Blade Runner Analytical Essay

Although blade runner seems to be a film about technology it is really about the nature of being human.


Discuss…








Blade Runner written by Ridley Scott is a movie based in the future. It is Scott's depiction of what is to become of Earth. But technological advances shown in Blade Runner have come to a point where humanity can be questioned. Reality is blurred and the nature of what is human is changing. Replicants appear identical to humans and even have emotions, while the real humans appear cold and unemotional. So who is really human and what does it mean to be humane?


Technology is a key part of the movie and its advances are shown through out the movie. Deckard lives in a world with man made animals, flying cars, off world colonies and more importantly manufactured humans called replicants. The fact that the replicants are equal to humans physically and even mentally is troubling and brings forward major questions. But with all these advancements Los Angeles is portrayed by Scott as a dark and gloomy wasteland of mostly empty high rise buildings and full of dark alleys and dirty streets. It is not a nice looking place and is without trees and animals, left is only the formidable skyscrapers and manufactured animals. It seems to have consumed everything as no attempt is made to show elsewhere. With the off world colonies to go to, Earth has been abandoned and all that’s left is a polluted wasteland for the rejects and lowlifes.


The humans inhabiting Earth are shown to be cold, brutal and lacking any compassion. There are the cops like Bryant and Gaff who appear gloomy and unemotional just doing there jobs and having little regard for the replicants or "skin jobs" as Bryant called them. Asians are shown frequently the movie and make up the bulk of people on the street. This makes the city look like a big China town with the Asians selling anything from take away food to manufactured animals. These people...