The Hyperreal and Disney
"Maybe a mental catastrophe, a mental implosion and involution without precedence lies in wait for a system of this kind, who's visible signs would be those of this strange obesity, or the incredible co-existence of the most bazarre theories and practices, which correspond to the improbable coalition of luxury, heaven, and money, to the improbable luxurious materialization of life and un-discoverable contradictions."
- Jean Baudrillard
I don't think Disney is there to show America is real, it's there to show the logical extension of fantasy into reality and the impossibility of truth. Based on the fact that the United States is one of the few democracies founded upon an idea, that of the "city on a hill" (John Winthrop) serving as a beacon and almost 'prototype' society this creation of a closed environment where ideas become reality with no reference to their external possibility or probability is just another manifestation of this. Disneyland isn't there to show America its real, its there to show America what it looks like to the rest of the world.
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Dear Ben, it’s interesting that you have taken an Existentialist view on Blade Runner. You could also argue that there is no real ‘rupture’ with the past and that Blade Runner is in fact yet another ‘Romantic’ biblically influenced narrative in the same vein as Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ and Blake’s ‘America: A Prophecy’ from which Roy misquotes in his “Fiery the angels fell” speech. (As opposed to Blake’s use of the word “rose”). The tragedic nature of this being a further connection to our cultural past, the concept of ‘hubris’ being a central component of Greek tragedy, as well as being at the centre of the filmic drama. Sophocles in particular uses hubris as a central plank to his dramas such as Oedipus and Ajax, hubris always leading inexorably to conflict and punishment. We need to remember that Tragedy for the Greeks was seen as a form of ritual purification, and in its later formation as instructive suffering.
ReplyDeleteThe Christ like stigma that Roy self-inflicts as he pushes a nail through his hand, reinforces the Biblical connection and our suspicion that the replicants are really ‘fallen angels’ (See Zhora’s shoulder blades) Roy eventually ‘sacrifices’ himself in front of Deckard. This sacrifice, like Christ’s "substitutive" redemption, reminding us that all sacrifices involve substitution. (The lamb for a human being etc.)
So one way we can resolve the existential angst is to look at Blade Runner as an old story cast in a new guise and use it to re-visit the post-modernist rupture.
George Steiner was concerned that after Adorno's, “No poetry after Auschwitz” there was no more meaning to our lives. Perhaps he was too close to the event and as we pull away from that awful period we begin to see other possibilities that re-engage us with our past myths and the possibility of a human condition rooted in a struggle to uncover meaning and as a continuing struggle with our ‘fate’ which has been ongoing since time immemorial. This reminds us that at the core of the film are issues surrounding the construction of morals and the position of empathy within the human condition. (See the On The Human Project http://onthehuman.org/2010/10/morals-without-god/)
The great thing about Blade Runner is that it can be seen as a palimpsest, each interpretation can be wiped away and a new one constructed to replace it. The key issue is the use value. How can it be used to set up a value structure or set of meanings that help you with your own personal dialogue with the world?
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