replicant status of Pris herself all go to heighten the ‘manufactured’ look.
|
However, after drying her hair in a rather bulbous hair dryer
that is more associated with old ladies in hair salons than exotic
dancers, she proceeds to adorn her body with what can only be described
as S&M style thigh-boots, a body-moulded, clip on bra and briefs
(of some description); every garment of clothing that she wears
increasingly enhances the menace that the character exudes.
This menace manifests itself when she almost orders Deckard to dry
her, which he dutifully does, to his detriment. 
Zhora viscously lashes
out at Deckard, much like the serpent that she had around her neck
would lash out when feeling threatened. Here, the dressing room is a
female space, and in it Zhora is in control but, seemingly in a
moment of panic, she grabs a transparent raincoat and makes a run for
it. As soon as Zhora leaves the space of the dressing room and
enters the space of the streets outside she becomes fatalistically
vulnerable.
The raincoat is of particular importance. Not only does the coat provide (minimal) |
When we are first introduced to Zhora she is still in the garb of
her stage act and using the alias ‘Salome’ (a biblical reference to
the Dance of Salome and the Seven Veils). As far as the camera
shows, “Miss Salome” is all but naked, covered only by sequins which
give her body an ethereal quality, and an artificial snake draped
about her neck. The snake scale that Deckard found previous to this
scene is what led him to Zhora, in this sense the snake around
Zhora’s neck parallels the dog collar around the neck of Pris. Both
snake and dog collar very subtly represent the underlying theme of
slavery within the text of Blade Runner (history is replete with
examples of slaves being chained by the neck). Zhora’s act
of dressing is played out almost as a strip-tease in reverse. During
a striptease the female (as in this case) removes her clothing layer
by layer, simultaneously removing any underlying threat by slowly
making herself more exposed; more vulnerable. When Zhora emerges from
shower she is fully exposed and as such poses no threat to
Deckard.
the |
|