Week Eight - Filip (Part One)

Research the films that have been adapted from Philip K. Dick novels or short stories. Which have generally been acclaimed as the most successful? Why?


A Scanner Darkly

Film adaptations contribute to a bulk of Philip K. Dick’s cult fame, ‘second only to Steven King in the number of screen adaptations of his novels: A Scanner Darkly is the eigth.’ (Gollancz 2010)
The setting of an America having lost the drug war ‘Seven Years from Now’ gives the movie a resonance through its plausibility, including its big brother policing system.
The agents of this system don ‘scramble suits’, which serve as functional symbol of the character of Arctor loses his identity.
The suits have a beautiful synergy with the film’s artistic direction, too, making superb use of the rotoscoping (animation imposed over live-action) technique to give the movie a distinctly engaging element.
I feel the film owes much of its cult success to this direction, and has something to say about the rotoscoping technique itself. It’s an old trick with heavy cult appeal apparent in films like Heavy Metal and numerous works by Ralph Bakshi.
Its popularity doesn’t bring it into the mainstream spotlight as well as the next movie, but there is great appreciation to be had in seeing a recent, fresh use of rotoscoping.


Bladerunner

Bladerunner is adapted from Dick’s sci-fi novel ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ and is widely popular classic, making #113 on IMDB’s Top 250 rated movies. An amusing piece of trivia describes author Dick, P. K’s viewing of the film as quoted by Burroughs; ‘It was my own interior world. They caught it perfectly.’ Apparently neither director nor screenwriter actually read Dick’s novel.

This interior world contains ‘...images of a futuristic city under late, late capitalism (allowing) BLADE RUNNER to be read as a social critique.’ (Kellner; Leibowitz; Ryan, 1984) Commercialism and industry saturate the world with its toxicity and flashiness. ‘In fact, BLADE RUNNER’s formal style throughout is neo-expressionist with dark shadows, hazy lighting, and odd camera angles... The android chief Roy’s poetic speeches seem like abbreviated versions of the ideologically ambiguous, rhapsodic monologue found in much expressionist theatre.’ (Kellner; Leibowitz; Ryan, 1984) The memorable visuals give the movie a distinct feel. ‘Film noir’s ‘corrupt society’ ethos also dominates and shapes this film’s overall mood of cultural pessimism. (Kellner; Leibowitz; Ryan, 1984)

Adam Savage (2007), of Mythbuster’s fame writes ‘I worked on Star Wars Episodes 1 and 2, on the Matrix films, on AI and Teriminator 3; yet 25 years later there are waysi n which Blade runner surpasses anything that’s been done since.’ Part of the film’s longevity is attributed to its impressive special effects created with simple technology and its immersive environment. ‘This isn’t the kind of sci-fi where everyone wears silver suits. It’s lived-in science fiction – a world.’
It is with its simpler technology of models and illusions of scale via camera manipulation Bladerunner builds its world. The value of this older style of movie magic is praised by Savage (2007) over modern CGI techniques ‘...even now there are times you just can’t beat doing some effects like these “in camera”.’
Part of what makes a movie remain a classic is how well it ages. ‘It just doesn’t date.’ Finishes Savage (2007); ‘Some scenes have almost a 1930’s look to them, while others are totally futuristic.’ The special effects provide an intrigue which helps the substance of the story weather through generations.



http://www.greenmanreview.com/film/film_scannerdarkly_omni.html
Retrieved 26/9/2010

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083658/
Retrieved 27/9/2010

http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC29folder/BladeRunner.html
Kellner, D. & Leibowitz, F. & Ryan, M. (1984)

Retrieved 26/9/2010
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/mythbusters/articles/4218376
Retrieved 27/9/2010