Editor's note Notes on contributors Introduction: 2019 Vision, by Will Brooker The Blade Runner Experience: Pilgrimage and Liminal Space, by Will Brooker Post-Millennium Blade Runner, by Judith B. Kerman Section 1: The Cinema Of Philip K. Dick Reel Toads and Imaginary Cities: Philip K. Dick, Blade Runner and the Contemporary Science Fiction Movie, by Aaron Barlow Redemption, 'Race', Religion, Reality and the Far-Right: Science Fiction Film Adaptations of Philip K. Dick, by Dominic Alessio Section 2: Playing Blade Runner Replicating the Blade Runner, by Barry Atkins Implanted Memories, or the Illusion of Free Action, by Susana P. Tosca Section 3: Fans Scanning the Replicant Text, by Jonathan Gray Academic Textual Poachers: Blade Runner as Cult Canonical Movie, by Matt Hills Originals and Copies: The Fans of Philip K. Dick, Blade Runner and K. W. Jeter, by Christy Gray Section 4: Identities The Rachel Papers: In Search of Blade Runner's Femme Fatale, by Deborah Jermyn Purge! Class Pathology in Blade Runner, by Sean Redmond Postmodern Romance: The Impossibility of (De)centring the Self, by Nick Lacey Section 5: The City False LA: Blade Runner and the Nightmare City, by Stephen Rowley Imagining the Real: Blade Runner and Discourses on the Postmetropolis, by Peter Brooker Filmography Bibliography Index
Since its release in 1982, Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, based on Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, has remained a cult classic through its depiction of a futuristic Los Angeles; its complex, enigmatic plot; and its underlying questions about the nature of human identity. The Blade Runner Experience: The Legacy of a Science Fiction Classic examines the film in a broad context, examining its relationship to the original novel, the PC game, the series of sequels, and the many films influenced by its style and themes. It investigates Blade Runner online fandom and asks how the film's future city compares to the present-day Los Angeles, and it revisits the film to pose surprising new questions about its characters and their world.
Will Brooker is associate professor in communications at Richmond, the American International University in London. He is the author of Batman Unmasked: Analyzing a Cultural Icon; Using the Force: Creativity, Community and 'Star Wars' Fans; and Alice's Adventures: Lewis Carroll in Pop.
