Blog 7

Blog 7 03-04-10

Blade Runner Response

In the movie Blade Runner, we see a group of androids called Replicants who were made to be intellectually and physically similar (if not superior) to humans. After a revolt, they were declared illegal on Earth. In this sense, they were out casted by society, just as Frankenstein’s creature was, except they were out casted by law.

Four Nexus-6 Replicants, named Roy, Leon, Zhora, and Pris, escape to Earth to try and find the secret to living longer because they only have a four-year life span, just as the robots from R.U.R. tried to do. Roy searches for his creator, Tyrell, to find this secret. Roy killed Tyrell because Tyrell did not have the power to make him live longer, just as the scientists of R.U.R. were killed by their creations to become human and to live longer.

In the short time that they had, the Replicants developed memories and responses to those memories, like the creature did as he observed his neighboring cottagers. As Rick Deckard “retires” the female escapee Replicants, the male ones become enraged by their deaths, showing that they care for one another. One Replicant, named Rachel, thinks she is really is human, due to Tyrell’s, experiments. As Deckard told Rachel that her memories are implants, she tears up because she believes her memories are real. Although she may not be technically human, by saving him from Leon’s killing blow, she shows how human she is and how much she cares for Deckard. Similarly, as the creature felt bad for stealing, he shows that he cares by doing the cottager’s chores and not stealing food. Another comparison of caring would be Robot Primus and Robot Helena’s relationship at the end, where they were protecting one another from certain death by dissection.

Roy asked to be forgiven by Tyrell because he has done “questionable things,” but Tyrell dismissed him because Tyrell was proud of what Roy did. This is comparable to Victor’s dismissing of the creature although he dismissed the creature for the opposite reasons. We see a similar idea of an irresponsible creator, where they either hated the creation so much that they wanted nothing to do with it or were too blind by their pride to actually care.

Although it was Deckard’s job to retire the Replicants, Roy saved him from falling off a building although Deckard was trying to kill him. Roy probably did this because he valued life so much. He lived in fear of dying and becoming someone’s slave. Perhaps, to him, becoming a slave was the same as dying in that one loses their soul, their personality, one of the many roots of what is considered human. Once he dies, the memories that he had and valued will disappear and fade into history, and he will be no more. He wanted to live on, to be someone, to be himself, to be human.

(I feel that my blog seems too summary-like and observational. Only paragraphs 2, 3, 5 relate to my essay.)