Left Field Cinema

WARNING: This review may contain spoilers

Is Blade Runner a Science Fiction movie or Film noir? In order to decipher whether Blade Runner can considered a film noir or science fiction movie we must first establish what both terms mean. A film noir can categories as “A movie characterised by low-key lighting, a bleak urban setting, and corrupt, cynical characters.”, if we are to go on this definition then it would seem that indeed Blade Runner is a film noir. All of its scenes are lit in a manner befitting this, from the over crowded streets which are lit by the giant gawping advertisements on the side of buildings to Deckard’s own apartment with its low halogen light making it so that the corners of the tiny one room apparent disappear from the edges of the frame. With regards to the setting as I have mentioned above the streets of the city are overcrowded with people spilling over the pavement. This is clearly seen when Deckard is chancing a replicant through the streets and he seems to be pushing his way through a crowd of people seemingly acting like a wave almost engulfing him and the making it easier for the replicant he is chancing to hide. It can also be seen when he is first recruited by the Tyrell Corporation and he is simply sitting down at a restaurant on the street and the darkness that is all-around him is permeated by the gaudy neon signs thus creating a sense of sheer hopeless. On top of all this there are the chimneys of the Tyrell Corporation polluting the air with the massive plumes of smoke and fireballs as seen in the opening shot. This is the set up for Los Angeles that the story takes place within, one of bleakness and hopelessness. As for characters, it would be hard to find a character more cynical than Richard Deckard in contemporary cinema, he is a seen-it-all type of retired cop. There are hints he may be an alcoholic as he has to deal with all of the replicants he has “retired”, right from the start it is clear from Fords performance that Deckard is a very subdued character whose distain for the world he finds himself in is apparent.

A Science fiction film on the other hand can be defined as “A film in which the events defy the laws of science and can involve an unrealistic setting”. To begin with the setting of this film as I have mentioned many times above is unrealistic, for the time. But as the film ages a lot more of the technologies seen are becoming a reality, the hologram tic adverts seen through the film are now actual forms of advertising in places such as Japan. The actual version of LA as seen in “Blade Runner” is that of a more corporatize New York-esc environment with skyscrapers lining every street corner and the streets constantly crawling with people, it is the setting which lends itself more to the science fiction elements. Also many of the machines used in this film defy science, the main ones being the replicants, robots designed to look and act like humans with implanted memories and depending on their design purpose may not be aware they are replicants. This would later show up in the author Phillip K Dicks novel Screamers and has since influenced countless other science fiction works.

To summarise: when looking at the definitions of both a science fiction film and a film noir they are not all that different. In terms of setting Blade Runner fits nicely into both categories as well as it is both bleak and unrealistic. It also meets all of the requirements for both genres with the lighting, characters and science defying elements. So to conclude Blade Runner is a highbred of both science fiction and film noir combining them in such a way as to make it seems as though it could really be either and it is up to the viewer to interrupt which genre they believe it fits into.

Daniel Pollitt