What BLADE RUNNER 2049 Is Really About
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- čas přidán 3. 06. 2024
- Like its predecessor, BLADE RUNNER 2049 is more than just a great-looking sci-fi noir. It is also an exploration of important themes that were relevant in 1982 and are still relevant today. Listen for my thoughts on the movie's deeper meaning, and then share your own in the comments!
0:00 Intro
1:24 Do Replicants Have Souls?
9:52 The World is Built on a Wall
14:02 Complacency and Artificial Reality
22:49 Her Eyes Were Green
27:57 Making a Choice
33:46 Conclusion
Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio - whitebataudio.com/ - Zábava
![Blade Runner 2049 - Empathy Propaganda [Video Essay]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/WTKmaJa3Ci0/mqdefault.jpg)
Bladerunner: Do robots dream about electric sheep?
Bladerunner 2049: No. They dream about electric Ana De Armas.
And her little raspberry nipples.
I for one, prefer the latter
Ann of Weapons is her name 😊
I love her, but her acting chops are indicative of somebody who would never love me back... She might but I'd never be able to believe her...
This is STILL one of my favourite movies. I watched it in cinema all alone and when I walked out of the mall it was raining. There's something surreal about that feeling that I remembered to this day.
I felt a similar experience, but i was with my girlfriend and there was some other people in theater, but when we left the mall it was also raining with neon like lights at the landscape. I remember felling surreal for finally have watched a blade runner sequel after being fan of the first one for so many years, and how mindboggling the whole movie is.
It's a cheap take in the original.
@@fernandomaron87yeah me too. Girlfriend and the rain. She wasn't into the movie but idgaf I loved it.
@@denroy3nah I disagree. First of all it's a sequel so you're already wrong.
Second it's a really worthy and thought provoking continuation of the original story.
@@denroy3original is meh and has "greedo shot first" level director meddling. 2049 is a masterpiece of film and BR is the cult success that needed to be told by respectful people.
Something I find interesting that I've seen nobody discuss was what a Sapper is. In classic military conflict a sapper is one that tunnels under walls of a castle or a trench and places explosives [or something else like piers of wood and a fire to destroy them] to 'tear down the wall'. Bautistas character is meant to knock down the wall that other characters in the film talk about. He is the first significant step for K to in other words become human. As if the idea of something metaphysical like a miracle is necessary to take steps to humanity. I.E. something that is so out of line of what you KNOW to be or be possible made manifest directly in your vision, keeping with the themes of eyes in the first film mainly, and lesser so in 2047. But 2047 also deals with touch, what you feel. And feeling anything might be enough to make you human.
Thank you! Great detail and metaphor I didn’t pick up on - Dennis V is just incredible.
If u played warcraft u know what it is
It’s pretty significant, then, that during his fight with K they also literally knock down a wall.
Really good point.
Kinda strange because he was actually a combat medic in the movie
It's good to see a creator skip the all too common trend of bombarding the viewer with background music. Listening to a voice alone is more impactful when the spoken word takes center stage with no distractions. Audiobooks speak to this as we keep up with multi-layered narratives unfolding over hours and hours.
Those of us who enjoy excellent long form studies like this will stick around (probably more than once if we're passionate about the topic) and we don't need a synthwave beat to keep us engaged.
Not to mention makes it easier to understand what’s being said for those of us with some amount of hearing damage. Nicer to hear what’s being spoken than have to rely on subtitles.
I like the fact he talks like a normal person and not some Ai or forced narrator voice.
Worked as a prison guard for the better part of 8 years. I can say with 100% certainty that some people have a LOT less empathy than the replicants presented in these movies.
How do you know they arent replicants....
Some "people" have no internal life, and can't understand that others do have an internal life.
When you place people in cages do you really expect them to act like human beings?
Yeah, we expect human beings to act like human beings. That is WHY we have placed them in a cage to begin with.@@lonew2657
@@lonew2657 People who are imprisoned may choose to not act as human beings
And that just makes it all the more striking when inmates choose to rise above, to retain their humanity
This is especially true in the cases where the inmates know that they are not guilty, e.g. Navalny
2049 is so badass. Ryan Gosling killed it.
Or did he... retire it?
@@kubrickenigma7977 hahah. Very nice.
Your Ken was crap 💩
Shut up Phil. You're dead. XD
Agree 💯
Good to see this movie still getting attention!
It deserved so much better box office success
Why wouldn't it fast and furious has a franchise and people think the Rock is a great actor 😂
It will continue getting attention for a long time to come. It's already a cult classic on par with Ridley Scott's original (and, like Ridley's own extensive, quality filmography, Villeneuve’s filmography will guarantee ongoing advertising for the sequel as well).
