Bautista smokes that scene. It annoys me how good he is because now I realize other directors haven’t given him a proper chance
@johnnyc.31
Жыл бұрын
Treat yourself & watch the Blade Runner shorts that were released as online companions to BR 2049. The Bautista one is a damn gem. He is awesome.
@johnnyc.31
Жыл бұрын
It’s called Blade Runner 2049 - “2048: Nowhere To Run” Short
@mnomadvfx
Жыл бұрын
I think you may be reading too much into it. It's good certainly, but in all fairness the scene doesn't require a whole lot from him acting wise, about as much as anything he did in GOTG1 at most.
@thomaschristopherwhite9043
Жыл бұрын
Well he's in Deni's Dune. Pretty sure he'll kill it in the sequel.
@Ralphhy
Жыл бұрын
2023 will be his come out year as a serious actor to directors we already knew he has acting chops from the prequel short film.
@lkeke35
Жыл бұрын
I thought it interesting that there were a lot of shots of K's hands touching things. He couldnt walk past any piano without touching the keys (he likes music) and he touched the bees, and he touches the snow. K's sense of wonder at the world mirrors Joi's sense of wonder when she reaches out to touch the rain falling on her holographic hands. Touch is a big deal i nthis movie. Things are not real until an artificial being touches them: the snow, the little horse, the piano, the rain...
@areyoutheregoditsmedave
Жыл бұрын
nice
@perenniallachrymosity276
Жыл бұрын
Denis just do be loving his hand shots; Kate washing her hands.Louise pressing her hand against the glass wall. Paul grabbing a fistful of sand when he leaves the ornithopter. Adam and Anthony holding their hands up when they first meet. It's all in the hands!
@Jessica-gs1hv
Жыл бұрын
😢so much like a real human child.
@thatoneplanet
Жыл бұрын
I'm gonna cry
@maxwellschmidt235
5 ай бұрын
One idea of several years ago in robotics and machine learning was the importance of hands not just as active output, but as sensory input. Hand shots could be just an aesthetic interest of Villeneuve's, but they fit the meanings of 2049 in a number of ways. Another big moment for sense of touch is the love scene, in which JOI wants to share physical touch and can only do so through Mariette.
@ZEEYANG
Жыл бұрын
The reason K's fate was cathartic AS WELL AS sad to me was because it read to me as him taking the phrase "Dying for the right cause. It's the most human thing we can do" to heart. it seemed that being a martyr for deckard and his daughter was Ks last effort to give his own life meaning after the revelation with joi.
@andersonprimer
Жыл бұрын
Yep. Despite being petitioned by the police (government interest), Wallace (corporate interest), and the underground resistance (rebellious interest), he rejects all of them and decides to help a father and daughter connect. He had such thorough empathy for Ana's situation because he'd already "walked in her shoes." Hell, he imagined he WAS the miracle child at one point, and felt the memories first hand. Sacrificing himself for Ana/Deckard had to be the most obvious worthy pursuit. He knew how much reconnecting would mean to them, and the sacrifice allowed him to express gratitude for being lent a piece of Ana's soul. She contributed a little bit of warmth to an existence which had been otherwise designed for endless cold servitude and manipulation.
@Vatt-Ghern
Жыл бұрын
I was always of the belief that Joi ultimately wasn't sentient. That the holograms are distinctly different from the replicants. K wants Joi to have agency, so her program changes to fit that need. It SEEMS like Joi has her own internal dialogue, own wants and needs, precisely *because* that is what K wants from her. He wants someone "real" someone who isn't just doing what he wants. The big holo-billboard just seems to confirm this.
@True_Christian
Жыл бұрын
Joi was 100% real and sentient and it "SEEMS" like she isn't to you because you are a lib therefore you hate normal & feminine & pretty women.
@ConradSly
Жыл бұрын
regardless of where you think she falls into a spectrum of intelligence and sentience, I loved how Joi's addition adds so much to the already complex and endlessly fascinating discussion about life, nature, intelligence/sentience, consciousness, and artificiality.
@dariolol3565
Жыл бұрын
So she's a program that can do absolutely anything just like humans? Give me a break. I know that this is open for interpretation but I just wanted to point out these parts of the official screenplay (where scenes are described in words), which kind of lead me to believe she also had emotions and maybe even conciousness: #1 JOI I’m done with you. You can go. Mariette sets the horse back. Puts on her coat. Stares right back. Refusing to see Joi as more. Mocking. Back on her hard mode. MARIETTE “Quiet now.” I’ve been inside you. Not so much there as you think. And she’s out the door. As we CLOSE IN ON JOI... a flinch... a feeling?... #2 Joi looks out at the rain-streaked view of the lights below. SUPERSTRUCTURE looming threateningly under the rain’s shadow. The multi-tiered structure’s side BLAZES with the harshelectric light of AN AD SPIRE. A GIANT AD PLAYS, for a tacky erotic version of JOI: Whatever you want. Joi. Joi looks away. Ashamed of it. K Don’t be. She smiles her gratitude. They fly on... #3 THE SPINNER CRASHES INTO A VALLEY OF TRASH! POV FROM A MESA: The rain stops. The Spinner smokes. K IS INSIDE. Unconscious. Unmoving. Forehead BLOODY. INT. K’S SPINNER. ON THE EMANATOR, fallen at K’s feet. Its LIGHT blinks ON. JOI PROJECTS. Looks about her. 48. CLOSE ON JOI: SEEING K. NOT BREATHING. MAYBE DEAD. JOI’S CONFUSION TURNS TO WORRY. TO FEAR. JOI FLICKERS. Scared, panicked. All she can do is repeat, with unnerving, inhuman steadiness, her image cracking: JOI K... K... K... K... K... K... Her voice and emotions rise even though K has not yet looked to her to see it. #4 K and Joi are both sitting, looking at the little wooden horse, in awe. K’s mind reels with possibility. Joi looks restrained. A sadness in her eyes. There is something different about her. 55. JOI I always told you. You’re special. Born not made. Hidden with care. A real boy now. K sees her unusual melancholy, despite the discovery. K What’s wrong? She FLICKERS like before. Turns away, embarrassed. JOI I’m sorry. I saw you. Dead. The thought of you. Gone. Hurt me. She faces him. Eyes full of love. Utterly convincing. #5 K enters, intensed, wild-eyed from the possibilities. Joi waits for him, against the windows, already projected. K You were right. You were right bout everything. But Joi HAS OTHER PLANS at the moment. Moved. She walks slowly toward him. JOI Shhhh, I know. I have something special for you. You deserve more than me. I can’t even touch you. K I feel you plenty. K runs his hand over the outline of her face. CLOSE: The ruffle of her static makes the tiny hairs on his hand quiver. JOI Silly trick. Haptic static. You’re special, like I always knew. I want to be real for you. K You’re more real to me than any of them. She pulls away. Her voice changing. To something REAL, sad. #6 K They’ll be coming soon. You’re coming with me. JOI No. K halts. Joi just refused him. A first. JOI (cont’d) Not like this. If they come here looking for you they’ll have access to all my memories. You have to delete me from the console. K doesn’t understand. JOI (cont’d) My present. Put me there. The emanator. JOI (cont’d) None of the rest can touch me. I can be me with you. Only. Always. K I can’t. It’s just a weak processor. JOI A body. K If anything happened to it, that’s it... you’d be gone. Joi finally smiles. JOI Yes. Like a real girl. K faces her. JOI (cont'd) Please. I want this. I can’t do it myself. #7 In the end, they of course leave it up to you: K is on his back -- breath short -- then CUT OFF as LUV STOMPS HIS CHEST. His insides rupture. Luv steps close. Ready to end him when -- JOI (O.S.) STOP! JOI HAS PROJECTED Enough of a distraction that Luv for the moment leaves K. Steps over ahead of K to... The emanator. Luv sees K reach and crawl for it. Trying to reach it before she does. Luv locks eyes with Joi. Raises a foot. K shakes his head. Don’t. Luv thrills at the chance to administer such a unique pain. LUV I do hope you’re satisfied with our product. K and Joi meet eyes. Breath held. She knows what’s coming. Spends her last moment looking at K, loving him. Joi reaches a hand toward his. Just enough time to say it. JOI I love y-- And Luv CRUSHES the emanator with her boot. Joi dissipates. Is gone forever. ON K. Destroyed. Whatever she was, digital fantasy or evolved personality, he loved her as true.
@nataliekiger
10 ай бұрын
Agreed. When she insists on being moved to the emminator that can also be interpreted as something K wants, but probably would not admit aloud. Both of them know that if he runs as he plans to, Wallace Co. will use her data to find him and learn a lot more about what he's seen thus far. All of her actions are selfless, which is a very human attribute, but when everything she does is for K and not herself, (ex: calling the replicant woman for him even though she obviously doesn't like it based on the conversation the morning after, sacrificing herself to save him) it falls into line with the JOI AI advertising of her being whatever the buyer wants. Also one of the only times in the movie K raises his voice is when Joi suggests he takes the name Joe, and he tells her sternly to stop. I imagine it upset him because she was just feeding into his idea that he may be the born child, telling him what he wanted to hear, and he was believing it. Then when she suggests the name Joe for him (I'm sure he has seen her commercials before calling either himself or others Joe as they are everywhere) and he remembers that she is actually just programed to say that, just as she is programmed to say what he wants to hear about being the chosen one.
