Digging into the Odd History of Blade Runner’s Title

Re:Digging into the Odd History of Blade Runner’s Title by twoodfin on Monday July 31, 2023 @03:06PM (#36947321)

Probably why everyone involved liked it: It's evocative across multiple interpretations.

In addition to yours, "runner" works as a kind of diminution of the job, runners being minor functionaries who shuttle back and forth at the beck of their superiors ("No choice, pal.")

That what Deckard's running is a "blade"—death—only emphasizes either his powerlessness or his victims'. He's a pageboy being made to do murder. Or a janitor cleaning up mere "hazards".

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Re:Digging into the Odd History of Blade Runner’s Title by coldtea on Monday July 31, 2023 @04:02PM (#36947996)

>That what Deckard's running is a "blade"—death

Yeah, could be "running" as in operating ("run: be in charge of; manage") a metaphorical blade, that is cutting their life short.

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Re:Digging into the Odd History of Blade Runner’s Title by mdp2021 on Monday July 31, 2023 @04:46PM (#36948535)

Or, since the original intended sense was "smuggler of blades", within the world in the movie "blade runner" could be interpreted as "smuggler of death in the underworld of the replicants".

(With the dark irony that the original was meant to be "smuggling equipment to heal the needy", re-applied to a context of "bringing death to the desperate".)

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