Why? Unnecessary and unasked for.
For al it's flaws, it was still the best movie of that decade
That scene of the giant hologram Joi calling him Joe broke the internet. Because it's not just about whether Joi or K is real. This isn't just about can synthetic humans be special.
This scene makes the viewer question if they, or anyone is really special. Remember, this scene takes place right after Joi is destroyed and tries to say "I love you". Just like K, the viewer thinks she and K are different .But the scene with the hologram destroys that illusion the second she calls him Joe.
Because the cold truth is, waaaay deep down, every married couple wonders where's the line where they can be replaced. An illiness? Old age? A job layoff (every guy I knew in a relationship before the Great Recession wasn't after it)?
So what's the point of anything? I guess you have to ultimately find your own reason to feel special. K does this at the end. When Deckard asks why K did all this, he doesn't answer. He lived his life his way proving that, while not unique, he could still act like someone who was.
And that's what this is all about. It's your actions define you. Was K just another replicant that could be replaced and maybe that replacement does the same thing he did. Hard to say. But the point is he made the choice to sacrifice himself to do the right thing.
Awesome comment
Can I ask you why this is the case, what’s the purpose of it? Knowing that the time you have is very finite and you can easily be replaced what’s the purpose? Life just sounds like a giant game.
@@dream8870 Your comment reminded me of Auld Lang Syne - a German version of the song I heard years ago.
Nehmt Abschied Brüder
Schließt den Kreis
Das Leben ist ein Spiel
Und wer es recht zu spielen weiß,
gelangt ans große Ziel
Say goodbye to btothers
close the circle
life is a game
And who knows how to play
gets to the big goal
I don't know, but this song gives me always Matrix vibes.
As if we were trapped in MBs "Spiel des Lebens" (The checkered game of life).
What the hell kinda metaphysical comment is this 😆
Ask yourself exactly the same questions about your own life.
What's the purpose of it ( your life ) . . . Genuinely, pragmatically, the answer is there is no purpose. There is no "purpose" to the universe, it is all a random fluctuation, and ALL of human existence is a nothing occupying the SMALLEST possible fraction of the length of time that has passed but REALLY nothing when compared to the length of the future.
And IN that vanishingly small 100 to 300 000 years of humanity worth of the past, you won't be alive even for a fraction of it, not even one thousandth of it . . .
However, living your life to your own rules, and trying to make other people happy, trying to be happy on average, this can be a self valued PERSONAL purpose . . .
There literally isn't any point thinking too hard about it.
There isn't any "point" to the Universe, or our lives, or even human existence so we MAKE ourselves a point.@@dream8870
One of the better analysis videos of 2049, thank you for the effort and perfect delivery!
Thank you Joe! 🙏
I came here to say that- so thank you again! Great video analysis; a lot of new elements that I hadn’t picked up on… (eg “Joe”).
Really great job, mate!
@@OneTakeVidsYes! You did a great great job on explaining this movie!
I can barely put into words how highly I regard this film and its philosophy on life. Not many movies present such deep questions and even fewer have the balls to attempt to answer them. I'm thinking films like Barry Lyndon and Grand Budapest Hotel. Stories that reflect on what a life is, what's important, and why it's important.
I'm sure if you asked 20 people they'd all have a unique list of what films do that for them, but BR2049 is probably the top of it for me.
Cloud Atlas has a lot of flaws, but it's also pretty great in many ways.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Lyndon#Contemporaneous
At THREE HOURS AND FIVE MINUTES, people were walking out of the theatres. At least when it came out. It was sort of like a longer, more drawn-out re-telling of Candide by Voltaire, without all the stately British puffery. It also only tripled it's eleven million dollar budget.
@@c3bhm I agree it's got a lot of good positive philosophy. And importantly, each person is going to find something different in fiction that represents them. I've heard so many people talk about the film Secret Life of Walter Mitty a lot when it comes to 'guiding principles' but personally? I hate it lol.
I'd love to see a poll with cross-sections of the population asked what movie represents their views best in this sense (if I could find a genius who could word the question properly). Generations, regions, ethnicity, I'm sure you'd get some interesting answers when juxtaposing people on this.
I think this is one of the best sequels ever. Quite possibly, even the best one.
It's boring as hell and drawn out for no reason. Aside from the cinematography being good, the actual plot and scenes are dull as hell
Joi is a test of K's humanity, of the viewer's humanity. If you are heartbroken by her demise, you bear grace, you are humane. If her plight makes you a better person, then she is worthy, she is important, and regardless of whether she functions upon programming, she makes people better by evoking love and empathy. To me, this is incredibly human.