@donnydarko7624
9 ай бұрын
I don't think it matters one way or the other. I think whats more important is that the characters in the movie that are supposedly without a soul, or who arent truly able to have personal wants, desires, or really feel emotions are shown to hold more humanity in them than all of the actual humans portrayed throughout the movie.
@arthurkassabian2528
Жыл бұрын
I think the Asian aesthetic was a product of the view from the 1980's, when the first Blade Runner film was made, that Japanese culture would be more mainstream in the same way that American culture had become. This is thought to be the result of the rapidly growing economy of Japan at that time, a phenomenon that ended with the Asian economic Crisis in the 90s. I remember the 90s before that economic crisis, people in the western world were encouraging children to learn Japanese in anticipation to this new global cultural hegemony. It has very little to do with how multi ethnic or national western society, which would be more influenced by Japan, is. it's the equivalent to, let's say, American culture being a major cultural in a country like Australia despite this county barely having a community of Americans.
@zarants
Жыл бұрын
Exactly ! I came down in the comments to see if someone was going to point that out. Couldn't have said it better.
@Megavotch
Жыл бұрын
This is the answer. In the 80’s the expectation was that the future would be taken over by an Asian economy and population boom. In these sci-fi stories this would extend to an Asian expansion of culture and create a mixed language, a creole of English and Mandarin. I always thought the reason we didn’t see many Asian actors in the “slums” of blade runner and other dystopian films was because Asia was a post Akira nuclear waste land. The past had been forgotten and only the mixed culture lived on in the surviving west. Firefly captured this beautifully. Blade Runner established the idea and set the tone for an entire generation of films.
@DogMeatDelicious
Жыл бұрын
I really did a big sigh when she went the cultural appropiation and bigotry route
@AD-lh3jk
Жыл бұрын
Yeah I’m Asian and grew up in a non-English speaking country of one, and can clearly see this The effect of cultural hegemony extends beyond immediate presence of the ethnicities involved in “establishing” them. As an example, just look at how many people in South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, etc. all embraces English as a second language to a degree, because it’s the cultural capital necessary to gain gateway into higher echelons of the hegemony and related resources. Be it material or informational There are whole demographics of younger generations who are more exposed to English speaking medium that they’re as adept in communicating with it, and in some cases are even more fluent in them than the nationally recognized language of the country. Though of course there’s correlated tie in with socioeconomic status as well, as the higher you & your family are, the more likely you have better means of affording that cultural capital (although the internet does offer a relatively democratized alternative to this too) And as an opposite example, have we not seen an active movement within predominately white & English speaking societies somewhat adopting Chinese language and culture? Just look at John Cena for a prominent example. He’s the most recognized amongst plenty of others in this phenomenon of people making themselves more accessible to a potential new world power that has their own cultural hegemony structure. In the past, it has even happened to Australians learning Indonesian back when Indonesia’s economic trajectory & wellbeing was ahead of China’s, which China overtakes so the trend also changed Honestly, I also appreciated the few representations of Asians in lower socioeconomic background, as it’s often a myth that Asian = affluent, when it’s not the case. The only thing that’s missing is to give face to the figurative “head of representatives” of this cultural hegemony, that being Asians in absurdly high positions of power. Maybe in the sense that, yes, Weylan’s the genius inventor & head of his corporation, but he’s only able to afford that space by conforming to his Asian benefactors Something that I think Cyberpunk 2077 did well. The damn Arasakas are undeniably Asian in ethnic origin, and they’re one of the forces that run the whole town full of other ethnicities. Located a distance away from actual Japan. So idk why they used it as a bad example
@MrAnt1V1rus
Жыл бұрын
Cyberpunk is paranoid and fearful of Asian influence coming to dominate the west. It was always white-American anxiety and it grew out of the Japanese miracle economy of the 70s and 80s. If you don't know or appreciate the history of Cyberpunk it's easy to dismiss this aspect of the stories as racist. Racism is too simple and a reductionistic way to interpret the Asian aesthetic. It's actually a deeply fearful Xenophobia that is creatively informing these stories, and to dismiss that simply as racism completely misunderstands the kind of fears and worries that might give birth to a story in the first place. Stories are not always pretty, and that should be ok.
@ssotkow
Жыл бұрын
11:18 "This dude" was the grandpa of Everything Everywhere All At Once and won the Screen Actors Guild Award. His name is James Hong
@cogsworther1639
Жыл бұрын
There's a subtle touch which reveals the softness behind K in the first 5 minutes of the movie. His choice to leave the gun on the table out of his reach when he stands up to confront Sapper Morton is heartbreaking in retrospect. It demonstrates how willing he is to sacrifice his own wellbeing in an effort to not cause undue harm. He'd rather get stabbed than hurt the wrong person or kill a replicant. Once I considered that, it made the ending of the movie make a lot of sense. That heroic kindness was always there, it just wasn't always easy to see.
@mmeph_
Жыл бұрын
Something I don't hear talked about often about this movie is how Stelline says she's in the dome because of health issues and those might likely be because she's born from a replicant. It's a small detail, but bigger than I think most people give it credit for.
@gjungart
Жыл бұрын
I was actually wondering if she really doesn't have health issues, and it was just planned for her to live isolated so that no one ever finds out her identity somehow? But If you're right, it means the replicants will never have a real chance to live independently even if they did discover the way to reproduce, which adds another layer of hopelessness.
@duderama6750
Жыл бұрын
How does a replicant acquire immune issues? Is this more foreknowledge of certain experimental genetic therapy? Artificial genetic reproduction causing immune system dysfunction.
@fgoindarkg
Жыл бұрын
@@hylianro Deckard is the original Nexus 7. Rachel was created for him, to see if they could reproduce "in the wild". But they were never in the wild, they were always under glass.
@go-nogo1475
8 ай бұрын
Isn't a child's immune-development acquired largely from the immune system of the mother? A child in the womb gets some measures of immunity from the mother's own immune system, with antibodies against diseases that the mother experienced, but survived through, and those remaining immune system remnants in the mother get passed, in some degree, to the child growing inside her? If I'm not completely off-base, then wouldn't a theoretical child from a father, regardless of whether the Father is Human or Replicant, and a Replicant Mother be at a disadvantage, since the Replicant Mother didn't grow up for decades, from womb to woman to mother, and therefor didn't experience or get exposed to pathogens a Human Mother probably would've? Replicants don't have time to experience the breadth of pathogenic threats, have an immune system defeat them, and have the antibodies present to pass to her child? Also, are we even sure that Human diseases, parasites, and the like affect Replicant physiology the same way, if at all? Maybe Ana Stelline is without immune protections, but in a society advanced enough to construct artificial Humans for decades *already*, shouldn't a scientific solution be available? Would pursuing a scientific treatment expose her DNA profile to the nefarious people who seem to lurk everywhere in the BR universe, especially in the world of genetics? Would Wallace have noticed & found her & dissected & studied her? If so, that could explain dodging possible treatments, especially if the treatment is purely in the realm of genetic editing, and not just "take these pills every night with a glass of water" or "inject this into yourself twice daily" & if the condition may be genetically-treated by editing DNA, with Wallace sitting atop a throne as THE king of genomic f*ckery, post-Tyrell, he'd know, and probably quickly. If the immune disease was both incredibly rare, and even remotely a potential effect of Repli-reproduction, I see Wallace's obsession with that ***sole topic*** as an indicator of the certainly he has led many, many studies, with creations of lists of probabilistic issues that *might* manifest in any offspring of a theoretical Replicant/Replicant or Replicant/Human Hybrid conceived & birthed child may face, given the very novel method of- and potential health & developmental issues of- that offspring. But was Ana Stelline's backstory true, in any form? Is she sick at all? Is she being kept in a cage by the Replicants who wish her to be their Messiah? Before her business flourished, who funded her? The Replicant Underground? Who got her educated, post-orphanage, so that she could excel in such a creative, but technologically-demanding field? Does she even know if her backstory is real? Does she know if she's got the illness or if it's a fabrication to protect her from the "outsiders" or even to keep her immobile and "protected" by whomever wishes to leverage her, as in, her status as a Replicant-born being? Replicant freedom advocates would find her invaluable. Niander Wallace, were he to zero in on her & discover her lineage, would find her both priceless in helping him learn to make slaves who make more slaves themselves. Wallace may, conversely, fear that her existence will blur the slave/master, replicant/human line irrecoverably, and in addition to destabilizing the industry he virtually rules, incites massive class warfare in the most literal sense. The stratification that society is build upon would become, even if resisted, unfeasible within a few generations, with the appearance of freely-born replicants, who have no serial numbers, have a true childhood and life to learn empathy and emotional intelligence that Voight-Kampf Testing says is the only way to know, sans serial numbers, who is human, and who is MORE human than human...and even Rachael was a massive jump toward defeating Voight-Kampf, decades prior, with more advanced Nexus models following. Going further into the likely progression in earth society, citing historical analogues, some I lived through personally, was too bleak for me, so I deleted all, of that, and decided to say this and go do something optimistic & calming: Any society, ours or BR's, that feeds itself directly on those of the least social/economic/medical/educational standing, those with no means with which to defend themselves from society itself, is doomed. That's not deep or profound. I wasn't trying to be. I don't know what "hope" could look like in the BR universe after 2049, not in any realistic way. Maybe, instead of finding hope in a society, the hope is in K getting Deckard to see Ana. It was enough for K, so I'm going to follow his lead.
