Active/Passive Spectatorship

How far does Inception and Blade Runner demonstrate a constant shift between passive and active spectatorship?

Both Inception and Blade Runner were not created with the passive spectator in mind. These films throw twists and a large variety of information at the audience that some may not understand in one run through of the film. Because of these two different kinds of spectators, the films have an extremely diverse set of opinions.

As an auteur, Christopher Nolan constantly bends time and uses a peculiar layout for storytelling. As some of his films do not pan out in the original ‘beginning, middle, end’ structure, ‘Inception’ follows this trend to a certain degree. The movie-epic spans across several different dream layers and tends to bounce back and forth. However, the film itself is a very ‘spoon-fed’ experience as details to this world are thrown at the audience from the beginning as the basic plot starts to emerge. The recognition of Nolan’s films has always been achievable due to the repeated cast of talented actors and unique worlds he is able to create on screen.

A scene such as the corridor fight sequence later on in the movie, could receive two different reactions from the passive and active audience. Due to the scene itself displaying how a rolling van in one dream world, causes a shift in gravity in another, this may confuse younger/passive viewers. The sequence itself is effortlessly shot and is visual eye candy for anyone watching, although that could be said about the rest of this film. We clearly feel aligned with the character of Ariadne as we experience this dream world for the first time and learn the rules of what Cobb is asking the character to do. With a film like this, it’s hard not to give out important, clear information regarding the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of specific scenes especially in areas where the dream sequences switch or overlap. Although, there are calmer points in the films plot where the viewer is left to rest in a way, showing a simple scene to understand such as when Ariadne is changing the environment of the dream world that Cobb had created. This constant shift between forms of passive and active spectatorship has been implemented into the film in a way so that both can understand it and have full recognition of the world and characters. However, this can often be difficult as the director is trying to mould the storytelling to fit everyone’s liking. Another example of an extremely split audience would be the plot and deeper meaning behind Ridley Scott’s, ‘Blade Runner’.

Unlike ‘Inception’, it is fairly simple for anyone to understand the basic plot of Blade Runner. Rick Deckard, a retired cop (a.k.a Blade Runner) attempts to hunt down and ‘retire’ rogue replicants from off world colonies. But that would be describing the basic plot. This movie, although released over 35 years ago, has formed a fan base of thousands who were fascinated by its world and impressive visuals thanks to Ridley Scott’s profound imagination. But the deeper questions lie in between the scenes, the many versions of the film that were released in the years to come, and strange yet beautiful imagery that was placed into the directors cut of the movie. For example, the Unicorn clip that was implemented into the scene of Deckard playing the piano. It is mysterious scenes and secrets in specific clips that make this world so intriguing, and also drive a fan base like this one insane. However, when talking about its fan base, this group is mainly going to be active viewers. On a first run through of the film there will definitely be scenes that confuse the viewer and have their mind wandering, but all of them were put in for a reason.

A variety of spectators who have watched this film countless times may analyse scenes such as when Rachel is in Deckard’s apartment, and there is a slight glow in Harrison Fords eyes. Using mirrors in front of the camera created this effect, therefore creating a glowing ring on the pupil that symbolised animal’s eyes, and was used to let the audience know who was a replicant. So for this effect to be seen on what the viewer mentally thought was a human, it takes the film in a whole new direction for active spectators.

The movie itself also raises many questions and thought depending on the composition of the spectator. With a setting of Los Angeles depicted in 2019 from a 1982 present day, skyscrapers tower into the sky and the dystopian world is overpopulated, polluted, and unless you’re the creator of a manmade species of engineered human beings, life is fairly isolated.

If the spectator views the film with his or her ‘private self’, scenes such as Roy’s final speech about ‘All those moments’ that ‘will be lost…in time. Like…tears, in rain.’ May cause a greater emotional response than that to a passive spectator who watches the film (much like Inception) to appreciate the visuals and soundtrack. This is because many themes from Ridley Scott’s movies could be fairly relatable to many viewers. (Such as the constant repletion of characters relationships with their father.)

Scott was able to easily manipulate our views throughout Blade Runner as we quickly form an allegiance with the main protagonist and his views towards the replicants. (‘Replicants are like any other machine. They’re either a benefit or a hazard. If they’re a benefit its not my problem.’) Deckard gets beat up, broke, and has his whole reality flipped upside down by these replicants, and so because of the actions that takes place toward this engineered race, the viewer immediately classes them as the enemy. However, this devoted allegiance with Deckard fades slightly as we see the compassion in Roy’s goals. It is understandable that like any other animal he doesn’t want to have to die and is doing what he must do to survive.

Both these films have clear shifts in scenes between the themes of passive and active spectatorship. This is mainly due to them containing plots and storylines that are not usually attempted when producing a film. They can be tricky to follow at points, but still give an incredible experience for the most passive viewers. Inceptions soundtrack, produced by Hans Zimmer, is a booming, impressive mixture of fast paced and emotional songs that affect the social self and private self of many audiences. Blade Runner on the other hand, combines a sweeping score with stunning visuals of a truly beautiful dystopian world. The balance of scenes with information and scenes with action is necessary in big blockbuster movies so that each half of the audience gets what they want out of a mainstream film.