So true. Also, I feel that this review and many others do not recognize the growth of the Joi character. Joi follows her programming, sure, but she also genuinely learns, and adapts. In my opinion, Joi is to this film what the replicants are to the original.
I say this as often as I can. I haven't yet seen any reviewers use the rain to connect her story directly to tears in the rain. We see her physically adapt to the environments she encounters in the emulator, and I don't see why so many having a hard time accepting that unique experiential learning made her a unique iteration of the larger JOI program. Even without the tears in the rain connection to the first time we see her having unique experience. A scene bathed in green, which is connected with individual life in the rest of 2049 itself.
That said, her name is also a category of porn that couldn't have been missed in the creative process. Even if I beleve what I just said about K's JOI, I think she also serves as a symbol for propaganda, questions of control, and our fear that consumer economics is reducing us all to a narrow and replicable set of concepts. As well, I do think we should keep open the question of whether she actually rose against her programming, whether our decision to imbue her specifically with meaning actually makes her an individual or she remains figment of the imagination, and what our decision to imbue her with autonomy actually means to her own autonomy to define herself.
JOI may be the richest character ever created. As a movie I still prefer the original bladerunner, but JOI is the blockbuster question mark.
@@maxwellschmidt235Awesome thoughts! I didn't consider the rain part and equate it to the line from Roy, that made me think!
BR2049 is really about making people feel comfortable with home appliances. It's propaganda from tech companies to soften us up to the idea that we have more in common with toasters then we do with our neighbours. The people up in Silicon Valley want you in love with your computer and not your girlfriend.
I agree. After all, how many of us haven't wondered if the way we act and think is just programming, pathways in our brain we can't change or conditioning in our childhood we can't break. Does that matter? Does that make us less human? In my opinion the simple desire to want to be human and be real is the beginning of free will, and Joi's tragedy is that she was killed before she achieved the same freedom as K, and all her memories and experiences that made her *her* are gone, like tears in the rain.
Found myself tearing up at several points along the way... and, ultimately understanding it better than I had after watching the three shorts and feature three times each. Thank you!
Luv is trying and trying and trying to be the best one... to feel like she deserves love. Or to feel secure in approval.
Imo, this hits so hard because there's a type of parent that cultivates this in their children. And some religions work this angle shamelessly.
So I cried there, and also at the very simple, you're special.
With Joi ( literally designed to be a 'jerk off instruction' AI), K continually gave her free will, and had no intention of controlling her. He treated her as if she was real, and her programming adapted. I thought that their relationship was sweet, and that in a way, he was able to help her break her programming, just as he was able to break his own programming.
When she sacrificed herself, she demonstrated selflessness, as a key aspect of sentient consciousness. When he sees the ad for Joi after his Joi has 'died', he does not see his Joi in her, because his version of her was unique to him. He is clearly grieving for his loss and cared about her. To them, their love and affection for each other was real, even if they were both technically artificial life forms.
This point is also driven home by Deckard, when he asserts "I know what is real!"
Could you show me where is said officially and not on /tv/ that JOI means that? Thanks.
@@Kaiyanwang82 that’s what JOI stands for. That is clearly her obvious designed purpose. She is a porn bot that is designed to fulfill people’s fantasies. Not sure how anyone could conclude anything else from her adverts.
@Kaiyanwang82 I'm not certain the JOI porn connection was originally intended, but I also see a 0% chance that this was never brought to Villeneuve's attention. And the connection is symbollically perfect, as JOI's association with porn is explicit in the movie and her lack of corporeal form means that basically all she could do is offer instructions... except when she hangs her form on a replicant which transfers concerns about the commodification of sex and flesh to the replicant woman. Basically, there's no way to say there's no meaning there.
@@maxwellschmidt235 You should get out of /tv/. You kids read chan memes and think they should be taken literally.
Yes, I've always thought, "Is Decker a replicant?" was the wrong question. The deep question that resonates is pondering whether or not there's any actual difference between human and replicant.
That’s the point of the first movie. Deckard, who is human, acts with basically no humanity when hunting the replicants, who have a craving and lust for life. They are more human than the human. Deckard rediscovering humanity is the point of the movie
@@nickentrosI do not think dekard was human cause he and k and love seem to be unaffected in Vegas by radiation as to where others on the team have breathing apparatuses when thy go to kidnap K And deckard.
@@clemfandango5908 We don't know where the bomb dropped in vegas. The electronics and stuff worked where Deckard was staying so i'm assuming he lived in a pretty unaffected area.
If Deckard is a replicant, I think it adds nothing to the story---except a host of nearly impossible questions to answer. If replicants are regarded as so dangerous that all replicants, even one as harmless as Rachel, must be hunted down and "retired," then by what ridiculous stretch is Deckard, a replicant, allowed to roam free and carry a badge and a weapon? If he's a replicant, then why is he so weak? And on and on. I think if Deckard were a replicant, the logic of the story collapses.
