Themes in Blade Runner

Despite the initial appearance of an action film, Blade Runner operates on an unusually rich number of dramatic levels. As with much of the cyberpunk genre, it owes a large debt to film noir, containing and exploring such conventions as the femme fatale, a Chandleresque first-person narration in the Theatrical Version, and the questionable moral outlook of the hero — extended here to include even the humanity of the hero, as well as the usual dark and shadowy cinematography.

Eye reflecting the "Hades" landscape.

It is one of the most literate science fiction films, both thematically — enfolding the moral philosophy and philosophy of mind implications of the increasing human mastery of genetic engineering, within the context of classical Greek drama and its notions of hubris — and linguistically, drawing on the poetry of William Blake and the Bible. This is a theme subtly reiterated by the chess game between J.F. Sebastian and Tyrell based on the famous Immortal Game of 1851 symbolizing the struggle against mortality imposed by God. The Blade Runner FAQ offers further interpretation of the chess game, saying that it "represents the struggle of the replicants against the humans: the humans consider the replicants pawns, to be removed one by one. The individual replicants (pawns) are attempting to become immortal (a queen). At another level, the game between Tyrell and Sebastian represents Batty stalking Tyrell. Tyrell makes a fatal mistake in the chess game, and another fatal mistake trying to reason with Batty."

Blade Runner depicts a future whose fictional distance from present reality has grown sharply smaller as 2019 approaches. The film delves into the future implications of technology on the environment and society by reaching into the past using literature, religious symbolism, classical dramatic themes and film noir. This tension between past, present and future is apparent in the retrofitted future of Blade Runner, which is high-tech and gleaming in places but elsewhere decayed and old.

A high level of paranoia is present throughout the film with the visual manifestation of corporate power, omnipresent police, probing lights; and in the power over the individual represented particularly by genetic programming of the replicants. Control over the environment is seen on a large scale but also with how animals are created as mere commodities. This oppressive backdrop clarifies why many people are going to the off-world colonies, which clearly parallels the migration to the Americas. The popular 1980s prediction of the United States being economically surpassed by Japan is reflected in the domination of Japanese culture and corporations in the advertising of LA 2019. The film also makes extensive use of eyes and manipulated images to call into question reality and our ability to perceive it.

This provides an atmosphere of uncertainty for Blade Runner's central theme of examining humanity. In order to discover replicants an empathy test is used with a number of questions focused on empathy; making it the essential indicator of someone's "humanity". The replicants are juxtaposed with human characters who are unempathetic, and while the replicants show passion and concern for one another, the mass of humanity on the streets is cold and impersonal. The film goes so far as to put in doubt the nature of Deckard and forces the audience to reevaluate what it means to be human.

Paranoia

Paranoia pervades Blade Runner just as the rain falls on Los Angeles 2019. Every major theme adds to the paranoia of the film and envelops the audience in suspicion and uncertainty.

At the beginning of the film, the replicant Leon is being interviewed by the Blade Runner Holden, who is working undercover at the Tyrell Corporation's employment office to screen for escaped replicants using the Voight-Kampff test, highlighting the widespread paranoia of replicant infiltration.

Advertising blimps float over the dark sprawl of 2019 Los Angeles; their searchlights penetrating into every dark corner, as seen when Deckard enters the Bradbury building. This gives the impression that the population is always being watched. Even Deckard seems to be watched by Gaff. The way Gaff interacts with Deckard implies that Gaff is Deckard's "handler" and Gaff also seems to know things about Deckard that Deckard doesn't even know. For example, the origami unicorn presumably left by Gaff, leads the audience to believe Gaff knows the truth of Deckard's (lack of) humanity.

An additional level to the paranoia is the lifetime time-limit imposed on each replicant, and that the limit, while conceived and implemented by the Tyrell Corporation, is now intrinsic to their being. It is ironic to note that one of the most violent of the replicants, Roy, is the only one to execute his genetic programming to his endpoint, as all the rest perish through violent interactions with humans. The callousness and implied cruelty of the design imposed on the replicants is the palpable driving force of the paranoia.

