Humanities 17: Film Appreciation
Prof. Mary Copeland
Blade Runner (1982) Directed by Ridley Scott
History, Context and Themes
History
Blade Runner, rising director Ridley Scott's follow-up to his hit Alien (1979), is one of the most
popular and influential science-fiction films of all time, and it has become an enduring cult
classic favorite. But the enthralling film was originally a box-office financial failure, and it
received negative reviews from film critics who called it muddled and baffling. It also wasn't
encouraging that it faced Spielberg's E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) during its opening
release.
It received only two Academy Award nominations without Oscars: Best Art Direction/Set
Decoration, and Best Visual Effects. The evocative, inventive, stylistic film has improved with
age and warrants repeated viewings. The dense, puzzling, detailed plot of the film is backed by
a mesmerizing, melancholy musical soundtrack from Greek composer Vangelis - undeservedly
overlooked for an Oscar nomination.
Stylistically, the film was arresting with fantastic, imaginative visual effects of a future Los
Angeles conceived by futurist design artist Syd Mead, and influenced by the vision of Fritz
Lang's Metropolis (1927) and Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Another inspiration for
the film was the 1974 science fiction book by novelist Alan E. Nourse titled The Bladerunner, set
in the year 2014 about people who sold medical equipment and supplies to 'outlaw' doctors
who were unable to obtain them legally. Many films have attempted to duplicate the dystopic,
cyberpunkish look of Blade Runner, including Batman (1989), Johnny Mnemonic (1995), Strange
Days (1995), The Fifth Element (1997), Dark City (1998), The Matrix (1999), and I, Robot (2004).
The ambitious, enigmatic, visually-complex film is a futuristic film noir detective thriller with all
its requisite parts - an alienated hero of questionable morality, a femme fatale, airborne police
vehicles called "Spinners", dark sets and locations in a dystopic Los Angeles of 2019, and a
downbeat voice-over narration. The film mixed in some western genre elements as well, and is
thematically similar to the story in High Noon (1952) of a lone marshal facing four western
outlaws.
The main character is a weary, former police officer/bounty hunter who is reluctantly
dispatched by the state to search for four android replicants (robotic NEXUS models) that have
been created with limited life spans (a built-in fail-safe mechanism in case they became too
human). The genetically-engineered renegades have escaped from enslaving conditions on an
Off-World outer planet. Driven by fear, they have come to Earth to locate their creator and
force him to prolong their short lives.
The film's screenplay (originally titled Dangerous Days and Android) by Hampton Fancher, and
later supplemented by David Peoples, was based on science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick's 1968
novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Film
Novel
Title: Blade Runner (words that never
appeared in the novel)
Title: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was an obscure reference to the fact that
inhabitants lived in a society of the future
where animals were virtually extinct and all
but the rich had to substitute android replicas
(such as an "electric sheep") for real animals
Takes place in Los Angeles in 2019
Takes place in San Francisco in 1992 (2021 in a
later edition)
The artificial humans are
called replicants, who are much more
resistant to being killed and retaliatory
when confronted; in the film, the
replicants' full life span was deliberately
curtailed by a four-year limit
The artificial humans are
called androids ("andies"), who live roughly
four years because their cells cannot be
replaced when they deteriorate
The film's theme is on the nature of
humanity (what does it mean to be
human?) and how to distinguish replicants
from humans
The novel's emphasis is on ecological themes,
and the situation in which a nuclear world war
caused life to be the way it is; key elements
including the Penfield Mood Organ, the
Empathy box, Buster Friendly, and Mercerism
are not found in the film, as is the everpresent radioactive dust
Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is divorced,
and a retired replicant hunter called 'blade
runner' who is brought back into action to
kill the returning replicants
Rick Deckard is married to a wife named Iran,
and he is an active android (also termed
"andy's") or Sam Spade-style "bounty hunter"
(the term 'blade runner' never appears in the
novel); he also keeps an electric sheep (of the
novel's title) on the roof, wishing desperately
he had the money to own a 'real' animal
Rachael (Sean Young) is a replicant who is
unaware she's not human; she and
Deckard fall in love
Rachael is known as Rachael Rosen - she is a
schizophrenic human who cannot pass the V-K
test. She is an android.
