Themes in Blade Runner

Themes in Blade Runner

Biblical subtexts	Genesis : Adams and Eves in Blade Runner Rain in Blade Runner Christ and Redemption in Blade Runner

Greek Mythology	Prometheus and Œdipus references in Blade Runner

	Vision in Blade Runner Environment in Blade Runner Architecture and Movement in Blade Runner **Film Noir influence in Blade Runner** Humanity in Blade Runner

        Adams and Eves in Blade Runner

The Lord God planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. So, the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a help suitable for him." Then, God formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called `woman, ' for she was taken out of man." The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

Later, the snake (a creature made by God) makes Adam and Eve go the evil way: it asks Eve if God really said that they weren’t supposed to eat from any tree in the garden. She replies that they might eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God said that they were not allowed to eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and if they touched it, they would die. The serpent convinces her that God wanted to frighten them, that they won’t surely die. When Adam and Eve eat the Apple, God decides to chase them away: we call that the "Paradise Lost". They are punished, and God warns them that he will greatly increase Eve’s pains in childbearing.

There is an obvious parallel between the characters in Blade Runner and the references we have seen above. There are three couples: Rachael and Deckard; Pris and Roy; Zhora and the snake which represents Adam. We can observe that she has tamed a snake (a reference to the Serpent) and she is naked in front of Deckard when she takes a shower: like Eve, she feels no shame. We can make another remark: she is wearing small plastic bits on her skin which are similar to the snake’s scales.

Then, Pris and Roy, who are made by God (the Maker), were created in the likeness of Tyrell. God is represented by Tyrell but instead of taking one of the man’s ribs, he selects people’s memories and implants them in replicants’ brains in order to make them more human. When they are created, Tyrell calls them "man" but in fact we all know that they are replicants.

Finally, Deckard and Rachael find paradise whereas Pris and Roy die. They do not find their paradise because at the end of the movie, Roy has rebelled against his God in asking him how to become immortal. Tyrell answers him that they are going to die in four years. Roy kills him. At that moment, Roy and Pris sign their death. Moreover, when Roy dies, a dove takes off in the blue sky. We may suppose that Roy reincarnates in the dove (the symbol of peace) in order to enter paradise.

In the Bible, Eve makes Adam eat the Apple but in Blade Runner it is Deckard-Adam who tells Rachael-Eve to go away to stay alive together.

Sabria Belhadj
Senija Colakovic
Lise Prince

          Humanity in Blade Runner

Being a person, thinking as a Human Being, that is what Man has called Humanity. However, the way Man has used it to determine if someone is a Human or not, could be blamed. All conflicts in history have proved that white Man for instance, made his own perception of Humanity. So that slavery, which lasted centuries has shown that a black man would not be considered as a human because of his appearance…

"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in spirit of brotherhood."(The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights (Article 1)

In Blade Runner, Replicants are not supposed to be free neither equal to man. But when Man created Replicants, they were given a reason and a conscience..

Has Man made a mistake ?

By making those Clones, man has opened a forbidden door, the one only owned by God… (a reference to the myth of Pandora’s box : Pandora was the first female of humanity, she opened the box in which Zeus had put human miseries, and so was blamed for being responsible of Evil on earth. In the box, only Hope remained…) Thus, Man has to assume responsibility for what he did.

Through Blade Runner, we can notice something strange in each character’s behavior. Actually, Replicants seem to be more sensitive than real Men. Deckard first, by the way he treats Rachel appears as an obnoxious person, when he tells that she isn’t Human and that her memories are Tyrell's niece’s, it looks as if he really wants to hurt her… Another clue suggests that idea. Actually, although Deckard said he didn’t like that job, killing Zhora as a prey focuses on his dark, non -human side.
Moreover, contrary to usual heroes in movies, Deckard has no quest whereas Roy has one. Indeed Roy wants love and more life to follow his relationship with Pris. Pris as well appears as a human since she loves Roy but when she dies, she looks like a disarticulated puppet.While Deckard, in the last sequence, is recovering, Roy is teaching him Life. However, when Deckard is eventually questioning himself, it is too late…

Tyrell, by creating Replicants, takes God's role. But he is no longer a god, since Roy has succeeded in reaching and killing him. J-F Sebastian is obviously the only character which is human and behaves like one (by welcoming Pris or helping Roy to meet his creator -though he is forced to do this-). But, he is ill. Indeed, he is aging faster than normal people.