@@tagoldich I tend to agree that Deckard is human, but I also rebel against stating that firmly. Without going into full Blade Runner exegesis mode, I find the open question adds to, rather than subtracts from, the philosophical angles.
That said, Scott's insistence that Deckard is a replicant really detracts from my respect for his intelligence, and leaves me wondering if he even understood the story he got on screen. Blade Runner is incredibly and subtly subversive. It loses some punch if the alienation and antipathy flowing from capitalism and its structures aren't acting on any humans in the film.
"Remember, her eyes were green."
That just changed my life dude.
Why?
@@antonboludo8886 there is something worth fighting for
Nice. Well said.
Did you see the first movie when it came out in 1982?
@@johantino
Are you a Biblical Scholar?
That is a great analysis. Made me think about it in a new way. Thank you for putting this together!
Thank you for the kind words!
This film as a stand alone is one of my all time favorites, as a sequel it vaults into the unprecedented.
The shear keen insight into culture and social conditioning is piercingly adroit. Couple that with the profound exploration of what it is to be human and the core contemplation of the nature of human awareness is unparalleled in my opinion. When you add to that, the fact that is is an extension of the initial expression of the original film in the form of a sequel... it occupies cinematic rarified air for me. Truly unparalleled. Thank you Mr. Scott for the gift of this study of human psychology and social conditioning.
I shared it with my 17 year old son, who after three days returned to me and asked to watch it again after the notions it stirred in him had settled a bit. He was gobsmacked by the implications it brought up socially and psychologically.
Blade Runner has been my favorite movie since I first saw it.
I cannot fully express the feeling I felt when I walked out of that theater after watching 2049. Overjoyed. Relieved. Satisfied. It was like winning the Superbowl, except better. I was 99% sure that they were going to f it up and leave me feeling disappointed and feed my cynicism at the decline of art and civilization. I was instead filled with inspiration and wonder. It TRULY is the greatest sequel of all time. The writers understood the original. They showed mad respect for the philosophy, the mood, the vision of the future, the music, fashion, cinematography... EVERYTHING.
Most of all, they evolved the allegory to a deeper level without corralling it to some narrow interpretation, but leaving the vision open to personal wonder.
A masterpiece.
Great take, I agree with the majority of your observations, I disagree that K was using Joi as a distraction like Instagram, I see it as a yearning and reaching for a human life, a striving for humanity. And the relationship in the beginning may have been like you say, but I see growth in both, as you said when she risks mortality by being disconnected so they can't make her talk, and at the end when she is destroyed she also in a sense sacrifices herself. I think the evolution of the 2 "artificial" life forms show us the melancholy/ sadness of life and death.
There are a lot of layers to Joi. While I think she's real and special, and that there is real love between K and Joi, I think it's also unmistakable that her name is the acronym for a specific kind of pornography, and there's zero way that a major motion picture was made without that association being known to Villeneuve. I think we should absolutely use her character to think about consent, control, surveillance, propaganda, and parasocial relationships. My motto in watching both Blade Runner and 2049 is "every interpretation, all the time." Instead of choosing one narratively coherent thread of meaning, looking for every coherent meaning and setting them up in conversation yields much more.
A most excellent analysis. Thorough and accurate. Superb presentation.
Great insights. I appreciate your work on these long form vids.
Thank you!🙏
I loved both movies.
My view on the "Reality Matters", is somewhat different, now that I am closer to the end than the beginning.
I would be happy with Joi. A simulation of companionship and kindness is better than none at all.
I always thought an element of Joys character opened the question of A.I. As sentiency and another level of the existential pondering. Her “version” by her own experiences surely leaves this open, much in the same way replicants were.
Thank you for this. I saw another commenter stating they work in a prison and someone else commenting if we can expect humans in captivity to ach human. I also work in a prison, and while I'm free to leave at certain times I'm as much a human in captivity and just as free to change myself as we were yesterday. In order to change we must destroy who we were and the illusion of our present. That's why this analysis moved me too, because it helps me accept my reality.
I’ve watched this movie a few dozen times. It’s such a great movie to get blazed to and get lost in. I watch it a hand full of times a year.
Amazing video! Thanks for showing me new things about this movie. It was especially interesting to see that the poem of the baseline test was in the book that Joy read to Kay.
Wow, this was one of the best essays I've seen. Awesome job! I love this film so much and this helped me appreciate it on a whole other level...
Very interesting material, and very well told. I'll definitely take a look at what else you have.
Movies don’t need to supply all the answers. Provoking discussion for years afterwards is a job well done.
