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Comparison Of A Clockwork Orange And Blade Runner

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A Clockwork Orange & Blade Runner (Final Cut 2007) To make an attempt at depicting the future it is necessary to first look at the present and in particular at the nature of humanity. The question of what is inherent in society and will last through time versus what is simply a trend must be addressed by those who wish to create a vision of a future world; the films A Clockwork Orange and Blade Runner take on the challenge of transferring the society of their day to a not so distant future to show the audience what appears to be a warning about the direction or even the nature of humanity.
A Clockwork Orange was released in the 1970’s and this is apparent in the style of the film at least in regards to the clothing, hairstyles, and furniture/set …show more content…

Both films chose to set themselves in places that exist in our contemporary society but in varying degrees change them. In Blade Runner’s case futuristic Los Angeles looks nothing like the city the audience is familiar with. Scott makes assumptions about where society and culture is headed. The city is hugely diverse in terms of the ethnicity of the population and has a large Asian influence, Japanese in particular is both seen on signs and heard in many scenes throughout the film. Unlike Kubrick, Scott created new technology for his future world, in fact the film centers on the creation of artificial intelligence or AI as our protagonist Rick Deckard a “Blade Runner” hunts down androids how have come to Earth from the off-world colonies. The androids or “replicants” are banned from Earth and are killed or as the film terminology goes are “retired” if they are discovered. These androids are highly advanced and to the naked eye appear human. Eyes are a key in this film as the test to discover if someone is an android involves studying the movement and contractions of the eye while asking a series of questions that are meant to elicit an emotional response. Several shots in the film are close-ups of the human or android eye. This film brings into question what defines humanity as the androids our protagonist aims to hunt down are on a search for the purpose of their existence and harm others in their desperation to remain alive. As he is hunting androids Deckard falls in love with one, one who did not even know she was a “replicant” until he told her. This raises even more questions about the morality of what he does and whether the actions of the androids on the run are

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