So that another question comes to mind : Is Humanity doomed ?

Nadia Adna
Marion Macchioni
Caroline Racle

         Environment in Blade Runner

In Blade Runner, the film director gives a lot of importance to the environment. In fact Ridley Scott wants to show us what the world will be if we continue to deteriorate the earth.We are going to draw a parallel between the current environment and the film’s environment seen as a prophetic view.

The first view we have on L.A. in 2019 shows us that the environment is particularly degraded. Indeed, as the film unfolds, acid rain is pouring due to pollution, which is reminiscent of the problems of car pollution today, which also causes the aggravation of the greenhouse effect. Moreover, there is no nature and the city is most of the time in the night. Last but not least, nowadays the highest cities build more and more as they want to become bigger. In the film, nature is completely substituted by infrastructures. As a matter of fact, there are only huge buildings and the absence of nature prevents animal life.

The second parallel we can draw is between the synthetic animals in the film, like the snake and the owl, and the apparition, in our society, of electronic dogs. Moreover, scientists today already act on animal genetics by cloning them and in Blade Runner they go further by cloning human beings called "replicants", created in order to replace them in laborious tasks .

Finally, we are seeing a change in the structure of society as only the physically degraded people, like Sebastian, or poor people, who represent the bottom of the social ladder, live on earth. But the police, who represents an intermediary between the haves and the have-nots, is also present. Concerning the rich people, they have immigrated to space colonies.

However, rich industrials like Tyrell still live on earth in a huge building, which symbolizes a typical capitalist system as they dominate the world and they do not care about ecology, their goal is just to make money.

To put it in a nutshell, we can say that we must pay attention to the consequences of our actions when dealing with nature.

Sébastien Bourdin
Charlčne Journot
Marielle Henriet

        Rain in Blade Runner

Rain is a repetitive theme in Blade Runner, in that it always rains in the film. In mythology, rain symbolizes a New World and in the Bible, the purpose of the deluge is to wash the bad things of the earth. In the film, as in the Lion King, we can observe a biblical reference, as when the rain is falling down, it is the end of an unhealthy and insane world.

In Genesis, we can read that God decided to make the rain fall for 40 days and 40 nights, in order to wipe every living creature he had made. It is similar in the film, when the rain falls down for a long time in order to purify everything. When people do not obey God’s laws, rain falls as a punishment to the moral faults of humanity.

Tyrell wanted to imitate God by creating the replicants. Moreover, he is located at the top of a building, that is why he dominates LA. As God creates man to his image, it is considered as a lack of respect to God, as man is not supposed to create new things. As a result, rain stands for a punishment because they should not have done that. Human beings have disobeyed the Ten commandments by committing murders.

Rain in the film brings an oppressive and stifling atmosphere. There is a striking rupture at the end, as it is the first time in the film that the sun has shone. As Roy saved Deckard’s life, God gives redemption to mankind, as at the end of the flood. Indeed, the dove flying away when Roy dies symbolizes the end of the deluge, as in the story of Noah’s ark.

Love triumphs in the film. Indeed Roy loves life because he saves Deckard’s life, but more generally everybody’s life, as Deckard said. It is a reference to Christ the Savior. Presumably, Roy saves everybody’s life, as he cannot save or prolong his own life. Moreover, the love between Rachael and Deckard symbolizes a new chance for humanity : they are the new Adam and Eve.

Carole Boissenin
Aurélie Gnecchi
David Vantieghem

        Architecture and Movement in Blade Runner

In Blade Runner, the architecture of the buildings play an important role.

Firstly, it symbolizes power. Tyrell is at the top of a pyramid, which means that he dominates L.A., which is the most important city in the U.S.A..

Power is conveyed by the size of the building as they are huge with big screens. The big chimney stacks at the beginning show the important place of industry, so power results from it.

