Blurring Genres: Dissolving Literature and Film in Blade Runner

Abstract

Most studies on the relationship between literature and film generally focus on the influence of cinema on literary works.¹ Very few works emphasize the influence of literature on cinema, and most studies tend to concentrate on the structure and techniques used in writing novels, since film and literature share the same narrative characteristics of storytelling, construction of plot and setting, and character development. Even fewer studies are dedicated to the influence of poetry on cinema, which is the topic analyzed in this chapter. As John Harrington points out, “Despite critical biases, few theoreticians of film avoid speaking of poetry in cinema” (1977, p. 176).