A superb deal of trendy sci-fi owes a debt to ‘Blade Runner’ … some greater than others.
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The cultural impression of Ridley Scott‘s 1982 movieBlade Runnercan’t be overstated. It is the gritty, cyberpunk daydream that launched 100 tech-noirs. An amalgam of pop-culture influences itself,Blade Runner‘s fingerprints are throughout sci-fi cinema:Brazil,Strange Days, Dark City, Ghost in the Shell, the listing goes on and on. And but, one jazzy providing stands out amongst the small-screen choices.
Released at the daybreak of the new millennium, Cowboy Bebop merged the far-flung swashbuckling power of Space Westerns with a distinctly existential neo-noir tinge. Set in the now inside attain future of 2071, the present sees humanity forged out throughout the Solar System, reliant on bounty hunters (referred to as “Cowboys”) to trace down criminals and maintain some semblance of peace. Series director Shinichiro Watanabe has all the time worn his admiration forBlade Runneron his sleeve as a significant affect. As a degree of truth, this all got here full circle when Watanabe directed a 15-minute animated quick movie Blade Runner Black Out 2022in 2017, half of a sequence of shorts linking Scott’s unique toDenis Villeneuve‘s impending sequel,Blade Runner 2049.
As the video essay under elegantly suggests, eachCowboy Bebopand Villeneuve’s movie have an excellent deal in widespread, from superficial similarities and synchronicities to deeper musculature that verges on poetic likeness: “not homage, but a shared soul.” Indeed, each the movie and the anime sequence have an particularly crunchy relationship with their forebearer; greater than only a footnote, they’re each explicitly involved in existential issues similar to legacy, goal, and the fuzzy intersections in between.
(Also,Cowboy Bebop followers, as for those who wanted extra of a cause to take a look at the video under, Steve Blum himself — the English voice of Spike Spiegel — makes an look reciting Roy Batty’s “Tears in the Rain” monologue. Dreams do come true!)
Watch “Cowboy Bebop x Blade Runner – Cycle of Influence (feat. Spike)”:
Who made this?
This video essay on the connections between the anime Cowboy Bebop and the Blade Runner moviesis byokayaptainkristian,a YouTube-based video essay channel that peddles in visible love letters to filmmakers, musicians, and syndicated cartoons. The account is run byKristian T.Williams, whom you possibly can comply with on Twitterhere. You can subscribe to kaptainkristian, and take a look at their again catalog on YouTubehere.
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Related Topics: Blade Runner 2049, Cowboy Bebop, The Queue
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