Zhora (Joanna Cassidy) is an exotic dancer,
and Deckard shoots her in the back, and
regrets it
Luba Luft is an opera singer, and Deckard
doesn't kill her out of pity - another hunter
does
Pris (Daryl Hannah) is an acrobatic
Pris is an android version of Rachael; Roy's last
replicant, completely different from
name is spelled "Baty"
Rachael; Pris and Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer)
(a major heroic figure in the film) are lovers
J.R. Sebastian is a mad-scientist genius (a
top-level genetic engineer) who cannot
leave Earth due to the Methuselah
Syndrome
JR is known as J.R. Isidore - he is a
"chickenhead" idiot (radiation-brain
damaged) not allowed to leave Earth due to
his low IQ
Deckard never takes the V-K test and his
humanity is questionable - it's likely he's
also a replicant (or 'android')
Deckard is proven by V-K test to be human
Character is Eldon Tyrell
Character is known as Eldon Rosen
Seven versions of the film have been shown for various markets as a result of controversial
changes made by film executives. A Director's Cut was released in 1992 after a strong response
to workprint screenings. This, in conjunction with its popularity as a video rental, made it
one of the first films released on DVD, resulting in a basic disc with mediocre video and audio
quality. In 2007, Warner Bros. released The Final Cut, a 25th anniversary digitally remastered
version which is the only one on which Scott had complete artistic freedom and was shown in
select theaters and subsequently released on DVD, HD DVD, and Bluray.
Originally filmed without a monotone, explanatory voice-over in a somber, Raymond Chandlerlike manner, two elements were demanded by the studio after disastrous preview test
screenings:
 a noirish, somber, flat-voiced narration (written by Roland Kibbe) to make the plot more
accessible
 a tacked-on, positive, upbeat ending (using out-takes from Stanley Kubrick's The Shining
(1980)), added to the 1982 release (of between 113-117 minutes) by the director
himself (admitted by Ridley Scott in the commentary in the "Ultimate Collector's
Edition", because the test screenings weren't working)
The 1992 revised 'Director's Cut' (of 117 minutes) was released to mark the film's 10th
anniversary with a new digital soundtrack - it dropped Harrison Ford's mostly redundant voiceover and restored the film's original darker and contemplative vision. Many Blade Runner
afficionados prefer the subtlety of the film's images in the restored version rather than the slow
and monotonous tone of the earlier 1982 film with voice-over. The 'director's cut' also
substituted a less upbeat and shorter, more ambiguous, non-Hollywood ending, and it inserted
a new scene of a 'unicorn reverie' (an unused take from Scott's fantasy film Legend (1986)) at
the end. It also emphasized and enriched the romantic angle between Ford and a beautiful
replicant played by Sean Young, and more clearly revealed that Harrison Ford's character was
an android himself. Science fiction aficionados and fans treat both films as separate entities in
their own right: in the 1982 release, Deckard is human. In the 1992 director's cut, Deckard is a
replicant.
The Ultimate Collector's Edition: This definitive version contained never-before-seen
added/extended scenes, added lines, corrected several technical flaws, and included new and
improved special effects. Among the bonus material highlights was a brand new, three-and-ahalf-hour documentary by award-winning DVD producer Charles de Lauzirika titled Dangerous
Days. Scott said that his re-edited film was now "in its purest form." Among the changes, the
"unicorn" scene was made longer - to reinforce the idea that Deckard was a replicant.
The film contains one of the most haunting speeches I've ever heard in a film, spoken by Batty
just before he is going to die:
"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I
watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tanhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in
time like tears in rain. Time to die."
Themes/Contexts
Despite the initial appearance of an action film, Blade Runner operates on an unusually rich
number of dramatic levels. As with much of the cyberpunk genre, it owes a large debt to film
noir, containing and exploring such conventions as the femme fatale, a Chandler-esque firstperson narration in the Theatrical Version, and the questionable moral outlook of the hero —
extended here to include even the literal humanity of the hero, as well as the usual dark and
shadowy cinematography.
