Blade Runner

Fisher: Blade Runner

In this film we have a setting that takes place in the future after a nuclear apocalypse in a derelict Los Angeles in 2019.  The world now has a hierarchy within this dystopia, and as we see in the scene between Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) and his former supervisor Bryant (M. Emmet Walsh) when Deckard originally refuses the job to "retire" rogue androids but is forced to accept because if your not a cop, your a little person.  This reflects on the levels of hierarchy left in the world.  It is still based upon economics and status still but it has an extremely large gap between the rich (Tyrell Corporation), the cops, and those who speak "gutterspeak", the commoners. Below all of this we finally have the androids, made by the Tyrell Corporation.  These beings are considered the low of the low, not even human, even though they are techinically more than human or the epitome of human perfection.  In fact, they do not execute rogue androids, but rather have them retired in a somewhat violent fashion as we see in one of the better scene's from the film when Deckard chases down and retires Zhora (Joanna Cassidy), one of the androids illegally on earth.

So if all of this trouble is being cause by these androids, why do they make them? Why do they constantly improve them to be even more human?  Why are the laws not changed to accommodate these anomalies?  Why do we see that these androids have emotion and want to live?  It is possible to determine if someone is an android by using the Voight-Kampff test, which measures bodily functions such as breathing, blushing, heart rate and iris and pupil dilation in response to emotionally provocative questions which should not trigger a response in a android.  Which could lead us down another route in trying to determine what is human.  In Blade Runner apparently a human is determined by its emotional responses according to the V-K test.  However, we see Rachael (Sean Young) cry after we receive the knowledge that she is an android.  Also, do our memories make us human?  In Blade Runner, Rachel has memories that are apparently not her own and rather Tyrell's niece's, making her much less likely to be human.  Yet at the end of the film it is demonstrated that the androids have memories of there own, and despite having a four year lifespan, they desire to live longer.


Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer)

Casablanca

Casablanca
This lovely picture has survived decades of advancements in film and continues to live on as a timeless classic in American Cinema.  Much of the film's success has to do with when it came out in theaters and what was going on in the world at the time.  The film was based on a play called Everbody Comes to Rick's  that was read and bought by Warner Bros. (specifically producer Hal Wallis) in January of 1942.  This timing can honestly be seen as impeccable considering the tragedy of Pearl Harbor occurred just a month earlier on December 7, 1941.  This allowed for the movie to become the basis for justification by the American public for the United States entering the war.  That being said, after America entered the war on December 8 this movie was needed.  This time of propaganda, allows for the directors to play with the mise-en-scene in order to convey a political stance or message.  Usually, movies tend to try and stay politically objective in order to pull in the widest range of audience.
However, in Casablanca we see standpoint that was politically expedient to support the United States Armed forces entering the war after Pearl Harbor.  In fact they did not show the film in North Africa thinking it would upset the Vichy there. This standpoint is seen in the mise-en-scene of the scene between Rick (Humphrey Bogart) and Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) at the end of the movie.  In this scene Rick has just made known his ulterior motives to Ilsa, and he delivers the famous line, "We'll always have Paris."  I would put Rick as the dominan, meerly because he is facing more towards the camera in this frame  It can be argued that Ilsa is the dominant because she is more toward the center. Also her white collar adds contrast that draws the viewers attention.  But it is Rick (USA) that is making the sacrifices and letting the Ilsa leave with her husband.  It took a girl, and a major loss (love) for Rick to finally involve himself in the war.  The chief sees this and decides to follow him as a friend and sympathizer.  The camera proxemics are intimate because the camera is right up in the faces of these two actors. Trying to capture every emotion, expression, or moment of brilliance.  Also the character proxemics are intimate as they are face to face for the entire shot in attempt to convey the deep feelings they possess for one another.  The lighting in the frame looks to be high and coming from a little behind Rick, putting Ilsa more in the spotlight. There are some subsidiary contrasts in the picture.  The eye focuses on the faces first, then strays to Ilsa's white collar next and finally Rick's black tie. Their staging positions are face to face in the shot in attempt to convey the strong feelings and history these characters have between each other.  Finally the frame of the shot is tight and closed, almost could be considered a close-up if it did not have two actors in it.  This type of shot is to show the personal relationship between the characters and there emotions in regard to that relationship.


We'll Always Have Paris...