R
Blade Runner is a stellar and stunning movie with a myriad of allusions. One common thread of allusions, according to a basic Google search, are the Biblical allusions - positing certain characters as religious figures to situate the them and their conflict within a larger religious orientation of good and evil to investigate humanity and humanness as a state of being. However, it is also a source of allusions. Does this look familiar to you?
Let's enhance. This compilation of "freeze-enhance" scenes from various movies (other than Blade Runner) and television series (CSI, Star Trek, to name the ones I spotted immediately) was made based on the list provided by the "Enhance Button" page from the website TV Tropes. While the list is vast, there's no denying that blockbuster Blade Runner popularized this staple action of modern crime dramas to a mass audience. While we can debate whether Blade Runner can be labeled the originator of this "freeze-enhance" allusion, the fact is it had a major influence in making it popular enough to be repeated, straight-faced or parodied, in various mediums since the film's release.
Why bring up this example when it isn't the origin of this allusion?
A) To show that popular iterations of a text/moment can come to be allusions themselves, as they inform our cultural consciousness, even if they are not the originator of the allusion. Both my Notre Dame de Paris/Hunchback of Notre Dame and Phantom of the Opera: Beauty and the Beast pages also delve into the issue of how allusions evolve over time and why that matters when making them.
B) This scene from Blade Runner expands the definition of allusion from being a text-based term to being a multi-modal term. Allusions happen in all the ways we communicate as humans - songs, paintings, sculptures, movies, video games, novels, presidential speeches, etc. etc. etc. And they're useful because they act as a kind of database of cultural knowledge, upon which one can draw to communicate an idea quickly and effectively. Disney's Hercules, for example, is another film which relies heavily on visual allusions (in the way most of the 90s Disney movies did thanks to Aladdin) in the hopes of getting a message or idea across. These were made in the hopes of making the film more likable, but in reality they fall somewhere on the spectrum between "ah, yes, I get that allusion. It's to Air Jordans or Hercules' labor involving the Nemean Lion" and "this is literally from Rocky... and now I want to watch that instead." Lindsay Ellis' breakdown of the film gets into this and why these allusions hold the film back (start at 12:07 for the mythology, 16:16 for Superman vs Rocky, or 19:16 for visual shorthands [aka allusions to common knowledge from our world] and Michael Jordan; you can finish at 22:46 if you don't want to watch the whole video).
So what does this mean to you? What kinds of visual allusions can you find in your favorite shows, films, or games? How far back can you trace those to their origin? Can you find the version that most people know? What iconic scenes from some form of media can you think of which you may one day want to replicate if you got the chance? Moreover, how would you replicate it?