The Blade Runner: Analysis of The Book and The Movie

The film Blade Runner is considered to be a classic film released originally on June 25, 1982; it was received poorly due to the narration that Scott Ripley was forced to put into the movie due to worries of a difficult to understand the story from the higher-ups. The film was rated poorly due to this. However, it was clear that the film had a high potential with some edits. The film had many cuts and releases in different parts of the world; however, the final cut was released in 2007. Since the original version of Blade Runner, the film had received great reviews and much praise from critics and fans, some considering it Ridley Scott's most significant work.

'Blade Runner is possibly the most talked-about sci-fi movie ever made. It achieved this honor by being a failure on its original release, thus attaining the valuable sheen of a true cult (something that could never be said about Star Wars, despite the capacity of its followers). When re-released theatrically in the form of a Director's Cut in 1992, it was reappraised by formerly sniffy critics, and more people paid to see it.' Over time the film became known for its high quality of film content and its philosophical ideas about what it means to be a human being. Since the release of the film, it has been credited with the inspiration of modern Sci-Fi genres, such films like Judge Dredd, Robo-Cop and the terminator can be seen to draw inspiration from the film.

Just talking about Blade Runner is doing the film a disservice, the film Blade Runner is based on a book written in 1968 called Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep which was written by Philip K. Dick. The novel is set in a post-apocalyptic San Francisco, where Earth's life has been significantly damaged by global nuclear war and takes place over many different areas while the movie only takes place in Los Angeles or apart of Washington. The book was received very well and inspired books following in its wake.

A common theme throughout the film Blade Runner is the idea that the definition of what it means to be a human is not as clear as we would like to believe. It is a question of the philosophy of the mind with an image of what genetic engineering can bring to the future world. The film brings up topics such as corporate power, police states' lack of privacy, and power of a species that once really existed but now can only be replicated due to the lack of human morality. The question that you are not real, and everything is just a simulation is a predominant theme throughout the movie. Often characters and the protagonist himself ponder who is a replicant and who is not. The film also brings up topics such as nuclear fallout, global warming, and global dimming implied by the mass extinctions of the animals on Earth.

The book and movie are similar; however, there are a few differences in subjects between the two stories. The topic of what is real and what is not is a much higher theme throughout the novels by having mercerism and the emotion control boxes relevant throughout the story, which is to be believed as imaginary or made up. Still, by the end of the novel, the real Mercer begins to appear to Rick Deckard despite the religion being a myth as Buster Friendly debunks, the real Mercer becomes Rick. The distinctions between what reality is from Ricks's perspective is skewed, and this is further hinted at the discovery of a wandering animal that is believed to be an android. Still, Rick believes it to be a real animal. While these questions are better pondered than to be answered, it is a distinct difference between the book and movie, which does not dive deep into the rabbit hole.

Mind Control is alluded to throughout Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. The government of Rick's world has also decayed to the point where they have started to lose control and are they are encouraging the people of Earth to move to Mars. There is a new American colony that is in its beginnings. Throughout the novel, the authorities of government and civic duty have a way of steering people's minds towards creating binary oppositions in the world, conflict arises between the people and is resolved in a matter of mere minutes. The future of Blade Runner is a grim reality, while at the same time, it is not entirely impossible to imagine it is a reality that humanity could end up this way.

Some implications of the film are shakey about why or what is happening, the film implies that there is a reason for killing the androids that had escaped from mars to quote the movie. 'In order to escape mars, an android had to kill.' Which is never elaborated on or proven to be accurate, the only real reason that we are given that the police need to hunt down the androids is that they are on Earth and not where they are supposed to be. 'But Dick's replicants have no special powers or abilities. They're considered dangerous because they're almost indistinguishable from humans, which means that humans sometimes empathize with them. But once identified, they don't have much more chance against armed killers than any other civilian.' 

