The Colour of Loneliness (Blade Runner 2049)

(Originally written on the 16th of February, 2022)

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR BLADE RUNNER 2049

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The final scene of Blade Runner 2049 is serene. Both the white snow dominating the colour scheme and the track "Tears in the Rain" convey a sense of tranquility and clarity, as if the protagonist is finally at peace. K's character is given closure. However, while his actions certainly impacted the narrative, he himself remains in the exact same state he began the film in: alone and insignificant. It is this that he comes to accept in the final moments of the film, that an individual's existence may indeed be inconsequential with meaning only being ascribable by other individuals.

The meaning that characters like K ascribe comes from a desire for intimacy, a desire strongly conveyed through the colour choices made by cinematographer Roger Deakins. Many scenes are bathed in an orange glow: a colour that typically connotes warmth. The first of which taking place in the Wallace headquarters where replicants are manufactured. This scene also serves to introduce the replicant Luv whom, while in talks with a client about purchasing replicants, lingers on the enticing offer of "pleasure models."

On the opposite end of the colour spectrum, the film's use of blue often appears alongside rain, creating a contrast between the cold wetness of the natural blue rain and the artificial orange warmth. One of the first scenes featuring rain is the first debriefing scene between K and the Madam when the order to kill the replicant causes K to ponder the existentialism of what is means to be born. He places great importance on being born, that artificially-created beings such as himself do not contain souls. As it rains outside the room, an orange heater glows behind him. Of course, the Madam (whom K views in front of the rainy city) disagrees with his idea of there being any true difference.

Immediately following this discussion, K returns to his apartment and brings his AI hologram outside into the rain where he attempts to embrace her before being interrupted by the Madam. When stepping into the cold, he is confronted with the true reality of his loneliness: that the relationship he has only exists because he believes that it does. It's the dichotomy between being dry and alone and being wet and vulnerable. When he sees an advert with her exact likeness and realised that the warmth she gave to him was artificial, the feminine purple glow of the advert makes his face appear bruised as he stands alone in the rain. This scene, taking place after her "death," is reminiscent of their first scene together, however, it is here that he finally accepts his reality.

Joi's "love" for him was only considered to be real. The name she gave him being repeated by the advert was only decided by her once she falsely believed that he a replicant child and " too special for K." In her eyes, he only mattered because she believed he did. The film's opening scene transitions from his eye (a window to his metaphorical soul) to the expansive protein farm. He is objectively unremarkable without Joi believing that he has worth as an individual.

In reality, the true "messiah" was Ana Stelline: someone incapable of truly leading the replicant revolution due to her genetic disorder. Her importance was merely a construction of the replicants' own hopes and desires. Her method of differentiating the truth from the artificial reflects the impossible perfection that many characters hope for: "Anything that is real should be a mess." Despite this understanding, she too exhibits the human trait of placing importance on what should be objectively meaningless. Her love for birthday parties, something only meaningful on a social level, perfectly demonstrates the human desire for attachment, a desire that K himself struggles with. Even the most important memory that the two share, the child hiding the toy horse, is an example of something meaningless being of great importance.

The film's main antagonist Wallace exists as K's antithesis with clear parallels between the two. The film's iconic orange glow originated from his headquarters and his position as a businessman creates a thematic association to the orange smog created by human pollution. Much like K whom customised Joi to his own liking, Wallace did the same with his replicant assistant Luv whom, like Joi, is a reflection of her master's false idea of intimacy. While K resolved to do the "most human thing" someone could do when standing in the rain, he remains in his orange headquarters throughout the entire film and becomes consumed by his delusional god complex. In his final scene, he tells Deckard (a man with a real daughter) that he has "millions" of children. His limited screen time and quiet exit from the film reflects the truth of his existence: like K, they are both irrelevant.

While the portrayal of human intimacy appears to be cynical, the third act and conclusion present a counterargument with the relationship between Deckard and Ana. The rain is at its heaviest in the final confrontation between K and Luv as he destroys the film's final remaining symbol of Wallace's false perception of intimacy and saves Deckard for the sake of the man's love for his daughter. When K finally reunites the two, the rain has been replaced with snow, far more than there was when K first met Ana. Snow and water are the same, yet the snow is far more serene than the rainfall. They both represent the true reality of the characters' relationships and how they perceive them.

While K is left alone in the snow at the end of the film, it is also the first time we see him genuinely smile. Despite having no true relationship with another person, his arc through the film has left him with the potential to become intimate with others. The truth is that all individuals are objectively irrelevant. K himself was irrelevant to all of the characters aside from Joi, and Ana was only important to the replicants as a false messiah. One of the film's tracks "Tears in the Rain" which plays during the final scene, is a callback to the original film that refers to the fleeting and insignificant existence of the individual. The only person who truly found her important as an individual was Deckard, hence why the film's final shot is him finally meeting his daughter.

One of the film's major locations where the colour orange is prominent is Las Vegas. The orange smog that covers the abandoned city being the result of a dirty bomb with little of note remaining aside from the ruins of erotic statues and a hive of bees. The idols that appear to deify sexuality and vapid false intimacy, bringing greater meaning to the orange radiation being a result of human folly. The artificiality is remarkably similar to Joi's connection with K. The hive of bees, however, manage to survive in spite of the harsh conditions brought on by humans. Sapper Morton blamed K's apathy on him never seeing a miracle like the birth of Ana, but the existence of the bees proved that all was note hopeless. This miracle of the bees represented a chance for K to overcome his loneliness and escape the metaphorical orange smog. This potential for genuine happiness concludes the film with a sense of hope rather than despair.

The absence of objective importance does not negate the potential for true intimacy. Such a genuine relationship can only be formed by two individuals who ascribe intimacy to each other of their own free will. A person does not need to be special in order to be loved. In reality, the people most important to us will never be anything more than good Joes.