Comparison of Frankenstein and Blade Runner
HSC 2003
You have studied two texts composed at different times. When you compared these texts and their contexts, how was your understanding of each text redeveloped and reshaped?
Though composed at different times, the themes portrayed in both Frankenstein and Blade Runner are evidently influenced by their own respective contexts – the early 19th century and late 20th century. These texts put forward an exploration of humanity and morality, the value of nature as well as individualism as these themes and values are perceived in each context.
The nature humanity and morality is explored in Frankenstein and Blade Runner. The two texts feature a creator who is ultimately doomed and though they may seem ‘human’ when compared to their creations – the Creature and the replicants – their own humanity and moral compass is, at times, in question during the novel or film. Victor Frankenstein’s lack of respect for his fellow man is shown when he heedlessly and illicitly gathers human remains from graveyards, for his creation. It is further emphasised by the dark, foreboding atmosphere of the Gothic novel, which focuses on the irrational and sinister side to human nature. In Blade Runner, Tyrell the creator of the replicants, is apathetic to those below him; he places himself above the rest of society which has divided into two distinct classes – the corporate leaders (Tyrell) and the underclass. The futuristic view of society depicted in Blade Runner is ruled by the multinational companies and media – a prediction shaped by the rising dominance of industrialisation and consumerism in the 1980s. In this world, “if you’re not cop, you’re little people” although it is apparent that society as a whole has become dehumanised and morally ambiguous. This is shown during Zhora’s violent death. As she lay, sprawled across the pavement, the crowd strolls past her body as if indifferent to the death of another human being, albeit a replicant.
The replicants themselves are
You have studied two texts composed at different times. When you compared these texts and their contexts, how was your understanding of each text redeveloped and reshaped?
Though composed at different times, the themes portrayed in both Frankenstein and Blade Runner are evidently influenced by their own respective contexts – the early 19th century and late 20th century. These texts put forward an exploration of humanity and morality, the value of nature as well as individualism as these themes and values are perceived in each context.
The nature humanity and morality is explored in Frankenstein and Blade Runner. The two texts feature a creator who is ultimately doomed and though they may seem ‘human’ when compared to their creations – the Creature and the replicants – their own humanity and moral compass is, at times, in question during the novel or film. Victor Frankenstein’s lack of respect for his fellow man is shown when he heedlessly and illicitly gathers human remains from graveyards, for his creation. It is further emphasised by the dark, foreboding atmosphere of the Gothic novel, which focuses on the irrational and sinister side to human nature. In Blade Runner, Tyrell the creator of the replicants, is apathetic to those below him; he places himself above the rest of society which has divided into two distinct classes – the corporate leaders (Tyrell) and the underclass. The futuristic view of society depicted in Blade Runner is ruled by the multinational companies and media – a prediction shaped by the rising dominance of industrialisation and consumerism in the 1980s. In this world, “if you’re not cop, you’re little people” although it is apparent that society as a whole has become dehumanised and morally ambiguous. This is shown during Zhora’s violent death. As she lay, sprawled across the pavement, the crowd strolls past her body as if indifferent to the death of another human being, albeit a replicant.
The replicants themselves are