In a social way, there is a link between the social ladder and architecture. Tyrell's pyramid dominates all of the other buildings. There is a link between the social ladder and the architecture of the pyramid, which was used before to represent the hierarchy.
Tyrell is at the top of the pyramid, symbolically, because he is the creator, so the most important person.
Generally speaking, the movements are slow, there are not a lot of actions, and the atmosphere is always bizarre. The music gives a feeling of suspense, as we never know what is going to happen.
In any case, it is always dark inside, for example when Deckard questions Rachael. However, there is sometimes some lights, but it is never natural, as the neons in the laboratory, or the candles in Tyrell's room.
Totally opposite, we have a sharp contrast between inside and outside. Indeed, most actions occur outside, for example when Roy saves Deckard's life. Everybody is always moving and it is always dark, which creates a pressure. There is a striking rupture between outside where it is really noisy and bustling, contrary to inside where it is quiet and looks serene and womblike.

Carole Boissenin
Aurélie Gnecchi
David Vantieghem

        Film Noir in Blade Runner

Blade Runner is one of the most popular cult films. It is inspired by film noir. As a matter of fact, films noir can be divided into two mains parts, which are found in Blade Runner. So, one the one hand we can notice that there are typical characters like the detective, the femme fatale, the cops, the bad guys. On the other hand, there is a special atmosphere and techniques typical of film noir. That is what we are going to study in two different parts.

In Blade Runner, there are two cops who represent one of the main elements found in films noir. Indeed, the first is Bryant, the Blade Runner Squad chief. He represents the typical policeman of the 30’s. He uses rude vocabulary, drinks alcohol and is racist towards the Replicants, who he calls "Skin jobs".

Then, there is Gaff, Bryant’s sidekick. He is wearing a Humphrey Bogart-type hat and raincoat, that is why he makes us think of a typical film noir character. Another kind of character typical of films noir is the bad guys. In Blade Runner, they are represented by the Replicants who form a sort of gang. Moreover, we can find in Blade Runner femmes fatales who are also a typical trait of films noir. Indeed, there are two, namely Zhora and Rachael. So, we can distinguish the bad one, represented by Zhora. She uses her charms to seduce and destroy the hero: she is almost naked when she met Deckard for the first time. She is a kind of temptress and thanks to this, she smashes Deckard’s face before escaping.

Both Zhora and Rachael are mysterious and very beautiful but Rachael seems to submit to Deckard who wants to control her. Moreover, she smokes as most femmes fatales do in films noir and has the same allure. So, the dominating and seductive Rachael represents the sin or the forbidden fruit because she is replicant and so Deckard should exterminate her but he is in love with her. In one scene, the fact that she is almost raped by Deckard reinforces her submission. Indeed, like films noir’s femmes fatales, she is tempted by an active and aggressively sexual male.

Finally, the most important character is the hero, namely Rick Deckard: the Blade Runner, the rebel, and the man driven by his feelings. He represents the typical films noir’s private detective even though he is a policeman. But Deckard has the same characteristics as a detective. His boss, Bryant, wants him back in the Blade Runner Squad because he is the best of all Blade Runners. But he doesn’t like orders. He is alone but he always finds a woman to accompany him. He looks like an invincible hero and he is dressed as in films noir, namely with a raincoat, and he has a gun. In fact, he is a die-hard, he never gives up, he has a determined look, which is typical of films noir heroes. He is the man who is following his love quest. He tries to find himself because he seems at the beginning of the story to be lonely in the crowded city of Los Angeles.

One of film noir's "most pervasive motifs is the metaphorical linking of crime with urban alienation, loneliness and paranoia".

All those things are also present in Blade Runner. Indeed, Los Angeles conveys a weird atmosphere due to its size, its architecture inspired from Metropolis by Fritz Lang. It is a mad, insane place where individualism seems to be the most important value. Moreover, ambience in Blade Runner plays an essential role in the comparison with films noir. Like most of them, Blade Runner shares a fatalistic and claustrophobic atmosphere between the characters and their environment. As a matter of fact, Deckard always tries to escape his past, that is why he has quit his Blade Runner job, but at the beginning he feels obliged to become again a killer of Replicants. So fatality has caught up with him. And at the end, when he escapes with Rachael we can suppose that fate won't let him get away, as it does in films noir. Films noir need a "very" bad guy and in this movie we have a creepy-crawly Roy-Deckard face-off. Also, the jazz music in Blade Runner is typical of Films noir.

