Blade (1998) - Will Slawson

 Blade (1998)

    A Marvel superhero film made before Marvel's dynasty of superhero films, Blade is a bloody action gore-fest that powerfully examines the intersections of multicultural identity, systemic injustice, and ever-advancing modern technology. A half-human half-vampire, the film's titular character wages war on a secret shadow government run by a ruling class of digitally-advanced vampires. By taking innovation of technology into his own hands and confronting the traumatic circumstances of his conception, Blade embraces his vengeful and violent identity and promotes radical notions of revolution.

Norrington, Stephen, director. Blade. New Line Cinema, 1998. 2:00:15.

Norrington, Stephen, director. Blade. New Line Cinema, 1998. 2:00:15.

The film's central antagonist, Deacon Frost, inhabits a futuristic living space and browses a digital database to plot his evil scheme.

Norrington, Stephen, director. Blade. New Line Cinema, 1998. 2:00:15.

Blade creates silver stakes to use against the vampires, taking the means of production into his own hands.

    

    The vampiric regime in Blade controls the world through corrupting systems of politics, finance, and law enforcement, exemplifying the way systems of injustice utilize cutting-edge modern technology to exploit groups of people deemed inferior. The system's culture derives entirely from the exploitation and consumption of this "inferior" class. Blade's powers are a direct consequence of the consumptive violence enacted toward his mother by this regime, and his half-vampire-half-human conception isolates him from humans and vampires alike--pushing him to cultivate an identity around his anger and lust for vengeance. Blade embraces this identity, armoring himself with his traumatic background to fight the oppressive forces that created him. Unlike other superhero films, Blade does not care to delve into the specific details of the corrupt vampiric system, instead advocating for the victims of its oppression to seize control of technological innovation and destroy the system from the ground up. When the very core of a culture is oppression, there is nothing about it worth sparing.

Discussion questions:

1. Due to the traumatic background of his conception, is Blade's cultivation of identity around vengeance heroic or tragic? How does one form a sense of identity when their very creation was an act of exploitation? 

2. How do modernity and advances in technology enforce and/or dissolve cultural divides? Are the advances of the digital age unique in this aspect?