And re-astonished afresh.  Friday was marathon day.

It took me months to get around to taking a closer look at a gift given to me. It was only reading a book recommendation that got me motivated, to be honest. I finally read an online book about shamanic experience by Phil Hines and found some of the things he said enlightening. One of the comments that finally made me smack my head and go “duh!” was his statement that movies and books are part of the mythic world. And that being part of the mythic world, they can comprise initiatory experiences!

And then I knew why some films made me watch again and again. When asked what my favorite movie is, I always know the answer. I have many favorite movies, but only one that is THE movie. And that is “Blade Runner” you see? Which makes half the folks asking me the question go “Ewwww.”  This brings me back to the gift—the four disk set with both US and European theatrical release versions, two directors cuts and then special disks (VERY long) about the making of the movie and its history since release in 1982.

I had immediately re-watched my favorite original theatrical release and little else. So, finally admitting that this sci-fi film was my favorite because it WAS an initiation of sorts for me, I sat down yesterday to go through the entire pile of DVDs. The one about the making of the film was fascinating. It was, as they said, practically the last “analog” sci-fi made—-all the special effect sort of things are on the film, in the big old fashioned 65 mm movie camera! Not a bit of digital addition, no blue screen anything. The visual effects were built and filmed the old fashioned way with miniatures and matte paintings of incredible and beautiful complexity. And although it is over 25 years old, this science fiction film does not look “hokey” or out of date….it stands up to the computer digitally manipulated flicks of the current era looking just as futuristic and sparkling as the day it opened. Movie magic really does apply to this film. And in more than one way.

And when it opened, it bombed. It was the Reagan Era “Don’t worry, be happy” summer of ET Phone home-happy-eyewash. Almost nobody wanted to watch this grim sci-fi noir of gritty dark streets and corporate hegemony. Well, unless, like Philip K. Dick said about Americans and science fiction, unless you were “an adolescent or a disturbed adult”….because he was pretty much told that is who would read his book “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” that the movie sprang from. The film and book are not similar, though Dick told Ridley Scott he had exactly captured the world he “saw” when writing the book. The movie is considerably brighter than the book. The movie is set in Los Angeles in 2019, and frankly, it would not be impossible for LA to look like the movie in eleven years.  Commentators on the film process said that to their shock, places in China look like this film already, minus flying cars and spaceships, of course.

This science fiction film scared me worse than any horror film, scared me worse than Ridley Scott’s big money maker “Alien” because it is more believable. This film made me believe environmentalists more fervently. It made me fear and question advertising more. It made me seek definitions of what is human in a way I never had before. It made me think about what people do that DEPRIVES them of their humanity. I saw this film, on VCR tape a couple years after the theater flop. And it coincided with the first shamanic content dreams that would change my spiritual life forever. I honestly believe the film came first and it opened doors in my brain that had been held tightly shut.

That is the function of myth isn’t it? To ignite magic?  To open doorways of perception?

I finally got around to watching the newest “Director’s Cut” re-done in 2007, and found it unremarkable. It lacks the original voice over and the sunny ending, but has very little of the original four hours of film added back in, to my disappointment. I think the voice over helped viewers who hadn’t any idea of the book, for in spite of dissimilarity, the world Ridley Scott created does almost need a guide book. The after-addition of Ford’s voice over was that, clumsy as it was at times. Obviously, I recommend this film. If you watched it years ago and dismissed it, consider going back again. The film was considerably ahead of its time, and not only because the film effects have stood the test of time.  But I find any version, original or Scott’s more personal vision have equal power to frighten and ignite.

Think about how corporations gain power and rights in government.
Think about how the world is being more polluted and poisoned.
Think about artificial intelligence and cloning.
Think about where the rich and powerful will go when they have ‘used up’ this world.
Think about sheeple.
Think about the last eight years.