The investigation method also refers to Films noir. First, Deckard is being told the assignment, Bryant shows him the "wanted" gang and Deckard tries to find clues by searching the Replicant's flat. He finds one and analyzes it while the gang is preparing their bad trick. It is a chain reaction, the hero finds a small and —at first sight—useless clue, but he manages to trace its origin. He risks his life but of course he doesn't die and he kills people on his way. After having done an organized investigation, he is pushed by his feelings and he eventually meets the gang leader. But Deckard cannot think, his pulsions guide him. Roy keeps the advantage on him. In any case, the hero is always more intelligent than the baddie, therefore he wins, and goes away with the femme fatale.

There are specific films noir narrative strategies and camera angles. In Blade Runner, Deckard's point of view is privileged. Indeed, voice-over narration is always present as in the 50's Films noir. A subjective camera is also used. The director's cut version adds Deckard's unicorn dreams. As in the movies he was inspired by, there is motionless camera and vertiginous angles.

Blade Runner is really inspired by Films noir.

Frédérique Chapon
Didier Perrot-Minot
Emilie Verdot

        Greek Mythology in Blade Runner

Prometheus created the mortals from clay, Athena put life in them so in that way he challenged and disobeyed the Gods. Indeed, he gave humans the light of knowledge. In order to punish him, Zeus chained him at the top of Mount Caucasus where an eagle was coming every day to eat his liver, which was always regenerated. Prometheus taught the mortals the way to disobey the gods.

From this story of Prometheus, who challenges Zeus, we can draw a parallel with the character of Roy. In the same way, in sequence n° 18, Roy meets his creator and faces him as in Greek Mythology. He disputes with Tyrell, creator of replicants, so, indirectly, God. We can say that because when they are in the elevator which goes up to Tyrell’s, it is reminiscent of Humans going to Heaven’s door. But although there are similarities, we observe differences. For example, Prometheus didn’t win whereas Roy first wins intellectually with the chess game, and then phyically when he kills Tyrell. In Greek Mythology, Prometheus is chained to Mount Caucasus and is condemned to have his liver eaten every day by an eagle.We can notice that there is a relationship between Prometheus who is chained to Mount Caucasus and Roy who dies at the rooftop of the skyscraper. Just as Prometheus is the slave of the eagle, Roy is the slave of death. Indeed, Prometheus is constantly threatened by the eagle, Roy is constantly threatened by Death. We can also suppose that, when Roy sets the dove free, he also sets himself free from the spell that Tyrell put on him before. For him, death is the deliverance from his enslavement.

Like Roy or Prometheus, Tyrell dares God because he creates replicants. But only God has the power of Creation. So, in that way, Tyrell is a Promethean rebel, too.

When Œdipus was a baby, his parents, Queen Jocasta and King Laios, abandoned him, because the Oracle had predicted that Œdipus would kill his father and would love his mother. As a result, Laios threw him into the sea in a basket, that is why he grew up with adopted parents. Becoming an adult, he decided to leave the village to come back to Thebes in order to find again his real parents. Before he arrived in Thebes, he met a man, had a fight against him, and finally killed him without knowing he was his real father. Then, he delivered the town by solving the following enigma which was asked by the Sphinx: "I have four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon and three legs in the evening, who am I?" The answer was "Man". As a reward, he married Queen Jocasta, who was actually his own mother. He fell immediately in love with that woman. One day, he discovered the truth, that is why he blinded himself and the Queen hanged herself.
To put it in a nutshell, we can say that this story shows us the importance of fate in our life.

First, we can draw a parallel because in Blade Runner, eyes take an important part and we have just seen that Oedipus blinded himself. Indeed, in order to know if a person is really a replicant, the Tyrell Corporation has created the Voight-Kampft test.This test consists in asking questions and putting a camera on the eyes of the man who must answer, like Leon Kowalsky. There is also a parallel because Oedipus killed his father and in the same way, Roy kills Tyrell, his creator, so his father.

But Œdipus did that without premeditation whereas Roy did it on purpose. The parallel comes from the fact that both of them blinded each other. Then, we can say that there is also a parallel between who Œdipus had to find the answer to the enigma of the Sphynx, and Roy who finds the way to checkmate Tyrell.

To put in a nutshell, we can say that Greek Mythology plays an important role in Blade Runner. Indeed, we have just seen that Roy is a Promethean rebel and also with Oedipus and the important role of the eyes in this film.

Grégory Bertin-Denis
Djaoued Ferrahtia
Julien Mestik