Blade Runner Retro Post Saturday

Back in 2014 I was ruminating over my love affair with Blade Runner and the fact my love of my life doesn't like it at all. "Eighties movies just look so dated." she said after making her watch it. Well I didn't ruminate much. I just dropped the conversation and posted an essay I read on the film just to make sure I could say "I know what's real."

And watching Blade Runner 2049 this evening I was vindicated. Look I like smart people challenging me, sharpen my game, but I close down when you start talking like my dad or you throw shade on Blade Runner. "So what got you into Blade Runner in the first place?" she asked me three hours later after I gave the love of my life three to four outs on passing this three hour evening commitment. "I watched it." I replied. "It hit all the big notes of sci fi in film that never gets done." I said. There are other great sci fi movies. I love Close Encounters, Star Wars, Silent Running, etc. but Blade Runner are movies which treat me like I can get subtle storytelling.

Most Hollywood fare tells you how you need to think and feel about the work. Like a Pepsi ad here is your prefabbed experience. What I like about the original, and now it's sequel, is it is a major film that lets me run with the story and make a bunch of shit up that makes it "real" to me. Much like how a good TTRPG goes. Everyone has their own wild imagination going on at the table, none is more real than the other. Mutual respect. That is what I got when I was fourteen and what I got tonight.

I am pleased with the sequel because it has a ripping soundtrack, characters I know nothing about stand out deep and present against the backdrop of a life without meaning, and not much is explained, thank you. Just good literary thoughts painted on a canvas immediately relatable to me where I am and keeping me fascinated. The Blade Runner movies make me a better game master, nuff said.