When Ryan Gosling swam into view in Denis Villeneuve’s muted blue-and-grey-hued frames of Blade Runner 2049, fans of the sci-fi genre already discerned a classic in the making. Not only did Villeneuve respect Ridley Scott’s original vision but he committed it to a higher standard, elevating the story to a refined and finely-tuned cinematic tale that directly followed in the footsteps of the first story.
Analyzing Phillip Dick’s dystopian world and the repercussions of one man and his actions in light of the first movie’s events, Gosling presented a narrative that was driven by a greater emotional complexity on top of the moral dilemma that already dictated Harrison Ford’s 1982 film. Now, Blade Runner 2049 takes its story one step further, cracking open a meta-narrative with the real world and into Elon Musk’s technological machinations.
Elon Musk Might Be Our Very Own Tyrell Corp
With lifelike androids and a giant monolithic worlds-conquering company, the Tyrell Corporation represents a distinctly dystopian vision that has long foregone the bounds of ethics and humanity. In Blade Runner, Harrison Ford‘s run-in with Tyrell results in an unprecedented miracle that directly leads to and becomes the emotional center of its sequel starring Ryan Gosling.
However, no longer is Phillip Dick’s dystopian vision portrayed in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? a fictitious tale. Fate comes knocking on Blade Runner‘s door as the film which sets the basis for a world overtaken by androids and AIs begins to mirror a reality that is simply too threatening to imagine due to the integration of AI in our society.
But more importantly, in a recent unveiling at Elon Musk’s headquarters, the people witnessed the launch of a cybercab Robotaxi that looks more like an invention straight out of Hunger Games than a vehicle seen on the roads of Georgia and Mississippi.
Understandably, the reaction to the unveiling was more comical than awe-inspiring as people took to social media to express their disbelief over the new Tesla design. But right now, that is the least of Elon Musk’s problems.
A Clash of Lawsuits and Technology
In an instance of life meeting art, Elon Musk and his autonomous car company Tesla have been sued by a production company behind Blade Runner 2049 for using AI-generated images from the film to promote Musk’s brand. In the lawsuit filed in California federal court, Alcon Entertainment states:
Any prudent brand considering any Tesla partnership has to take Musk’s massively amplified, highly politicized, capricious, and arbitrary behavior, which sometimes veers into hate speech, into account. Alcon did not want BR2049 to be affiliated with Musk.
The lawsuit additionally mentions Warner Bros. Discovery as an erring party for enabling Tesla to access and allegedly facilitate a partnership. WBD has now been sued for copyright infringement and false endorsement.
Blade Runner 2049 is streaming on Prime Video.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
