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Culture Documents
1
as
an
essay
to
complete
‘Contemporary
Cultural
&
Media
Theories
module’
on
a
MA
of
Media
Culture
Course
at
University
of
Northumbria,
Newcastle,
UK
(January
2011)
postmodernist
art.
But
first
of
all,
it
should
critically
question
the
capability
of
the
film
to
reflect
such
postmodern
condition.
As
it
was
coined
by
Thurlow
(2003),
Blade
Runner
is
‘not
a
brilliant
portrayal
of
postmodernity’.
The
business
of
hermeneutics
towards
Blade
Runner
has
been
going
on
ever
since
its
conception
in
1982.
Many
critics
have
said
that
Blade
Runner
contains
one
of
cinema’s
most
astonishingly
design
futures
at
that
time.
One
of
the
very
important
claim
comes
from
the
famous
geographer
David
Harvey
which
said
that
“
…Blade
Runner
hold
up
to
us,
as
in
a
mirror,
many
of
the
essential
features
of
the
condition
of
postmodernity.”
(Harvey,
1989,
p.
323)
However,
solely
linking
the
simultaneous
time
frame
of
the
movie
release
with
the
end
of
Fordism
epoch
would
be
a
shortcoming
to
say
that
the
movie
really
implies
a
contemporary
cultural
reading
of
postmodernity.
On
the
notion
of
postmodernity
itself,
one
cannot
help
to
wonder
whether
director
Ridley
Scott
and
film
crew
has
the
intention
&
sobriety
to
imply
postmodern
features
themselves,
or
was
it
merely
a
stylization?
Is
this
really
the
fruit
of
the
same
force
that
brought
Hassan
to
painting
and
music,
Jencks
on
architecture,
Lyotard
on
science,
and
Habermas
touch
on
philosophy?
True,
every
frame
of
this
film
teems
with
detail,
and
it
was
this
complex
visual
“layering”,
as
director
Scott
called
it
back
in
the
1980s
(Sammon,
2007).
At
that
time,
the
style
brought
by
the
movie
was
actually
not
the
most
preferable
stylization
by
the
existing
major
audience.
Blade
Runner
(1982).
Directed
by
Ridley
Scott
[Film].
Los
Angeles
:
Warner
Bros
Inc.
Bruno,
G.
(1987).
‘Ramble
City
:
Postmodernism
and
Blade
Runner’,
October,
41
(Summer,
1987),
pp.
61-‐74.
Available
at
http://www.scribd.com/doc/37027974/Giuliana-‐Bruno-‐Postmodernism-‐
and-‐Blade-‐Runner
[23
November
2010]
Harvey, D. (1989). The Conditions of Postmodernity. Oxford : Basil Blackwell
Jameson,
F.
(1991)
Postmodernism
Or,
The
Cultural
Logic
of
Late
Capitalism.
New
York
:
Duke
University
Press.
Sammon,
P.
(2007).
‘A
Blade
Runner
History,
A
Book
into
Film
[online].
Available
at:
http://bladerunnerthemovie.warnerbros.com/downloads/pdfs/BR_HIST
ORY_PT1.pdf
[24
November
2010)
Thurlow,
C.
(2003)
Blade
Runner
and
the
‘postmodern
condition.
[online]
(updated
17
October
2003)
Available
at
http://faculty.washington.edu/thurlow/research/bladerunner.html#sect
iona
[1
November
2010]