Why is blade runner an auteur film?



What makes Blade Runner an auteur film?

An auteur film is when the filmmaker making the film has a style and practice which is distinctive, and which creates a signature auteur status for themselves. It is also a filmmaker who has a personal signature style due to their own personal life and experiences also keeping full creative authority over his or her film, some notable auteurs are Nolan, Tarantino, Hitchcock, Del Toro, Spielberg and Carpenter.

Ridley Scott and Blade Runner is considered an auteur film for many reasons such as the unique tone, themes and visual styles which are used in the film. Also, Ridley Scott is widely regarded as an auteur himself by many filmmakers and critics as like due to his unique and repeated themes, tones and more. As well as this his personal experiences have greatly affected not only Blade Runner but also his other projects, the most notable personal experience that has shaped his filmmaking is the death of his older brother who passed away due to cancer, this can be seen as almost a Scott theme as mortality, death and humanity is references heavily in not only Blade Runner but some of his other films as well.

One scene which shows Blade Runner as an auteur film is the opening scene and it does so as such, the scene begins with a wide shot of Los Angeles at night; flames can be seen shooting into the air creating an intense and different tone from the first frame which would have been a very odd and different opening shot, also this shot is an intertextual reference to a scene from ‘Apocalypse Now’ (1979). Following this the traditional aspects of science fiction such as flying cars, are included in this giving you the traditional aspects of science fiction but also using the auteur style of Scott to add something different and unique. The dystopian future has aspects such as darkness and heavy rain which could be a reference to Scott’s childhood as he was born in South Shield’s, Newcastle which when he was growing up and still now is a city which is indulged heavily in rain most of the year which could explain Scott’s repeated use of rain, this use of his personal life is another reason why he is considered an auteur. The pyramid shaped buildings in this scene are a reference to the ancient Aztec temples as Scott said that was his inspiration for those buildings this can also be seen in a scene later in the film as the patterns on Deckard’s room is that of Aztec carvings and patterns. The scene then cuts to a dark room with a man interrogating a prisoner replicant, this part of the scene in particular is a good example as why this is an auteur film as it takes the tone and visual style of film noir, having the interrogator smoking and taking that detective like role while interrogating a prisoner as well as the scene looking like a black and white visual style, both of these being typical of a noir film.

A second scene which shows Blade Runner as an auteur film is the ending scene, ‘tears in rain’ monologue. As stated, before the use of darkness/night and heavy rain is seen as a reference to Scott’s upbringing in Newcastle where the rain is often and heavy. In this scene it is used heavily as the rain is used throughout the entire final scene, with it being used to make the scene more emotional in many ways as the rain is accompanying Deckard’s horror as he believes he is about to die but also accompanies his relief as he is saved. In this film there is a recurring theme of eyes which are references many times over two of those being in the opening scene and another in this final scene with a shot of Roy Batty’s eyes as he goes to save Deckard. The theme of mortality and humanity is on show here as well as we see mercy and emotion in the eyes of Batty as he chooses to save Deckard and accept his inevitable death. This acceptance of his own death has been seen as a reference to Scott’s late brother who died from cancer before the making of this film, Batty’s character goes through the development of doing whatever it takes to live to accepting his own death before he pasted, this is seen as similar to his brother fought cancer but eventually accepted his own death fore he pasted.

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