Great video bro really in depth
I love vidéo essays like this. Very well put together.
WOW! Brilliant synopsis! :)
You nailed the Joi character, bravo. With that nailed a major theme and your closing statement was also spot on. Good job but that's only half the story.
The movie is about how someone transcends all that through humility, faith and sacrifice. The religious undertones are in your face. You had said, "To shake people from their reverie, it takes a miracle" and that moment for K, that you describe as his most human, happens in front of Dr. Ana Stelline. When Mr. Wallace first hears of Dr. Ana Stelline, he proclaims, "a child is born" and Freysa talks about her as a type of Messianic leader. So let's look at that.
In the first half of this movie, which you covered excellently, K is a loser, unfulfilled with the equivalent of a sex doll for a girlfriend but the story is this. He is pursuing a meaningless life no bigger than himself and devoid of showing love to those around him. The world hates him for it. He starts to escape this in the discovery of a false narrative (fantasy) that he is special. You could say it's analogous to having visions of grandeur, having main character syndrome or just acting like all these tiktok kids. That fantasy is a lie that nearly breaks him. When he visits Dr. Ana Stelline the first time, he glimpses something beautiful but is not able to see it properly because he's looking through a perverted lens. He then loses everything until he finds himself standing in front of the Joi billboard with it's black soulless eyes. It is there that he casts off his bandages, literally, in that scene and accepts a framework of providence and humility and understands what he was not valuing the right things. He faces his final battle against Luv. I don't entirely know what to make of it but he kills her I would argue she represents the love of false things. When she says she is the best one, I believe this is intentionally someone who seeks validation in status like those people who think that whoever has the biggest toys wins, the guy with the most expensive car should go first etc. Her name after all is a diminutive but I believe Joi's is too and the dichotomy between joy and love is obvious. "Happiness is fleeting but suffering requires a sustaining meaning". Joi is analogous to a porn addiction, and in porn the acronym JOI stands for jerk off instruction which I find hilarious in her role as a hologram. I believe that where as Joi represents the placating forces that keep us from rising up, Luv represents the love of worldly things that sends us in the wrong direction. At any rate, K goes back to visit Dr. Ana Stelline, taking Deckard. K has found peace in the service to others. So to me the point of this movie isn't just a warning about consumerism but it's about developing enough humility to have kindness, love and sacrifice for the people around you despite any injustices. When faced with his own impotence, K could have become bitter and resentful but instead chose humility and sacrifice. In so doing so, returns to Ana able to see the truth. He has his soul intact. It's a beautiful movie and it is equally applicable to us all.
Some people have accused this of being a Christian or even a Christmas movie because of the Christ themes present in Dr. Ana Stelline. While I believe she represents faith more broadly, living behind glass apart from the world. As the memory maker you could argue that she plants the seeds of a soul in each newly "born" replicant. It is worth noting that when Luv is getting her nails done, you can see Rudolph the Red Nose reindeer painted on one of them.
There is also a slight wolf theme in this movie that I am not clear on. We just mentioned Rudolph. That name from it's origins means famous wolf. The name Love means female wolf and Joi's ringtone is from Peter and the Wolf. I am also of the opinion, which is pure conjecture, that they wanted Wallace to look somewhat wolf like. They're first choice was David Bowie and while I have no idea if the wolf theme is real, would wonder if it ties into the electric sheep androids dream of. Would love to hear people's thoughts.
Edit, I wanted to add that the name Freysa is the name of the Norse goddes of love and being Norse with 1 eye, there are clear parallels to Odin. I believe she helps him understand what to love and why. Oh, and clearly Mackenzie Davis was the real catch the whole time.
Honestly, I've never seen any other movie so layered, full of art and so resplendent in it's philosophy as this one. If you read this far, thank you.
Great essay. Personally, I think we're meant to maintain the open question of whether Joi is an evolving being capable of love. My line of reasoning is that in the same scene we're introduced to her, she is put into the emulator and taken to experience rain for the first time. This is the only prominent precipitation in the movie until the ending where K dies in the snow. We see her projection adapt to the rain, without the larger Joi mainframe to rely on. At the end of the movie, there's snow, which is a highly individualized form of precipitation. But also, the rain ties to the tears in the rain speech from the first movie, which centralizes individual experience as the hallmark of humanity, the reason more time is worth fighting for- and also allowing others to have.
When K meets big Joi, everyone keys in on the fact that she uses the word "Joe" to address him, and takes it to mean Joi never broke out of her base programming. But I think K could easily be reflecting on how different her use of the term was, and thinking that maybe she had tasted individuality, an individuality he had taken for granted in his own case. He may not be the chosen one of the story he's in, but he has personal experiences that he will use to help the chosen one.
