Techdad Discussion

[CheerUpBrokeBoy]

they should just cast the acronym crew in cyberpunk movies, honestly

they really embody the futurist ideal of people transcending racial and national barriers in their pursuit of Aesthetic Nerd Shit

[deadkitty]

blade runner is literally about race

the film also creates this really messy representation of pan asian-ness. it slaps together all this eastern asian iconography just to commodify and present as something for western consumption. reducing asian identity to only the visual is straight up fetishization.

and there are no asian characters

[Northwest]

[Bonobonobo]

I think that the original's aesthetics are shallow Asian aesthetics because there's simply no explanation nor sense to be made outside of speculation. East Asian mega corporations have taken over earth yet the Tyrell corporation reigns supreme even as the LA its HQ is surrounded by has essentially become a futuristic Hong Kong/Tokyo. Despite owning the means of production there are no Asian people (or any PoC) to be seen in the elite. The film doesn't attempt to explain the contradictions beause, well, it's 1982 and they either don't care or they're not cognizant of them. You can come up with several theories but you'd be limited to blind speculation because there's simply not much to go on, because believability and issues of race are subordinate to aesthetics and making sure not to alienate white people.

BR2049 had the problem of inheriting the shallow aesthetics of the original, and I was hoping that a movie made today would be able to unravel and reexamine the orientalist setting of a movie created in 1982. So this time, instead of all the Asians being lower class in a world taken over by East Asia, the world taken over by East Asia has no visible Asians. And oh yeah, now there's also cyrillic and the CCCP everywhere, except there are no Russians.

Like I understand that exploring the setting in depth is not the priority of either movie, and that's fine. But when it's so willfully ignored it goes, for me, from being window dressing to being inconsistent and distracting. I'll admit that if I hadn't seen deadkitty's post before seeing the film I probably wouldn't have noticed. This isn't like the GitS movie, where Hollywood's reluctance to portray Asians (among other races) is put front and center by the lead casting choice. But seeing it from that lens does distract me, and does make me want my Asian half to be represented.

[Northwest]

Deadkitty reminded me in the rep comment of the asian man doing Luv's nails while she's drone striking K, and that shatters the argument that BR2049 is being careful with the images it presents. It's one of the shittiest, laziest stereotypes and there it is on the big screen. I really had to reach to defend this movie, and I don't know why I came in with the attitude that people "weren't doing their homework." It's a bad attitude to have in any conversation.



Excellent, quick, critical read on geopolitical context for the aesthetics of the orignal Blade Runner.

This line sticks out to me due to my prior argument, and due to sci-fi precedent: "I won't believe the argument that Blade Runner is largely white because most humans left for off-world colonies. That's just silly."

As a piece of context, Ray Bradbury wrote two short stories about this exact concept. In these stories, the world's black population leaves Earth for Mars because of how they are treated, and then receive a white visitor many years later. He uses these stories to discuss the emotional burdens placed on the victims of racism, the value of diversity, and how racism simplifies a life but complicates the world. The final choice offered to the inhabitants of Mars is whether to continue the sins of the past or to mourn the monstrous effects of one terrible idea and hope to move beyond it.

Whether or not you find these stories compelling is entirely up to you. Having read these stories, I now recognize I was lenient with BR2049 because I knew you can ask and answer interesting questions using this concept. But the more I read in here and other articles the filmic evidence and emotional evidence only adds up to reveal BR2049 chooses to be "safe", predictable, lazy, and wrong in its representation of Earth's population.

[JonjoShelvey]

In the future only propper brand bdu will be the accepted pant, better get on it now

[thephfactor]

Just watched and i have a bunch of thoughts that i will hopefully remember to post tomorrow.

But in the meantime. Jared Leno has to be the worst actor to still get into big movies of all time. He's dog shit. Any decent character actor could've made something really memorable out of that role and instead we get the most insufferable prick on the planet just playing his usual character of "most insufferable prick on the planet."

[CheerUpBrokeBoy]

this equifax scandal is the most cyberpunk shit ever

high tech: the concept of 3 major credit services owning the financial data of all the people in the US, data that is necessary to live in the 21st century

low life: the credit services are run by massive dipshits who mismanage this essential data to a comical degree, making it easier than ever for malicious hackers to ruin random people's lives

[thephfactor]

[bels]

I also agree philby that the aesthetics of the film though "big" are definitely watered down compared to the original. Compare:




One is a neo roccoco throwback. The other is just the present day with a statement coat. (Also note the leaden, inanimate state of Ryan Gosling's acting, such that it appears as though he has literally been cast in a mould and cannot move of his own volition)

[talkin2snakes]

[talkin2snakes]

https://www.fastcompany.com/40441141/re ... art-cities

but then, the article itself doesnt seem completely implausible.. i suppose it just depends if you swallow this line about MPesa, WU etc trying to 'empower'

[vgtbls]

[alby]

it has been really enjoyable to watch taylor just throw oodles of money at her music videos recently. really cool. song is pretty good imo really catchy but i don't really care for the drops. that video makes almost 0 sense with the song but it's sick lol

[rjbman]

there's nothing more cyberpunk than commercial exploitation of surface level cyberpunk subculture aesthetic

e: except contacts, i mean WOW so great

[oucho]

I would say it's a close call as to whether I get called more by robots or by my friends

[odradek]

[CheerUpBrokeBoy]

ofc lambos are like the archetypal bougie veblen goods but i'll always respect their fanatical devotion to aesthetics


terzo millenio electric car concept

[white_paper_unicorn]

hey guys new here i made a collage of popular techwear instagram people with a blade runner 2049 backdrop to see how theyd look against a real-ish cyberpunk backdrop. i browse here but never post. thought it would be a good time to start lol. so.. hi

[mittens]

.

[rjbman]

[odradek]

[mooncorp]

club exx on dollskill.com is wild lol

[odradek]

[rjbman]

It's like they never watched Terminator.... Boston Dynamics latest creation

[nope]

Nearly 20 years behind the times here but hadn't seen Alexander McQueen's Givenchy AW99 collection before. Well cyber m8

[odradek]

[kickingthefly]

black panther : boring formulaic marvel comics narrative, and i was really disappointed in the way the afro-futurist technology was depicted- all very gleaming, stylised and comic book-y. really struggling to find anything interesting about the whole film beyond obvious woke take.

[odradek]

logging on to care-tags dot org

[thephfactor]