CSUN Blade Runner Discussion

Discussion 10 – Blade Runner (1982)

Director

Ridley Scott

Genre

Science Fiction/Film Noir

Theme

Humanity

What it is to be human

Motif

Eyes

Protagonist

Rick Deckard

Blade Runner is based on the science fiction novel by Phillip K. Dick Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. This film numerous deep similarities to Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1920), including a built-up urban environment, in which the wealthy literally live above the workers, dominated by a huge building

The film is set in the future, around the year 2020, Deckard is a retired law enforcement officer who is coerced back into service for a special mission. A group of enslaved replicants (genetically engineered human-like creatures) revolted on another planet. As the replicants were designed to live for only a few years, they returned to Earth to find a way of extending their lifespan. Deckard must hunt them down and kill them.

Blade Runner (1982) presents a future society which blurs the line between human and machine, and it contains philosophical meditations on what it means to be human. Today, Blade Runner is often ranked by critics as one of the most important and influential science fiction films of the 20th century. Ridley Scott regarded Blade Runner as his “most complete and personal film”.

A big question in the film is humanity. What is being human? The replicants appear to show compassion and concern for one another, and this contrasts with the human characters who lack empathy while the mass of humanity on the streets is cold and impersonal. Even the Tyrell Corporation has as a motto, “More Human Than Human.”

The cinematography has many Film Noir elements, it is dark and shadowy. Could this tie in to the questionable moral outlook of the hero? In this case, could the argument extended to include reflections upon the nature of Decker’s own humanity.

Questions are raised about whether Deckard himself is a replicant. What is the main indication of this? How does Deckard’s status as a replicant or a human change the film’s ending on an ideological level? Describe a scene to defend your response.

Blade Runner (Links to an external site.) link

Respond with three well thought out paragraphs that discuss the post.Writes in a clear manner and argues whether Decker is a replicant. Uses three examples to defend response.