Note’s 11/3/16

Hey all, here the class notes today. We began with  with a discussion on the  Blade Runner from our previous worksheet on Tuesday. We split into groups of three and worked for approximately twenty five minutes.

After our group we had a critical discussion with the class and learned some new terms.

Vocabulary:

Chiaroscuro is a technique seen in photography where some manipulates bright and dark lights in order to create a effect.\

Retrofitting is when someone takes old details or objects and makes it fit with something else. In this case for Blade Runner it would be the future.

We first started our discussion on question seven which asked about  the setting.

Question 7 Setting of “Blade Runner”

By using the setting certain scenes are able to heighten the feeling of crowdness and loneliness.

Because its so dark there is also an excess use of artificial light.

The constant rain and night creates a dark and morbid mood.

Tyrell’s home and building looks as though it were an Aztec or holy place. Symbolizing the importance he platys in the economy.

There is also a huge Asian aesthetic in the film.

The film also has a detective noir feel to it with the detective mystery involved.

Question 5 Symbolism of the eyes

We watched the first scene that focuses on the eyes, (bear with me) where Holden is performing the Voight Komp test on Leon. We have a weird action here where we the viewer watch through the camera Leon’s eye being watched  through an artificial eye in order to detect falseness.

Next we look at the scene where Roy and Leon confront Chew. Roy has an Obsession with his eyes specifically. The eyes which gave him his memories are very dear to him. Because of this Roy values his life highly. When we think about Roy’s scene with Tyrell he gouges his eyes out. Some believe this action represent him judging their right to live.

Question 3 Tyrell and Roys Conversation

There is a significance in the idea of Roy talking to Tyrell since he is his father, creator and god. We then see Roy killing Tyrell implying that he is now killing god. We have a contrast on this scene where Tyrell is dressed in white seeming more holy, while Roy comes in dressed in black appearing very dark and asking for his life to be extended. I personally saw this as one of the steps to grief, since here Roy is trying to bargain for his death to happen much later.

What do you think of the ending?

Many found it strange that Roy would let Rick live. We began thinking what was Roy thinking? When he Put the nail through his head, was it a symbol of crucifixion or was he leveling the field since he injured Rick’s hand?

Roy then shared his story after seeing Rick almost fall to his death. By seeing Rick in fear and saving him he could have been sympathizing and chose to save him.

The unicorn

Some believe the unicorn could represent Ricks desire to be with Rachel. The unicorn represents this mythical dream he wants to capture. Wanting Rachel to live and be happy is impossible. at the end when Rick sees the origami unicorn we could imply that Rick has gotten his dream/unicorn and Rachel wont have to die.

Another theory  is that the unicorn implies that Rick is an android. The reason why is that Rick had a dream of a unicorn so why would Gaff coincidentally leave him a unicorn figure, unless he has access to his memories.

But if Rick is android lets ask ourselves, What does it matter? What does it change about the story? What is Ridley Scott trying to make us question about humanity?