Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Ridley Scott's Blade Runner Essay Example
A deeper understanding of disruption and identity emerges from considering the parallels between Frankenstein and Blade Runner. Compare how these texts explore disruption and identity.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner draw from their context in order to offer insight into the disruption and identity. Disruption in these texts can be obsession, pursuit of knowledge and the price of progress. Aspects covered that relate to identity are humanity, what makes us human, responsibility and the relationship between the creator and created and how that can affect all aspects of our lives. Whilst Frankenstein addresses the possibilities of progress, obsession and humanity, Blade Runner presents us with the outcomes and how this disrupts our identity.
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, there is a warning against value being placed obsessively on the pursuit of knowledge, progress and power. It is against anything natural and disrupts the natural world. Mary Shelley uses scientific developments of the late 18th century as a catalyst to reflect the consequences of an obsession with knowledge and the power associated with it. During the late 18th century, the “first robot”, a mechanical duck, was built and bodies of late people were being experimented on. This is clearly reflected in her novel Frankenstein. Victor’s justification for making the Creature was that “Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and a torrent of light into our dark world.” Victor’s disruptive obsession was evident when he created the Creature as “the moon gazed on my midnight labours”. This resulted with Victor seeming “to have lost all soul and sensation apart from this one pursuit”. The use of first person narrative helps the reader to personalise this eccentric obsession and understand why certain choices were made. Robert Walton is obsessed with being the first man to reach the North Pole and will risk everyone’s lives in doing so.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner draw from their context in order to offer insight into the disruption and identity. Disruption in these texts can be obsession, pursuit of knowledge and the price of progress. Aspects covered that relate to identity are humanity, what makes us human, responsibility and the relationship between the creator and created and how that can affect all aspects of our lives. Whilst Frankenstein addresses the possibilities of progress, obsession and humanity, Blade Runner presents us with the outcomes and how this disrupts our identity.
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, there is a warning against value being placed obsessively on the pursuit of knowledge, progress and power. It is against anything natural and disrupts the natural world. Mary Shelley uses scientific developments of the late 18th century as a catalyst to reflect the consequences of an obsession with knowledge and the power associated with it. During the late 18th century, the “first robot”, a mechanical duck, was built and bodies of late people were being experimented on. This is clearly reflected in her novel Frankenstein. Victor’s justification for making the Creature was that “Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and a torrent of light into our dark world.” Victor’s disruptive obsession was evident when he created the Creature as “the moon gazed on my midnight labours”. This resulted with Victor seeming “to have lost all soul and sensation apart from this one pursuit”. The use of first person narrative helps the reader to personalise this eccentric obsession and understand why certain choices were made. Robert Walton is obsessed with being the first man to reach the North Pole and will risk everyone’s lives in doing so.