This is a fascinating quote because it’s an example of how police authority in the future could become a threat to everyone, even if the country is still a democracy, and the country has a constitution that supports that freedom. The police will underhand those freedoms due to acting as judge, jury, and executioner (perhaps an inspiration for judge Dredd?) So what crime has the Replicant committed? The offense is that the replicants create the possibility that society can empathize with the replicant's existence and gain perspective as a result. The community would begin to question the morality of creating what are essentially human beings who have the role of slaves and would ask, 'who are the good guys? And who are the bad guys?' The answers are not what is important here is the free-thinking that the replicants could create on Earth. The perspective they give would be wrong for anyone who wants to remain in control. The idea of who is right and who is terrible changes and rubberbands, Sebastian is made to look like a good guy, despite helping out the replicants that Rick Deckard is hunting down. The replicants themselves go from being sympathized with to being the bad guy by the end of the movie.

This ties into another theme of Blade Runner and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is the depiction of capitalism in the future, while I personally find the criticisms to be ironic in nature, it is not a focal point of the story and is instead a part of the settings of Blade Runner were most people are trying to simply get by, I find the future the film is trying to depict to be just what it is, fictional and in spite of that it is still important to consider what the film is saying which is that uncontrolled capitalism is bad for a society. 'Individual businesses, such as the pet shop, are portrayed as somewhat insensitive but relatively innocent. In contrast, Dick portrays large corporations, such as the Rosen Association, as unethical — a quality bred by the capitalist system.' The police state system keeps free-thinking minds under control in Blade Runner while working with the corporations to stifle criticism and to maintain control of society and the governments. While most criticisms of this topic are ironic at best, Blade Runner can tastefully criticize and warn its viewers about the possible future of capitalistic means.

To talk about the movie, the film itself is created masterfully. It takes full cinematic liberties to create a believable world. 'It is a starkly empty film, preoccupied as it is with the thought that people themselves might be hollow. The plot depends on the notion that the replicants must be allowed to live no longer than four years because as time passes, they begin to develop raw emotions.' The movie in its visual style, reflects the themes of messages that the book is trying to portray. If there were 3 words to describe their setting of the film, hopeless, dirty, and desolate. The visual style is nothing short of spectacle in the regard that there is so much to look at per shot; the opening scene establishes this perfectly.

A panning shot high up in the sky of Los Angeles shows an almost apocalyptic world with scenes of balls of fire combusting far far far up into the air for as far as the eye can see. We can see now that our perspective is from that of a hovering car, with the main protagonist inside. Balls of fire keep enveloping the scene with bright yellow light, which blends in with the background of buildings, skyscrapers, and warehouses that are miles tall and miles wide. The only color we see is the millions of lights scattered randomly throughout the city. The feeling is that of a grand scale and lack of individuality. We see an extreme closeup shot of a person's eye; this is how Rick can track down the androids in the film using his testing method, we finally arrive at the setting of the shot after the opening, the police department building, which takes up the entire part of the shot in order to show just how big the buildings are in this future.

Some key differences between the film and the book are the differences in setting, the book gives the impression that the world is abandoned and empty, aside from a few well-kept buildings and the futuristic look of the Tyrell corporation Earth has been mostly abandoned, and most of humanity is empty. The opening of Blade Runner is a stark contrast to this setting, with billions of people living in the space of 100 square miles Earth is briskly overcrowded, and the companies are capitalizing on the people who can afford to leave and go to mars.

Blade Runner and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep both revolutionized just how the science genre will be interpreted and inspired the revolution of the science fiction genre into a more philosophical genre. The film Blade Runner is considered to be a classic film released originally on June 25, 1982; it was received poorly due to the narration that Scott Ripley was forced to put into the movie due to worries of a difficult to understand the story from the higher-ups. Despite these drawbacks, the quality of cinema created by Scott Ridley will forever be remembered, and with the recent reboot, which was well-received it seems as though the genre is not going anywhere anytime soon.