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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   1425 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for August 14, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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I'm a big fan of Blade Runner (1982). I don't want to bother listing all its positives, but one of the things I like about it is, as far as I understand it, the movie ends ambiguously. Is Deckard a replicant or not? I was pissed when Blade Runner 2049 came out and removed all doubt: turns out he's a guy after all. Still a good movie though.

This ambiguity at the end was also something I liked about John Carpenter's The Thing (1982). I have a family member who works in Hollywood and somehow we got onto the subject of The Thing. She said she didn't like it because of the same ambiguity, but then as a matter of course in doing her job she got to spend time with John Carpenter and asked him to clarify the ending. Apparently he gets this question a lot.

Turns out he has no idea what the confusion is about. The last frame of The Thing is Kurt Russel and Keith David staring each other down, harshly backlit, and it's completely, glaringly obvious that Kurt Russel is breathing and Keith David is not.

I said it seemed to be a bit too subtle for a movie where a head grows spider legs and scuttles away. She said no, it's why Carpenter is a genius.

Recently watched with my sons. I remember reading somewhere on Reddit probably about the reveal that you mention in the spoiler tags, but really you can still make up your own mind.

In BR, Ridley Scott insists Deckard was a replicant, Ford says he wasn't, Villeneuve (director of 2049) says it's still ambiguous (which it is-- there is evidence both ways.) In the PKD story Deckard's character is definitely not a replicant.

Edit: My point being the director can vague himself into not being definitive.

Yes, Carpenter is a smart man who knows he doesn't need to go and make a new cut to answer the question because the work stands on its own, and the question is, ultimately irrelevant to the point of the movie so it needs no clarification.

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