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1. No one‘s saying it but while #BladeRunner2049 is beautiful, interesting & richly realized, the reasons it is failing are abundantly clear
2. First, it’s hugely self-indulgent. As an iconic white male director, Ridley Scott‘s convinced his work is CANONICAL for today’s audiences
3. Which means he condescendingly doesn’t bother to explain, scene-set or contextualize ANYTHING for new eyeballs. “GO WATCH THE ORIGINAL”
4. This is how he constructed Prometheus/Alien: Covenant too, eg “You’ve done your homework on your own time, or why are you even watching?”
5. Secondly: Scott doesnt just dismiss the contextual needs of new viewers—he also refuses to cast his films to give them narrative purchase
6. Main protagonists/antagonists of Prometheus, Alien: Covenant, #BladeRunner2049? White. Arctic white. Glacially white.
7. Yes, actors of color Idris Elba, Jussie Smollett, Benedict Wong, Dave Bautista, Lennie James, Barkhad Abdi, Carmen Ejogo get small roles.
8. But the leads, the poster faces, the POV and nemesis roles always go to white actors in Scott’s films.
9. And before you say it, he can cast the leads he wants. *But it makes his futures feel false and hollow—as seen through a narrow tube.*
10. It’s PARTICULARLY awkward in the Blade Runner universe, which is deeply inflected with pomo Japanese accents in its social vision/design
11. (Though 2049 interestingly reins that in from the original and replaces some of it with North Korean and Soviet Russian iconography.)
12. But there’s still the lingering flavor of Asian Future, Hold the Asians that we’ve seen in other SF visions (like ScarJo’s GitS).
14. And of course #TheMartian (a hit with diverse actors in some key roles, but could’ve had more based on the book) variety.com/2015/film/news…
15. (Yes BR2049 was directed by Denis Villeneuve, but keeper of the Ultimate Vision was Scott, who hand-picked him. wired.co.uk/article/blade-…)
16. (And Villeneuve was undoubtedly responsible for the aesthetic updates, but no way the film was cast without Scott picking every actor.)
17. Bottom line—would BR 2049 have been more successful if it had a more diverse topline cast? No one knows.
18. But diverse casting would’ve made #BladeRunner2049 resonant with a host of current issues: Undocumented immigration. Police brutality.
19. Not to mention historical issues that are being resurrected today: Slavery, obviously, and slave rebellion. But also miscegenation laws.
20. Did Scott & his protege overlook these opportunities to make #BR2049 instantly pertinent? Or did they decide they were too on the nose?
21. Who knows? All I can say is that I mourn for the movie that #BladeRunner2049 COULD have been.
