From a theatrical standpoint, Blade Runner is fairly well put together. The themes of eyes containing deeper meaning, and culture, are two of the most omnipresent in the film, although it is latent with many others like genetics and inequality. The opening scene of the film depicts a fireball erupting out of an explosion, which is viewed via a reflection in a man’s eye. This is an impressive effect symbolic of the theme of deeper meaning that pervades the entire film. Eyes are utilized a lot in Blade Runner, primarily in the Voight Kampff test, which determines humanness based on pupil dilation in response to questions. In almost every instance where eyes are used, though, it is to emphasize the point that eyes carry a deep connotation which cannot always be determined by surface-level observation of physical characteristics. It is what is underneath that reveals personality and true humanity.
Culturally, the producers of Blade Runner have made many mistakes and included many stereotypes of Asian culture in their film. Primarily, the distinction between Japanese and Chinese cultures is blurred. A fairly large scene occurring at the beginning of the film is said to take place in “Chinatown.” Oddly enough, and while advertising signs latent with Chinese characters permeate the scene, nobody in “Chinatown” speaks Chinese in this particular scene or in the rest of the film; each person is speaking Japanese. Likewise, when Deckard is escorted out of the scene, he brings his stereotypical bowl of noodles with him. In Asia, when someone sits at a bar and eats noodles, they are almost always in a soup of some kind, and not simply piled sky-high in a bowl meant for eating rice out of. In the next scene, when the eye-designing geneticist is visited, he has papers lying around that have Japanese characters on them, yet when he speaks English, it is with a Chinese accent. Being as culturally sensitive as I am, I found it demeaning that the line between Chinese and Japanese had been blurred so badly.
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