intheseaofthesky asked: Opinions on Blade Runner being classified as Neo-Noir before SciFi?
I think the noir elements of Blade Runner are stylistic, but ultimately not determinative. It’s a science fiction film. If we classify it as neo-noir first, then it is in the same genre as The Manchurian Candidate, Chinatown, Drive and Reservoir Dogs. Such a category would be so broad as to mean virtually nothing.
Granted, film noir was a rather broad category as well. But there was a set of stylistic characteristics that defined him noir. Ultimately, I think film noir is a style rather than a genre—and is something different than noir as a literary genre. Crime films deriving from hardboiled or noir influences after 1958 might have some claim to being classified as neo-noir without any other genre attached (e.g., perhaps Chinatown). The Manchurian Candidate is a political thriller first, in the style of film noir. Blade Runner is a science fiction film, in the style of film noir.
