In observance of forty years of Blade Runner—and in response to the many, many requests we've gotten over the years to discuss this—the Shoulder of Orion team is finally tackling The Big Question: is Deckard a Replicant?
In this kickoff show, Jaime and Patrick unpack some of the reasons this "debate" has gotten so complicated over the years. As we've gotten more editions of the movie, we've gotten more evidence (from Ridley Scott) that Deckard pretty clearly should be considered a Replicant—but we also have Harrison Ford and Hampton Fancher arguing against that idea, and an initial theatrical cut of the film (not to mention source novel) that runs with the assumption that he's human.
Where does that leave us? And, perhaps more importantly: does it matter? Does the film hold up to multiple interpretations of the truth?
We don't come up with many answers to these questions, but we do our best to at least get the conversation started. More to come!
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