So, to your exposition on Joi, I say "yes and."
I think the theological dichotomy between Wallace and Ana goes back to PKD's fascination with gnostic theology. A common theme among gnostic sects is that there is a true perfect and benevolent god, but that god is outside of our universe. Our material universe is created and controlled by an insane or evil creator god. Gnosis, or knowledge, is the path to reunification of the soul with the benevolent god who can only impact our physical world by breaking in periodically- through the souls of the knowing. Gnostic early christians believed Jesus was such a breakthrough into the chaotic evil world to teach the gnosis to all.
This is why I tend to believe the probability of fan theories that K has Ana's memories. The problem here is that we need to adjust "K is not the chosen one" as a slogan. If this is the case, he is in fact chosen, just not in the way he badly wanted to be. Maybe a way to look at it is that he is John the Baptist, making the world ready for the coming Messiah. When Ana leaves her bubble to rejoin the real world, she will be Jesus- the flesh and blood incarnation of the source of replicant souls.
Turning to some thoughts about the wolf theme, Luv immediately recognizes the emulator ringtone, suggesting that it was chosen by Wallace corp, not K. In this light, my best explanation is that in addition to being a nice piece of art, Peter and the Wolf was made as Soviet propaganda. As in my original comment, I think we're meant to take Joi both as propaganda and as a budding individual.
As for a larger wolf theme, if there was intention, it doesn't add much to liken bad characters to wolves unless it helps us identify a wolf in sheep's clothing. In the pattern as stated, that would lend credence to the idea that Joi wasn't misleading K as a maladaptation to his own proclivities but was in fact wholly controlled by Wallace and Luv. In this interpretation, Wallace and Luv are playing K from the start.
Joi may be my favorite character ever, because of the huge range of interpretations for her character and K's relationship to her.
BR2049 gets better with every watch. While the entire film is very visually stunning and pleasing, the scene where K visits Dr. Ana Stelline ("The Child") is one of the best scenes in the film. "I can't help your future, but I can give you good memories to think back on and...smile...If feels authentic, and if you have authentic memories, you'll have real human responses...wouldn't you agree?"
thank you for making this video, I've seen the film a few times. I loved it but didn't pick up on half of what you mentioned here. Definitely needs another watch now
The sci-fi book ‘Friday’ by Heinlein has a good discussion of replicants vs humans.
Blade Runner was my favorite movie growing up, you did a great job m8 \m/
I really really love this movie, from a philosophical perspective. From a narrative perspective. And from a cinematic perspective. My favorite genre… cyberpunk ❤
Thank you for this incredibly intelligent and illuminating exploration of this amazing film. When I first watched it I had hoped that 2049 would not tarnish my love of the original but it is arguably even deeper, smarter and more beautiful than the original.
I love warching this movie to fall asleep. Always makes me fall asleep without fail, and for that, its one of my favorites
For me it's Ad Astra so quiet but beautifully shot.
Wonderful video essay. It does Justice to the powerful, memorable, amazing movie that 2049 is!!!
Thank you for the kind words! 🙏
Thank you so much. Words can'T describe what you moved inside of me with this Video.
Thank you for the kind words 🙏
It is wild that Jared Leto is still making movies
Agreed
He is part of the in crown in hollyweird 👿
One of the greatest video essays. ❤
Wow thank you! 🙏
Phenomenal; and so very reflective of what we are going through now.
One of the best sequels of all time
Awesome analysis of one of my favorite movies. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve watched it.
How did you not almost fall asleep it just drolls on with more and more boring scenes
@@drunkhusband6257 One man's paradise can be another man's prison. One man's floor sometimes is another man's ceiling.
Great analysis. The double entendre of the J.O.I. acronym was brilliant and apropos . Look it up. lol.
Good video. Nice perspectives.
Loved the in depth analysis of the movie. I appreciate the movie more now
This film left me sitting in the theater for a while after it was over. The rest of the evening I just kept thinking about life - meaning, purpose, love, the difficult and complex nature of reality etc. I ended up writing a summation after having seen it a second time:
There was no real decoy. It was purely on paper. K/Joe is utterly, completely, unequivocally unremarkable, thus his name, Joe... as in Average Joe. Joi does not possess a soul. She is completely fake. She is the other side of the Replicant coin and is made solely to please and coddle her owner/lover. Her entire branding scheme is that she'll be anything you want. Joi is K's fleeting dream of being special -- to be human... or as he put it, "to have a soul" -- so she always reinforced this to him. In her final moment she made sure to tell Joe that she loved him... Just before Luv crushed her emanator.