The film delves into the future implications of technology on the environment and society by
reaching into the past using literature, religious symbolism, classical dramatic themes and film
noir. This tension between past, present and future is apparent in the retrofitted future of
Blade Runner, which is high-tech and gleaming in places but elsewhere decayed and old.
A high level of paranoia is present throughout the film with the visual manifestation of
corporate power, omnipresent police, probing lights, and in the power over the individual
represented particularly by the genetic programming of the replicants. This oppressive
backdrop clarifies why many people are going to the off-world colonies, which clearly parallels
the migration to the Americas. The popular 1980s prediction of the United States being
economically surpassed by Japan is reflected in the domination of Japanese culture and
corporations in the advertising of LA 2019.
One of the film's themes, the difficult quest for immortality, is supplemented by an everpresent eye motif - there are various VK eye tests, an Eye Works factory, and other symbolic
references to eyes as being the window to the soul. Scott's masterpiece also asks the veritable
question: what does it mean to be truly human? One of its main posters advertised the tagline:
"MAN HAS MADE HIS MATCH - NOW IT'S HIS PROBLEM."
Another of the film's theme is an examination of what constitutes humanity. In order to
discover replicants a psychological test (The Voight-Kampff test) is used with a number of
questions focused on empathy; empathy is the essential indicator of someone's "humanity".
The replicants are juxtaposed with human characters who are unempathetic, and while the
replicants show passion and concern for one another, the mass of humanity on the streets is
cold and impersonal. The film goes so far as to put in doubt the nature of Rick Deckard and
forces the audience to reevaluate what it means to be human.
One of the topics explored, along with its implications, especially with regard to what makes a
human human, is genetic engineering and cloning. The first draft of the entire human genome
was decoded on June 26, 2000, by the Human Genome Project, followed by a steadily
increasing number of other organisms across the microscopic to macroscopic spectrum. The
short step from theory to practice in using genetic knowledge was taken quickly: genetically
modified organisms have become a present reality.
The embryonic techniques of somatic cell nuclear transfer from a specific genotype via cloning,
as well as some of the problems pre-figured in Blade Runner, were demonstrated by the cloning
of Dolly the sheep in 1996. Since 2001, political efforts have been mounting in many countries
to ban human cloning, impelled by a sense of its abhorrence and imminence, while rumors
abound that the first human clones may already have been produced. In all of these
developments, a clear tension between commercial and non-commercial interests is apparent,
as scientific and business motivations conflict with ethical and religious concerns about the
appropriateness of human intervention in the deepest fabric of nature. In many ways Blade
Runner serves as a cautionary tale in the tradition of Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein.
One of the central questions of the film, whether Deckard is a replicant or not, is another
aspect of the theme of humanity. Gaff's Origami unicorn from The Final Cut, perhaps indicates
that Deckard's unicorn daydream was an implant and that Deckard is a replicant. Even without
considering the unicorn dream scene inserted in the director's cut, there is other evidence that
allows for the possibility of Deckard being a replicant. Gaff, who had shown no sympathy for
Deckard throughout the film, tells him "You've done a man's job, sir!" after Roy expires, lets
Rachael live and does not intervene when she and Deckard leave the apartment.
The purpose of this story as Philip K. Dick saw it was that in his job of hunting and killing these
replicants, Deckard becomes progressively dehumanized. At the same time, the replicants are
being perceived as becoming more human. Finally, Deckard must question what he is doing,
and really what is the essential difference between him and them? And, to take it one step
further, who is he if there is no real difference?
The film differs from the book in some ways that provide ambiguity on the issue. For example,
the book states explicitly that Deckard passed the Voight-Kampff test, while the movie shows
Deckard declining to answer whether he did or not.
Ridley Scott stated in an interview in 2002 that he considers Deckard a replicant.
Eye symbolism appears repeatedly in Blade Runner and provides insight into themes and
characters therein. The film opens with an extreme closeup of an eye which fills the screen
reflecting the industrial landscape seen below. When reflecting one of the Tyrell Corp. pyramids
it evokes the all-seeing Eye of Providence. The film's extensive use of eyes and manipulated
images call into question reality and our ability to perceive it.