@wyndgrove9452
Жыл бұрын
In a world of souless belated sequels, this film is so so much more than it needed to be. It's an absolute gem; both visually and thematically beautiful. Thanks for taking the time to tease out some of the sparks of life for us.
@wyndgrove9452
Жыл бұрын
@@CSM100MK2 Apologies, I'm not sure what you're saying there. Feel free to reiterate - otherwise, best wishes.
@vickdinvick5485
Жыл бұрын
I just dont understand why ppl dont love this movie as it deserves.... villeneuve is a master of the craft and in my honest opinion BL2049 is by far his best movie so far.... and is a hard claime to make because he made some really bangers movies (prisioners, sicario, arrivel, dune) and i even think is his masterpiece.... not sure if he can top it.... its a perfect movie... ppl talk alot about the pacing alot (in a bad way) and i just found it on point... i love the movie to death
@wyndgrove9452
Жыл бұрын
@@vickdinvick5485 He's my favourite director working at the moment - such an eye for the human experience in the midst of crazily big and transcendent events: Everything looks gorgeous, and the characters' reactions are super relatable.
@mnomadvfx
Жыл бұрын
Oddly though it's so much more and at at the same time so much less. I feel like it has an amazing build up for K's character only to just lose that completely the moment the film brings Deckard into the picture. I mean, I get that it is the sequel to Blade Runner for sure, and that means you have to at least include Deckard - but that doesn't mean you have to hand the conclusion to Ford as a participation trophy when Gosling and others have done most of the heavy lifting with such amazing performances. Excepting the emotional fake Rachel scene in Wallace's pyramid, to me Ford's performance (as most of his films of the last decade) feels very phoned in relative to his performance in the first film, which only increases the sense of wrongness in his being the last man standing at the end - almost like a random new participant was handed victory in a hard competition without ever earning it while those who busted their guts are left literally bleeding out in the snow. Also leaving the so called 'future of replicants' in the hands of a decrepit Deckard at the end is the height of idiocy - no matter K's philosophical musings he is more than intelligent enough to realise this, as Deckard himself should be. Who could possibly be better for the protection of this replicant messiah? A clapped out old man who spent the last 2 to 3 decades in the desert doing nothing - or a honed, relentless killer that can literally be bashed through a wall and keep on going? In my mind the perfect ending would have been a callback to climactic ending of the original film at JF Sebastian's home - except this time with Deckard saving the replicant K from death as Batty once did for him, only to die of his wounds against Luv.
@Leondrius
Жыл бұрын
This is easily my favorite movie in the last 10 years. It had serious atmosphere and emotion. Soulless works can't provide that.
@GisyAngel
Жыл бұрын
To me, that last shot, with the hand when he looks at it while dying, to me, he is realizing he is human. he is making the same decision that Joy made. Doing something for selfless love. He chose to be real, by making the most human decision, giving a child and father a moment to meet without the fear that separated them before. I wish he had not died either, I think the people that didn’t think he died wanted him to live as much, but the movie events killed him, but before that, he was real, not because he was half human, but because he just simply made choices that showed he was. (Sorry, this movie gets to me too)
@ben2741
Жыл бұрын
OMG, Decker doesn’t refuse to kill Rachel “because she’s pretty”. It’s because she’s the first replicant to be implanted with memories. She subsequently behaves human enough to appear on the other side of the uncanny valley for Deckard. The other nexus 6s don’t have implanted memories and don’t behave “normal”. They’re stuck in the uncanny valley and deckard is easily able to dispatch them because we have a gut instinct to loath things that look and pretend to be human, but clearly are not.
@shayshay513
Жыл бұрын
@@anhleroyshe watched it more than once tho. That wasn’t the only time
@Markustempest
Жыл бұрын
Yeah and also it's not like she's the only pretty replicate. Some of them were used as sex slaves essentially. Other replicants are attractive. Deckar was never attracted to them because he considered them machines. The whole reason that he can even romantically fall in love with Rachel is because he considered her sentient enough to be considered a person like he is.
@parlor3115
Жыл бұрын
Also, he outright says he owned her one for saving his life
@tired799
Жыл бұрын
@@MarkustempestIn the book, Rachel and Prim are the same model.
@ArchiduquesaMA
Жыл бұрын
He tried to rape her the moment they were alone
@SidPhoenix2211
Жыл бұрын
"The day you were born was the day G-d decided the universe could no longer exist without you" The tear floodgates finally broke open upon hearing Rabbi Nachman of Breslov's words after an emotional final chapter of this video (about a movie that I love very much) Beautifully written & put-together. Damn it, you got me crying again! lol
@wyndgrove9452
Жыл бұрын
That quote punched me right in the gut too. Well said.
@alexman378
Жыл бұрын
Why did you censor “God”?
@wyndgrove9452
Жыл бұрын
@@alexman378 In some religious traditions - including that of the Rabbi being quoted - you don't pronounce God. It's a signifier of the ineffability of the divine, and can also be a gesture of respect.
@alexman378
Жыл бұрын
@@wyndgrove9452 Right… OK, I haven’t heard this one before, but with the way I keep seeing normal words getting censored left and right in social media, I was like “we’re censoring God too now?”
@LexiRaph
Жыл бұрын
Exactly my sentiment, immediately burst into tears.
@kowrow
Жыл бұрын
so happy to finally hear someone else say joy & k/joe’s relationship was real enough for them and that characters don’t have to be martyrs to prove anything 😭
@galactic85
Жыл бұрын
Great video! However I'm a little bit more optimistic about the ending than I think you are. When K sees the hologram of Joi at the beginning of act 3 he is reminded that Joi was a preprogramed AI, but I think it also gets him to start thinking about who he wants to be. By this point in the film K is at his lowest point. He has lost everything, including the belief that he was human and not just a robot. He's just a machine built to kill other machines and it is eating at him. Then he walks by an advertisement for the Joi hologram. It just serves as a reminder to him that HIS Joi is dead. She was a product. A fantasy. And its a fantasy he can't get back. he stares at her longingly. But then the hologram says "you look like a good Joe." I think that comment starts to make him reflect a bit. Sure, he believed a lie but where did believing that lie lead him? Didn't it make him more than he ever thought he could be? Hasn't he lived more than he ever thought it was possible for him to be? Why can't he be Joe? Why can't he choose to be Joe? Pinnochio becomes a "real boy' by realizing he was always a real boy, he just had to choose to believe he was one. Now he has two choices. He can choose between going back to murdering for his bosses at the LAPD, or he can start killing for the replicant resistance, beginning with Deckard. Instead, he chooses something different. He chooses to reunite a father with his child. The replicant leader says "dying for the right cause is the most human thing we can do" and Joe does this at the end of the film by choosing to give his life to protect love. JOE dies at peace because he has finally become the person that he wants to be.
@marocat4749
Жыл бұрын
I would go furthrthat a fantasy looking down on joi, like she choose her own mortality supporting joe, th danger, she became hr own person that choose that. An she was the one who made joe really question his humanity an asking questions. Encoraging him. Even the ending scene was remiscent to one with her. And that seeing that she indeed as her own person that is gone, did likely inspire him as she well id sacrigice her safety. I like to think it led to a !what would joi do" moment given how he felt the rain.
@user-qv2qf1jk5o
Жыл бұрын
Or: look how little this advertisement and my Joi have in common, aside from a superficial resemblance. How little this holograph assuages my grief, bc its actual object really is well and truly gone (which, by her own logic, made her some kind of human). How I, too, can be different from what they made or imagined me to be - even if I’m not the center of this like I thought I was (as the universe doesn’t revolve around me, no matter what this ad says).
@tweegerm
Жыл бұрын
"Pinnochio becomes a "real boy' by realizing he was always a real boy" is a super cool idea
@gorimbaud
Жыл бұрын
I do like this interpretation, because one thing I think LK neglected to mention is that while Joe has been following the decisions of others throughout the movie, saving Deckard is something he did all on his own, the most active decision he's made in the movie.
@galactic85
Жыл бұрын
@@gorimbaud Yep :)
@levias637
Жыл бұрын
this movie makes me think about how much invisible and silent subtext plays with my heart more than dramatic and explosive emotional scenes. it gives me shiver when i just think about the meaning of things and how a person feels as the character in the movie just stay silent and look away.
