In a tone as somber as that of the films it analyzes, Joel Blackledge’s video essay frames 21st century science-fiction cinema as a perpetual leap 'forward into the past, when somehow things were better'. What provide the engine for this recursive motion, Blackledge argues, are a sweeping nostalgia for the pre-global digital world and a disenchantment with futurity. The opening excerpt from Blade Runner 2049 (2017) establishes an obvious entry point to the argument.