Wallace posed a question about whether Deckard was moved by love or by programming. To me there's no doubt whatsoever Deckard is fully human. The original movie is about a bad man finding his humanity through the grace of a machine. Wallace's question is not a literal "Are you human or machine?" question, but pondering what the difference is; if love is just neurochemistry, and if we are products of biological programming or something higher, like a soul. The ultimate takeaway is that it really doesn't matter. What matters is what we choose to do with our lives. We find and create our own meaning and purpose.
In summary, 2049 is about dreams and delusions. K wants desperately to feel special so Joi tells him this constantly and he quickly assumes all the evidence points to him because it's his dream. He becomes deluded and forces himself into the situation even as it destroys him. He thinks this is what it means to be human - to grapple with one's humanity. Then upon meeting Freysa, K comes to learn that in fact he is not special after all. Not born but manufactured. He is torn between two sides telling him what his identity is and should be; the LAPD who informs his identity as that of a slave, and the resistance which informs his identity as that of a free Replicant.
When K comes across the giant pink Joi on the bridge, she says to him "You look like a good Joe". He then realizes that not even the name his Joi gave him was special. Her feelings for him were never real... just programming. K, at this point an emotionally broken Replicant, it is in this moment that he chooses to follow his own path and not let anyone tell him who he is or what he should do. He makes the most human decision of all and takes his life into his own hands. He saves Deckard for the same reason Roy did in the first Blade Runner. He wanted someone to remember him, for his final decision that fully validates him as human to not be in vain. No one else gave him his identity, only he did, and his sacrifice ensured forever that he was by every metric a human being, even if the world would ultimately forget him.
And this is why I love Blade Runner 2049 so much. It resonated the deepest parts of my being. And the music score. *Chef's kiss*
I don't know. This might in fact be my favorite movie of all time. I cannot recall a more beautiful cinematic experience than seeing this in the theater for the first time.
Of course, it tanked. But we get 10 sequels for Fast and the Furious. I do not understand my brethren.
Was very disappointed this movie didn’t perform better, I want more smart scifi 😔
Ryan gosling put on a masterclass in acting
I didn't think much of him as an actor until I watched him in Nice Guys. He knows what he's doing.
Damn.. I've seen so many videos on why this is a good or bad movie, but this might be the first one I've seen on what it's about. Well done! 👏👏👏
The message of Blade Runner, both, is that human exceptionalism is an illusion, and results in defacto racism and specieism. The exhaltation of human life above, and separate from, all other life is the path to delusion and death.
The soul, in this context, the context believed and celebrated by most of humanity, is nothing but ego.
Ego is seductive, as K experiences when he thinks he was born. However, it was the removal of this fantasy of specialness that allowed him to act truly as a human, as he realized that desire for purpose need not end with a desire for self, for it is truly born in compassion for other living beings, whether like us or not.
Glad to see this movie get so much love. I was so enthralled by this when I saw it, I felt it was a beautiful masterpiece. Afterward I found the opposite opinion was prevailing among the viewership, at least the vocal part. I agree with another's comment, that it will only get better with time and upon reflection. I loved the original Blade Runner, I didn't think it needed a sequel but I did enjoy the sequel nearly as much or as much as the original.
Oh sweet! 👍🏻
Thank you Gil. 🙏🏻
Thank you for the support!
@@OneTakeVids 👊🏻
Fascinating, tganks for the explanation
Great analysis. Who is to say, we as humans, are not some form of AI technology? We have a CPU (brain) and Sensors to interact with the physical environment (smell, touch, taste, sight, hearing)
Seeing Joi fall in love with K was the first time that really made me think about if our current AI can form human emotions. Like was she really in love with him, or was she programmed to be? This is where the technology is headed, and i think it will keep people from forming real human bonds. Whether they are programmed to love you, become sentient, its real enough for the user. Thankfully, this would be less destructive to the world than a rogue AI supercomputer like Skynet. But it will create a world of introverts instead lol. So pick your poison. Overall this was a great video, i enjoyed it!
Brilliant commentary. A top ten all time movie for me. Blade Runner being number 1
"Remember her eyes were green." Beautiful close out ;)
Great video. It was heartbreaking to see Joe realize the lie of Joi. Gosling was exceptional in this movie.
I've loved the original BR more than you know and I think Denis Villeneuve crafted a sequel better than it had any right to be. He's not a lightweight director as evidenced by his movie Enemy.
EXCELLENT analysis.
*This was a great analysis.*
Outstanding analysis!
Wow nice dive into the material.
You are one of very few commentators who really get PKD - in particular that character arc of regaining empathy to become human
This movie was a goddamn masterpiece
Very profound. Thank you for that
So good! Thank you!
Nice video, it’s funny I have seen this movie at least twice, but videos like this it’s like I didn’t see it lol.
