Genre Hybridity In 'Blade Runner' movie.

human and the replicant).   Action is another genre based in Blade Runner as it contains shooting and chasing scenes for example the chasing scene with Zhora as she flies through plate glass as she is shot by Deckard. The thriller aspects are throughout the film and contain suspense scenes.Blade Runner directed by Ridley Scott (also directed Alien and Black Rain) is one of many films that mix genres together. This is generally known as genre hybridity. Scott describes genre hybridity as the ‘patchwork’ motif as an overall view of the film. The film contains binary oppositions through science fiction such as alien/machine versus human, light versus dark, human versus replicant and what exactly is to be human. Blade Runner has many elements of genre hybridity as explained below.As Michael Walford describes:Genre hybridity is a film where the codes and conventions from a range of established genres are used... The higher the production values of a film the more likely it is to be a hybrid genre film in order to attract the widest possible audience.(Walford, 2007)As the quote above explains, the more genres the film can include, the more likely it is to attract a wider audience as it has particular elements of different genres. Blade Runner would most likely attract viewers interested in science fiction. Some of the public will see a film just for the famous stars, however, many people will watch a film due to the genre for example the film Fast and Furious is mainly an action film and would attract more of the male generation and viewers who enjoy action films. Blade Runner being a hybrid genre film meets the codes and conventions required.Genre hybridity can also be linked to the characters such as Deckard. He plays many roles such as a cop, replicant, lover, human etc. This suits the character to the film. His job is the cop to terminate the replicants and is a lover to Rachael. Harrison Ford is typically suited to this film due to his star role in Indiana Jones. Harrison Ford normally stars in many films such as action and science fiction. Examples of this would be Star Wars (1977) and Indiana Jones: Raiders of The Lost Ark (1981). Blade Runner is a typical genre film that Harrison Ford would act for and has been a famous, successful actor since.As Sean Redmond explains in the book Studying Blade Runner (2008):In Blade Runner the mixing of visual and narrative conventions from several genres is used to striking effect, acting, as it does, as an indicator of the film’s nightmarish, dystopian agenda.(Redmond, 2008:28)The film is situated metaphorically in the past. The future of the film (2019) is made to look regressive. The development of science and technology has been a step backwards.   Blade Runner has many dramatic and narrative levels such as femme fatale (desirable female) and dark cinematography.   Deckard’s ‘desirable female’ is his relationship with femme fatale Rachael. Sean Redmond explains that Ridley Scott use of different genres in Blade Runner is used for different effects throughout the film and acting skills used to create different genres. The film has a nightmarish, dystopian agenda which contains miserable conditions of characters and violence between Blade Runner (Deckard) and the replicants. As Scott Bukatman explains in the book Blade Runner:The dominant strategy in designing Blade Runner’s future was ‘retrofitting’, which, according to Mead, ‘simply means upgrading old machinery or structures by slapping new add-ons to them’. The future, in other words, is a combination of the new and the very, very used, just like the present: the utopian.(Bukatman, 1997:21)The quote explains that this is an example of neo-noir genre. Neo-noir used more updated themes, styles and visual elements that were absent from the film noir in the 1940s and 1950s. Lighting was darker then and themes were more fatalistic. Retrofitting is a term which just means adding or new parts to a structure or replacements. The utopian is the world we live in now, the present or an ideal society. The future is a combination of both old and new, objects that could be in the future and unusual scenes which are not present in the twenty-first century. This all relates to Blade Runner with the neo-noir of scenery and the lighting used in the film. It also shows the future, of what is to be expected in 2019.As Sean Redmond explains:Over the last 25 years or so the science fiction film has come to dominate the production and distribution landscape of Hollywood.(Redmond, 2008:14)Science fiction has been an incredibly popular genre over the last 25 years compared to other genres such as action and drama. Its popularity has increased significantly and Minority Report and Star Wars are the later films of science fiction and became very popular once released. The biggest selling science fiction film of 1982 was E.T. Hybridity is common in Hollywood and increases a mass audience the more genres there are. The meaning in film genres is that it is produced through many strategies including plot, characters, setting and iconography. Themes such as secrets from the past and fear of the future are all included in the film. Iconography refers to ‘the visual motifs that allow audiences to identify certain films as belonging to particular genres’ (Willis, 1999: 61). This relates to Blade Runner as an audience can identify the particular genre in the film and can understand the plot and the characters well. The audience will see particular icons or signs relating to the genre such as futuristic elements, settings and action scenes to be able to distinguish the different genres.Initially, Blade Runner’s box office appeal performed poorly when it was first released. Blade Runner was released in 1982. Some viewers were unsatisfied with the pace of the film. Critics called it confusing and baffling and received negative reviews. The film did not live up to its expectations and was expected to be a similar to the movie Star Wars, another Harrison Ford sci-fi. It struggled to find its target audience and disappointed both viewers and critics probably due to its complex moral uncertainty and viewers did not really understand the film. This coincided with other science fiction films and had to contend in a market by other big-budget science fiction films such as The Thing, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn and E.T. Since the box office failure, it has become an enduring cult classic with the film’s re-release and is one of the few films which remain dependable to science fiction. It made its way up to achieve cult status over the years. A cult film is a movie that attracts an audience that previously failed on its initial release. To conclude, I believe I have thoroughly explained what genre hybridity is such as science fiction, thriller, action etc. The notion of genre hybridity with regard to Blade Runner is largely a thriller genre with aspects of science fiction and romance. Science fiction is a broad genre of fiction that often involves assumptions based on present or future technology. These aspects are the futuristic setting of Los Angeles 2019, Rachael and Deckard passionately kissing and the action scene where Zhora gets shot by Deckard. Also described is how the films blend of different genres damage its initial box office appeal. The initial box office appeal was a failure due to other science fiction films released the same time as Blade Runner such and had to contend with other big-budget science fiction films such as The Thing and ET. but has since been a great success and cult classic. Genre hybridity has had a major effect on the success of Blade Runner but is still a science fiction classic.