Philosophy and Blade Runner

Philosophy and Blade Runner PDF Author: Timothy Shanahan
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137412291
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 231

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Book Description
Philosophy and Blade Runner explores philosophical issues in the film Blade Runner , including human nature, personhood, identity, consciousness, free will, morality, God, death, and the meaning of life. The result is a novel analysis of the greatest science fiction film of all time and a unique contribution to the philosophy of film.

Philosophy and Blade Runner

Philosophy and Blade Runner PDF Author: Timothy Shanahan
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137412291
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 231

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Book Description
Philosophy and Blade Runner explores philosophical issues in the film Blade Runner , including human nature, personhood, identity, consciousness, free will, morality, God, death, and the meaning of life. The result is a novel analysis of the greatest science fiction film of all time and a unique contribution to the philosophy of film.

Blade Runner

Blade Runner PDF Author: Amy Coplan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136231447
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 139

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Book Description
Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner is widely regarded as a "masterpiece of modern cinema" and is regularly ranked as one of the great films of all time. Set in a dystopian future where the line between human beings and ‘replicants’ is blurred, the film raises a host of philosophical questions about what it is to be human, the possibility of moral agency and freedom in ‘created’ life forms, and the capacity of cinema to make a genuine contribution to our engagement with these kinds of questions. This volume of specially commissioned chapters systematically explores and addresses these issues from a philosophical point of view. Beginning with a helpful introduction, the seven chapters examine the following questions: How is the theme of death explored in Blade Runner and with what implications for our understanding of the human condition? What can we learn about the relationship between emotion and reason from the depiction of the ‘replicants’ in Blade Runner? How are memory, empathy, and moral agency related in Blade Runner? How does the style and ‘mood’ of Blade Runner bear upon its thematic and philosophical significance? Is Blade Runner a meditation on the nature of film itself? Including a brief biography of the director and a detailed list of references to other writings on the film, Blade Runner is essential reading for students – indeed anyone - interested in philosophy and film studies. Contributors: Colin Allen, Peter Atterton, Amy Coplan, David Davies, Berys Gaut, Stephen Mulhall, C. D. C. Reeve.

Science Fiction and Philosophy

Science Fiction and Philosophy PDF Author: Susan Schneider
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1444327909
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
A timely volume that uses science fiction as a springboard to meaningful philosophical discussions, especially at points of contact between science fiction and new scientific developments. Raises questions and examines timely themes concerning the nature of the mind, time travel, artificial intelligence, neural enhancement, free will, the nature of persons, transhumanism, virtual reality, and neuroethics Draws on a broad range of books, films and television series, including The Matrix, Star Trek, Blade Runner, Frankenstein, Brave New World, The Time Machine, and Back to the Future Considers the classic philosophical puzzles that appeal to the general reader, while also exploring new topics of interest to the more seasoned academic

The Philosophy of Science Fiction Film

The Philosophy of Science Fiction Film PDF Author: Steven Sanders
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813172810
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
The science fiction genre maintains a remarkable hold on the imagination and enthusiasm of the filmgoing public, captivating large audiences worldwide and garnering ever-larger profits. Science fiction films entertain the possibility of time travel and extraterrestrial visitation and imaginatively transport us to worlds transformed by modern science and technology. They also provide a medium through which questions about personal identity, moral agency, artificial consciousness, and other categories of experience can be addressed. In The Philosophy of Science Fiction Film, distinguished authors explore the storylines, conflicts, and themes of fifteen science fiction film classics, from Metropolis to The Matrix. Editor Steven M. Sanders and a group of outstanding scholars in philosophy, film studies, and other fields raise science fiction film criticism to a new level by penetrating the surface of the films to expose the underlying philosophical arguments, ethical perspectives, and metaphysical views. Sanders's introduction presents an overview and evaluation of each essay and poses questions for readers to consider as they think about the films under discussion.The first section, "Enigmas of Identity and Agency," deals with the nature of humanity as it is portrayed in Blade Runner, Dark City, Frankenstein, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Total Recall. In the second section, "Extraterrestrial Visitation, Time Travel, and Artificial Intelligence," contributors discuss 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Terminator, 12 Monkeys, and The Day the Earth Stood Still and analyze the challenges of artificial intelligence, the paradoxes of time travel, and the ethics of war. The final section, "Brave Newer World: Science Fiction Futurism," looks at visions of the future in Metropolis, The Matrix, Alphaville, and screen adaptations of George Orwell's 1984.

Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner

Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner PDF Author: Paul M. Sammon
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061053147
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 467

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Book Description
The 1992 release of the "Director's Cut" only confirmed what the international film cognoscenti have know all along: Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, based on Philip K. Dick's brilliant and troubling SF novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, still rules as the most visually dense, thematically challenging, and influential SF film ever made. Future Noir is the story of that triumph. The making of Blade Runner was a seven-year odyssey that would test the stamina and the imagination of writers, producers, special effects wizards, and the most innovative art directors and set designers in the industry. A fascinating look at the ever-shifting interface between commerce and the art that is modern Hollywood, Future Noir is the intense, intimate, anything-but-glamerous inside account of how the work of SF's most uncompromising author was transformed into a critical sensation, a commercial success, and a cult classic.