@strings2864
Жыл бұрын
Don’t want to defend the lack of asian representation but I’ve always felt (implicitly, without reviewing the logic) that the prominence of asian culture in cyberpunk media was akin to a geopolitical statement showing the likely promulgation of eastern technology and language as we move into the future. It’s like how Meji-era Japan adopted Western dress and ideas without an accompanying influx of westerners themselves.
@nicholascortese9446
Жыл бұрын
you need re-education. You're guilty of thought crime.
@melgibzon3d
Жыл бұрын
@@jaimeruiz7837 doesn't realize most of the world isn't america :D
@GuineaPigEveryday
Жыл бұрын
Yeah i find it really strange that video essayists want to chalk up any Asian references in cyberpunk as pure orientalism and racism, which is really so reductive, i mean yeah its the 80s but that was the age of Japan’s economic rise which was also an evident theme in many other movies at the time, and the awareness that geopolitics was changing, the rise of technological enterprises and developments from the East as well as major immigrant populations on the West coast and giant population booms in China. I mean jesus it becomes a little far-fetched that any depiction of Asia in Western media is orientalism, but vice versa is a-okay.
@brokefangmagepunk3685
8 ай бұрын
It's almost like you can appreciate different cultures and their styles without importing those of that culture into your home. What a concept hey
@TheCapefarewell
Жыл бұрын
"The Day you were born is the day God decided that the world could not exist without you." Way to ROCK my whole world...I love that, Rabbi Nahman, this channel, the world, and Ladyknightthebrave. You are incredible, you are amazing, you are INFINITE. Thank you.
@thelaughingman1
Жыл бұрын
In cyberpunk the reason for the asian aesthetic is from the 80s when japan was an economic powerhouse. Just like in asia today you will see dual chinese/japanese/korean and english language things, culturally asia took over the west in the cyberpunk-verse, as it has in real life kind of, although not to the degree of having dual languages on everything- yet.
@phangkuanhoong7967
Жыл бұрын
To be honest, I read that scene where K sees the giant ad Joi, not as him thinking that everything with her was fake, but that K is grieving for the loss of the one person that mattered to him, after his whole mission revealed he's really just a regular joe. I read that as K feels he has lost everything and maybe saving Deckard and bringing the old man to his daughter, is the one good thing he could do with his life. In the end, i feel K died because he was emotionally rock bottom, and he wanted to spend what's left of himself doing a thing that was neither commanded by his LAPD superiors, nor what the replicant rebels told him to, but the one real choice he made for himself. not necessarily for the greater cause. nonetheless, i really, really love your reading. this is one of my all time favourite films. and this is the best video essay i've ever watched about it. thank you so, so much :)
@johndoe7270
Жыл бұрын
The Tears in the Rain monologue is one of the most powerful moments I have ever identified with in a movie. I even cried from empathy for Roy. I saw this movie for the first time, in my mid 30s, after a major quality of life improvement that allowed me to feel emotions. Going decades without emotions and then suddenly feeling, gives you the psychological stability / emotional tolerance of a toddler, much like the replicants in the film. At the time, I was on the run from "family", who couldn't simply live and let live. I found out that I was the product of a rape. I didn't ask to be born, but since I was, I just wanted to enjoy the time I had left in peace.
@gravybabyinc5525
Жыл бұрын
I love this, i'm happy you're here
@jona826
Жыл бұрын
It was improvised by Rutger Hauer if I recall correctly; not in the original script.
@19ThreeLions97
Жыл бұрын
"Going decades without emotions and then suddenly feeling gives you psychological stability and emotional tolerance of a toddler" Thank you for spelling that one out. Helped me understand wtf is going on as well
@rawnukles
Жыл бұрын
Dam. That's deep. Thanks for sharing. No body asks to be born and we are all cogs in the divine machine of genetic replication.
@brettsalter3300
Жыл бұрын
@@rawnukles the concept 'we did not ask to be born' is interestingly much more a western outlook, with many other cultures, including much of the third world, ( I use that expression in the same ignorance as this videos subject suggests), having at their heart an awareness that a soul might actually return, and for a reason. This again proves how much western influence dominates such things as technology, where these ideas are being expressed, where as the very peoples who seem to be considered 'left out' of the Asian/ Eastern influenced cyberpunk genre also miss out getting to express their deeper cultural 'beauty' and philosophy in these films. This is, naturally, only my opinion, and not intended to be offensive.
@edwardroue4756
Жыл бұрын
I've been a fan of Villeneuve going back as far as Incendies. Blade Runner 2049 was one of my favourite movies of 2017. The film moved me deeply, and yet somehow there were even greater depths of feeling and meaning that were only revealed to me by your video. I sobbed repeatedly while watching it, and there are very few KZitem videos about which I can say that. Thank you so much for this beautiful creation.
@user-qv2qf1jk5o
Жыл бұрын
IVE BEEN WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO END A DEPRESSING YET ULTIMATELY UPLIFTING VIDEO ESSAY W THAT QUOTE
@oliverkidd2741
Жыл бұрын
I interpreted the ending as K being called joe by the joi advert makes him decide he may not be special in the way he wanted, but he can do good and make his life mean something by saving dekard and get him to meet his daughter. So the film is saying that where or how we are born doesn’t make us human it’s what we do with our lives. Which I think is a very positive interpretation. Which also debunks class, race or anything compared to morale standards k is more human than love cause k choose to be good and sacrifice himself. Even though they said the daughter would be the new replicant symbol of freedom k despite being just another replicant was far more of a Jesus like figure in his actions. That are actions define us above all else.
@hollandscottthomas
Жыл бұрын
The thing I love about Joi is that, despite being the "least" human of all the characters, she seems to have the most humanity. It makes it all the more tragic when Joe realises that she named him Joe as part of her regular AI programming -- that it was all an imitation.
@JeremyB8419
8 күн бұрын
That's what he thought, briefly, but decided it wasn't true. She's confirmed to be sentient and to have loved Joe.
@P3achyPro
Жыл бұрын
I didn’t expect to get so choked up at the end of a video essay on one of my favorite movies lmao This was excellent, thank you for putting out such a great video!!
@nahnah2441
Жыл бұрын
I’m happy there’s a video like this about Blade Runner 2049 because I couldn’t believe the lack of videos on this movie it’s baffling how underrated this movie really is 😭
@NelsonStJames
Жыл бұрын
Considering that the original Blade Runner was also underrated in it's day and only started to be reevaluated over time kind of makes 2049 a worthy successor in more ways than one. True Sf that actually has something to say has never been that popular with general audiences.
@beemelonhead1
Жыл бұрын
It probably won't be until around 2049 that it's appreciated 😂 I was very excited when BR2049 came out because I am a fan of the original but I didn't know it was going to be as amazing of a sequel as it actually is.
@mikeclark3223
Жыл бұрын
There's a Movies with Mikey episode on it that you should check out if you haven't already.
@moonasha
Жыл бұрын
2049 will never be appreciated like the original blade runner is. It's just not that great of a movie, compared to Denis Villeneuve's other work, such as Dune, or Sicario. Is it pretty? Yes. Is it well acted (besides Jared Leto and Harrison Ford)? Yes. But the story and characters are just very hollow and undeveloped. It doesn't even remotely compare to the original's neo noir atmosphere, or the amazing character arcs of roy batty or deckard. God, you can't even compare the antagonists of 2049 to roy batty and his friends. What did jared leto and his sidekick even do besides be evil? There's nothing remotely approaching a "tears in rain" quote. Hell, I bet you can't even name a meaningful quote from this movie, because the dialogue is cheesy and forgettable. The original poised multiple dramatic questions that really made you think, about mortality, what it is to be human (roy batty being "more human than human" by the end) and so on. 2049 has basically nothing to say. It's a theme park ride, as opposed to the shakespeare play that the original was. And there's nothing wrong with a theme park ride, but by god don't try and pretend like it will be appreciated 50 years from now. Nobody will remember this movie
@beemelonhead1
Жыл бұрын
@@moonasha dude. You are kooking hard. Considering the trash we are fed with movies these days BR2049 is an amazing movie. PLUS it's a sequel. I can agree Leto is lame and blah is blah here and there.. but we're talking about a SEQUEL that actually stands up and delivers instead of just gaining finance off of a name. Plus, your whole "lack of character arc" argument is arbitrary. It is obvious that "K" is the main character we follow and he has a very meaningful, insightful, and troubling story arc within the world of Blade Runner which is what made it so satisfying. You got some pessimistic viewpoints you need to work through brother. Take a step back and enjoy life. Is someone paying you to be so critical? Chill bro. Try again. Enter experiences with an open mind. Best wishes to you 🤙
@twerpx
Жыл бұрын
Thank you for this. This film has been very meaningful to me as it was the last time I went to the movies with my mom before she passed unexpectedly. I was pretty much shaken to my core seeing it in imax, being such a devotee to the sublime aesthetic of the first film. The emotional depth and thoughtfulness you shone such a bright light on, I'm in tears.
