Material Culture as National Identity

How did Japanese Culture Influence Blade Runner?

In Blade Runner, the Ridley Scott film from 1982, the setting of the film is set in the future (2019) and is a good representation of what people thought the future would be like back then. 

Growing to be one of the worlds most influential films in cinema, Blade runner has inspired countless creatives and will always continue to do so.  Ridley Scott graces our eyes with fantastic uses of concepts, symbology, imagery, lighting and camera effects to create an intense visual world that is totally convincing to the viewer. Here I'd like to discuss the Japanese themes in Blade Runner and how Japanese culture has influenced the film. 

Fig1

It is initially very apparent that the film has been influenced by Japanese culture when we see the first city scape (fig1), thousands of modern high rise buildings towering into the sky covered in neon lights, walls dressed in advertisements with Japanese text (fig2), steam rising from the crowded bustling streets below, very similar to the stereotypical view of the big cities in Japan. 

Fig2

Here we see some very blatant Japanese influence, the streets in Blade Runner are made up of many obviously individual cultures, but the most abundant is the Japanese. There are people dressed in traditional Japanese clothing with very Japanese accessories. Fig3

Fig3

Although the film is set in Los Angeles it is plain to see that the future here is depicted so that Japanese people have grown in mass within the americas and had a huge impact upon the overall culture, scenery and way of life.

Bibliography:
https://stillsfrmfilms.wordpress.com/2013/03/08/blade-runner/