After reading the original movie "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", I was very shocked, so I found the movie to watch, and the viewing experience was also affected. Everyone has preconceived notions. After reading the book, the most anticipated thing is that the wonderful clips in the book can be put on the screen. Unfortunately, the 1982 version of "Blade Runner" was basically a re-creation based on the background of the original story, and the clips that I was thinking about were basically absent. This disappointment will inevitably affect the objectivity of my evaluation of this film.
Overall, "Blade Runner" gives me the feeling that it is a literary film plus a horror film. The sky is always hazy, the strange street scene is revealed in the bizarreness, the slowly dragging lens, and the right music create a kind of "drunk" atmosphere. This charming literary beauty reached its peak when Rachel slowly combed her hair in front of the piano. After that, the plot is gradually terrifying. The androids are extremely cruel to kill. The machines that run indistinctly in the genetic designer's house are like a horror circus. When Di uses the game of cat and mouse to let the protagonist experience fear, it seems that fear is also strangling the viewer's throat. From the point of view of expression, I think the director is very successful.
Going back to the theme of the movie, a very important main line in "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" is that the protagonist gradually develops sympathy for the robots in the process of killing them, and then thinks about the difference between real people and robots. , the film also basically follows this theme. The human side of the android is mainly displayed through Rachel, who reveals sadness and collapse when she learns that she is an android; she plays the piano while the protagonist is asleep, and combs her hair to the photo, which is as beautiful as a painting. Roy Barty asks Sebasti why he sees androids as objects instead of people, which is also a question to the protagonist and all moviegoers: If androids have the same appearance and emotions as humans, then what do we have The reason must be to treat them differently, or even kill them all?
But if the film only stays at this level, then even though it may have been a novel thinking at the time, it is obviously insufficient now. The sublimation of the whole film lies in the change of Roy Barty. He let the protagonist fully understand what it feels like to live with the fear of being hunted down and the end of life for the android, and then he saved him instead. After reviewing his short but extraordinary life, he was mixed with satisfaction and regret. If brutally killing the creator who regards himself as a plaything is a beast with a tit-for-tat, then when Roy Barty forgave the protagonist who killed his companion and wanted to kill himself at the last moment of his life, the brilliance of humanity shine on him. Maybe he thought that human beings would never be able to appreciate what he saw; maybe he realized that real people are mortal, and they are no different. This finishing touch makes the theme of the film rise to a different level.
The author of the novel, Philip K.Dick, said this: In my opinion, the theme of this story is Deckard's growing loss of humanity in the process of hunting down the android, while at the same time, the android is gradually showing a more human side. Finally, Deckard has to ask himself: What am I doing? What is the essential difference between me and them? If not, who am I?" I think from this point of view, although the interpretation of the film is different, the core and the The novel remains consistent.
(More on the original below, spoiler warning)
Although the above is basically praising the movie, but compared to the shock of the original book, the movie is still far worse.
The ups and downs of the original plot are in stark contrast to the dullness of the movie plot. Not to mention that the protagonist of the movie has zero combat power without a gun. The three androids are basically sent to the door to kill him, and there is no confrontation. In the original book, the first android slyly disguised as a policeman from other districts who came to help. If the protagonist was not on high alert, he would have to kill him at the police station gate. The second android faced cross-examination, pretended to be a real person and did a good job, and even called the fake police station to arrest the protagonist; Once again unpredictable.
Here comes the first episode that impressed me, the android sheriff of the fake police station tells the protagonist that another Blade Runner L is an android. When L realized that the sheriff was an android and killed him, he also had doubts about his identity, and here L's performance and the protagonist's psychological activities are very exciting. Although the protagonist finally tested him and found that he was a real person, the protagonist's doubts about the boundaries between androids and real people were planted.
The second is the story with Rachel (the title in the movie is used here). It may be inconvenient to be too dark in the movie, but it is changed to a pure love story, and an almost happy ending is added. In the original book, the relationship with Rachel flipped several times, which is also one of the most exciting parts. With the beginning, the foreshadowing of unpleasant family life, and the growing suspicion in the pursuit of androids, the physically and mentally exhausted protagonist meets Rachel at the hotel. After a conversation, Rachel seemed to be moved, and promised the protagonist not to describe and then helped him kill one of the androids (the one with the same appearance as Rachel). However, the protagonist later found out that Rachel had a ghost in her heart. She said that no blade runner could continue to hunt down and kill androids after being indescribable with her. The furious protagonist tried to kill her to prove himself, but failed; but Rachel also failed, because she instead strengthened the protagonist's determination to kill all the androids today.
The setting for androids in the original book is very clear, that is, no matter what they appear to be, they are actually incapable of empathy. In other words, androids are extremely selfish and do not care about the life and death of their companions and other life forms. The empathy test used by the protagonist to identify androids is based on this. Even if androids can mimic empathic traits, they are still inhuman at heart. However, this does not affect the thinking caused by the theme: since we are real people with human nature and the ability to sympathize with other beings, how can we kill the androids who look exactly like other beings? In connection with this, the author designed a religion such as "Mercerism" in the book, which will not be repeated here, but the epiphany and sublimation of the protagonist at the end are somewhat philosophical and theological.
Perhaps empathy and humanity are the characteristics of what makes people human rather than animals, but if the androids in the original book really go to war with humans, this noble character will become Achilles' heel.
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