Blade runner- the movie vs the book

[justanotherdaduser]

Was wondering if anyone feels that if the movie Blade Runner remained faithful to the book, Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, it would have been a far better movie?

I am reading the book for first time many years after watching the film, and find the book far more complex and interesting than the movie.

By dropping completely details of the society Deckard lives in, its religion, worship of life, details of the androids - remarkable musical ability and intelligence, the movie almost became a fight between good humans and bad androids. Whereas the book is much more ambiguous and androids weren't actually bad!

Its obviously a very good movie, but probably could have been as good as the book if it had remained true to the book?

I haven't read the book (it's on my to read list). I thought the film was also about how the androids were basically the same as the humans and just doing what they needed to survive. The Rutger Hauer character shows his 'humanity' when he saves Deckard after Deckard has not shown any to all of them. Deckard's behaviour is very like an android - I think there is a theory that he actually was one.

I'm sure the book is much more detailed though and I would have been interested to learn about Deckard's society.

You are right, Deckard seems lot more like a killing machine in the movie than some of the androids. The book on the other hand makes everyone much more human.

Bit of a shame the movie is so much more successful and overshadows the book. Also the movie being so successful means there is almost certainly not going to be a remake

I agree with your points OP. I love Philip K Dick's novels and short stories.

A common thread throughout his stories is how ordinary his protagonists tend to be (despite being in extraordinary situations), and how mundane their motivations are. To my mind Deckard in the book is therefore much more believable than Deckard in the film.

It’s been a while since I read the book but I remember thinking the opposite that it would have been a worse film if they had stuck more rigidly to the book. Maybe that’s because I really love the film.

It would certainly be a different film. The character in the book is certainly more ordinary. I remember some of the book taken up with Decker obsessing over owning a real animal and worried others would know his animal was fake.

Much prefer the book. PKD was a wonderful SF writer and it is tragic that he died in his fifties, thus depriving us of many more incredible books.

pretty much always the case. can't think of a single example where movie was better

also that sex scene in the original movie was basically rape. was very creeped out by that

I really didn't get the hype about the movie.
I recently rewatched it. And also the second one plus the anime series. It fleshed out the story a lot and made it much easier to follow and enjoyable

It's a long time since I read this but what I remember is:

It's one of those old science fiction books that gets the future interestingly wrong - I think the guy travels in a flying car but carries all the the information about his cases with him on carbon copied pages.

Dick is a galloping mysogynist.

The test for whether someone is an android was described as a test of empathy, but seemed more a test of having the socially correct opinions.

Long time as I say and I might have rememvmbered it all wrong!

Dick is a galloping mysogynist.

Much as I enjoy his writing, I can't disagree with that statement at all.

I think it's always better to see the film first, or you end up disappointed by the film's chopping out so much of the book.
The author is supposed to have said that Richard Linklater's "Through a scanner darkly" is the only film made of one of his books that didn't depart drastically from his book's intent.
I suppose Bladerunner's prestige comes from being a stylistic breakthrough that influenced the look of films that followed it, and not only sci-fi films.
I find it hard to enjoy because of the violence and the rapey scene, and the silly trope with one character saving another from a long fall by catching his wrist, but I can see there are some really interesting themes in there.

The movie is a masterpiece. The sets and props were absolute perfection, and the lighting was amazing. There was a lot of stuff in the book which couldn’t be filmed well or wouldn’t be interesting on film, so as always the story deviated somewhat. I feel the visual richness of the world more than made up for the cuts to the story.