The Bladerunner 2049 thread (SPOILER ALERT)

[MissKittyFantastico]

I liked Chief Buttercup's (nice nickname there BTW) line about him having been doing fine without one (a soul.)

(Thanks) That was a good line - hats off to her for having a spine when push came to shove, but she was one cold lady, I could practically hear that sentence continue "...and I do have one, so that's how much good a soul does you." Actually that reminds me (at the risk of pulling an "And another thing...") - that scene leads directly into another thing about K and Joi that's got me intrigued. The 'bonus' she mentions for K is evidently the emitter, or the money to buy it - so acquiring that was an entirely autonomous decision on his part, he chose to get her a birthday present ("I love birthdays" - Ana). Even in the most cynical interpretation of their relationship - that she's just a really fancy cuddle pillow, and her simulation of gratitude strokes his ego (which seems to be the interpretation doings the rounds in some quarters, but I'm not sure I want to be that cynical myself) - that's a free will decision owing entirely to emotion. Whether he's a guy in a crummy world investing emotionally in the one bright spot his life has, or a lonely jerk who'd rather buy his sexbot a new toy and pat himself on the back for being 'caring' than try to form a relationship with someone with actual autonomy, I can't see how there's any question after that that he's a person.

(And honestly, K's life sucked through no fault of his own - he's a slave used as a hitman, he's openly despised at work, his apartment door has racial slurs scrawled on it, and the only guaranteed human who shows any actual positive feeling towards him is his boss (and given her personality and position of power, even for Robin Wright I'm not sure I'd pursue that relationship). It's apparently completely normal for replicant prostitutes to prefer not to take his money because he's a blade runner, not that he has a choice, and the one who does give him the time of day does so because she's an agent looking to plant a tracer on him (and be rude to his VI in the morning, speaking which (and pardon the pun), screw you, lady). Even if he is just pretending that Liara loves him because he picks all the Paragon options, I do not feel like I want to condemn this guy's relationship choices.)

Although coming out of that same train of thought - even assuming, for whatever reason, that he was provided with Joi as some kind of standard 'keep our blade runner replicants emotionally stable and obedient' package (which seems a bit of a stretch, but supposing), at the very least he bought (or requested) the emitter himself. Presumably he learned about its existence via advertising. So none of the big purple Jois ever called him 'Joe' before, for that to be such a shock to him when it happened? (And what's wrong with 'Kay' as a name anyway?)

Come to think of it, this really lends credence to the idea Deckard is a replicant. How else could he survive out there all this time?

So a Bender model, fuelled by alcohol? That's consistent with the original film too.

[SlackerinDeNile]

Come to think of it, this really lends credence to the idea Deckard is a replicant. How else could he survive out there all this time?

So a Bender model, fuelled by alcohol? That's consistent with the original film too.

That would also explain why he's hiding out in Las Vegas.

"Bite my genetically-engineered ass!"

[Robovski]

Deckard's daughter works for herself, but contracts for Wallace.

[MissKittyFantastico]

Deckard's daughter works for herself, but contracts for Wallace.

Which now that you mention it raises the question, who else is buying memories? Are there other uses for artificial memories? Entertainment? Ana talked as if replicants were the only recipients - she can't do anything about their future, but she can give them a good past ('good' as in 'character-building', I guess, unless she only recently came to feel maybe the oppressed slave race might not appreciate remembering having the crap kicked out of it in her own Dickens-meets-Mad-Max childhood; maybe I'm undervaluing the comfort of small triumphs over harsh adversity, I never got bullied worth a mention so it's kind of alien to me). Is anyone besides Wallace manufacturing them? He personally got the ban on them overturned with his new obedient model, and he doesn't seem the type to just drop the Nexus 9 code online for anyone to use afterwards - he went on like his personal ability to make replicants in greater numbers was the linchpin of humanity's future. (Maybe if he'd stop murdering them before the paint's dry?)

That would also explain why he's hiding out in Las Vegas.

Which given Bender's proclivities for blackjack and hookers, again raises uncomfortable possibilities regarding the dog... (Actually, if the dog wasn't a replicant with some kind of perfect recall programming, how had it not accidentally blown up half the hotel by now setting off Deckard's traps? Unless that's why the place was in such poor condition. Maybe that was the fifteenth hotel he'd lived in, and the others are all just craters now.)

In any case, Futurama prequel confirmed, I think.

[Robovski]

Replicants clearly buy goods and services - maybe they buy new memories? You can go Total Recall and go off on vacation without ever having gone. There would be a market for that if humans could do it for sure, so why not replicants?

[SlackerinDeNile]

https://civicskunk.works/blade-runner-2 ... db363fb09c

This article is quite political, but the writer shares some of my feelings about the writing of the movie as well as other similar films that have come out this decade such as Snowpiercer.