Blade Runner: Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?
Frances Osamor
Howe
IGED Dystopian Fiction
3 March 2014
Blade Runner
The film Blade Runner is based on the science fiction novel ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ written by Philip K. Dick (Abadzis). Blade Runner is set in the United States city of Los Angeles in the year 2019 where humans have discovered genetic engineering. Through this, they have found ways of manufacturing organic robots, which are replicates of humans. The manufacturing industries have grown to be the major industries all over the world. According to the film set, the human race has taken colony over other planets while the organic robots, which are called replicates, are created to work on those colony planets …show more content…
outside the world. However, the replicates that refuse to work and return to earth are tracked down and destroyed by special detectives called Blade Runners (Pontolio).
What does it mean to be human?
In the film, humans assume the role of creators since through the new technology of genetic engineering; they are able to create the organic robots.
According to the film, Genetic engineering has taken over as the major industry in the world where the human race takes over the roles of creators. They produce the artificial animals, who were extinct, as well as the artificial humans who they call replicates. However, this role has also led the human race to lose their humanity. This is manifested in the film by the way humans are treating the replicates, which is inhuman. Humans are the only ones allowed to be on earth while the replicates are supposed to work in faraway colonies located in other planets. They are treated as slaves to the humans, which can be viewed as a violation of their rights to be free. The humans set special detectives to track and eliminate the replicates that escape from the colony planets and return to earth. The film indicates that human race has lost its humanity because of the technology and therefore the artificial humans are more humans than the real human …show more content…
beings.
This distinction between humans and machines is best understood by examining the mise-en-scène in the following sequence where Rick Deckard arrives at a building in a flying police car. He is gazing at the building as if he recognizes it and he also seems to be emotionally attached to the building. From his expression, it can be deduced that he knows the place though he seems like a person who does not care. Rachael is seen as dressed in black outfit with perfectly styled hair. She also has an unblemished white skin and is seen walking upright and stiff. She talks with no sign of emotions when asking Rick Deckard, who is a blade runner, a personal question. These descriptive appearances of Rachael later reveal her to be an organic robot. Deckard is seen to respond with casual intonations. The only way to test whether a person was human or machine was through a test where subjects are involuntarily monitored through their responses. This test is called Voigt-Kamp test.
Deckard also speaks casually unlike Rachael who is talking as if everything is planned or written.
This scene shows that Deckard has emotions just like any other human being. Looking at that building made him remember something from his past. On the other hand, the reaction, appearance, expression as well as emotional response of Rachel is a good example of a machine. Even though the outward appearance of Rachel is human, her behavior lacks emotions, which is the main element of humanity. When Rachael is talking to Deckard, she asks him a personal question yet shows no emotions. Furthermore, even though her appearance is human, it still looks artificial due to the way she walks stiffly as well as her perfection in terms of skin and hair. The distinction between the human and machines can therefore be identified in this scene. This is due to the way humans show their emotions through the expression from Deckard while the machines show no emotions at all which is seen from the
Rachael.
In conclusion, though the film Blade Runners was criticized on its debut, people have learned to appreciate its imaginations on the future technology and how it can change the world. The film describes how the genetic engineering technology can affect the human race whether positively on negatively. It explains how humans can easily lose their humanity because of the technology. The most philosophical questions that are raised in the film are mainly focused on what it actually means to be human. This is through the analysis of the replicates as well as the humans, where in some occasions, the replicates seem to act more human than real people.
References
Marks, Dan . Mise-en-scene analasys of a scene from Blade Runner. 19 September 2011. 25 February 2014. Abadzis, Nick . On Blade Runner: More Human Than Human. Undergraduate thesis. New York: Dystopia Week, 2011.
Pontolio, James. "Blade Runner." Myth and Meaning in Ridley Scott 's blade Runner 1.4 (1995): 8-20.
Howe
IGED Dystopian Fiction
3 March 2014
Blade Runner
The film Blade Runner is based on the science fiction novel ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ written by Philip K. Dick (Abadzis). Blade Runner is set in the United States city of Los Angeles in the year 2019 where humans have discovered genetic engineering. Through this, they have found ways of manufacturing organic robots, which are replicates of humans. The manufacturing industries have grown to be the major industries all over the world. According to the film set, the human race has taken colony over other planets while the organic robots, which are called replicates, are created to work on those colony planets …show more content…
outside the world. However, the replicates that refuse to work and return to earth are tracked down and destroyed by special detectives called Blade Runners (Pontolio).
What does it mean to be human?
In the film, humans assume the role of creators since through the new technology of genetic engineering; they are able to create the organic robots.
According to the film, Genetic engineering has taken over as the major industry in the world where the human race takes over the roles of creators. They produce the artificial animals, who were extinct, as well as the artificial humans who they call replicates. However, this role has also led the human race to lose their humanity. This is manifested in the film by the way humans are treating the replicates, which is inhuman. Humans are the only ones allowed to be on earth while the replicates are supposed to work in faraway colonies located in other planets. They are treated as slaves to the humans, which can be viewed as a violation of their rights to be free. The humans set special detectives to track and eliminate the replicates that escape from the colony planets and return to earth. The film indicates that human race has lost its humanity because of the technology and therefore the artificial humans are more humans than the real human …show more content…
beings.
This distinction between humans and machines is best understood by examining the mise-en-scène in the following sequence where Rick Deckard arrives at a building in a flying police car. He is gazing at the building as if he recognizes it and he also seems to be emotionally attached to the building. From his expression, it can be deduced that he knows the place though he seems like a person who does not care. Rachael is seen as dressed in black outfit with perfectly styled hair. She also has an unblemished white skin and is seen walking upright and stiff. She talks with no sign of emotions when asking Rick Deckard, who is a blade runner, a personal question. These descriptive appearances of Rachael later reveal her to be an organic robot. Deckard is seen to respond with casual intonations. The only way to test whether a person was human or machine was through a test where subjects are involuntarily monitored through their responses. This test is called Voigt-Kamp test.
Deckard also speaks casually unlike Rachael who is talking as if everything is planned or written.
This scene shows that Deckard has emotions just like any other human being. Looking at that building made him remember something from his past. On the other hand, the reaction, appearance, expression as well as emotional response of Rachel is a good example of a machine. Even though the outward appearance of Rachel is human, her behavior lacks emotions, which is the main element of humanity. When Rachael is talking to Deckard, she asks him a personal question yet shows no emotions. Furthermore, even though her appearance is human, it still looks artificial due to the way she walks stiffly as well as her perfection in terms of skin and hair. The distinction between the human and machines can therefore be identified in this scene. This is due to the way humans show their emotions through the expression from Deckard while the machines show no emotions at all which is seen from the
Rachael.
In conclusion, though the film Blade Runners was criticized on its debut, people have learned to appreciate its imaginations on the future technology and how it can change the world. The film describes how the genetic engineering technology can affect the human race whether positively on negatively. It explains how humans can easily lose their humanity because of the technology. The most philosophical questions that are raised in the film are mainly focused on what it actually means to be human. This is through the analysis of the replicates as well as the humans, where in some occasions, the replicates seem to act more human than real people.
References
Marks, Dan . Mise-en-scene analasys of a scene from Blade Runner. 19 September 2011. 25 February 2014. Abadzis, Nick . On Blade Runner: More Human Than Human. Undergraduate thesis. New York: Dystopia Week, 2011.
Pontolio, James. "Blade Runner." Myth and Meaning in Ridley Scott 's blade Runner 1.4 (1995): 8-20.