In Roy's quest to "meet his maker" he seeks out Chew, a genetic designer of eyes, who created
the eyes of the Nexus-6. When told this, Roy quips, "Chew, if only you could see what I've seen
with your eyes", ironic in that Roy's eyes are Chew's eyes since he created them, but it also
emphasizes the importance of personal experience in the formation of self.
It is symbolic that the man who designed replicant eyes shows the replicants the way to Tyrell.
Eyes are widely regarded as "windows to the soul", eye contact being a facet of body language
that unconsciously demonstrates intent and emotion and this is used to great effect in Blade
Runner. Tyrell's trifocal glasses are a reflection of his reliance on technology for his power and
his myopic vision. Roy eye- gouges Tyrell with his thumbs while killing him, a deeply intimate
and brutal death that indicates judgement on Tyrell's soul.
The glow which is notable in replicant eyes in some scenes creates a sense of artificiality.
According to Ridley Scott, "that kickback you saw from the replicants' retinas was a bit of a
design flaw. I was also trying to say that the eye is really the most important organ in the
human body. It's like a two-way mirror; the eye doesn't only see a lot, the eye gives away a lot.
A glowing human retina seemed one way of stating that."
The relationship between sight and memories is referenced several times in Blade Runner.
Rachael's visual recollection of her memories, Leon's "precious photos", Roy's discussion with
Chew and soliloquy at the end, "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe". However, just as
prevalent is the concept that what the eyes see and the resulting memories are not to be
trusted. This is a notion emphasized by Rachael's fabricated memories, Deckard's need to
confirm a replicant based on more than appearance, and even the printout of Leon's
photograph not matching the reality of the Esper visual.
Also in the Director's Cut, at the Tyrell Corporation offices, the owl's eyes flicker with a red tint.
This was derived from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, in which real animals are rare and
owls are very rare, since they were the first animals to start dying of the pollution which pushed
humans Off-World. The red tint indicates that the owl is a replicant.
There is an subtext of religious and philosophical symbolism, especially of Christian allegory in
Blade Runner, particularly in regard to the Roy Batty character. Given the replicants'
superhuman abilities, their identity as created beings (by Tyrell) and "fall from the heavens"
(off-world) makes them analogous to fallen angels. In this context, Roy Batty shares similarities
with Lucifer as he prefers to "reign in hell" (Earth) rather than "serve in heaven". Nearing the
end of his life, Roy creates a stigmata by driving a nail into his hand, and becomes a Christ-like
figure by sacrificing himself for Deckard. Upon his death a dove appears to symbolise Roy's soul
ascending into the heavens.
Zhora's gunshot wounds are both on her shoulder blades. The end result makes her look like an
angel whose wings have been cut off. Zhora makes use of a serpent that "once corrupted man"
in her performance.
A Nietzschean interpretation has also been argued for the film on several occasions. This is
especially true for the Batty character, arguably a biased prototype for Friedrich Nietzsche's (a
German philosopher who challenged the foundation of Christian morality, and was interested
in individual and cultural health) Übermensch—not only due to his intrinsic characteristics, but
also because of the outlook and demeanor he displays in many significant moments of the film.
For instance:
A modern audience might admire Batty’s will to flee the confinements of slavery and perhaps
sympathize with his existential struggle to live. Initially, however, his desire to live is subsumed
by his desire for power to extend his life. Why? Thoughts of mortality give us a motive for
taking life seriously. Batty’s status as a slave identifies him as an object, but his will to power
casts him as an agent and subject in the Nietzschean sense. His physical and psychological
courage to rebel is developed as an ethical principle in which he revolts against a social order
that has conspired against him at the genetic, cultural, and political levels. In Martin
Heidegger’s (a German philosopher whose main interest was the study of being) view, Batty’s
willingness to defy social conformity allows for him to authentically pursue the meaning of his
existence beyond his programming as a soldier. Confronting his makers becomes part of his
quest, but killing them marks his failure to transcend his own nature.
