Issue 12 Interactive PreachingBlog | GOD in the movies
GOD in the movies
Author: Andy PeckPost Date: 23.09.17
A film sequel, decades in the making? Increasingly this seems to be the done thing. Whether for creative reasons, financial ones, or a combination of the two, there are certain stories Hollywood isn’t willing to leave alone.
Perhaps this year’s most intriguing sequel proposition is Blade Runner 2049, in cinemas on 6 October. The original Blade Runner (1982) cemented the reputation of director Ridley Scott, and is now widely viewed as a sci-fi classic. The tale of a world-weary police operative (Harrison Ford) who must hunt down a group of synthetic humans, or ‘replicants,’ the film broke new ground with its haunting vision of a future Los Angeles – and tapped into a sense of unease around what separates man from machine.
Like much great cinematic sci-fi, Blade Runner is based on a story by Philip K Dick: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, which was published in 1968. Before mobile phones or the internet, let alone Artificial Intelligences of the kind being developed today, Dick was concerned with existential questions around how technology encroaches on our humanity. It’s no wonder that his ideas continue to find new relevance nearly five decades later.
