyline, the pulp fiction of Raymond Chandler, and even Chinatown (“Postmodernism in Film”). Time is manipulated through the films setting by giving off a 1940 and 1950s vibe, but at the same time depicting the dystopian environment with the unceasing rain and gloomy background (“Postmodernism in Film”). Hyperreality is used through the postmodern city of

Even the movie poster of this film utilizes postmodernism with its many references and classic looking magazine cover from the 1950’s. In the opening scene a couple is about to conduct a bank robbery, and this turns out to actually be a pop-culture reference to the French New Wave film Band of Outsiders by Jean-Luc Godard (Clack). During the film references to the past are made when John Travolta and Uma Thurman’s character’s go to a retro-restaurant where their servers are dressed up as Buddy Holly and Marilyn Monroe (Clack). In this scene they compete in a 1950s style dance contest and they do old dance dance moves like “the twist” while old music is playing in the background (Clack). During the dance scene there are inter-textual and references to other films. The dance contest allows viewers to recall John Travolta’s memorable dance moves in Saturday Night Fever (Clack). The movie The Seven Year Itch, is referenced by the waitress that is dressed up as Marilyn Monroe when she has her white dress blow up to her thighs as it happened in the 1955 film (Clack). Drug use is also shown during the scenes with John Travolta and Uma Thurman’s character when she overdoses on heroin. Uma Thurman’s character is on the brink of death and John Travolta’s character is forced to inject an adrenaline shot to her heart