The climate of the city in A.D. 2019 is very different from today's. It is strongly implied that
industrial pollution has adversely affected planet Earth's environment, i.e. global warming and
global dimming. Real animals are rare in the Blade Runner world. In Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel,
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, animal extinction and human depopulation of the planet
were consequent to the radioactive fallout of a nuclear war; owls were the first species to
become extinct. This ties in with Deckard's comment about Dr. Tyrell's artificial owl: "It must be
expensive."
The many Asian peoples populating Los Angeles in A.D. 2019, and the city-speak dialect
policeman Gaff speaks to the Blade Runner, Deckard, clearly indicate that much cultural mixing
has happened. Globalization also is reflected in the name of the Shimago-Domínguez
Corporation, whose slogan proclaims: "Helping America into the New World". This indicates
that a mass migration is occurring, as there is a status quo that people want to escape. When
Sebastian remarks of his downtown building "No housing shortage around here...plenty of
room for everybody", it mirrors the late twentieth century problems of white flight, and the
resulting urban decay in western cities, but on a worldwide scale.
The cultural and religious mixing can also be verified at the scene where Deckard chases Zhora.
In the streets, we can see people dressed traditionally as Jews, Hare Krishnas, as well as young
boys dressed as punks.
Some film critics believe Roy saved Deckard's life so that Deckard would continue to live with
knowledge of Roy's experience—being about to die. In this manner, Roy prevents his death by
passing on his experience. Furthermore, Roy ensures that Deckard will remember him for the
rest of his life.
Evolution of the Science Fiction film
The history of science fiction films parallels that of the motion picture industry as a whole,
although it took several decades before the genre was taken seriously. Since the 1960s, major
science fiction films have succeeded in pulling in large audience shares, and films of this genre
have become a regular staple of the film industry. Science fiction films have led the way in
special effects technology, and have also been used as a vehicle for social commentary.
Science fiction films appeared very early in the silent film era. The initial attempts were short
films of typically 1 to 2 minutes in duration, shot in black and white, but sometimes with colour
tinting. These usually had a technological theme, and were often intended to be humorous. Le
Voyage dans la Lune, created by Georges Méliès in 1902 is often considered to be the first
science fiction film. It drew upon Jules Verne and H. G. Wells in its depiction of a spacecraft
being launched to the moon in a large cannon. Its ground-breaking special effects pioneered
the way for future science-fiction films, and it became largely popular after its release.
Science fiction literature would continue to influence early films. Jules Verne's classic novel
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was adapted multiple times, notably into the 1916 film, one of
the first feature-length science fiction films. Others, such as Edison Studios' 1910 adaptation of
Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, and the 1913 adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, brought the concept of mad scientists to cinema. These two also
demonstrated an early overlap between the science fiction and horror genres. Into the 1920s,
another success was The Lost World, based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's book of the same name.
It was one of the earliest examples of stop-motion animation, and also introduced several nowfamous science fiction concepts, like monsters, dinosaurs, and hidden worlds.
European cinema in the 1920s displayed a distinct difference from American film-making.
European film-makers began to use the genre for prediction and social commentary. In Russia,
the film Aelita discussed social revolution in the context of a voyage to Mars. In Germany, one
of the most important pioneers of science fiction was the Expressionist Fritz Lang. His 1927 film
Metropolis was the most expensive film ever released up to that point. Set in the year 2026, it
included elements such as an autonomous robot, a mad scientist, a dystopian society, and
elaborate futuristic sets. His 1929 work Frau im Mond, or Woman In The Moon, came as the
silent film era was coming to a close, and notably introduced the idea of counting down the
time to a rocket launch.
1930s and 1940s
Movies during the 1930s were largely impacted by the advent of sound and dialogue, and by
the effects of the Great Depression that began in 1929. Audiences began to pursue films with
more escapist themes, leading to a decline in serious speculative films. After the failure of the
big-budget 1930 American film Just Imagine, studios were reluctant to finance the expensive
futuristic sets necessary for this type of film. Although the 1936 British film Things to Come,
written by H. G. Wells, projected the world 100 years into the future and forecasted the advent
of World War II, it too was a box-office flop, and films with serious speculation and visual
spectacle of the future would largely disappear until the 1950s.
