Year 11 Blade Runner By Philip K Dick, By Ridley Scott And Michael Deeley

What makes something or someone human can often be unclear. Humans have many preconceived notions about who and what they are and what their rightful place in society is. These notions, however, are frequently at odds with reality. The uncertainty of what makes someone human is explored in Ridley Scott's classic science fiction film Blade Runner. Dr. Eldon Tyrell's Tyrell Corporation created the replicants to be sub-human servants that were clearly distinct from and inferior to human beings; the replicants were intentionally designed to be unable to express emotions, particularly empathy, which is believed to be a trait that only human beings can possess. Human beings believe that the quintessential thing that makes them human and distinguishes

Within Ridley Scott’s 1982 ‘Blade Runner’ memories serve as the “cushion” (‘Blade Runner’ 1982) for replicant emotion; subsequently making them easier to control. By this, memory lays a foundation, with past experiences creating a bridge to feel and identify as more human. Through past and present circumstances, mood, and relationships, memory serves as a lever to react with a “readiness to respond” (HM Works) within both the present and the future. Scott explores the function of memory in order to illustrate the human psychology in a complex light, using scientific references as to highlight key debates in what makes humans more empathetic and how they use memory in order to be a more emotive species; thus, evaluating the superiority of mankind. Memory in ‘Blade Runner’ is used in order to create a platform to mould replicants into society as more functioning humans as to be a more exact replica, rather than to serve as the initial function of a “slave” (‘Blade Runner’ 1982).

Blade runner promotes that empathy is the defining characteristics for humanity. The replicants, designed not to show any emotion, develop spiritually and emotionally throughout the film.

In Blade Runner, the Tyrell Corporation created advanced robot which were virtually identical to a human, they were known as a replicant. They were superior in strength and agility and at least equal in intelligence to the engineers that created them. The replicants were used for off-world as slave labour in hazardous explorations and colonisation of other planets. After a bloody mutiny replicants were declared illegal on earth. Special police units called Blade Runners were ordered to kill on sight “This was not called execution, it was called retirement” this quote manipulates our morality into a perception that is approvable by the tyrell corporation. Scott juxtaposes “executions” to “retirement” to convince society that corporation are in its core evil, as they manipulate people’s perspective of them by stating the righteousness of its actions, despite being blatant injustices behind the scenes. This particular scene is a message between the composer and the responder it helps mould our views on the rest of the movie to try to get us to be on the Tyrell Corporations side.There is dark irony through “execution” and “retirement”, Scott is trying to expose the corporations lack of morality for humanity appealing to audiences through the sheer power

A Comparison of the Themes of Blade Runner and Brave New World ‘Humanity likes to think of itself as more sophisticated than the wild yet it cannot really escape its need for the natural world’ Despite different contexts both Aldous Huxley within his book Brave New World and Ridley Scott in the film Blade Runner explore the idea that humans feel themselves more sophisticated than the natural world, yet are able to completely sever relations between humanity and the nature. Through various techniques both texts warn their varied audiences of the negative ramifications that will come from such disdainful, careless opinions and actions. All aspects of the ‘New State’ within Aldous

Ridley Scott’s film Blade Runner reflects some of the key themes seen in Mary Shelley’s classic novel Frankenstein. For one, both the sources touch on the necessity of creators taking responsibility for their creations. Another key theme established in both works is the idea that emotional complexity and knowledge, over memory and appearance, allow people to be defined as human beings.

Scott’s depiction of the Replicants in Blade Runner is very different from Shelly’s depiction of Frankenstien’s monster as a result of its different context, however, this representation is equally sceptical about the advances in technology. Whereas Shelley created a creature that was unable to assimilate into society due to his grotesque appearance, Scott uses creatures which are described as “more human than human”. This is reflective of the unprecedented growth in technology during this period, particularly in communicative and medical fields. DNA testing was first used by Sir Alec Jeffreys in 1984 and mice were the first mammals to be cloned in 1986. Scott was clearly influenced by these advances and believed that we may definitely reach a stage in which we had to delve into a psychological test, the Voight Kampff test, in order to distinguish between human and replicant. The fear society has of them is evident in their treatment, and the derogatory terms such as “skin-jobs”. The similarity in the way society views these creatures and Frankenstein’s creature is uncanny, despite the different

So, motherfucking Blade Runner. This piece of fucking cinematic masterpiece was supposedly inspired by the book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) written by author Philip K. Dick who was a literal dick I mean he was a piece of shit. Here 's the thing though: I think it’s pretty fuckin ' stupid to compare Blade Runner and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? because they weren 't intended to do the same goddamn thing. Lemme explain.

