apprendre-a-vivre

http://sffmedia.com/content/view/156/1/ http://www.amazon.com/Blade-Runner-Final-Two-Disc-Special/dp/B000UD0ESA/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1197298085&sr=8-3

Interesting shift from fucker to father – there was some static between father/fucker in the original cut, but in this new re/mix/master, the signal is cleared up and we now know what he //really// says...

But luckily the symbolism channel isn’t scrambled and defunct/de-fuck’d: the "father" (Tyrell) is (still) the Great Fucker, the one who puts a ticker on Batty's battery, fucking him out of a long life. By doing this he is not only teaching him how to live (apprendre a vivre -- like a student learns from a teacher, i.e. "here's a lesson you should learn"), he is teaching him a lesson (apprendre a vivre -- in the threatening tone, i.e. "I'm going to teach you a lesson!" or like a koan: "get it…or else." [AR, Test Drive, 117]). Somewhat ironically, the latter happens, and Batty, the good student, understands the koan (nudged on by the master's blows, of course) and crushes his Tyrell's head (or rather he understands that “This Is A Test” – since the koan //always// evades understanding). Tyrell’s insemination of his artificial children with his own politics of lifeXdeath leads them to a short and fast life of excess (but all life is excessive, anyway).

There’s something chillingly Abrahamic about the whole thing…