Instead, the decade saw the rise of film serials: low-budget, quickly-produced shorts depicting
futuristic, heroic adventures, action, melodramatic plots, and gadgetry. Echoes of this style can
still be seen in science fiction and action films today, as well as in the various James Bond films.
Some of the most popular of the era were the various Flash Gordon films, the exploits of Buck
Rogers, and others, such as the quasi-science fiction Dick Tracy. They continued to use science
fiction elements like space travel, high-tech gadgets, plots for world domination, and mad
scientists.
Other elements of science fiction were carried into the burgeoning horror genre, driven by the
massive success of the Universal Studios' Frankenstein and its sequel Bride of Frankenstein.
Many Universal horror films, such as The Invisible Man and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde prominently
featured mad scientists and experiments gone wrong, as did other monster movies like The
Vampire Bat, Doctor X, and Dr. Cyclops.
Sequels to successful horror films continued into World War II, and the 1940s also saw the
development of patriotic superhero serials like Fleischer Studio's animated Superman short
subjects that often doubled as war propaganda. However, science fiction as an independent
genre lay mostly dormant throughout the war.
Post-War and 1950s
Two events at the end of World War II had major impacts on the science fiction genre. The
development of the atomic bomb increased interest in science, as well as anxiety about the
possible apocalyptic effects of a nuclear war. The period also saw the beginning of the Cold
War, and widespread Communist paranoia in the United States. These led to a major increase
in the number of sci-fi films being made throughout the 1950s, creating a Golden Age of
Science Fiction that matched the one taking place in literature.
One of the earlier and most important films of the era was 1950's widely publicized Destination
Moon. It follows a nuclear-powered rocketship carrying four men to the moon, against a
background of competition against the Soviets. With a script co-written by Robert A. Heinlein
and astronomical sets by renowned space artist Chesley Bonestell, the film was a commercial
and artistic success, and it brought about more studio financing of science fiction film. The
producer of Destination Moon was notably George Pal who also helped create When Worlds
Collide, The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, and the pseudo-documentary of manned
space exploration Conquest of Space. Although Conquest of Space was a commercial failure that
set back Pal's career, the other four each won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, which
demonstrated the increased technical excellence and critical recognition of the genre.
Alien films saw a huge surge in popularity during the 1950s. Many featured political
commentary being mixed with the concept of UFOs, which had become ingrained in the public
consciousness after the Kenneth Arnold and Roswell incidents of 1947. Two of the first were
The Day the Earth Stood Still, directed by Robert Wise, and Howard Hawks' The Thing from
Another World, with their contrasting views of first contact. While the former had a peaceful
race of aliens urging humans to control their use of nuclear weapons, the latter's title creature
stalked a crew in Antarctica, with the paranoid final words, "Watch the skies!" The idea of alien
invasions as an allegory recurred with Don Siegel's 1956 film, Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
Critically acclaimed as a classic, it has been viewed as both a veiled criticism of McCarthyism,
and as a cautionary story of Communist infiltration.
Another important UFO film, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, had special effects created by Ray
Harryhausen, a master of stop-motion animation who had previously worked with King Kong
animator, Willis O'Brien. His work also appeared in such films as 20 Million Miles to Earth, and
1953's hit film, The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms. That film, based on a short story by Ray
Bradbury, featured the fictional Rhedosaurus, which is thawed out of the Arctic by atomic
testing and begins to ravage sections of the United States. Its massive success set off a new
wave of science-fiction monster films. Like the 1930s, these movies demonstrated a mix of
horror and sci-fi, now often mixed with anxiety of nuclear technology or the dangers of outer
space. Them!, It Came from Beneath the Sea, and Tarantula, released within two years of The
Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, all featured over-sized animals created by nuclear testing. It! The
Terror from Beyond Space, The Blob, The Angry Red Planet, and Kronos, on the other hand,
featured alien monsters. Still others, like The Fly, The Amazing Colossal Man, and The Incredible
Shrinking Man, focused on human mutation. This trend was not limited to the United States;
perhaps the most successful monster movies were the kaiju films released by Japanese film
studio Toho. The 1954 film Godzilla, with the title monster attacking Tokyo, gained immense
popularity, spawned multiple sequels, led to other kaiju films like Rodan, and created one of
the most recognizable monsters in cinema history.
