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Dreaming of electric ostriches...
Ok, so I just finished reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick, which is the book that supposedly inspired the movie Blade Runner.
Why do I say supposedly? Because...well, let me put it this way. I really want to see a movie based on this book! Because Blade Runner wasn't it.
Things in the movie that are also in the book:
*Main character's name is Rick Deckard.
*Main character's job is to "retire" humanoid robots on Earth, which can be identified using an empathy test.
*Main character "retires" several humanoid robots on Earth.
That's it. The movie makes up an entire plot for the robots ("replicants" in the movie, "androids" or "andys" in the book - the term "blade runner" isn't in the book at all) that isn't in the book.
The book has this whole quasi-religious undertone and subplots about what it really means to be human, and where the line is drawn between human and machine, and what living means in a post-apocalyptic society. None of that is in the movie (at least, I don't remember it from the movie, all I remember is Harrison Ford running around and eventually killing Rutger Hauer).
Also, in the book, Deckard is married and there is this whole ongoing subplot of how he wants to buy a real animal, because apparently, owning and caring for an animal is a very important status symbol and/or civic duty in this future. He used to have a real sheep, but it died of tetanus so now he has an electric (robotic) sheep. So his motivation for "retiring" the andys (androids) is to get the bounty money so he can buy...an ostrich.
And there is the part of the book that got me hooked - Deckard is going after Luba Luft, an opera singer who he suspects of being one of the androids, and she calls the police on him. The officer who shows up doesn't recognize Deckard, and takes him to "headquarters", which is in a completely different place from where Deckard remembers it to be. So you're reading the book, and you, like Deckard, are thinking, Is he crazy? Is he really an android? Does he have false memories like some of them do? What about his wife? What's going on?!? We eventually find out that this "headquarters" is a closed-off loop unto itself, run by androids.
The book just had so many layers and levels and on one hand, it's a typical sci-fi action adventure story, and on the other hand, it's a discussion of what makes us unique as humans and whether or not we could lose that identity.
I think that, especially today, a movie actually based on this book would do well. We've reached such a technological age that these questions are more relevant and timely than ever.
And, for you Blade Runner fans out there, I'm not knocking the movie. I just don't think it was what a movie of this book could be.
Why do I say supposedly? Because...well, let me put it this way. I really want to see a movie based on this book! Because Blade Runner wasn't it.
Things in the movie that are also in the book:
*Main character's name is Rick Deckard.
*Main character's job is to "retire" humanoid robots on Earth, which can be identified using an empathy test.
*Main character "retires" several humanoid robots on Earth.
That's it. The movie makes up an entire plot for the robots ("replicants" in the movie, "androids" or "andys" in the book - the term "blade runner" isn't in the book at all) that isn't in the book.
The book has this whole quasi-religious undertone and subplots about what it really means to be human, and where the line is drawn between human and machine, and what living means in a post-apocalyptic society. None of that is in the movie (at least, I don't remember it from the movie, all I remember is Harrison Ford running around and eventually killing Rutger Hauer).
Also, in the book, Deckard is married and there is this whole ongoing subplot of how he wants to buy a real animal, because apparently, owning and caring for an animal is a very important status symbol and/or civic duty in this future. He used to have a real sheep, but it died of tetanus so now he has an electric (robotic) sheep. So his motivation for "retiring" the andys (androids) is to get the bounty money so he can buy...an ostrich.
And there is the part of the book that got me hooked - Deckard is going after Luba Luft, an opera singer who he suspects of being one of the androids, and she calls the police on him. The officer who shows up doesn't recognize Deckard, and takes him to "headquarters", which is in a completely different place from where Deckard remembers it to be. So you're reading the book, and you, like Deckard, are thinking, Is he crazy? Is he really an android? Does he have false memories like some of them do? What about his wife? What's going on?!? We eventually find out that this "headquarters" is a closed-off loop unto itself, run by androids.
The book just had so many layers and levels and on one hand, it's a typical sci-fi action adventure story, and on the other hand, it's a discussion of what makes us unique as humans and whether or not we could lose that identity.
I think that, especially today, a movie actually based on this book would do well. We've reached such a technological age that these questions are more relevant and timely than ever.
And, for you Blade Runner fans out there, I'm not knocking the movie. I just don't think it was what a movie of this book could be.