Technicism

Technicism is the concept that all problems, all needs, and all reality will eventually be controlled using technological means, methods, and devices. It is a notion that dominates the dystopian Los Angeles of Blade Runner as it seems to blindly accept technological improvements. Many of the themes in the film reflect on this idea further. Humans appear to be fleeing from the Earth (to the Off-World Colonies) while replicants (machines) are fleeing to Earth.

Other futuristic novels have examined this idea, such as Burgess' A Clockwork Orange, Orwell's 1984, and Huxley's Brave New World. Some critics of Blade Runner state that the technology of the film dominates the characters, and that the depth of characters is second to the depth of technology.^{[citation needed]} Whether by design or not, it is quite apropos for this film as it reflects on a consequence of technicism — the pursuit of ignoble ends, technology for its own sake, devoid of any personal, ethical or moral consideration.

Genetic engineering and cloning

The first draft of the entire human genome was decoded on June 26, 2000, by the Human Genome Project, followed by a steadily increasing number of other organisms across the microscopic to macroscopic spectrum. The short step from theory to practice in using genetic knowledge was taken quickly: genetically modified organisms have become a present reality.

The embryonic techniques of somatic cell nuclear transfer from a specific genotype via cloning, as well as some of the problems pre-figured in Blade Runner, were demonstrated by the cloning of Dolly the sheep in 1996. Since 2001, political efforts have been mounting in many countries to ban human cloning, impelled by a sense of its abhorrence and imminence, while rumors abound that the first human clones may already have been produced, the most famous example being a claim by the extraterrestrial worshipping Raelians, a religious group who have offered no proof to support their extraordinary claims. In all of these developments, a clear tension between commercial and non-commercial interests is apparent, as scientific and business motivations conflict with ethical and religious concerns about the appropriateness of human intervention in the deepest fabric of nature. In many ways Blade Runner serves as a cautionary tale in the tradition of Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein.

Eyes and memories

A Voight-Kampff machine reading the minute emotional responses to a test.

Eye symbolism appears repeatedly in Blade Runner and provides insight into themes and characters therein. The film opens with an extreme closeup of an eye which fills the screen reflecting the hellish landscape seen below. When reflecting one of the Tyrell Corp. pyramids it evokes the all-seeing Eye of Providence.

In Roy's quest to "meet his maker" he seeks out Chew, a genetic designer of eyes, who created the eyes of the Nexus-6. When told this, Roy quips, "Chew, if only you could see what I've seen with your eyes", ironic in that Roy's eyes are Chew's eyes since he created them, but it also emphasizes the importance of personal experience in the formation of self. Roy and Leon then intimidate Chew with disembodied eyes and he tells them about J.F. Sebastian.

It is symbolic that the man who designed replicant eyes shows the replicants the way to Tyrell. Eyes are widely regarded as "windows to the soul", eye contact being a facet of body language that unconsciously demonstrates intent and emotion and this meme is used to great effect in Blade Runner. The Voight-Kampff test that determines if you are human measures the emotions, specifically empathy through various biological responses such as fluctuation of the pupil and involuntary dilation of the iris (as pointed out by Dr. Tyrell). Furthermore, Tyrell's trifocal glasses are a strong indicator of his reliance on technology for his power and his myopic vision. Later he is killed by Roy who forces his thumbs into Tyrell's eyes.

The glow which is notable in replicant eyes in some scenes creates a sense of artificiality. According to Ridley Scott, "that kickback you saw from the replicants' retinas was a bit of a design flaw. I was also trying to say that the eye is really the most important organ in the human body. It's like a two-way mirror; the eye doesn't only see a lot, the eye gives away a lot. A glowing human retina seemed one way of stating that". He considers the glow to be a stylistic device only, but Brion James, Leon's actor, suggests that pollution was the "cause" for the glow.

The relationship between sight and memories is referenced several times in Blade Runner. Rachael's visual recollection of her memories, Leon's "precious photos", Roy's discussion with Chew and soliloquy at the end, "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe". However, just as prevalent is the concept that what the eyes see and the resulting memories are not to be trusted. This is a notion emphasized by Rachael's fabricated memories, Deckard's need to confirm a replicant based on more than appearance, and even the printout of Leon's photograph not matching the reality of the Esper visual.