Retrofitting Blade Runner

Retrofitting Blade Runner PDF Author: Judith Kerman
Publisher: Popular Press
ISBN: 9780879725105
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
This book of essays looks at the multitude of texts and influences which converge in Ridley Scott's film Blade Runner, especially the film's relationship to its source novel, Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? The film's implications as a thought experiment provide a starting point for important thinking about the moral issues implicit in a hypertechnological society. Yet its importance in the history of science fiction and science fiction film rests equally on it mythically and psychologically resonant creation of compelling characters and an exciting story within a credible science fiction setting. These essays consider political, moral and technological issues raised by the film, as well as literary, filmic, technical and aesthetic questions. Contributors discuss the film's psychological and mythic patterns, important political issues and the roots of the film in Paradise Lost, Frankenstein, detective fiction, and previous science fiction cinema.

Philosophy goes to the Movies

Philosophy goes to the Movies PDF Author: Christopher Falzon
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134559194
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
Philosophy goes to the Movies is a new kind of introduction to philosophy that makes use of movies including The Matrix, Antz, Total Recall and Cinema Paradiso, to explore philosophical ideas. Topics covered include: *the theory of knowledge *the self and personal Identity *moral philosophy *social and political philosophy *philosophy of science and technology *critical thinking. Ideal for the beginner, this book guides the student through philosophy using lively and illuminating cinematic examples. It will also appeal to anyone interested in the philosophical dimensions of cinema.

The Philosopher at the End of the Universe

The Philosopher at the End of the Universe PDF Author: Mark Rowlands
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780312322342
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
This provocative, thought-provoking and thoroughly entertaining guide explains the basics of philosophy as seen through today's blockbuster science fiction movies.

Lacanian Perspectives on Blade Runner 2049

Lacanian Perspectives on Blade Runner 2049 PDF Author: Calum Neill
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030567540
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
This book provides a collection of Lacanian responses to Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 from leading theorists in the field. Like Ridley Scott’s original Blade Runner film, its sequel is now poised to provoke philosophical and psychoanalytic arguments, and to provide illustrations and inspiration for questions of being and the self, for belief and knowledge, the human and the post-human, amongst others. This volume forms the vanguard of responses from a Lacanian perspective, satisfying the hunger to extend the theoretical considerations of the first film in the various new directions the second film invites. Here, the contributors revisit the implications of the human-replicant relationship but move beyond this to consider issues of ideology, politics, and spectatorship. This exciting collection will appeal to an educated film going public, in addition to students and scholars of Lacanian psychoanalysis, psychoanalytic theory, cultural studies, film theory, philosophy and applied psychoanalysis.

The Culture and Philosophy of Ridley Scott

The Culture and Philosophy of Ridley Scott PDF Author: Adam Barkman
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 0739178733
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
The Culture and Philosophy of Ridley Scott, edited by Adam Barkman, Ashley Barkman, and Nancy Kang, brings together eighteen critical essays that illuminate a nearly comprehensive selection of the director’s feature films from cutting-edge multidisciplinary and comparative perspectives. Chapters examine such signature works as Alien (1979), Blade Runner (1982), Thelma and Louise (1991), Gladiator (2000), Hannibal (2001), Black Hawk Down (2001), and American Gangster (2007). This volume divides the chapters into three major thematic groups: responsibility, remembering, and revision; real, alienated, and ideal lives; and gender, identity, and selfhood. Each section features six discrete essays, each of which forwards an original thesis about the film or films chosen for analysis. Each chapter features close readings of scenes as well as broader discussions that will interest academics, non-specialists, as well as educated readers with an interest in films as visual texts. While recognizing Scott’s undeniable contributions to contemporary popular cinema, the volume does not shy away from honest and well-evidenced critique. Each chapter’s approach correlates with philosophical, literary, or cultural studies perspectives. Using both combined and single-film discussions, the contributors examine such topics as gender roles and feminist theory; philosophical abstractions like ethics, honor, and personal responsibility; historical memory and the challenges of accurately rendering historical events on screen; literary archetypes and generic conventions; race relations and the effect of class difference on character construction; how religion shapes personal and collective values; the role of a constantly changing technological universe; and the schism between individual and group-based power structures. The Culture and Philosophy of Ridley Scott assembles the critical essays of scholars working in the fields of philosophy, literary studies, and cultural studies. An international group, they are based in the United States, Canada, Argentina, Italy, Greece, Korea, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand. The guiding assumption on the part of all the writers is that the filmmaker is the leading determiner of a motion picture’s ethos, artistic vision, and potential for audience engagement. While not discounting the production team (including screenwriters, actors, and cinematographers, among others), auteur theory recognizes the seminal role of the director as the nucleus of the meaning-making process. With Scott an active and prolific presence in the entertainment industry today, the timeliness of this volume is optimal.