Quote from: Shinawi on Jul 19, 2015, 11:54:28 AM
Quote from: The Eighth Passenger on Jul 18, 2015, 01:23:06 PM
Quote from: Thomas on Jul 18, 2015, 01:49:30 AM
....... i believe that there were/are korean personel in weyland yutani but particuarly in Alien 3 you notice it in the personel arriving at the end of the movie.......
Dr. Matshuita in Alien 3 is Japanese (albeit played by Chinese actor Hi Ching (credited as company man 1))
Interestingly, in Blade Runner there is a Korean cop in heavy body armour who tells Deckard , "Hey, idi-wa", Korean for "Hey, come here".
That's really interesting. I watched Blade Runner many years ago. So I forgot about the Korean cop. It makes me wonder what made Ridley Scott decide to have Koreans patrol his city. Note that the Korean spoke in Korean to Deckard, not in English. It's as if the Koreans are in control of this city. Blade Runner is a 1982 film. This was long before South Korea became a wealthy and high tech country. In fact, South Korea used to have sweatshops in 1982. And the country was politically unstable, experiencing coups and oppression by the government. This was before South Korea hosted the Summer Olympics and the FIFA World Cup. I was a very young kid at that time, but I still remember that people didn't think much about Korea. I even know people who weren't even aware of that country. It seems so out of the blue that he chose Korea as the superpower in his film.
Or could it be that the Korean was acting as a mercenary for the Japanese? I remember a lot of Japanese cultural influence in the city.
It could very well be that the Korean is a mercenary in Blade Runner (they are essentially rent-a-cops after all) as well as in Blomkamp's concept art.
South Korea (just like Israel) is basically a nation of warriors. There is compulsory military conscription for all men in South Korea. Young Korean men basically have a choice of either serving in the armed forces for two years or going to jail for two years.
In District 9 and Elysium Blomkamp had South African mercenaries. Same thing there, South Africa also used to have compulsory conscription for all white males. After it's transformation to democracy many white men found themselves without work. But one thing they all had in common was very good military training and that's how that country became infamous for it's mercenaries.
QuoteI remember a lot of Japanese cultural influence in the city.
Yes, you're quite right, it's mainly Japanese influences in the LA of 2019. During the early 80's Japan was doing very well, much like China today before the asset price bubble burst in the 90's. The joke was back then that Japan would one day own the entire USA.
But there is also lots of Chinese and Korean influences in Blade Runner if you look carefully.
This city owned utility tanker from Blade Runner for example has "Riddles" written on it in Korean. Presumably as nod to the director.