Also in the Director's Cut, when at the Tyrell corporation the owl's eyes flicker with a red tint. This was derived from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, in which real animals are rare, and owls were the rarest of all, since they were the first animals to start dying of the pollution which forced the humans to the Off-World colonies. The red tint indicates that the owl is a replicant of Tyrell's creation.

Religious and philosophical symbolism

There is a subtext of Christian allegory in Blade Runner, particularly in regard to the Roy Batty character. Given the replicants' superhuman abilities, their identity as created beings (by Tyrell) and "fall from the heavens" (off-world) makes them analogous to fallen angels. In this context, Roy Batty shares similarities with Lucifer as he prefers to "reign in hell" (Earth) rather than "serve in heaven". This connection is also apparent when Roy deliberately misquotes William Blake, "Fiery the angels fell..." (Blake wrote "Fiery the angels rose..." in America, A Prophecy). Nearing the end of his life, Roy creates a stigmata by driving a nail into his hand, and becomes a Christ-like figure by sacrificing himself for Deckard. Upon his death a dove appears to symbolise Roy's soul ascending into the heavens.

Zhora's gunshot wounds are both on her shoulder blades. The end result makes her look like an angel whose wings have been cut off. Zhora makes use of a serpent that "once corrupted man" in her performance.

A Nietzschean interpretation has also been argued for the film on several occasions. This is especially true for the Batty character, arguably a biased prototype for Nietzsche's übermensch -- not only due to his intrinsic characteristics, but also because of the outlook and demeanor he displays in many significant moments of the film. For instance:

• A modern audience might admire Batty’s will to flee the confinements of slavery and perhaps sympathize with his existential struggle to live. Initially, however, his desire to live is subsumed by his desire for power to extend his life. Why? In Heidegger’s view, because death inevitably limits the number of choices we have, freedom is earned by properly concentrating on death. Thoughts of mortality give us a motive for taking life seriously. Batty’s status as a slave identifies him as an object, but his will to power casts him as an agent and subject in the Nietzschean sense. His physical and psychological courage to rebel is developed as an ethical principle in which he revolts against a social order that has conspired against him at the genetic, cultural, and political levels. In Heidegger’s view, Batty’s willingness to defy social conformity allows for him to authentically pursue the meaning of his existence beyond his programming as a soldier. Confronting his makers becomes part of his quest, but killing them marks his failure to transcend his own nature.

Economic inequality, corporatism

The dark and dirty urban sprawl Deckard explores in searching for the replicants is contrasted with Dr. Eldon Tyrell's offices and by the bright skyscrapers in the distance. People are migrating to off-world colonies in outer space to escape poverty and contamination. Corporations dominate this world, much as their buildings and pervasive advertising dominate both the city and the surrounding landscape, strongly implying that corporatism is widespread.

Environment and globalization

The climate of the city of Los Angeles, in A.D. 2019, is very different from today's. It is strongly implied that industrial pollution has adversely affected planet Earth's environment, i.e. global warming and global dimming. Real animals are rare in the Blade Runner world. In Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, animal extinction and human depopulation of the planet were consequent to the radioactive fallout of a nuclear war; Owls were the first species to become extinct. This ties in with Deckard's comment about Dr. Tyrell's artificial owl: "It must be expensive." (cf. post-apocalyptic science fiction)

Given the many Asian peoples populating Los Angeles in A.D. 2019, and the cityspeak dialect policeman Gaff speaks to the Blade Runner, Rick Deckard, clearly indicates that much cultural mixing has happened. Globalization also is reflected in the name of the Shimago-Domínguez Corporation, whose slogan proclaims: "Helping America into the New World". This indicates that a mass migration is occurring, as there is a status quo that people want to escape.

The cultural and religious mixing can also be verified at the scene where Deckard chases Zhora. At the streets, we can see people dressed traditionally as Jews, hare krishnas, as well as young boys dressed as punks.

Death and immortality

Death and immortality are prominent concepts throughout the movie. Some examples are:

• Replicants are programmed to have short lives (4 years) and therefore seek a way to avoid death.
• Deckard realizes replicants are acting like humans as they get close to death.
• J.F. Sebastian was aging fast like the replicants.
• The chess game between Tyrell, Sebastian, and Batty is the famous Immortal Game.
• Batty saves Deckard's life not only out of compassion, but also so that he would live on in Deckard's memories.
• Roy's final monologue in which he says, "All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die." Also, shortly after in the same sequence, the statement from Gaff, "It's too bad she won't live, but then again, who does?"

