1. Blade Runner
Context

2. Post-modernism Neo-noir references Hybridisation
Cyberpunk ethic (before the term was invented)
Bricolage
Style matches content
Hyperreality
Ambiguity
Depiction of late capitalism

3. Auteur characteristics
Director’s cut – establishes director’s vision as ideal
Consistency of style across Scott’s other films
Undermining of mainstream sci-fi genre expectations

4. Hollywood mainstream
Imposition by the studio of the initial ‘happy ending’ and voiceover to explain the narrative
Initial box office failure
Casting of a mainstream star

5. Environmental concerns
Pollution
Overpopulation
Loss of traditional communities

6. Political concerns Excessive corporate power
Police represented as corrupt?
Fear for loss of national identity through globalisation
(Are these themes also present in Scott’s Alien?)

7. Gender representations
Masculinity as construct?
Femininity as construct?
Challenge to patriarchy?
Male violence
Challenging notions of heroism?

8. Literary influences Philip K Dick Frankenstein Paradise Lost
Greek drama
Cinematic references:
Metropolis (1927)

9. With reference to specific examples, how does Blade Runner reflect the context of its production?