Saturday, February 19, 2011

Science Fiction - Connecting Gritty Live-Action and Animation Through Wall-E and Blade Runner


The article begins;


"Blade Runner is a dark, gritty science fiction film that “projects the nightmarish vision of the early twenty first century” (Bosnak 74). The city is dirty, overcrowded and chaotic due technology consuming society’s everyday lives. The film follows an ex-police officer Rick Deckard being forced out of retirement to hunt down and kill a group of escaped humanoid robots known as Replicants. It’s hard to imagine that such a horrific story would parallel Pixar’s animated film Wall-E in numerous ways. Scenery details, characterization and key symbolic items in both films correlate with one another. The difference in Wall-E and Blade Runner is in that they cross different genres, Wall-E with animation and Blade Runner with film noir (Doll and Faller 91). Naturally this cross produces different outcomes to particular situations, with Blade Runner obviously being far darker than Wall-E. Despite these differences, through looking at the science fiction genre and specific concepts and ideas within it, I am able to tie themes and situations in both films close together."

Arts Alliance screens sci-fi classic, ‘Blade Runner’

Hamlin, Pa. —

At 6 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 20, the Wayne County Arts Alliance will present the 1982 cult classic “Blade Runner” as part of its Director’s Cut Sunday Night Cinema series.

A science fiction thriller set in 2019 in a dystopian Los Angeles, the movie is directed by Ridley Scott and stars a young Harrison Ford. Its plot revolves around a renegade band of genetically engineered robots that has returned to earth and is being hunted down by special police agents known as “blade runners.”

The film is considered a leading example of the neo noir genre. Ford plays a particularly talented blade runner who races around the high-tech but decaying streets of L. A. battling replicants, corporate power, the consequences of genetic engineering, and the implications of his own humanity. The cast also includes Rutger Hauer, Sean Young and Daryl Hannah.

The Arts Alliance will air the definitive version of the movie, modified and with additional scenes chosen by Scott, who also directed “Alien,” “Thelma & Louise,” “Gladiator,” and “Hannibal.”
The “Director’s Cut” series, which runs through March 6, provides a selection of films by top directors from around the world. Showings are at the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce, 32 Commercial Street in Honesdale. A donation of $5.00 per person is suggested, to help support the activities of the Arts Alliance.

The film will be preceded with a short introduction and followed by a discussion.
For more information, contact the Arts Alliance at (570)253-6850 or visit waynecountyartsalliance.org.




Source: http://www.wayneindependent.com/news/x2089517092/Arts-Alliance-screens-sci-fi-classic-Blade-Runner

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