Whilst text may be fictitious constructs of composer’s imaginations, they also explore the societal issues of their eras. This is evident in Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, which draws upon the rise in scientific knowledge and the Romantic Movement of the 1800’s as well as Ridley Scott’s Film Blade Runner (1992), reflecting the increasing dominance of capitalism in the late 20th century. An excerpt from Frankenstein that demonstrates the influence of Shelley’s context involves the creature’s confrontation of Victor on the ice while in Blade Runner Scott’s era is evident in the Prodigal Son scene.
Composed in a time of major scientific developments, Shelley’s Frankenstein makes use of the creative arrogance of the Romantic imagination to create a Gothic World where the protagonist’s usurpation of the divine privilege of creation has disrupted conventional authority. In the extract, sensory imagery reflects Romantic ideals of nature as sublime. Shelley describes the “awful majesty” of Mont Blanc and the positive effects of nature on Victor using juxtaposition and emotive language in “their icy and glittering peaks shone in the sunlight over the clouds. My heart, which was before sorrowful, now swelled with something like joy”. This contrasts with Victor’s misery when removed from nature during his creation of the monster when his eyes “were insensible to the charms of nature”. Shelley highlights that Victor’s misuse of science is doomed, by asserting the unnaturalness of him playing God.
In comparison, Blade Runner presents the dire consequences of man’s arrogance in a 1980’s context, creating a dystopian future in which the capitalist desires of the human race have replaced the need for God. In the Prodigal son scene, Tyrell parallels Victor and highlights man’s selfishness in the creation of life. Scott’s