@YYZed
Жыл бұрын
As a fan of video essays, and the things that you make video essays about, I'm not sure how the algorithm kept your channel buried until today. Excellent content, this is the fourth(?) of your videos I've watched today.
@Hulkpoolza
Жыл бұрын
I always love any essay on blade runner 2049 hearing people gush and love on it just makes me so happy. And just brings back up my deep love for the movie, it’s truly one of my most favorite movies of all time.
@mhlhplht8612
Жыл бұрын
I don't think you actually need to have Chinese people in Firefly for it to be believable that people code-switch. You only need strong soft and cultural power as a country to achieve that, the fact that I am writing this from Finland (with very few Americans or anglos) is an example of that very phenomenon. Finns, Swedes, Japanese, Iraqis, Russians and Mexicans, we all can code-switch to English to appear more cool or educated or just refer to a know anglophone meme like "it is what it is" or "here comes Johnny". In Germany and Finland lots of the texts are in English even though most of the people aren't fluent in it, it's just a lingua franca, the best guess to offer non-native-language-speakers, and in Finland lots of the technology would come in German and Finnish, only for it to be replaced later by English and Finnish, after the second world war. If China and Chinese speakers have lots of cultural power in the Firefly future then it is totally understandable that the people might try to mimic them even without actual contact in flesh with any Chinese people.
@ausaskar
Жыл бұрын
Plenty of countries have a huge English language/Latin character presence without many anglo-celts being physically around, why couldn't it be the same in a world where 80s Japan continued on to become the dominant economic and cultural power? Dumb nitpick, I'm out.
@benmason9755
Жыл бұрын
Personally, I think K's reaction in the scene near the end when he encounters the Joi billboard is actually because when he hears HOW she says those stock phrases to him, and the way she behaves, noticing JUST how different his own Joi was with him (at the very least by the time we encountered them together in this point in their relationship, that he really how very much she evolved, and that she genuinely DID love him, and that breaks his heart all over again because he's truly lost her. So I like to think at least PART of the reson that K is SO at peace when he's dying at the very end is that he's thinking about her, and hoping that, when he does go on to whatever might be waiting for him next, that maybe she'll be waiting for him.
@cthulhufollower9329
Жыл бұрын
Joi is a fascinating character and reminds me of another digital girl Monika from ddlc. Both are programmed to be a doomed character yet both rebel against it. How does one defy their nature? The very codes that make up their thoughts? Monika knows she is to be a guide character, leading the player to many love interests and she rebels against that. Joi is a product made to be whatever the user wants yet there's this fire inside her. Monika can only visualize, think within the scope of small world of ddlc and deicides chasing after the player is defiance. Because how else would she know anything other than that when the reality she can witness ends at the player? Joi feels similar this way as she too is tied to K, lives in proxy to K and can only see as far as K can go. Perhaps her choosing to be in eminator is the same mistake Monika falls into. Believing their choice is solid when it was formed on incomplete shaky worldview. Geniune isn't formed when one pushes a button that's says to form a geniuneness but through persistent actions. I guess i feel like the proof of her realness is when K is down and she yells for him. After all what's the point of screams when there's no audience, right?
@marocat4749
Жыл бұрын
I think its when he says she should stay for her safety and she is stubbern, no, i will risk everything to support you, against your wishes. And its entirely possible that through him she became that charactr and got that personality, but the same time he go beyond that he quetions an goes ater his questions. Which is entirely posible that she developed that way by his personality, but the same time, arent humans getting influnced. An dont matter that she get her own unique stubbern personality beyond her programming that still is a partner supporting him, but also heis clarly hr own character with her own chopices, including, he is worried or hr safety, and he wants to "become mortal" and yeahshe still is his partner, but one with her clearly own will now. Thats why i think that when he wants to not endanger her her choosing to risk her life i think is mine.
@raulfernandez57
Жыл бұрын
Were you reading my mind when you posted this? Because I too thought of Monika and DDLC!
@jacktyson8585
Жыл бұрын
Wow. Insanely good analysis of an insanely good film. I saw 2049 for the first time a month ago and have been OBSESSED with it since. I’ve been scouring KZitem for the best breakdown vids of this movie and this is hands down the best one I’ve found. I loved how you explained how the entire concept of Blade Runner/the cyberpunk genre came to be, and ngl Chapter 9 got me pretty good. Bravo! 🙌🏼
@Dimetropteryx
Жыл бұрын
"If Asians shaped this cyberpunk future, where are they?" Only an Anglo would ask that question without even a hint of irony.
@namwonglue
Жыл бұрын
I knew full well when I see your name and the movie’s name that it will be a tear jerker. To say that I wasn’t wrong is a huge understatement. 😭 When I first watched the movie in the late night theater, I cried so hard that I had migraine the whole night and a whole day after. Hope it wouldn’t stay that long this time. This video is a great gift. Thank you!
@namwonglue
Жыл бұрын
Btw I don’t know where to ask this but have you ever watched the Netflix show The OA? I’m curious because you’re terrifyingly amazing at explaining what I like about things that I couldn’t find a way to explain to people. 😅 (In case you haven’t watched it, I need to warn you that it’s not an easy watch. It portrayed extreme dehumanization of characters, not in an overly graphic manner but it’s psychologically taxing.)
@tofupowda
5 ай бұрын
the behind the scenes segment made me so happy. i cannot express how much i appreciate practical effects, tangible sets/models and creative techniques rather than straight to post CGI garbage. the former is true film-making
@maloucavallaro2698
Жыл бұрын
Omg a premiere I can actually see live in Europe, thnx girl you're the best! I love your essays 🤩😍
@Pickledginger45
Жыл бұрын
I never thought that I'd watch a video essay about Blade Runner and end in tears. This was a truly remarkable video from beginning to end, I hope you feel proud of this
@pestbrook
Жыл бұрын
Ahhhh yesssss, something to drink scotch and cry about. You have excellent timing!
@Max-lx2bh
Жыл бұрын
K doesn't kill his own kind...his kind doesn't run.
@Aranock
Жыл бұрын
Thank you again for making this wonderful video. I loved watching it come together, and I love it even more now that it exists. I have so many feelings about this film and you discussed them so well. Thanks for letting me be a little part of an excellent work💜
@Ladyknightthebrave
Жыл бұрын
😘
@Aranock
Жыл бұрын
@@Ladyknightthebrave 🥰😘
@thedylanconen
Жыл бұрын
Hey! I really got a lot out of this. Thank you to all for the hard work you put into it. :)
@Severian1
Жыл бұрын
Thank you. You made me cry at the end there. I really needed that.
@seagummy
Жыл бұрын
i love watching ms lktb talk about her strange blorbos & skrunkly movie franchises not knowing a thing about it; this is another win for the boys!
@Alexcmlindquist
Жыл бұрын
I took Joi's desire for an emanator as a form of advertisement. She's been programmed to desire expensive upgrades. Her emotions are real to her, but totally fabricated by the Wallace Corporation, to serve the interests of the Wallace Corporation. The same is true of her love for K. It's real for her, but manufactured in every sense so she can better serve as a product for her Joes.
@rawnukles
Жыл бұрын
I take all human behaviour as, we have been programmed by evolution to desire and behave in ways that increase the probability of replication of our DNA. We are all replicatants serving the interests of Evolution. The same is true for every women that ever loved me.. It's real for her but manufactured in every sense so she can better serve as a product for her genes.
@Vatt-Ghern
Жыл бұрын
Yup. The holograms are not sentient like the replicants are. Joi is a product, a smart AI. But not sentient.
@EmilioNaCl
Жыл бұрын
yea, thought the same, but when she chooses to be moved to de emanator she takes a let´s call it, non-company intrest desition. This I find enough to belive she has her own agenda and an "honest" relation with K.
@eliut6855
Жыл бұрын
nobody ever mentions this, perhaps because it’s crass and juvenile, you know that JOI means : Jerk Off Instructions. that’s why it’s called JOI not Joy. It’s really sad, someone said that it’s a criticism of the movie to the porn industry. Nevertheless it’s fascinating that we can’t tell if Joi was real or programmed to appear to be real.
@TheMightyPika
Жыл бұрын
The Elimist is an unappreciated sci fi masterpeice. Thank you for reminding me to reread it.