Deckard: human or replicant?

Gaff's Origami unicorn from the Director's Cut, perhaps indicating that Deckard's unicorn daydream was an implant and that Deckard is a replicant.

There is a sequence added in the Director's Cut version (that was not in the original theatrical release) where Deckard dreams about a unicorn, and at the end of film finds an origami unicorn that Gaff leaves in Deckard's apartment, possibly suggesting to the viewer (and to Deckard) that Gaff knows about Deckard's dream in the same manner that Deckard knows about Rachael's implanted memories.

Even without considering the unicorn dream scene inserted in the director's cut, there is other evidence which allows for the possibility of Deckard being a replicant, but do not eliminate the possibility of Deckard being human.

• the fact that Deckard's flat is full of photographs, none of them recent or in color. Replicants have a taste for photographs, because it provides a tie to a non-existent past.
• the scene in which Rachael asks Deckard whether he has passed the Voight-Kampff test himself, and receives no answer.
• the fact that Gaff, who had shown no sympathy for Deckard throughout the film, tells him "You've done a man's job, sir!" after Roy expires, lets Rachael live and does not intervene when she and Deckard leave his apartment.
• The apartment scene with Rachel and Deckard (after Rachel saves his life by shooting Leon) shows a red tint to Rachel's eyes and as Deckard comes up behind her, the same red tint can be briefly seen in Deckard's eyes.

Relevant opinions from those involved:

The purpose of this story as I saw it was that in his job of hunting and killing these replicants, Deckard becomes progressively dehumanized. At the same time, the replicants are being perceived as becoming more human. Finally, Deckard must question what he is doing, and really what is the essential difference between him and them? And, to take it one step further, who is he if there is no real difference?

Philip K. Dick

• Philip K. Dick wrote the character Deckard as a human.
• Hampton Fancher (original screenwriter) has said that he wrote the character Deckard as a human, but wanted the film to suggest the possibility that he may be a replicant. When asked, "Is Deckard a replicant?", Fancher replied, "No. It wasn't like I had a tricky idea about Deckard that way." During a discussion panel with Ridley Scott to discuss Blade Runner: The Final Cut, Fancher again stated that he believes Deckard is human (saying that "[Ridley Scott's] idea is too complex"), but also repeated that he prefers the film to remain ambiguous: "I like asking the question and I like it to be asked but I think it’s nonsense to answer it. That’s not interesting to me."
• Ridley Scott stated in an interview in 2002 that he considers Deckard a replicant.
• Harrison Ford considers Deckard to be human. "That was the main area of contention between Ridley and myself at the time," Ford told interviewer Jonathan Ross during a BBC1 Hollywood Greats segment. "I thought the audience deserved one human being on screen that they could establish an emotional relationship with. I thought I had won Ridley's agreement to that, but in fact I think he had a little reservation about that. I think he really wanted to have it both ways." (However, in an interview in Wired magazine in 2007, Ridley again states that he believes Deckard is a replicant, and says that Harrison Ford may have given up the idea of Deckard being human.)

References

Further reading

• Telotte, J.P. (1999). A Distant Technology: Science Fiction Film and the Machine Age. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press. pp. 165, 180–185. ISBN 978-0-8195-6346-0. 
• Menville, Douglas; R. Reginald (1985). Futurevisions: The New Golden Age of the Science Fiction Film. Van Nuys, CA: Newcastle. pp. 8, 15, 128–131, 188. ISBN 978-0-89370-681-4. 

External links

• Blade Runner FAQ – Is Deckard a Replicant?
• The Replicant Option – essay by Detonator
• Deckard Is Not A Replicant – essay by Martin Connolly
• "Blade Runner riddle solved". BBC News. 2000-07-09. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/825641.stm. Retrieved 2008-08-05. 
• Hampton Fancher interview
• Edge of Bladerunner Channel 4 – Documentary explores the question of Deckard's pedigree
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? ISBN 978-0-345-40447-3