I’ve changed the syllabus of The Outsider to replace Yukio Mishima’s film Patriotism (which can be seen online here if you’re curious) with Blade Runner, a movie that will fit well with China Mountain Zhang and some of our other texts.

Blade Runner is a cult classic, a movie that was not hugely popular when it was released in 1982, but which has steadily achieved a large audience — large enough to justify its being re-released in theatres at least twice: in the 1990s with the “director’s cut” (which cut out the voiceover from the original) and then last year with the “final cut”, which fixed a few things from previous versions and, most significantly, cleaned up the image and sound to the most modern technological standards.

What makes Blade Runner special is its design, cinematography, and pacing.  It’s a movie that’s as much about mood as anything else.  The depth and thoughtfulness of the visual design creates a vivid world, one that feels somehow real.  The film is also significant for bringing a cyberpunk aesthetic to cinema — two years before the publication of William Gibson’s seminal cyberpunk novel Neuromancer.

For more information on Blade Runner, follow these links:

• Wikipedia page
• IMDB page
• BladeZone: The Online Blade Runner Fan Club & Museum (scroll down for links to interviews, scripts, and much more)
• Reviews of the film
• DVD Beaver compares the various DVDs of the film

People who looked at this item also looked at…

• The Outsider

Related items

• The Outsider
• China Mountain Zhang
• The Outsider Course Schedule
• The Outsider Links