Episode 116: On 'Blade Runner'

Weird Studies

Phil Ford and J. F. Martel

Society & Culture, Arts, Philosophy

4.8 • 688 Ratings

🗓️ 16 February 2022

⏱️ 89 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In his 1978 bestseller The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins described humans as "survival machines" whose sole purpose is the replication of genes. All of culture needed to be understood as a side-effect, if not an epiphenomenon, of that defining function. Four years after Dawkins' book was published, Warner Brothers released Blade Runner, an adaptation of Philip K. Dick's dystopian novel Do Androis Dream of Electric Sheep?. Ridley Scott's film presents us with a different kind of survival machine: the replicant, a technology whose sole function is the replication of human beings. In this episode, Phil and JF discuss the ethical, metaphysical, and aesthetic dimensions of one of the greatest and most prophetic science fiction films of all time. Support us on Patreon Find us on Discord Get the new T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack REFERENCES Ridley Scott (dir.), Blade Runner Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Philip K. Dick, “The Android and the Human” Philip K. Dick, “Man, Android, and Machine” Dennis Villeneuve (dir.), Blade Runner 2049 Weird Studies, Episode 114 on the Wheel of Fortune Scott Bukatman, Blade Runner: BFI Film Classics Alan Nourse, The Bladerunner Weird Studies, Episode 115 on Brian Eno Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene Todd Gitlin, The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism Weird Studies, Episode 5 on “When Nothing is Cool” JF Martel, “Reality is Analog: Philosophizing with Stranger Things” John Carpenter (dir,), The Thing Beyond Yacht Rock podcast Sigmund Freud, “The Uncanny” Weird Studies, Episode 86 on “The Sandman” Orson Welles (dir.), Touch of Evil George Orwell, 1984 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Spectrevision Radio
0:03.3	Welcome to Weird Studies, an arts and philosophy podcast with hosts Phil Ford and J.F. Martel.
0:23.3	For more episodes or to support the podcast, go to weirdst. This is J.F.
0:53.5	Blade Runner came out in 1982, a year that Phil calls, quoting the film scholar Scott Buchatman,
1:00.3	an Anus Mirabilis of speculative cinema.
1:03.9	Directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Sean Young, and Ruger Hauer,
1:08.1	the film is arguably the most successful attempt to translate
1:11.7	Philip K. Dick's metaphysical vision into cinematic language, although I'd submit
1:16.9	Denis' magnificent sequel, Blade Runner 2049 is a close second. At the center of the story is the
1:24.9	idea of replication. The possibility of things passing themselves
1:29.4	off is other than they are, of things masquerading as beings. The theme is central to another
1:36.0	movie that came out in 82. John Carpenter's The Thing, whose titular monster we described,
1:41.7	back in episode 100, as a hyxiety without quiddity,
1:46.2	which is medieval philosophical lingo for a thisness without a whatness.
1:52.4	This episode picks up on that theme, as well as a number of other ones from previous episodes,
1:57.7	notably the scissigy of the serpent and the dove discussed in episode 114. While Phil and I may
2:03.9	disagree about the significance of the famous unicorn that appeared in the definitive 1992 version of
2:10.2	Blade Runner, we do agree on one key thing, the preeminence of the human being in the film, that is, of the question of what a human being is.
2:20.9	True to Philip K. Dick's vision, Scott's film asks us to think about humanity, to define it in an
2:27.2	age that challenges the very notion that any object might be construed as a being, let alone one for whom
2:33.8	personhood, or God forbid, the soul,
2:36.9	might constitute an irreducible substance or quality. Blade Runner is cinema as prophecy,
	...

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