blade runner and pastiche

pastiche is, like parody, the imitation of a peculiar or unique, idiosyncratic style, the wearing of a linguistic mask, speech in a dead language. But it is a neutral practice of such mimicry, without any of parody's ulterior motives, amputated of the satiric impulse, devoid of laughter" FREDRIC JAMESON

Blade runner is an excellent example of pastiche, it’s in the architectural layout of the city that this is most dramatically visible and where the connection of postmodernism to post industrialism is evident. The city has an juxtaposition almost out of time although it appears futuristic there is almost a sense of time going backwards a hotchpotch of culture although the film being set in los Angeles 2019 …it becomes evident that this city could be anywhere at anytime

Through the detective figure Deckard, questions of authenticity. An aspect of postmodernity is the loss of faith in traditional meta-narratives [meta-narratives are the overarching stories that explains and legitimizes knowledge or belief. Questioning or losing faith in these narratives means that we inquire about our own subjectivity; and we are left with a lack of authentication. History, or how we have become to be. This narrative that is questioned explicitly in Blade Runner.*

Our sense of history is played upon, for example, Rachel, dressed as the archetypical femme fatal of film noir, goes to Deckard’s apartment with the intention of questioning him. The scene moves s into the new space of Deckard’s apartment with an establishing shot, the framing of the important scene works to to the Classic Hollywood continuity editing system. The use of the establishing shot gives the viewer time to process the alien-like scene

*Appignanesi & C, Garratt. Postmodernism for Beginners, Cambridge: Icon Books Ltd