Bladerunner (movie) ** great art direction wrongly deployed
It's a good thing I've never seen this movie in the theater because I can't keep my bitching on the inside. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is a profound and miraculous book, if deeply fucked up. The first time I saw Bladerunner, I was furious at Ridley Scott's bastardization. The only connection to the book is that there's this guy Deckard chasing after androids. This time, I've mellowed out enough to appreciate Scott's deservedly lauded worldbuilding. It just happens to be a completely different world from Do Androids Dream.
Do Androids Dream is set in San Francisco after the war so devastating they called it World War Terminus. The world is empty and radioactive. Rick Deckard lives in the most populous area of one of the most populous cities, and there's still only one occupied apartment per floor. Most people have set out for new lives on Mars, where the government will give you some acreage (let's say forty) and two androids. In this isolation, Deckard hungers for connection with life.
All animals are endangered, and animal life is revered above human life. Deckard received a sheep as a grand wedding gift from his father-in-law, but it died of tetanus some time ago. He and his wife could not afford another sheep, and Deckard didn't want a smaller pet like a mouse or cat, so they bought an electric sheep instead. Deckard feeds and pets it every day to keep up appearances.
Deckard no longer wants to be a bounty hunter, but the bounty would allow him to buy a pet. He consults the price listings compulsively.
In this dying world where humans are isolated and entropic, the androids spark with emotional fire. They are angry because they can perceive the injustice of being slaves. The androids are so close to human yet not. Deckard lives out his joyless marriage in an empty apartment building on a dying planet, but for all the blazing android fury, no android has ever been able to keep a pet alive.
Now, I can see how the animal/electric animal/human/android facets of the book are too nuanced to convey in a movie. Still, on its own terms as a sci-fi action flick, Bladerunner is lukewarm. The plot is: (a) Deckard finds an android, (b) android smashes Deckard royally in unarmed combat, (c) like a Batman villain, the android does not finish the job, (d) android allows Deckard to put some distance between them, (e) Deckard pulls out an equalizer and shoots, and (f) repeat loop. End with a nice little poem from Roy Batty, but did he really have to release a dove upon dying? For fuck's sake, Ridley, you should be ashamed.
If I were rewriting Do Androids Dream for two hours on the big screen:
1. The world is empty but claustrophobicly lonely, filmed in the wrecked bits of Detroit.
2. I need a newcomer for Deckard--tough, deep, yet ordinary.
3. The other bounty hunter in the book, Resch, is essential. Resch has no qualms about shooting androids, to the point that he instructs Deckard to shoot him if he fails the android test.
4. I need an intelligent, emotionally vibrant young Rachael. The problem with androids is that they can't feel for others. Rachael lights up the screen with her own desire and rage, and she stirs our sympathies.
5. Deckard's wife Iran should stay in the story. She spends her time on Mercerism, a religion about connecting with others through an empathy device, but she doesn't connect with her husband.
6. Ridley Scott inexplicably swapped out the opera singer android for a stripper. I'd insert an intense scene where the android's song is a beacon of beauty and pain, outshining all her operatic co-stars. Her death is where we see the chasm between Deckard and Resch.
7. Pris is the same Nexus model as Rachael, played by the same actress. The climax comes when Deckard, after all his encounters with Rachael, must shoot Pris. He shoots Resch instead.
The book ends differently.
Do Androids Dream is set in San Francisco after the war so devastating they called it World War Terminus. The world is empty and radioactive. Rick Deckard lives in the most populous area of one of the most populous cities, and there's still only one occupied apartment per floor. Most people have set out for new lives on Mars, where the government will give you some acreage (let's say forty) and two androids. In this isolation, Deckard hungers for connection with life.
All animals are endangered, and animal life is revered above human life. Deckard received a sheep as a grand wedding gift from his father-in-law, but it died of tetanus some time ago. He and his wife could not afford another sheep, and Deckard didn't want a smaller pet like a mouse or cat, so they bought an electric sheep instead. Deckard feeds and pets it every day to keep up appearances.
Deckard no longer wants to be a bounty hunter, but the bounty would allow him to buy a pet. He consults the price listings compulsively.
In this dying world where humans are isolated and entropic, the androids spark with emotional fire. They are angry because they can perceive the injustice of being slaves. The androids are so close to human yet not. Deckard lives out his joyless marriage in an empty apartment building on a dying planet, but for all the blazing android fury, no android has ever been able to keep a pet alive.
Now, I can see how the animal/electric animal/human/android facets of the book are too nuanced to convey in a movie. Still, on its own terms as a sci-fi action flick, Bladerunner is lukewarm. The plot is: (a) Deckard finds an android, (b) android smashes Deckard royally in unarmed combat, (c) like a Batman villain, the android does not finish the job, (d) android allows Deckard to put some distance between them, (e) Deckard pulls out an equalizer and shoots, and (f) repeat loop. End with a nice little poem from Roy Batty, but did he really have to release a dove upon dying? For fuck's sake, Ridley, you should be ashamed.
If I were rewriting Do Androids Dream for two hours on the big screen:
1. The world is empty but claustrophobicly lonely, filmed in the wrecked bits of Detroit.
2. I need a newcomer for Deckard--tough, deep, yet ordinary.
3. The other bounty hunter in the book, Resch, is essential. Resch has no qualms about shooting androids, to the point that he instructs Deckard to shoot him if he fails the android test.
4. I need an intelligent, emotionally vibrant young Rachael. The problem with androids is that they can't feel for others. Rachael lights up the screen with her own desire and rage, and she stirs our sympathies.
5. Deckard's wife Iran should stay in the story. She spends her time on Mercerism, a religion about connecting with others through an empathy device, but she doesn't connect with her husband.
6. Ridley Scott inexplicably swapped out the opera singer android for a stripper. I'd insert an intense scene where the android's song is a beacon of beauty and pain, outshining all her operatic co-stars. Her death is where we see the chasm between Deckard and Resch.
7. Pris is the same Nexus model as Rachael, played by the same actress. The climax comes when Deckard, after all his encounters with Rachael, must shoot Pris. He shoots Resch instead.
The book ends differently.