Philip K Dick discussion

Was re-watching Blade Runner, attempting to break it down and compare it to Horselover Fat’s classic, and got stuck on what makes it cyberpunk—beyond the androids, the Tyrell Corporation, the androids, and its finer noir elements. It resonates with the community and captures the essence of cyberpunk so well, but in a much different way than does Do Androids Dream, and this difference is afforded it by its visual medium.

Light and darkness. Chiarascuro.

The megacity glows. It hums, signalling humanity’s control over nature and the elements. It is loud with a million lights constantly strobing and blinking. Sodium and tungsten and neon. Lights enabled by technology's unbridling, blinking on gloomy towers stabbing the heavens.

And then there is the darkness…the shadows and silhouettes these lights inevitably cast. Humanity controls the night, but cannot control itself. It cannot control its darkest desires, easily sated with augs and updates and algorithms.

With every light that flickers above old Los Angeles, a shadow looms below, curved and slanted, belonging to buildings overgrown by metal and glass, and to high-collared blade runners outmoded by their circuit-laden betters.

The chiarascuro of cyberpunk visually keys us into the disparity between technology and life lived under its control—granted its embrace.

I realize that my standing resentment for recent cyberpunk works like the recent Total Recall remake, Almost Human, or Spielberg’s adaptation of Minority Report, derives from their lack of shadow-play. Instead of bright heavens and tarry purgatorial streets, we’re left with bright and sanitary futures shot in high definition.

Cyberpunk doesn’t live in the darkness, but it also doesn’t live in the light. It’s the interchange and consequence between the two.

Any thoughts on the matter?

Edit: Elsewhere, someone's made the point that the brightening of cyberpunk in the aforementioned examples might be resultant of a paradigm shift recognizing in our seeming surveillance state, there are no shadows in which to hide.