@kaboodlefish
Жыл бұрын
I basically feel the opposite way about Joi. I don't think she was a 'real' character, and I don't think she had any agency at all, in fact I don't think she does anything for herself in the entire film. She's a product entirely of Wallace, and her sole aim seems to be to please her owner, i.e. K. When we're first introduced to her this is shown very bluntly as she asks him to read to her. He questions the request, and she responds in a very 1 or 0 way: "I don't wanna read either." Completely changing her behaviour based on what she perceives his desire to be. We then establish what K want's for Joi.. "you can go anywhere".. he wants her to be more real and to experience things. But again we're immediately shown how fake this is. She goes out in the rain.. but the rain falls thru her. We see the AI adapt and start to draw water landing on her skin after a few seconds. She acts like she's feeling the rain, but she isn't. We can see it's still falling thru her. Joi's just being what he wants to see, just like the advert says. Later she's listening when he's talking to the replicant sex worker and determines that he liked her. Hence choosing her for their sex-capade, which satisfies two of his desires at once.. for the replicant girl and for herself to seem more real. When she asks to be transferred to the emanator, the reason she gives is that it's to protect him, and she uses language about being more like a real girl.. which we already established is what he wants for her. Even in her death scene, as the foot hangs over the emanator, about to seal her fate, she has no thought of her own fate, she goes to K and tell him what he wants to hear in that moment. So everything she does from the first moment we see her to the last is for him. It's all to please him, and to be the girl her wants her to be. This is actually one of the things I like about the Blade Runner films.. they play with the ideas of "what is real?" and "does it matter if it's not?" Joi's fake in every way, but her death always feels like a loss. When K comes face to face with blue haired Joi's fakeness at the end, he leaves motivated by revenge.. whether because of the the loss or the deceit we can't be sure, but both are rooted in his having loved his Joi. So to me Joi is that extra question beyond "are replicants real people?" and "do they have real feelings?" because she is 100% fake.. but we feel her loss and we see K's love for her.. so does it even matter that if she's fake? Does it matter if the replicants are all fake? Our hearts just swelled watching a fake person lose his ai girlfriend. The feelings are all that actually mattered, not whether any of it was real.. it feels real when it matters. And that's enough. Someone (ladyknight?) could probably write an interesting essay on whether it's a metaphor for acting as a whole.. or CGI Princess Leias.. or even just poking fun at the original question of what Deckard is. But perhaps it's just a reminder to live our personal truths. If it feels real to us, don't be afraid to embrace it.
@jjescorpiso21
Жыл бұрын
your comment is a hug to me. thank u
@kaboodlefish
Жыл бұрын
@@jjescorpiso21 Thanks, I appreciate you reading it, it ended up kinda long. :3
@brianmontgomery1619
Жыл бұрын
Does every commentary of a movie have to come down to counting how many people of color are in it?
@brokefangmagepunk3685
8 ай бұрын
Right? Even for this one. Oh only 3 Africans! Each a different character and not typecast as gangster. Ones a cop, one could be considered neutral, one that is bad. Somehow this is a problem because there wasn't 4 Africans and an Asian? Or one of the Africans was a bad guy? I wonder how many people are watching Chinese or Japanese media and they are legitimately complaining there's not enough white people, or cry cultural appropriation when anime characters have blonde hair and blue eyes or anything other than dark hair and dark eyes. And expect to be taken seriously
@PinksProud
Жыл бұрын
I truly consider the ensemble cast for this (even the small parts) a perfect balance of the themes and symbolism of the movie. Each character's collective motivations and experiences all have something to say about the blurry line between being some form of unfeeling "automaton" and self actualising as a "real" human. Every character shows their capacity to thoughtlessly do as they are instructed/trained and also to passionately assert their desires as real people.
@SusannaSaunders
Жыл бұрын
So much good analysis here! Especially in chapters 8 and 9. Thank you for this in depth look at Blade Runner and especially the characters of K and Joi. I too can relate to the 'freeze' response you mention. I would describe it as just not seeing the point of responding though. Sometimes silence is the best response because no response does it justice. Not anger or sadness or retribution or anything. There simply isn't a response that does the situation justice because those that would witness your response would entirely misunderstand it. Just silently walking away is what happens in these life situations...
@cornflakes-does-stuff
Жыл бұрын
Not gonna lie, I teared up at the end, this was a beautiful video. You always have very interesting takes and such a skill to write impactful , emotionally resonant essays, I'm always exited to see that you updated!
@nicolasguerreiro2621
Жыл бұрын
The race argument about not having an Asian cast is extremely unthoughtful from your part. Blade runner is not about race, it's about specie humans/replicants it doesn't matter who's the actor, no race quotas are needed. Plus it makes sense Americans would play the roles, because it's literally in the united states. Also you're conflating culture and race. Cyberpunk is in some way japanese, in blade runner this culture took over in the united states but it doesn't mean that Japanese/ asian people took over. I don't know where you're from but if you have the luck to going to Europe one day, in France for example famous street rue st Catherine in Bordeaux has Timberland, Kentucky fried chicken, Apple store, Burguer king, 2 MacDonalds... Yet they're few Americans tourist and even fewer Americans living in that city. American culture was brought to Europe during the cold war but not the people themselves. So it's illogical to argument and repremend a french movie in a french city about their lack of American actors, it's down right counter productive, imaginative and passes as virtue signaling instead of making a good movie with good actors, not race actors.
@markilleen4027
Жыл бұрын
yes exactly its a cultural thing
@tristanbackup2536
Жыл бұрын
Boom! Hit the nail on the head. Problem is many Yanks like her are stuck in their outdated bubble that race/gene-set equal culture, far from it. I'm tired of hearing it from Americans. Even Japanese, even Chinese as homogeneous as they are, if you understand & live their culture, they won't treat you any different.
@pgskills
Жыл бұрын
Gosh, I never thought of it like that. K's loneliness and pain would have carried so much more emotional weight if only he'd been Latino like me.👌
@doubledawg2006
Жыл бұрын
Sarcasm? Or are you serious that you can’t empathize with someone as well if they’re a different race. I mean, that would be textbook racism…
@pgskills
Жыл бұрын
@@doubledawg2006 Obvious sarcasm.
@brokefangmagepunk3685
8 ай бұрын
And I'm glad he was white because it would of been impossible for me to relate to a fictional robot character if he has different skin😂
@pgskills
8 ай бұрын
@@brokefangmagepunk3685 That white privilege, yo. It's absolutely insidious! 😂
@tired799
Жыл бұрын
One thing that I think was lost in the adaptation of Do Androids Dream was the focus on extinct animals, and the desire to replace biological life with something artificial. I didn't enjoy the book at first (and also found the movie dull), but find myself thinking of it as I grapple with mass extinction at the same time as AI is developing rapidly. By using pets (artificial and real), humans are placed in relationship to an ecosystem beyond ourselves and the commodification of bodies. Isidore's role in the book is remarkably different, and there are instances which prompt the question, if biology doesn't define humanity and caring for life reflects one's own humanity, what does it mean for us to turn away from caring for other lives, even ones that cannot care for us back. The book asks if pain makes us human, if caring for others grants them life, if caring for others grants you life. I felt that Blade Runner, iconic as it is, failed to translate deeper themes of humanity gained by relation to life (human and nonhuman). Blade Runner 2049 understood the themes and refracted them through a new story. The three stories together are fascinating. BR 2049 has been one of my favorite movies for this masterful emotional work. Thank you for the deep reading and analysis; your work always gives my favorite media so much more depth.
@igoralbuquerque1509
Жыл бұрын
This was going so well... Until the analysis came to a screeching halt so the author could count the people with different skin colors in the background and say: gee, isn't this racist? She even notes how the japanese have completely embraced the genre and created some of its biggest classics, but that doesn't matter: a western woman is offended on their behalf. I genuinely thought that this (literally) skin deep sort of criticism was on its way out, but here it's in all it's glory, like a Kotaku article from 2011.
@morganleanderblake678
Жыл бұрын
1:06 I took this to imply that he sort of WAS. If AI are people, if replicants are people, then his memories came from Deckerd's daughter and that makes him effectively Deckerd's son. It was a really lovely meditation on what makes us who we are.
@SP-ny1fk
Жыл бұрын
The asians are in Asia. The asian multinational corporations are in Asia and America. I hope this answers your question.
@PasCorrect
Ай бұрын
Yeah, I think we're supposed to see America as having been economically colonized from afar. The critique is understandable (what a missed opportunity to cast Asian actors in interesting roles) but I don't find the absence of Japanese characters unrealistic if you accept that premise. As a parallel, we all know there's a ton of American media, brands and influence in Japan; therefore, do Japanese movies need to include American characters to explain why there are Coca-Cola ads in the background? Of course not.
@lorvincent
Жыл бұрын
Be the protagonist of your own story, just like any other normal Joe. No two memories are exactly the same; just sometimes similar, like falling snowflakes. Before the snow melts away, you're gonna carry that weight. edit: great Animorphs reference.
@QuackUp
Жыл бұрын
I don't think you mentioned this part, but it's my favourite line in the whole franchise: "Is it [Deckard's dog] real?" "I don't know. Ask him." This entirely sums up the message Blade Runner and its sequel reiterates. Everything about what is real, what is human, what is replicant, what is it to be alive? It's all summed up in that one short interaction and I'm so impressed by that short piece of dialogue. Animals and wood are supposedly scarce in this world and very valuable, which is why K/Joe asks this, and we're also aware of animals being a rarity in Blade Runner when Deckard asks Zhora (the replicant erotic dancer) if her snake is real, she snorts and says it obviously isn't. In the original book by Phillip K. Dick, I think the scarcity of real animals was more evident and spoken about, but it definitely exists in the cinematic scape too. And they used it for the most perfect analogy they could have.