The financial success of these films relied on studios drawing in large teenage audiences, taking
advantage of popular techniques such as drive-in theaters and 3D, notably used by movies like
The Creature from the Black Lagoon and Gog. In addition to increasing the audience size, many
sci-fi films of the time were created with minuscule budgets; the phrase "B-movie" came to
signify a formulaic genre film made with low production costs (usually for less than $400,000).
This concept was exemplified in a studio memo about the movie Them! which stated, "We want
a picture with the same exploitation possibilities as we had in The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.
We all know this will not be a 'class production' but it has all the ingredients of being a
successful box office attraction." The idea of low-quality, low-cost films were taken to an
extreme by directors such as Roger Corman, Coleman Francis, and Ed Wood, and the latter's
Plan 9 from Outer Space, which also features Bela Lugosi's last screen appearances, has been
hailed as one of the worst films of all time.
However, in the second half of the decade, the steady success of the genre led to some studios
attempting serious films with large budgets, including the coldly realistic depiction of a postnuclear war world, On the Beach, and Forbidden Planet, a sci-fi re-imagining of Shakespeare's
The Tempest. The second film would have an impact on the genre for years to come; it included
the first all-electronic music score, introduced the character Robby the Robot, and served as
the inspiration for Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek.
The success of science fiction films also saw the genre grow internationally. In Britain, there was
a period of notable production, with Hammer Films adaptations of Nigel Kneale's Quatermass
series. The success of the television versions inspired the company to commission a series of
film adaptations. Science fiction films also began appearing in Bengali cinema, including Satyajit
Ray's 1958 magical realist film Parash Pathar (The Philosopher's Stone), and Ritwik Ghatak's
1958 film Ajantrik (The Unmechanical) that examined the relationship between man and
machine.
1960s
After the rush of science fiction films in the 1950s, there were relatively few in the 1960s; many
of those made were more aimed at children more than an adult audience, mirroring the
prevalence of children's television programs of the period. There continued to be adaptations
of the stories of Verne and H. G. Wells, including films of The Time Machine and First Men in the
Moon, but these seemed somewhat like a continuation of the 1950s sci-fi films.
However, in the second half of the 1960s a number of exceptional films appeared, these
transformed science fiction cinema. 1966 saw two significant films released: Fahrenheit 451
was a social commentary on freedom of speech and government restrictions, based on the Ray
Bradbury novel; Fantastic Voyage in which science fiction "boldly went where no man had gone
before" when Raquel Welch ventured inside a human body. Finally, in 1968, the extremely
camp Barbarella paid homage to the sillier side of earlier science fiction; the film also shows the
influence of the Sexual Revoution sweeping the country.
Another influential science fiction film, though it was never produced, was Satyajit Ray's The
Alien, a story about a boy in Bengal befriending an alien. Written in 1967 after production of
the film was cancelled, the script became available throughout America in mimeographed
copies, and may have served as inspiration for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, made by Steven
Spielberg in 1982.
Planet of the Apes (1968) was extremely popular, spawning four sequels and a television series.
While not strictly-speaking science fiction, some of the James Bond films included a variety of
science fiction-like gadgetry.
Possibly the most significant Science Fiction film of the 1960s was 2001: A Space Odyssey,
directed by Stanley Kubrick in 1968 and written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke. 2001 is
regarded as the seminal entry in the science-fiction genre as it influenced several later entries.
Steven Spielberg, one of the genre's most well-known figures, aptly called 2001 'the big bang of
science-fiction.'
2001 was groundbreaking in the quality of its visual effects, in its realistic portrayal of space
travel, and in the epic and transcendent scope of its story. Science fiction movies that followed
this film would enjoy increasingly larger budgets and ever improving special effects. 2001 was
the first science fiction art film and had a philosophical scope that earlier films had not
attempted. Many critics called it an incomprehensible mess when it first appeared. Today, it is
widely lauded by critics as one of the greatest films of all time.
