Blade Runner Analysis

Fill in this table by considering key ideas explored by the issue. You also need to consider what Scotts position on these themes are, as well as how his context also shaped
how people thought about these themes.
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Relevant context (mid-late 20 Century) to consider includes: scientific advancement of the time (genetic, IT), globalisation, Reagonomics and corporatisation, literary
context (Postmodernism, film noir, science fiction dystopia), social context (relationships), religious context - consider the values that are part of each of these.
Relevant Techniques to consider include: film techniques, literary allusion, characterisation, symbolism, dialogue, contrast, sound and visual techniques
Thematic Concern
Scientific Endeavour and Ethics

Relevant Context

Key Scenes/Quotations/Techniques
Introductory sequence
Introducing long-distance shot: eerie synthesised music

Humanitys Hubris

Humanity its essence what it means to be

human

1974: the genes were inserted into a

mouse creating the first transgenic
animal creating concerns over the ethics
of genetic engineering which were
debated in depth at the Asilomar
Conference in 1975. 1976, Genentech
(first genetic engineering company)
founded) and in 1980 Supreme Court
gave the right to patent genetically
modified life

composed by Vangelis, St Elmos fire emerging from the

industrial towers, the torrents of fire and flashes of
lightning visual allusions to Dantes Inferno
Close-up shot of eye reflects the city lights and burning
jets of fire, emphasising the imposition of technology and
urbanisation over the human soul.
Ziggurats (pyramids, look kind of Mayan - a doomed
civilisation)
Space has become the new "golden land of opportunity
and adventure"
JF Sebastian exploits genetic material for his own
enjoyment
o "They're my friends. I made them."
Tyrell's room: gothic element, candles like a temple
(deified himself), top of the pyramid, dresses in white
Eye motif: focus on eyes (window to the soul?)
Man is using a machine to test another man whether he
is a replicant (focus on eyes for emotion), but the man
testing is rather emotionless while the replicant seems
emotive.
Voice while talking about turtle is quick to the
beat of a heartbeat
When asked about his mother, the replicant flips
Deckard is a bastardisation of Descartes (guy who said
"Cogito ergo sum" - I think therefore I am)

Memory in the development of personality (replicants

given memories as an emotional cushion) - hypnotherapy
of the time
"if only you could see what I've seen with your eyes" (Roy
to eye designer)
When Deckard looks at photo of Rachel (Tyrell's niece) in
photo, photo comes alive for a split second and nondiegetic children laughing (Deckard connecting through
his own memories)
"Retiring" Zhora (woman in raincoat) - shooting a woman
in the back (questioning heroics)
Slow motion, mournful non-diegetic music,
diegetic eerie sirens just before, sound of a
heartbeat throughout the scene (Deckard's?),
when she lies dead she is surrounded by
mannikins, Leon is there watching,
dehumanisation of society (no-one cares.
Mechanical voice saying "Move on")

Raw humanism of replicants

"I want more life fucker."
"I think, Sebastian, therefore I am" - allusion to Descartes
(Cartesian allusion/philosophy), shows Pris' depth and
belief she exists as a real entity (awareness of self). Batty
- "Now show him why"
"Six, seven, go to hell or go to heaven"

Pris plays with broken doll and cartwheels

"I thought you were supposed to be good. Aren't you the
good man?" - Batty
"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack
ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched Cbeams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All
those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain.
Time to die." - although this is a big significant moment,
the neon sign still dominates the background. He releases
the dove (release of his soul), blue sky clearing around
the dove. Shot of Deckard dissolves into shot of Batty
(connection)

"Use your new friend as a personal body servant or a

tireless field hand" - reinvention of slavery

Tyrell's glasses: blindness to responsibilities etc.

Nature vs Nurture

"if only you could see what I've seen with your eyes" (Roy
to eye designer)

Good and Evil

"Fiery the angels fell, deep thunder rolled around their

shores burning with the fires of Orc" (Blake's poem, fall of
angels from heaven)
Batty is a Lucifer figure come to rebel against his God, but
ends up as a Jesus figure, sacrificed for sins (self-sacrifice,
saving Deckard): inverts moral progress of monster (I was
born good, but you my creator abhor me, I ought to be
thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel)

Relationships (family, men/women,

creator/creation, individual/society,
friendship)

Creativity

Responsibility (including corporate)

Corporate Power

Acceptance of the Other

Rise of Asian economies

"Commerce is our goal here at Tyrell. 'More human than

human' is our motto." - commodification of humanity
"I'm not in the business. I am the business." - Rachel

"Replicants are like any other machine, they're either a

Destruction of the Natural World

Shimago-Dominguez Corporation
offering the life off world (two major
races - Asia and Latino together)

benefit or a hazard. If they're a benefit, it's not my

problem."

Comparison Table Use this table to briefly compare the two texts and how they demonstrate changes in values and perspective
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Similar Content/Themes
Science and Progress

19 Century Context
Industrialisation and exploration
Cautionary tale about what happens when science is unchecked
by human morals/values

Humanity

Humanity under threat

Poetic romantic sentiment to Monster and Batty looking for
companionship

Responsibility

Scientific achievement
Frankenstein neglects family, similarly neglects his own creature
Aristocrats and Bourgeoisie have responsibility for lower classes
(which was neglected)

Relationships

Romantic ideals, relationships/family help overcome madness and

hubris

The Natural Environment

Nature is sublime, and brings man back to their human feelings

Nature/Nurture

Monster and replicants both undergo emotional development

Monster is a tabula rasa builds identity off mostly negative
experiences, he argues that he was naturally good
Frankenstein himself was brought up in an ideal setting and had
two perfect parents but still took a bad path
Man is inherently good and evil Gothic thinking, goes against
Enlightenment thinking (that man is naturally good)
Evident in both creator and creation

Good/Evil

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20 Century Context
Destruction of environment, information technology, creation of
an urban environment wider technological impact than
Frankenstein total destruction of human values an extension
of the ideas from Frankenstein (it projects the future but in doing
so reflects how far society has progressed)
Genetic manipulation artificiality of mankind
Irony the hope (human hero) is a replicant himself

Commodity
Tyrell doesnt see his creations as monstrous (more like a
perfected form of humanity)
Extrapolates seeds of discontent in working class to the modern
day slaves of the replicants
City life allows for no relationships

Natural environment doesnt exist unless it is artificial thus man

has lost his path
Context: environmental protection movements
Replicants are often given false memories but undergo
emotional development

Deckard if being good is inherently human, Bladerunner

undercuts this and says it is a replicant quality (Deckard is
taught empathy by replicants)