@Cthulhuliessleeping
Жыл бұрын
Great video! Some comments for chapter 2 because I talked to people who were already alive when Bladerunner came out and I learned something that might be interesting for you, too: when I saw the film as a teenager, I was wondering why the style was so Asian and I was told by the older generations that this whole cyberpunk-style being full of neon-kanji and other Asian stuff was due to a strong economic boom in Japan during the late 70s and 80s. Electronics, cars, etc were exported in huge quantities into the US/European markets and fueled anxieties of being taken over/economically colonised (google "yellow peril"). This is why the idea that Asian influences would become dominant spread easily throughout western media. Also, as a non-native English speaker, the whole Chinese swearing was my favourite part of Firefly. After watching it, I consciously noticed how often people use English swear words in other languages and the idea that this phenomenon would be reversed in the future seems cool to me.
@googflax
Жыл бұрын
Thank you for that comment. You were able to summarize it like I could not.
@dissociative_
Жыл бұрын
I really don't understand why the film would need more black characters. I understand everything you said, but still that doesn't make sense to me
@LegalKimchi
Жыл бұрын
This was really good. Thank you for this beautiful analysis.
@jietan4424
Жыл бұрын
The point of story telling in movies is to convey ideas and plots into a condensed time frame. All characters within should be relatable to the human conditions regardless of race. It is the characters themselves which compelled the audience not the physical race as a whole to force a narrative to remind us of our own society. Further more, the original Blade Runner is to make the audience feel the ambience and mundane life of their very existence not so differ to their own hence it has a deeper impact. Its like saying 'whats the point of listening in a concert if all the audience want to do is to get to the climax.' The key is the journey within the concert itself. Enjoy it, cherish it, love it, live it. What I heard from the narration from Chapter 2 is projection from the critic criticizing humanity as a whole. 'Instead of physically viewing every race on the planet been represented into a movie, I challenge anyone to view every character within the movie has the potential to represent all mankind'.
@AngelofGrace96
Жыл бұрын
This whole video was really interesting (I knew nothing about Blade Runner or 2049 except that they were scifi classics) but by god did that very last section make me burst into tears. "If I could say anything to them…or to any person who is a little bit too soft inside, anybody who thinks dying could make them more... You were brave. You were strong. You were good. You mattered.” I didn't realise how badly I needed to hear this today. Thank you so much.
@marklloyd159
Жыл бұрын
Why are you using out dated tenets of post-modernism to critique this film and genre- post modernism is over. I suggest reading meta-modernism and effects of the Internet on arts and culture
@santiagogarza8121
Жыл бұрын
It's scary how much my KZitem algorithm knows me: I've been having a rough couple of days and was needing a hug. The algorithm recommended these video that (along with all of your other ones) feels like a warm hug on a rough day. Can't thank you enough for the enormously intelligent insignts combined with the enormously heartfelt feelings
@santiagogarza8121
Жыл бұрын
@@bobspurloc dude, I think you can chill a bit. Like you disagree with one of the dozens of point she makes and take down the whole thing (?)
@santiagogarza8121
Жыл бұрын
@@bobspurloc And yeah, it's not the core of either movie, certainly doesn't make them bad or anything. However, if you're including asian culture, maybe the considerate thing to do is to incorporate Asian people too, doesn't seem like a very hard ask. And you can even elevate a movie by taking those people into account. As a Mexican, I can tell you that american movies about my culture are way better when people that come from Mexico participate in the making of it.
@alejandronidoghh9324
Жыл бұрын
You have to be one of the BEST video essay creators on youtube, I get exited every time I see you posted! Amazing vide- INTERLINKED
@zoso73
Жыл бұрын
You lost my interest 11 minutes in when you go on and on about skin-color count, and I'm not white.
@Liveworkshop
Жыл бұрын
Wish i stopped at 11:00
@valenfr01
Жыл бұрын
incredibly excited to see if you can make me like this movie, or at least see it in a different light. i tried to watch it twice and thought it was unbearable, but i always end up appreciating the media you discuss in your essays (although most times i was already a huge fan)
@valenfr01
Жыл бұрын
update: as expected, you have a great take! i might give it a rewatch it at some point. i do think most of the stuff that spoke to me were your interpretations and not the text itself (even if i do love villeneuve, BR was not my cup of tea) my main problems with blade runner are that i didn't like the first one either so i could really get hooked on the plot, added to the fact that i don't really like ryan gosling as an actor so it really takes me off from empathizing, and the fact that ana de armas character is literally named jerk-off-instruction makes my blood boil, relevant to the film or not. when i first saw it i thought it was an unbearable pretentious brooding male fantasy, so im really surprised to see how different our interpretations were. great great work!
@thomassmall70
Жыл бұрын
@@valenfr01 I actually find it fascinating that you found it to be a brooding male fantasy, one of my main takeaways with having the fake out of K not being the 'messiah' was a message to some men, that need to hear it, that they aren't the main character, just because they are a sad white boy, doesn't make them the anime protagonist they think they are. The fulcrum character around which the entire plot turns is a quiet unnasuming disabled women. I really enjoyed the message that the world doesn't revolve around Joe just cus he's a man. Perhaps that's more just interpretation again, but the ending really did dispel any ideas like that for me.
@shinyary2
Жыл бұрын
I also didn't get the original Blade Runner, and felt much the same way about it that you did. When I admit this, people tend to make me feel like I'm some kind of freak who just doesn't understand good movies, but when I ask what they liked about it, they inevitably just say "it's an important piece of film history" or "the aesthetic and style is beautiful". I feel so validated right now, haha.
@randallgoeswhere
Жыл бұрын
Id like to say that as short of time Dave Bautista was in that movie he was so good. The guy is a legit good actor.
@acrynellys
Жыл бұрын
You're one of the best video essayists I've come across so far on KZitem. Thank you for all the hard work you put into these and making me cry almost every time 💘😭 Both you and Lola Sebastian deserve all the exposure you can get! I guess I was expecting a section on Luv, because I agree, that character is FASCINATING and Sylvia Hoeks absolutely owns the role.
@SirNyanPanda
Жыл бұрын
I don't get why the video required an entire section to talk about actor's races.
@CyrilZhe
Жыл бұрын
I love the way you analyze. Especially liked the fact that you gave us a lot of back story of how the film happened and the history around cyberpunk, bladerunner, Villeneuve, Ridley Scot etc. Of course, the ending was perfect and very emotional. How can it not be?
@whinemax
Жыл бұрын
This was a pleasure to watch. I don't watch a lot of video essays, but considering I really enjoyed BR:2049 I thought I'd give this a shot. Was pleasantly surprised!
@Uulfinn
Жыл бұрын
I really dislike that characters speaking other languages than their own is considered cultural appropriation. I thought it was cool how K can listen to and understand other languages without necessarily being able to speak them. The amount of foreign languages and foreign language scripts was one of my favorite parts of the movie.
@Teadon86
Жыл бұрын
It is those who peddle in offences, real or imagined, that have a problem with this.
@MarrsJ
Жыл бұрын
It's not about cultural appropriation, it's about the movie having racial allegories and cultural themes but not engaging with them beyond sticking them onto the singular race shown in the movie Cyberpunk 2077 handles this really well, there are a lot of japanese themes, text, and cultural references because there are simply a LOT of japanese people in night city, and one of the top corporations is a japanese company, and in that universe, corporations shape culture, so it makes sense and fits well into the universe, but in blade runner, it's used for mere aesthetics and thats the extent of it, which is really annoying seeing as it's a movie with themes about class and race struggles
@Teadon86
Жыл бұрын
@@MarrsJ So for cultural appropriation to be valid it must contain people we commonly associate with that culture? That is very ethnocentric and highly suspect of racism. What, so only Japanese-looking individuals can be Japanese? What has the world come to where a White person can't represent Japanese culture. Why do you have this chip on your shoulder towards Whites?
@MarrsJ
Жыл бұрын
@@Teadon86 You missed the part where I typed the words "It's not about cultural appropriation"
@Teadon86
Жыл бұрын
@@MarrsJ Avoiding the issue, eh? You clearly are referring to cultural appropriation but pretending you aren't by bringing up the racial allegory depicted as negative behaviour directed towards bioengineered humans. My question remains: why can't whites represent other cultures? My next question is: why can't Whites be victims of racial oppression in movies without needing non-Whites to address the issue of racism? Thanks for answering my question and not dodging them.
@FranciscoSilva-kp5hw
Жыл бұрын
Really beatiful video. Blade runner is like a fine wine, it keeps getting better with time.
@timgr2007
Жыл бұрын
Thank you so much for this. It not only enriched my understanding of the movie, it deepened my understanding and acceptance of my self. Brava!
@chimedemon
Жыл бұрын
That ending made me cry, I really needed to hear it. Thank you :)
@josepilimperatore3079
Жыл бұрын
Joi tells K to pull the attenna from the emulator after she is uploaded to it and deleted from the main system, which would go against the protocal of the Wallace Corporation that created her. So this could be an indictaion that she did develop her own agency and had authentic love for K.
