Mabuse

Here’s an article.

https://www.google.com/amp/www.latim...outputType=amp

And here’s a video.


I kind of like this guy, Jonathon McIntosh, and he has many interesting videos about film. But his reading of Blade Runner is so wrong it’s got me rethinking my sanity.

At 35 seconds in to that video he says, “Indiana Jones, Han Solo, and Rick Deckart have a lot in common and are lovable rogues.” He says he used to tell people that Blade Runner was his favorite film, but he doesn’t anymore.

I saw Blade Runner when I was ten and it was obvious to me that the “love” scene was something truely disturbing and something meant to be transgressive. I actually find it hard to believe that he didn’t notice that it was sexual assault until later in life. That’s impossible. He points to Blade Runners love scene and explains it to the audience like we don’t have eyes of our own. It’s meant to be disturbing. The character is not heroic.

Who in their right mind would lump Deckart in with Indiana and Solo? Blade Runner was made as him playing against type.

TomOpus

It's not just BR that he's wrong.

Mabuse

Oh and the comments section is full of stuff like, “OMG that Blade Runner scene. I’m convinced that filmmakers in the ‘70s and ‘80s had no idea what consent is.”

Ridley Scott knows exactly what consent is. He deliberately made a scene about a character who is a paid assassin that kills replicants, deciding that he’s going to fuck one, and he defies all consent and forces himself upon her out of disgust with himself and her.

Dan

Mostly this. The dude has a bit of a following of haters online (justified or not, I don't really care), but putting that aside, he... gets things wrong. Quite often. I just ignore his stuff these days.

As I recall, Ridley didn't really acknowledge the uncomfortableness of the scene until one of the DVD commentaries, no? I could be wrong on that.

Anyway... there should be a video like this about Peter Venkman.

brayzie

Already wrong.
The first two characters are pretty similar. Deckard is very different.

Out of shame, or he genuinely doesn't like it anymore?
I still love that movie.

I saw it when I was in middle school I think. The movie was so opposite of what I was expecting that I stopped paying attention to the plot.
I saw it again when I was like 18 or 19, and yeah, immediately I thought, this is wrong. She tries to get a way and he blocks her way, and slams the door shut. Then when he puts his hands on her face. Creepy shit all the way around. It plays out like a rape scene.
Yet, you got cheesy romantic music playing in the middle of it. Even then I thought, this is not romantic, why is this music playing???

While I'm not a fan of the Anita Sarkeesian types that want to prove how progressive they are by accusing everything old of being racist/sexist/homophobic etc, the commenters here have a point which I'll get to.

Then why does he have the romantic saxaphone music play in the middle of the "love" scene? The scene and score starts off appropriately ominously, but then after Rachel goes along with Rick's demands and reluctantly kisses him back, we get cliche love music.

Yeah, I didn't get that he was disgusted with himself and her.

Minus the saxaphone music which implies a genuine romance, Deckard's life is so miserable, and he's so desperate for some kind of female companionship, that he forces this artificial woman to say that she loves him. She's not a real human anyway, so what does it matter? He's essentially using her as a blow up doll.
And Rachel doesn't love him. It looked like she was just using him for her own self-preservation. Obviously he has a thing for her, so why not use it so she can stay alive?
I feel like that makes the movie even more film-noir. Deckard throws his life away for a Real Doll, and Rachel is forced to live the rest of her short life on the run with this creep. This is how crappy the future is.

alexkevin

I have not seen blade runner so I cannot put my view on it, but he has seen this movie and its his point of view, everyone has right to share their point of view, whatever it is.

Mabuse

No, it’s possible to be wrong. There is no way of viewing Rick Deckart as “a lovable rogue”.

fumanstan

I'm more amused you keep spelling it Deckart.

Mabuse

Thanks for your comments brayzie. For some people the Vangelis music seems dated or “cheesy” but it was not meant to be cheesy. That’s not a saxophone. It’s a synthesizer making sounds that emulate a saxophone. Something that’s in line with the theme of the film. It’s playing in a bluesy style that is meant to be reminiscent of film noir. It’s a seductive sound. And he is seducing her. But his seduction is more like coercion. In the old days there might have been romance at this moment, but in this dark future human relationships (are these even humans?) don’t seem to have romance. There’s certainly less empathy between the humans of the future. That was a central theme of the novel.

Batty on the other hand seems to have some empathy, and seems to have some sort of affection for his fellow replicants.

Mabuse

Deckart is what the iPhone auto correct forces. I’m too lazy to fix. Fuck apple. And fuck the Tyrell Corporation!

brayzie

Interesting.

Yeah, I did get that it was there to draw a connection to 40s/50s detective films/film noir. But I always felt it was unnecessary. Like they were trying to beat you over the head with the connection.
They even wanted to have Deckard wear a fedora like the old gumshoes, but changed it up because they thought he'd look too much like Indiana Jones.

So are you saying it's supposed to be a commentary on the typical detective romancing the female client?

Mabuse

Yes, to some degree.

It’s a dark movie. People rip limbs through walls, blast people through walls, break knuckles with their bare hands, gouge out eyeballs, shoot women in the back and let them fall through 3 panes of glass in slow motion, ram nails into their flesh. There’s torture and execution. It’s a fucking bleak future. Why would the sex be healthy or kind? Nothing else is.

I mean if they’d taken the time to show Rick Deckart was a gentle lover would you buy it?

Imagine if it had a love scene like Top Gun. Deckert leaves a fucking rose on her pillow and shit. It would be farcical.