Ok, now that I have that out of the way, Blade Runner. I have to be completely honest, I was underwhelmed with this movie, and I am not sure why it is on the Top 100 list. Yes, Harrison Ford is amazing to look at (especially circa his Star Wars days) but there needs to be more to a movie besides amazing bone structure and a chiseled stomach.
The movie takes place in Los Angeles in the year 2019 (the year the Federal Government expects me to finish paying off my student loans...plus interest) where the people of Earth now own flying cars and have begun to colonize other planets with human like robots called "replicants". These replicants were designed as slaves for the colonists until they decided to revolt and were ordered to be removed. A few escaped and made their way to Earth where they came to seek revenge on their makers. Harrison Ford plays Rick Deckard, a retired cop who is asked to return to the force to track down these renegade replicants and destroy them.
Here is a little history lesson: The first car was built in 1896 by Henry Ford (no relation). Roughly 40 years later, the first televisions were made available for consumers to purchase. Less than 30 years later, in 1969, those people were watching a man walk on the moon from their living rooms. Wow. To me, that seems incredible. The fact that my grandparents didn't even have a television and that I am sitting at a device able to transcribe and send information instantly across the world is mind boggling to me.
So that brings me back to the essential question, were the writers too ambitious or have humans not accomplished enough? I think it is a bit of both. The age in which the writers had written this script was full of advancements in technology, and history was showing them that it should only continue at the current, or an even faster, rate. Now, lets not completely discount what humans have accomplished since 1982. Again, I am able to sit here and write this blog which is something that never would have been fathomed in the 80's. We cracked the genetic code, created cell phones, the hybrid car, DVDs, ipods...etc. I do not think we as humans have failed to live up to the accomplishments of our ancestors, but that our areas of focus have changed.
There is no real desire for flying cars, besides the novelty of it (I mean, that would be pretty neat), but imagine the issues we would have today with the FAA and concerns about terrorism. Robots are just not practical. They aren't affordable and there is no real desire for them. Also, after seeing a million movies with robots attacking the human race including, I Robot, Terminator, Austin Powers (remember those Fembots?!), I have no desire to know or own one. Space exploration and "colonizing" other planets has also fallen to the way-side. People are still trying to figure out how to make this planet work, why start another one? If we learned anything from our American History classes (well, any countries history class for that matter) colonization of a new land is not a walk in the park. Were still trying to figure out what happened to the lost colony of Roanoke (google it). The truth is, our goals and ambitions have shifted since 1982 due to world events and changes in interest. So to me, yes we have failed to meet some peoples expectations, but I don't think that we will leave future generations unimpressed.