1970s
The era of manned trips to the Moon saw a resurgence of interest in the science fiction film in
the 1970s. Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, both released in 1977, contained a
mystical element reminiscent of 2001: A Space Odyssey. The space discoveries of the 1970s
created a growing sense of marvel about the universe that was reflected in these films.
However, the early 1970s also saw the continued theme of paranoia, with humanity under
threat from ecological or technological adversaries of its own creation. Notable films of this
period included Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (1971; man vs. brainwashing), THX 1138
(1971; man vs. the state), Silent Running (1972; ecology), the sequels to Planet of the Apes (man
vs. evolution), and Westworld (1973; man vs. robot).
The conspiracy thriller film was a popular staple of this period, where the paranoia of plots by
the national government or corporate entities had replaced the implied communist enemy of
the 1950s. These films included such efforts as Alien (1979), Capricorn One (1977), Invasion of
the Body Snatchers, Logan's Run (1976), The Day of the Dolphin (1973), Soylent Green (1973)
and Futureworld (1976; a sequel to Westworld).
The slow-paced Solaris made in 1972 by Andrei Tarkovsky (and remade as a much shorter film
by Steven Soderbergh in 2002) matches and in some assessments exceeds 2001 in its visuals
and philosophic scope, while other critics find it plodding and pretentious.
The science fiction comedy had what may have been its finest hours in the 1970s, with Woody
Allen's 1973 Sleeper and Dan O'Bannon's 1974 Dark Star.
In 1979, three notable science fiction films appeared. Star Trek: The Motion Picture brought the
much loved television series to the big screen for the first time. Alien upped the ante on how
scary a screen monster could be. In 1979, Time After Time pitted H. G. Wells against Jack the
Ripper, with a screenplay by Nicholas Meyer, who would later go on to direct two of the
installments in the Star Trek film series. The year 1979 also saw Walt Disney Productions'
venture into the science fiction genre with The Black Hole, which was poorly received but
praised highly for its special effects.
1980s
Following the huge success of Star Wars, science fiction became bankable again and each major
studio rushed into production their available projects. As a direct result, the Star Trek television
series was reborn as a film franchise that continued through the 1980s and 1990s.
Thanks to the Star Wars and Star Trek franchises, escapism became the dominant form of
science fiction film through the 1980s. The 1984 big budget adaptations of Frank Herbert's
Dune and Arthur C. Clarke's 1984 sequel to 2001, 2010, were box office duds that dissuaded
producers from investing in science fiction literary properties.
Ridley Scott's Alien 1979 was significant in establishing a new visual styling of the future. Far
from presenting a sleek, ordered universe, this alternative presented the future as dark, dirty
and chaotic. Building on earlier films such as the 1979 Mad Max this Dystopian vision became
prevalent in many science fiction films and novels of the period. These included The Black Hole,
Saturn 3 (1980), Outland (1981), 2010, Enemy Mine (1985), and Aliens (1986; through its
sequels) and Scott's Blade Runner.
The strongest contributors to the genre during the second half of the decade were James
Cameron and Paul Verhoeven, with The Terminator (1984) and RoboCop (1987), both of which
went on to spawn numerous sequels.
Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) became one of the most successful films of
the 1980s. Another influential film release was Scanners (1981), a film that would be imitated
several times over the next two decades.
From 1980, the distinction between science fiction, fantasy, and superhero films blurred,
thanks in large part to the influence of Star Wars 1977. From 1980 on, every year saw at least
one major science fiction or fantasy film, which critics disparaged and were ignored on Oscar
night, except in the technical categories. Disney's 1982 film Tron had a unique visual style, being
one of the first major studio films to use extensive computer graphics.
The 1980s and later saw the growth of animation as a medium for science fiction films. This was
particularly successful in Japan where the anime industry produced Akira (1988) and Ghost in
the Shell (1995). Serious animation has not yet proven commercially successful in the United
States and Western-made animated science fiction films such as Light Years (1988), The Iron
Giant (1999) and Titan A.E. (2000) did not draw a significant viewing audience. However, anime
has gradually gained a cult following and from mid-1990s its popularity has been steadily
expanding worldwide.