Jerome K Jerome: Three men in a Boat

A delightful little nineteenth century novel. Almost a 1880's road trip. Basically, three men embark on a river boat ride down the Thames enjoying various scrapes and jaunts along the way. It is humorously written, and at times poetical in description following 'J', his disreputable dog Montmorency, Harris and George as they wind their way along the riverbank. It isn't meant to be a social commentary but does reflect the times in which he wrote and expectation of ease which men of a certain class enjoyed. The fact that they are so disparate in personality and yet have to endure a small boat in which to live thus highlighting their differences even more only serves to strengthen the image of the middle man. It is a beautiful story written in first person by J. He tangents off at times to recollect antics by his uncle, friends and family to bring more clarity to the tales involving the trip at hand. You can try doing the trip yourself if you like, and it would be interesting to see the places so concisely described by Jerome.

In one sentence? A nineteenth century male road trip

In three themes?

1. Back to nature
2. Friendship
3. Description
   

Dir. Ridley Scott "Blade Runner"

A seminal work of science fiction film noir. Set in the not so distant future of 2019, the film tells the story of a blade runner - a detective assigned to the 'retirement' of replicants (human clones) - who is hunting four escaped replicants and falls in love with a fifth. It is a classic piece of cinematography - lavishly pictured future settings with intricate background, particularly the japanese origin symbol which highlights one of the themes of the story. Where do we come from? What is it to be human? These questions are asked of the audience through the replicant and their quest to discover themselves and facing death - their own natural death at age four or the one given them by the detective. The idea of the hunter falling in love with the hunted only adds to the blur between the reality of the human versus the reality of the clone - just how close to the one do you have to be to understand the material everyday of the other? Batty, the lead replicant built for self sufficiency (played expertly by Rutger Hauer) is the final replicant to be 'retired' although this is not strictly true as he naturally dies in the final showdown with Harrison Fords' detective Decker - he kills his 'father' when he is unable to gain extra longevity (the fact that he kills his father by gouging his eyes out could be metaphorical for the key to the soul - by symbolically 'taking' the key to his fathers soul he elicits control and creation for his own. This is reflected in the fact further in that he can be both murderer and creator - he lets Decker live by saving his life thus 'creating' Decker again.) That JS Sebastian - the replicant builder - suffers from the methuslah complex (premature aging) reflects problem faced by his creation though his is natural disorder and thus shows that neither creator nor creation is free of outside forces. There are so many themes and questions in this thought provoking film that it is hard to know where to start. Birth, death, love and hate combine to make this somewhat 1930's esque detective film noir deeper than its contemporary sci fi peers.

In one sentence? A 1930's detective with sci fi cult appeal

In three themes?

1. Life
2. Death
3. Humanity