(no subject)

[athelind]

It's too bad she won't live, Helo! But then again... who does?

Comments

[silussa.livejournal.com]

"she"? Care to clarify this one, Oh Howitzer of Quiet Reflection?

[archteryx.livejournal.com]

He's quoting Roy Batty's final words from Blade Runner; what they mean is up to the viewer, but I always thought it was a sign that, at the moment of death, Roy had become...more human then Deckard.

[hedgegoth.livejournal.com]

unrelated - have you seen this?
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1401213448/boingboing/ <-- kirby omnibus of the DC 4th world stuff from 70s

[cpxbrex.livejournal.com]

Athelind is actually misquoting -- and it's probably intentional, tho' I'm not getting the context -- Gaff talking to Deckard from Blade Runner.

Tho' your interpretation is probably dead on. The replicants were at least as human as humans, and most of them far moreso than a burnout like Deckard.

[archteryx.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. Remember Roy Batty's ultimate act: after chasing immortality -- to the point of killing his creator! -- he finally finds himself at peace with his fate. His ultimate act was to save Deckard's life. To give him the future that he, Roy, never had.

[hafoc.livejournal.com]

...which is true, and also a bit odd given that the director of that movie has been quoted as saying Deckard was a replicant himself. That idea wasn't as clear as it might have been due to some stuff edited out of the original version of the movie, the one released with the Deckard voiceovers. Which, perversely, I like.

Personally, I think the writers of that movie were so clever casting doubt on Deckard's status that the only solution in accord with all evidence is that he is neither human nor (conventional) replicant. Perhaps I should rant on that in my own journal.

[cpxbrex.livejournal.com]

It is my feeling that Deckard is human, that the message that the replicants are more human than human is weakened if Deckard is a replicant. ;)

[hafoc.livejournal.com]

Perhaps true. But what if the message of the film is that what is human, and what is not, can't really be defined?

Remember how Deckard convinced Rachel she was a replicant? He told her about her memories. How could he know what her secret memories were? Because somebody had fed those memories into her, and the memories were described in a file he read. So if her memories were artificial, she must be also. QED. Right?

One of the scenes cut out of the first theatrical Blade Runner but included in the "director's cut" version is a dream sequence in which Deckard sees a herd of unicorns running through a forest.

At the end, as he and Rachel are bolting from the apartment, he kicks something over. Bends down and picks it up. It is one of Gaff's origami animals, the ones he was always leaving around as unspoken messages. And this one is a unicorn.

Deckard picks it up, holds it in his fist, grim look on face, nods decisively. Some question that's been bugging him has just been answered. I always thought the answer was simple-- would Gaff and Co. hunt down Rachel and kill her? Gaff was there and let her live, so they can go off and live happily ever after.

But if you include the unicorn dream sequence in the movie, the answer becomes a bit different, doesn't it? For how could Gaff know Deckard's dreams? Because those dreams were fed into him, and Gaff had seen them described in some file he read. And if Deckard's dreams are artificial...

[cpxbrex.livejournal.com]

Which can all be true! I'm not trying to argue "what really is", just what I think is more narratively interesting. The movie is big enough for both interpretations, I feel.

Wow, nobody's really gotten it..

[athelind.livejournal.com]

"Helo" is a character from the new Battlestar Galactica... who married a Cylon.

And who played Gaff?

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Got it on order.

Re: Wow, nobody's really gotten it..

[cpxbrex.livejournal.com]

Ed, your flaw is . . . I haven't seen the new Battlestar Galactica.

But I'd GUESS Edward James Olmos. ;)

Re: Wow, nobody's really gotten it..

[athelind.livejournal.com]

And get it you did.

But, jeez Louise, I know there are a BUNCH of BSG fans out there.

Re: Wow, nobody's really gotten it..

[cpxbrex.livejournal.com]

I suspect that ere long me and the li'l woman will be BSG fans. It just hasn't bubbled up to the top of our Netflix queue, hehe.

Re: Wow, nobody's really gotten it..

[athelind.livejournal.com]

If you watch the miniseries first, don't let its cheesier aspects dissuade you from ordering the series. It didn't grab me until the first episode of the weekly series -- and then I was hooked.

I think you'll like it. It's Very You.