The Cinema of Surfaces
On the Aesthetics of Film in the Eighties, by Jürgen Müller & Steffen Haubner. Excerpt of the book 'Movies of the 80s', by Jürgen Müller
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Blade Runner might well be subtitled: "An Apology (in the old sense) for Superficies (in the literal sense)." This also goes some way towards explaining why it became such a cult success in the Eighties, a decade in which many directors were obsessed with the surfaces of things. These surfaces, however, are not always recognizable as such. They conceal themselves-like mirrors in the act of reflection. For surfaces are anything but superficial, though many a critic would have us believe otherwise. We can only really begin to speak in terms of an aesthetic of surfaces if we approach the topic with a measure of humility. In this context, humility means admitting and embracing the relativity and subjectivity of perception. What we know depends on what we see; and whether we like it or not, we look at the world through tinted glasses.
In this respect, it makes little difference whether our view is colored by our ethnic origin, gender, ideology or our most personal desires.
The Dream Machine
Blade Runner is an excellent example of the rapidly growing interest, throughout the Eighties, in the cinema's peerless capacity to create illusions. The means, methods and conventions of film were increasingly questioned and the defining characteristics of cinematic fiction examined. The flawless production design exhibited in movies like Aliens (1986), Total Recall (1990), Dune (1984), Star Wars: Episode VI - The Return of the Jedi (1983), E.T. - The Extraterrestrial (1982), Outland (1981) and Back to the Future (1985) still exhilarates audiences to this very day. All of these films went to extraordinary lengths to create impeccable and unprecedented parallel universes. Film publications of the time increasingly focused on the mysterious world of special effects. Yet audiences were not simply succumbing helplessly to the seductive power of the cinematic illusion. They were discovering and understanding this very illusory potential as a thrilling subject for the movies themselves.
The two directors mainly responsible for this shift had established themselves in Hollywood in the Seventies. While Steven Spielberg and George Lucas exploited the medium's newfound technical capabilities, they were also willing to resort to crowd-pleasing stock content. If it helped to lure the audience away from the television and back into the theater-so be it.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Blade Runner might well be subtitled: "An Apology (in the old sense) for Superficies (in the literal sense)." This also goes some way towards explaining why it became such a cult success in the Eighties, a decade in which many directors were obsessed with the surfaces of things. These surfaces, however, are not always recognizable as such. They conceal themselves-like mirrors in the act of reflection. For surfaces are anything but superficial, though many a critic would have us believe otherwise. We can only really begin to speak in terms of an aesthetic of surfaces if we approach the topic with a measure of humility. In this context, humility means admitting and embracing the relativity and subjectivity of perception. What we know depends on what we see; and whether we like it or not, we look at the world through tinted glasses.
In this respect, it makes little difference whether our view is colored by our ethnic origin, gender, ideology or our most personal desires.
The Dream Machine
Blade Runner is an excellent example of the rapidly growing interest, throughout the Eighties, in the cinema's peerless capacity to create illusions. The means, methods and conventions of film were increasingly questioned and the defining characteristics of cinematic fiction examined. The flawless production design exhibited in movies like Aliens (1986), Total Recall (1990), Dune (1984), Star Wars: Episode VI - The Return of the Jedi (1983), E.T. - The Extraterrestrial (1982), Outland (1981) and Back to the Future (1985) still exhilarates audiences to this very day. All of these films went to extraordinary lengths to create impeccable and unprecedented parallel universes. Film publications of the time increasingly focused on the mysterious world of special effects. Yet audiences were not simply succumbing helplessly to the seductive power of the cinematic illusion. They were discovering and understanding this very illusory potential as a thrilling subject for the movies themselves.
The two directors mainly responsible for this shift had established themselves in Hollywood in the Seventies. While Steven Spielberg and George Lucas exploited the medium's newfound technical capabilities, they were also willing to resort to crowd-pleasing stock content. If it helped to lure the audience away from the television and back into the theater-so be it.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Stills from 'Blade Runner', USA, 1982