“It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities.” – Josiah Charles Stamp
The consequences of our actions usually far outweigh the conditions that responsibility places of humanity’s shoulders, yet we still manage to neglect the very things that are ingrained in our life. A parents’ embrace, nurturing and education is what makes us human yet by default in society we still manage to avoid our objectives for life. Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel of Frankenstein re-released in 1931 characterises the very consequences of not living up to the standards place upon humanity. Contrasted against, the 1990’s Directors Cut edition of the 1982 cult classic, Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott and ideas of the burdens placed on our shoulders come to the fore. The commitment that society needs to show to the environment so that it is still there for future generations compared with the undertaking of scientific discovery so that our children will have a better life need to be considered when trying to grasp the meaning of responsibility. Blade Runner and Frankenstein use in most cases very juxtaposing images and thematics to characterise the struggle that civilisation faces every minute, every second of time.
Duty and responsibility to the living and non living aspects of Earth seems reasonably obvious to the common person. Humanity has been gifted with awe-inspiring and picturesque scenery and worthy resources that have allowed us to evolve past the belittled ape or animal. Yet, even through our actions in past and present, humanity has shown an aptitude for non-committal towards their obligation to the very thing that provides them with life. The over-industrialised world, monopolistic commercialism and disreputable capitalism have led to the metaphorical hell on earth represented in Scott’s panorama of