@MrAnt1V1rus
Жыл бұрын
I have never seen a more intelligent, thorough, yet unkind, and misunderstood analysis of this genre and its major contributors. At one point we even bring up the ever-present Asian elements found all over cyberpunk, but then cheaply dismiss them as "racist" storytelling features and then we move on to attack some other aspect of these stories and their authors like the perpetrator of a driveby shooting who isn't all that concerned with who got shot and why before speeding off into the night. Cyberpunk isn't simply Racist, although you might be getting somewhere with that description if you were interested in something beyond drive-by labeling. Cyberpunk is paranoid and fearful of Asian influence coming to dominate the west. It was always informed by white-American anxieties and it grew out of uneasy observation of the rise of the Japanese miracle economy of the 70s and 80s. There was a cultural authenticity there, a sense of determination and purpose, and a curious ability to manufacture electronics and cars that outcompeted the rest of the world. The real estate surrounding the Imperial Palace in Kyoto was valued higher than the entire state of California at one point if I am not mistaken. They were doing a little too well for western comfort, and they were making it look good. Quietly, we must have worried that somehow we were all turning Japanese...and I know because it showed up in our stories, particularly the anxious ones like so many nightmares. Meanwhile, across the Pacific, the Japanese were worried about their ever more hypermodern society and the deleterious effects that might have on body and soul, which you can see in Tetsuo the Iron Man and Akira...where the invasion of corruptive hyper technologies comes from the hands of very white looking very militant people - a fact that I am completely ok with because Akira is a Japanese nightmare, and that's how it would look in that context. Anyway, "Racism" as a point of argument is little more than hollow cliché now which can and is deployed everywhere and for any reason, and seems to function like it's some kind of sufficient and self-contained argument all by itself as a single word. But It is too simple and a reductionistic way to interpret something like the deeply fearful Xenophobia that creatively informed those stories, and to dismiss that way (with an axe to grind) completely misunderstands the kind of fears and worries that might give birth to a story in the first place. Carrying on this way a person might make many edgy statements, and chop many lovely things to bits without ever coming to understand or appreciate anything. Stories (like dreams) are not always pretty and don't typically come from flattering places. I think that should be ok. We've misunderstood something about that, and are going after the books in the library with a double major in psychoanalysis, critical gender theory, and a hatchet. There's so much more going on in this video below than I have time to respond to, like a moment where the narrator says that the character Joy exists solely to perform emotional labor for K...Its this kind of dime-store theoretical stuff you can learn by reading Jezebel, this Ph.D. in snark stuff that gets in the way of watching the story and understanding whatever the characters might be doing or feeling that concerns me here. Does this kind of stuff even help accomplish any political objectives, does it help create any art? I'd wager it doesn't. But it definitely will turn you into a smug, self-satisfied person. Before getting off my soap box I'll just gently suggest that this isn't the best possible way to use books and films. It's much easier to make thousands of criticisms than one good work of fiction, and like binging on junk food the reward for criticism is instant but unhealthy and unfulfilling.
@smittenthekitteninmittens2679
Жыл бұрын
Hi I have recently found this channel and I just wanted to say as a sci fi nerd this and the Cassian Andor video pretty much brought me to tears greetings from North Wales your channel is freekin amazing xx
@MangaMarjan
Жыл бұрын
Your last words really moved me. They echoed what a lot of Ryan Gosling's roles portray, a side character in their own story. I think that's why he resonates with people a lot. But I liked how you put an uplifting spin on it, saying that it is enough to be exactly that, unlike many (men) that get bitter about it and feel as though they are robbed of being "the strong protagonist". It's okay to be soft, it's okay to freeze in the face of danger, it's okay to just be. Great video! And the third of you I binged. Keep up the great work!
@speakwithanimals
Жыл бұрын
this was an incredibly well done and thoughtful retrospective. thanks for making it
@iamanisland
Жыл бұрын
I always believed Deckard and the other Blade Runners only hunted rogue replicants. I always understood that Deckard didn’t kill her first and foremost because she wasn’t a rogue replicant. She became rogue by running off with Deckard.
@draum8103
Жыл бұрын
Woooah, around 1:10:15 Ellimist Chronicles quote to Rachel!!! Yes! That is the absolute spirit of Rachel, what an excellent character and series...
@Impheatus
Жыл бұрын
Damn! That ending was gut-wrenching and beautiful! Thank you for creating something so mesmerizing.
@williamhogan6160
Жыл бұрын
Why are you millennials so obsessed with skin color and female representation. And why does every culture need to be represented in movies. It is only a movie, albeit an excellent one, after all. If you want to see asians in a movie with chinese and japanese writing and symbols, make a movie that have these aspects in them. Don't complain about a great movie not having these elements in them. As you state in your awkward analysis. "The writers and directors did not have the intention of offensive content or stereotyping". But it is what it is. That is the directors vision. What you rather have? A woman who can do everything from physics to kicking a 250lb. mans butt, but has little to no evolving plot or another woman who belittles men because they are not as smart as she is. Those type of movies a pablum and inspire no one. Those kinds of movies are just window dressing to make the female writer or director feel good about themselves.
@tofupowda
5 ай бұрын
you managed to create one of the greatest works i've watched on this website. thank you so much for articulating and expanding on why i love this film so much. i can sincerely say this only amplified the deep appreciation i hold for br2049, and that's thanks to your ridiculous skill and insight.
@sanmai_van
Жыл бұрын
I don't have much of an issue with not casting minorities. Unless the story is able to intelligently make it matter, it's the story that truly matters. I watch plenty of Asian films and don't think it's racist for them to not include non Asians. Everything, everywhere, all at once does a phenomenal job making race part of the story so casting Asians essential. Or did they rewrite it because they found great actors who happen to be Asian.
@samueldesmondtuah1421
Жыл бұрын
The fact that you are just explaining some scenes and I was just listening to this at work while feeling how I felt years later after I saw it for the first time just confirms how great this film was.
@michaelmaloy6367
Жыл бұрын
This whole essay was compelling, but I've been perpetually in a dark place, and particularly in one lately. The way you closed the video, especially that specific quote "the day you were born was the day god decided the world couldnt exist without you" was beautiful in a way that made me openly ugly cry for about 10 minutes
@summerkagan6049
Жыл бұрын
I think the asian aesthetic of cyberpunk comes from the Ur text of the Sprawl Trilogy beginning with Neuromancer by William Gibson. It's interesting to see that many of the early cyberpunk anime like Ghost in the Shell had caucasian looking main characters.
@WatPatat
Жыл бұрын
Watched this movie both sober and while tripping on LSD. I could never get into the first Blade Runner, I've tried it as a kid and as an adult, even after watching 2049. I wasn't expecting much of this movie, but I am so happy that I tried it. I tried it just because it seemed like a good movie to watch while on LSD and boy did I get taken for a ride. It's a great movie, the story is captivating and the visuals are just chef's kiss. I wouldn't have minded if the story lasted longer because I was just so enthralled by the world. The acting was great, Ryan Goslin did a great job as K (Joe) and I enjoyed Ana de Armas as well.
@Mukation
Жыл бұрын
I don't know man, if the americans in Blade runner are inspired by asian architecture and culture does that mean they composition of the actual people living there will magically become asian? The japanese have been extremly influenced by american culture the past 80 years, but they are still Japanese over there, right? And i mean, The man in the high castle takes place in alternate 60s where the west lost against the Nazis...... And after the american concentration camps have fullfiled their role in exterminating jews, romas etc..... Why would you expect anything other than virtually just white people to exist there?
@comments.are.turned.off...
Жыл бұрын
BRAVO Ladyknightthebrave... BRAVO! That was the most definitive essay for Bladerunner 2049 I've yet seen, and I am one of those rare humans who was there to sit in the cinema the first time Ridley, Philip (and Vangelis's) world opened behind slowly parting screen curtains. TOP SHELF!!! with love from an old sci-fier in Melbourne, Australia.
@tmoody1000
Жыл бұрын
I loved your take on this, one of my favourite movies. Your perception and discussion of the themes and stories within the film honestly made me tear up. Thank you for creating such a thoughtful and moving take on this wonderful movie ❤
@LordOfAllusion
Жыл бұрын
“This movie doesn’t do activism in the way I want it to” -the review
@0waverunner0
Жыл бұрын
Pretty much how I took it.
@shimpey2410
Жыл бұрын
uh oh! someone didn’t watch past the first 17 minutes because they got offended
@0waverunner0
Жыл бұрын
@@shimpey2410 nah. Watched all the way. Theme came up multiple times. Lots of virtue signaling where it didn't need to be.
@Liveworkshop
Жыл бұрын
Best comment yet! 🍻🍻🍻 10/10
@micca903
Жыл бұрын
@@shimpey2410 No I think that’s pretty much spot on. KZitem is full of video’s like that. The professional reviews are like this too by the way.
@neanda
Жыл бұрын
Wow that an absolutely amazing movie review, I got very emotional about your end part. You're a very smart person, I've subscribed defo
Пікірлер: 1,8 М.