A motif in a piece of media is an important concept, idea or theme, repeated throughout to symbolise a specific message to the audience. In this can range from themes of hope and ideals about the future, for instance, the use of green light in 'The Great Gatsby' to signify his hopes and dreams, to darker, more cynical themes such as the doorway in The Sixth Sense' which is a constant reminder to the character of Cole of his weakness as a child and reference to his first encounter with his mother's ghost and the low angles used to further him as a weak character.
'Bladerunner' (1982) is set in new-world San Francisco depicting a dystopian future where 'Replicants', androids identical to humans are used on off world colonies as slave labour, but are prohibited from Earth. The film follows Rick Deckard a Bladerunner tasked with hunting down four rouge Replicants that have made their way onto the Earth. Throughout the film the motif of imprisonment and freedom is is shown through specific mise-en-scene choices to suggest how truly imprisoned the people of New San Francisco are by the government and their own society, The scene I have decided to focus on demonstrates such a motif through a panning shot of Deckard in his apartment, hunched over a piano, the collection of mess piled about the piano blocks the view of the rest of the apartment, creating a wall that seals him into such a small space, which further emphasises the motif of imprisonment. To contrast this, as the scene progresses, we, as the audience are thrust into a dream sequence of a unicorn prancing in a forest, that often connotes the idea of freedom in many other media texts. the unicorn is shown to be prancing and seemingly fighting against a force that the audience is blind to, further suggesting the motif of imprisonment and freedom.
A motif in a piece of media is an important concept, idea or theme, repeated throughout to symbolise a specific message to the audience. In this can range from themes of hope and ideals about the future, for instance, the use of green light in 'The Great Gatsby' to signify his hopes and dreams, to darker, more cynical themes such as the doorway in The Sixth Sense' which is a constant reminder to the character of Cole of his weakness as a child and reference to his first encounter with his mother's ghost and the low angles used to further him as a weak character.
'Bladerunner' (1982) is set in new-world San Francisco depicting a dystopian future where 'Replicants', androids identical to humans are used on off world colonies as slave labour, but are prohibited from Earth. The film follows Rick Deckard a Bladerunner tasked with hunting down four rouge Replicants that have made their way onto the Earth. Throughout the film the motif of imprisonment and freedom is is shown through specific mise-en-scene choices to suggest how truly imprisoned the people of New San Francisco are by the government and their own society, The scene I have decided to focus on demonstrates such a motif through a panning shot of Deckard in his apartment, hunched over a piano, the collection of mess piled about the piano blocks the view of the rest of the apartment, creating a wall that seals him into such a small space, which further emphasises the motif of imprisonment. To contrast this, as the scene progresses, we, as the audience are thrust into a dream sequence of a unicorn prancing in a forest, that often connotes the idea of freedom in many other media texts. the unicorn is shown to be prancing and seemingly fighting against a force that the audience is blind to, further suggesting the motif of imprisonment and freedom.
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