It seems we can't get enough of Philip K. Dick aka PKD; since 1982, when his story ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' was made into the cult classic “Blade Runner”, we've been treated to a steady supply of PKD-inspired cinema. The latest, currently playing in a theatre near you, is “The Adjustment Bureau”.
With its romantic, almost upbeat take on life, it's quite a shocker, for “romantic” and “upbeat” are not the keywords that spring to mind when describing the movies made from PKD's books, whether “Blade Runner” or “Minority Report”. It's more along the lines of: Dystopian, alternate realities, substance abuse, weird religion and manipulated memories.
The author once said: “The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words.” The movies are an extension of PKD's words, where everything you see is undercut by questions of perception versus reality.
Living on
You could argue that Philip Kindred Dick (1928–1982) is to sci-fi cinema what Van Gogh is to modern art — a colossus who was impoverished in his lifetime, but, ironically, a money-spinner after his death.
Apparently, some 10-and counting major films based on PKD's novels/short stories have been released posthumously, generating at least $1 billion in global box office and related revenues. His brand of futuristic surrealism has influenced practically all forms of Hollywood sci-fi.
Why is PKD so good for celluloid? One answer is the writer's manipulation of sci-fi into areas that have mainstream appeal, such as the political and the metaphysical. His leitmotifs of monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments and altered states fit so well with our contemporary sensibilities.
The trendsetter, of course, was Ridley Scott's “Blade Runner”, which raised problematic questions about the meaning of identity and humanity. Funnily enough, it didn't get much critical or public acclaim when first released, but gathered steam over the years into becoming the definitive sci-fi classic of our time.
Movie buffs still argue over the virtues of different versions of the film — with or without the Harrison Ford voiceover, for example, or the happy ending of the Theatrical Cut versus the open ending of the Director's Cut. PKD died before the release of the film; nevertheless, he wrote in 1981, after seeing a segment of “Blade Runner” discussed on a TV programme: “… this indeed is not science fiction; it is not fantasy; it is exactly what Harrison Ford said: futurism.”
Another reason that PKD is a Hollywood favourite? The fact that the essential idea in a PKD story can be reduced down to the logline of a high-concept film, and then expanded again.
A high-concept film is one based on a simple but unique idea that can be explained in a couple of sentences, and is likely to appeal to large audiences. The more typical examples of high concept films would be stuff such as “Snakes on a Plane” — with the self-explanatory and eye-popping idea of lots of live snakes let loose on an airborne plane; or “Twins”, the unlikely pairing of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito as twins is all the hook you need.
But PKD as high concept fodder? Well, think about it: the great PKD-based movies all have a unique central idea that the director has culled from the book. Such as: Crime is prevented before it can actually happen, because three people can see into the future and predict these crimes (“Minority Report”). Or, how can you trust “reality” if memories can be implanted in your brain? (“Total Recall”). Or “chance” and “destiny” are pretty much the same thing, and physically engineered by shadowy bureaucrat-angels in top-hats (“The Adjustment Bureau”).
More screen versions of his paranoid yet cerebral explorations of the human condition await us in the future.
Apparently, Ridley Scott is producing an adaptation of PKD's alternate-history novel ‘The Man in the High Castle' for the BBC; Michel Gondry may be planning a version of PKD's 1969 novel ‘Ubik' for 2013.
Fans need not worry about source material drying up; with roughly 121 short stories and 44 published novels to his credit, PKD-inspired celluloid will fill our waking moments and dreams with surreal anxieties, for a long time to come.
FILMOGRAPHY
Blade Runner (1982)
Total Recall (1990)
Barjo (1992)
Screamers (1995)
Minority Report (2002)
Impostor (2002)
Paycheck (2003)
A Scanner Darkly (2006)
Next (2007)
The Adjustment Bureau (2011)
