Beautiful, Terrifying Orange Skies Haunt San Francisco, and Bring Back Memories of Masterpiece "Blade Runner 2049"
What’s up with the san francisco-2049 comparisons lately?
As if 2020 couldn’t get any worse, wild fires have continued to rage across San Francisco, CA, and, lately, the sky has gotten a little bit of a makeover. What do I mean? Well, the sky has turned, umm…Orange. Remember those hazy, hauntingly beautiful shots in Blade Runner 2049, they’re a bit similar to SF at the moment.
That’s right, Denis Villeneuve’s masterpiece of a dystopian film is actually coming to life in our troubled world. 2049 has these scenes when Ryan Gosling’s character K enters the high radiation zones, this time, it’s because of the fires absolutely ravaging the state of California. So, on social media, many accounts, including myself, have come together to compare these incredible, yet terrifying real-life photos with Roger Deakins’ stunning cinematography. Deakins’ work compared to the terrifying, ethereal glow is horrifyingly similar. And hey, an orange president, and a sky of similar color, why are we surprised? Oh man, I should be happy that San Fran’s skies are looking like my favorite movie of all-time, but at the same time, I’m not.
It could be amazing for a photograph, nonetheless, my heart goes out to any families and firefighters suffering in these awful conditions. Still, what’s really creeping me out is the fact that Villeneuve’s achievement of a film is also set in a apocalyptic California. Coincidence? I think not. No, just kidding, but it does make you wonder if we’re really living in a dystopian world.
In some ways, we are. We’ve got a pandemic on our hands: the Coronavirus, and these orange skies aren’t helping. So, arguably, our world could be considered apocalyptic, just not as obvious as some of the Hollywood blockbusters make it. We may not have zombies like Resident Evil, the Games in The Hunger Games, or the Blackout in 2049, it’s just a more subtle threat, not overplayed like it is in the movies. Though it can be darn cool to realize you’re living in an environment mildly similar to some of your favorite films, these are issues we really have to address and be serious about.
In Washington, where I reside, we’re about to get some major sand storms, so it’ll be more like Interstellar for us north of Cali. We still have the smoke, though, so it’s a bit of a double helping of trouble. Seriously, though, can 2020 really get any worse?