“War is peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength”, These are the moral codes and social conventions citizens of George Orwell's 1984 live by. With high level surveillance and publicly inflicted ideologies that promote the governing force puppeteering its nation, 1984 shares shocking similarities with increased security, political power and technology seen in today's world. In the same vein, Ridley Scott's dystopian futuristic thriller Blade Runner, set in an overpopulated, corrupt, corporation governed world can be compared to the world of today in terms of the rapid development in technology and the political influence large corporations can have on governments. Both texts create a futuristic world that is able to form connections with its audience to varying degrees. But how do George Orwell's 1984 and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner depicted futuristic worlds specifically relate to the audience of today?

Consumerism and Technology developments are crucial for the film, as Ridley Scott questions them and shows its negative effects that could have on society, which is a big component in why the film wasn’t that well welcomed, as it presented to people a different perspective. In the 80’s people thought that the more you had the happier you could be and Blade Runner presented the opposite theory, an isolated, overpopulated society with no natural light. The Film has been so authoritative as it was released long before the advent of the commercial internet, and long before the experiments in genetic modification.

‘Blade Runner’, the film adaption, directed by Ridley Scott in 1982, of the 1968 novel ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ by Philip K. Dick. This essay will explore the meaning of the Tyrell slogan “More human than human” by following Deckard on Earth in Los Angeles 2019 as a futuristic, dark and depressing industrial metropolis by looking into and discussing what is real and what is not, the good and the bad and why replicants are more appealing than humans. This essay will analyse and pull apart the “Blade Runner’ world, the condition of humanity and what it really means to be human.

It opposes the values of love, empathy and community with the innovative forms of technology and social life under advanced capitalism. The binary opposition between man and technology is represented by three characters in the plot: Deckard, apparently a human. Roy, an android who fears death and longs to be human and Rachel, who thinks she is human and who enters a relationship with a human. These replicants represent capitalism’s oppressive characteristics and also to a certain extent the rebellion against exploitation. Deckard's realization of how the Tyrell Corporation exploits him, and the rebellion of the replicants against their oppressors, is the ultimate critique of capitalism. Since both sides — killer and killed — reject their status as servants of the corporation and refuse further exploitation. (Kellner, et all) The corporation in the Blade Runner that is used to illustrate capitalism’s destructive characteristics is The Tyrell Coporation. The Tyrell Corporation invents replicants to have a controllable labor force that will perform difficult and dangerous tasks. Similarly applicable to today, where capitalism turns individuals into machines that have only the function of productivity. Ironically, the replicants form a human rebellion; while the actual human characters in the film seem to submit to corporate domination and live a life like the corporations sees them to. It seems as if the humans have become so dehumanized that the replicants form a rebellion against their oppressor instead of human beings. Capitalism has dehumanized the population to such an extent, that technology is actually more

C. Joy Bell C. once said, “There is some kind of a sweet innocence in being human, in not having to be just happy or just sad, in the nature of being able to be both broken and whole, at the same time.” Blade Runner, the film directed by Ridley Scott, brings one to ask oneself: what really makes someone human? The replicants in this film are an advanced version of humans, bioengineered and cloned to be stronger, faster, and smarter than humans. Replicants do not last long, and are “retired” before they can evolve to have their own emotions or thoughts, many of them know that they are replicants, but there are a few who have lived believing they are human. Deckard shows no emotion when he is assigned to “retire”

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? And Blade Runner protest against the dehumanizing effects of individualism and demonstrates how technology can be used as a means to reclaim the essence of humanity.

It is the 21st century, a new corporation has made robots that are nearly identical to humans. The police have hired bounty hunters whose job it is to shoot on sight. This is not called execution, it is called retirement. This is the opening crawl of Blade Runner but with a few changes to make it more vague. The changes are not just to prevent plagiarisation, they are to show the similarities between the movie and the book. Many people do not know that Blade Runner is inspired by the novel by Philip K. Dick: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Both the book and the movie have many similarities, but there are also many differences. It is very clear that Blade Runner was only inspired by Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep due to the vast amount of differences between the two. In order to properly compare and contrast the two I will split this up into three sections. The first will discuss the characters, the second will discuss story elements, and the third will discuss the main questions that each pose. This begins the first section.