Friday, December 16, 2016

Happy Birthday, Phillip K. Dick


It's an interesting choice to release Rogue One on Phillip K. Dick's birthday, (He would have been 88) especially in today's political and technological climate. 

This time around, I'm thinking of the themes of the connection between authority and technology in both Blade Runner and Rogue One/Star Wars.

What prompts rebellion. Who do we view as the protagonist. Over time, will our perspective continue to identify with them, or shift, as the recent move by neo-Nazis calling for us to see Emperor Palpatine and the Empire as the heroes demonstrates?

When is it all finally just too much and you resist the social programming?

Where do the police and our paramilitary enforcers fit in? And are we ultimately optimistic, or realistic?

And "What will you become?" compared to "Who am I? Why am I here? How long have I got?"

Of course there's also the question of how we employ Techno-Orientalism to create the visual vocabulary of our future or wherever we're supposed to situate that galaxy far, far away.


Thoughts?


No comments: