Replicants In Ridley Scott's Blade Runner

Throughout Ridley Scott’s famous movie Blade Runner, the pressing themes of how people’s life experiences influence memories and whether or not you can trust your memories creates a very controversial debate. One of the main protagonists in the movie is a replicant named Rachel. A replicant is an engineered android, which has many human-like characteristics. Tyrell Corporation creates Rachel to be a more advanced replicant, where she believes that she is a human. Rachel does not know that her memories were transferred from her creator’s niece when she was built. Even though Rachel is modified differently than the rest of the replicants, many replicants are able to maintain memories, which directly correlates with their ability to show emotions. Roy, who is the leader of the Nexus-6 replicants and the main antagonist of the movie, is able to use is memories to exhibit his emotions. During the final action scene, Roy breaks down into tears after he finds out that Deckard has retired Pris. Roy goes against the preconceived notion that replicants can’t
show emotions because he is able to access his memories of Pris, which result in his sadness that Pris is dead. This scene helps show that the differences between humans and replicants are very miniscule, considering that the primary difference between them was shattered by Roy’s cathartic release. Memories are the backbone of human’s existence, considering every decision and action that people make is affected by their memories.
When people are faced with challenges or decisions, they try to recall similar situations in an attempt to help them decide their course of action. What differentiates humans from replicants is that humans are able to store memories. During the first scene of the movie, a replicant named Leon is being tested to determine whether or not he is a replicant. During the test, Leon panics and makes the rash decision of shooting and killing the man who is proctoring his test. Leon does this because he is a replicant who can’t store memories, and as a result he is not able to tap into prior experiences, which would have provided guidance for this situation. Many other replicants like Rachel or Roy would have handled that situation differently considering they are able to utilize their
memories. An important aspect of life that replicants are missing is being able to show or obtain emotions. The reason that replicants struggle with emotions is because they have no previous memories that affect their feelings. A fundamental aspect of emotions is having preceding events that can trigger a melancholy or jovial experience. Rachel, an advanced replicant, is able to show emotions and fall in love with Deckard because she was programed with memories The ideas of memories are a quintessential human trait. Memories can be very spontaneous and influential on people’s behaviors. They are exceptionally important in the way that humans act out their lives, even if they can create negative repercussions or uncontrollable emotions. The idea that memories can’t always be trusted helps epitomize the fact that human behavior is very complex and impacted by previous experiences and memories.