Blade runner 2049 is the masterpiece we need but we don't deserve 😭
God, thank you for recognising that Joi's love isn't real. That's like the whole crux of the theme, and it just isn't the same if Joi's love was somehow genuine.
The only bad interpretation is to shut down a line of questions that the movie leaves open. Joi is named after a category of porn, so we're definitely meant to consider a range of topics including the simulation of intimacy which is her designed purpose. But she's also very directly tied to "tears in the rain", the greatest meditation on individuality and moral value ever written. Collapsing her into answers misses half the theme whichever way you take.
2049 nailed it, and just like the original, it will take years, decades, for it to grow and be truly appreciated.
The ethical question re: androids always makes me think of the plight of animals, who are reduced to objects for our instrumental use - even though we too are animals and only not necessarily superior - only more powerful due to technology. Mammals and birds have souls. They are individuals with personalities, the ability to love and be loved, to feel pain, to dream, etc. But they are treated as inanimate objects to be used.
Excellent video, enjoyed your analysis & insights, Personally watched this movie multiple times at the cinema, a total cinema experience, thanks to Denis Villenueuve & Hans Zimmer et al. Have liked & subbed
I haven’t watched past 30 min of this movie ever, not sure why not. My father and brother watched it in theaters when released and loved it
K was ordered by Joshi to keep a secret, therefore ordering hin to be able to lie.
I love the original, but I like 2049 even more!
The warmth and empathy of humans is nurtured as a child.
People who lose the good memories of their childhood (trauma, damage) all question their own existence and humanity.
2049 is a modern classic. It becomes more relevant every day.
Staying with brown …
Good content bro.
Greetings from good old Germany. ✨🦉💫
Grüße! Vielen Dank für die netten Worte!
Hope Google Translate didn't botch that :)
I find the juxtaposition between illusions and reality interesting considering humans capacity for creating illusions. It would be interesting to see a story explore how humans can often act in ways we ascribe to ai while ai can sometimes act in ways we ascribe to humans (beyond what has been in this and similar media like ex machina of course)
Nicely done..😊
Thank you!
I like this essay a lot. Just like the film. :)
Perhaps Wallace knows full well that it is inevitable that the units will develop emotions, and the baseline test is their way of ensuring the units will feel shame and accept their retirement.
I really enjoyed watching this. It helped answer a lot of questions I always thought about. Only part I don’t like is …… I have to join “Crunchyroll“ in order to see those animated versions. Now I got to try to find some kid who has a User & password that he’ll loan me so I can watch the 13 episodes. 😅
Torrent
Love both films though I was never really clear on whether Rachel's eyes were actually green or if Deckard just wanted to punish Wallace for creating a Xerox of someone whom he loved. I'll have to go back to the first film and see since I remember them as brown. Either way, great films!
I can’t wait to watch this movie on my vision pro
I love both films!
It’s still one of my top favorites movies of all time
Watch those scenes again, because this is important. K and Luv *never* lie in them. The writing here is extremely clever. The replicants say things and Joshi assumes things, but the replicants never lie.
Luv predicts that she is going to tell Wallace that Joshi attacked her first and she killed her in self defense. And that's *exactly* what happens. Luv provokes Joshi into attacking her first by making Joshi believe she's capable of lying. But she pulls this off without ever telling a literal lie because Luv is a genius and Joshi is a master at self deception.
K takes advantage of the fact Joshi trusts him, and then Joshi takes advantage of Joshi's paranoia. In both cases Joshi is undone by her own flaws, which the replicants are smart enough to exploit successfully. All without telling a single lie.
*Luv takes advantage of Joshi's paranoia.
Ai girlfriends may be the future. A Woman like Joi would sell like crazy. April 2024. USA
The biggest problem with this movie, is that so many people need to see this video in order to understand this movie.
This was great
Incredible film!!!
Both the original Blade Runner and 2049 deal with the question of what it means to be human. Most people focus on the conclusion that a replicant must also be human if there are no differences between the two, but I find it interesting that the reverse of that conclusion seems to be evaded by most too, that if humans can be mass produced, just like any other product, then there's nothing intrinsically special about us, that we are nothing more than the sum of our parts. I think most of us seem to instinctively block this though out of necessity, to believe that we are something more.
Any time you're convinced to cancel someone or vandalize or burn down a shop, "for justice," you're also probably being manipulated to consider someone else less than human.
Ladybravetheknight has a video about Bladerunner with a fantastic piece on Joy. Definitely worth a watch. Changed my entire perspective on Joy's character.
What it is to be Human isn’t just a matter to be known, it’s also about to be felt. A felt knowing.
“The felt source … wellspring of life’s ceaseless vitality.” ~ Mark Vernon