One of only two science-fiction films made by
Hollywood visionary Ridley Scott, (the other, of course, being Alien) Blade
Runner is about far more than Harrison Ford hunting down and
"retiring" rebel replicants. The first Philip K. Dick big screen
adaptation the film is an undisputed cult classic and stands today as arguably
the best sci-fi movie ever. Its dark, post-apocalyptic and even post-organic
urban setting providing one of the few really believable sci-fi backdrops in
all of cinema history.
Combined with larger questions about the
nature of reality and what it really means to be human it's this convincing and
well thought out sci-fi world Scott creates that invites five cuts and frequent
re-watching. Almost more like a novel than a film, noticing something new with
each visit. Ridley Scott's vision of a future Los Angeles couldn't be much more
different to the city we know today (though it's a lot closer now than it was
in 1982). With its colossal skyscrapers, heavy pollution and torrential
downpours looking more like a darker New York or even DC Comics' Gotham City.
Like Alien before it, the film presents a "used future" only this
time it's nature itself that's falling apart not just a spaceship. Climatic
change apparently wiping out most animal life to the point where artificial
copies are far more common and affordable and humans (those who can afford it)
are forced to retreat to the "off-world colonies."
Perhaps the strangest thing about Scott's
future LA, though, is that it seems completely riddled with Illuminati imagery
and symbolism. The Illuminati is the name given to a shadowy group of people
who are alleged to be the power behind the scenes, steering our modern society
in a New World Order. Perhaps the most obvious example of this parapolitical
iconography has to be the "All Seeing Eye."
Blade Runner opens with an extreme close-up of
Harrison Ford's character Rick Deckard's eye and there are numerous other eye
shots throughout the film. Eyes being important to the plot because they're the
only way to tell the difference between replicants (artificial humans) and real
humans. Replicant eyes involuntary glowing in certain scenes. However, is this
really the All Seeing Eye of the Illuminati?
Interestingly, in his DVD commentary for The
Final Cut Scott did admit that the eye imagery was meant to be reminiscent of
George Orwell's dystopian Nineteen Eighty-Four and that it was meant to imply
that the world of Blade Runner isn't that far removed from the totalitarian
regime of the classic novel. Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, of course, being a
favourite tool of conspiracy theorists for explaining the kind of New World
Order that the Illuminati are covertly constructing around us. Some researchers
even speculating that Orwell (a former officer in the Indian Imperial Police)
might have based his novel largely on insider knowledge rather than being
simply fiction. But let's get back to Blade Runner.
In his
commentary, Scott explains that he and the writers (again echoing Orwell and
Alien) envisioned Blade Runner as a future completely economically,
technologically and politically dominated by three or less mega-corporations.
In effect, it is a world caught in the iron grip of total corporatism: a situation
disturbingly close to today but still a somewhat novel idea back in 1982
(unless you were a conspiracy buff, of course). 
Book Description
A gripping account of the very latest developments in the
esoteric worlds of conspiracy theories, Ufology, paranormal
investigations and the bizarre. Most people will have heard of UFOs,
ghosts and yetis, but what about the wilder shores of the paranormal,
the conspiracy theorists and down right bizarre? In this book, one of
the world's leading and most prolific paranormal bloggers takes readers
on a voyage of discovery like no other ever written. The key players are
interviewed, explaining their views on the JFK assassination, the
shadowy and sinister Illuminati, the influential Bilderberg Group,
allegations of an incipient New World Order, cover ups and how hidden
messages can be found in Hollywood movies such as Blade Runner and TV
shows including the X-Files. Dean Haglund, Richard Dolan, Steve Watson,
Richard Holland, Nick Pope, Timucin Leflef, Bryce Zabel, Christopher
Knowles and Nick Redfern are all here. The book takes a critical look at
timeslips, ghosts, UFOs, cryptids, mind control, aliens,
disinformation, black-ops, the Bermuda Triangle and a host of other
paranormal phenomena. Social Media * Dedicated FaceBook page for this
book refreshed daily during launch month, thereafter weekly for one
year. All FB fans of Bretwalda will be alerted to publication. * Will
feature on publishers Blog and Twitter accounts Marketing Highlights *
Viral video to be released in October 2012 * Author is regular
contributor to several leading paranormal and esoteric blogs and will be
trailing the publication frequently.
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