And I’m not gonna say if it is or isn’t, because I can’t say with any authority whether it is or isn’t. But what I do think is that a.) it’s a logical extrapolation of an existing universe which was a story about whether androids that were primarily used as heavy labor & sex-bots were human, and b.) the characters aren’t all saints, and it’s never implied that they are.

I mean, K is a Blade Runner. Which means fundamentally, if you agree with the core themes of the original movie, means he’s a murderer. Of course, there are other elements, like the fact that he can’t say no. So is his relationship with Joi meant to be aspirational? I certainly didn’t think so. I thought it was meant to show how sad his existence was, but then also evolve into an echo of the “more human than human” theme. Is their relationship a facade? We certainly get clues that it is an illusion (the giant holo ad referring to “Joe”, for instance) and not something real – but at the same time, it certainly feels like a real emotional connection, and we feel real emotion over Joi’s fate.

Then there’s the whole thing with Luv, and whether showing K strangling her was “over the line” or not. Maybe? Certainly it’s questionable to show this kind of violence against women in our current society. My interpretation of it in the moment was that she was *relentless* and how *hard* it was to kill her, but it was definitely a kill-or-be-killed situation, and the slowness of it was meant to be counterbalanced by whether Deckard was also drowning or not. Misogynist? I dunno. Kind of depends on the context one brings to it? Maybe? Also felt like part of the point was that Joi, who was *less* human, was more human than the human-ish Luv.

Maybe I’m missing things (I genuinely believe I’m blind to some). But yes, women were objectified. To me that was a direct extension of the 1st film. Then you’ve got Robin Wright’s character, who’s framed somewhat villainously, but at the same time, from what perspective? From the perspective that Replicants are humans. Which is not what she believes – and from her vantage point, her job is to protect humanity (more narrowly defined), and she does that vigilantly. Is her character misogynist? I dunno – I didn’t think so. I thought she was the hero in her mind, in a situation where the morality is really ambiguous, even if the perspective of the movie frames her in a particular light.

Curious what others’ perceptions are.