Blade Runner Essay

Symbolism In Blade Runner
Bladerunner 1982 is a film adapted from the 1962 novel "do androids dream of electric sheep?"
written by Phillip K Dick. Directed by Ridley Scott and written by Hampton Fancher. This film
became a cult classic and influenced films such as Minority report and I Robot. Blade runner
cemented itself in a genre of its own, coining the term cyberpunk, accompanied by William Gibson's
novel Neuromancer. Taking place in 2019 the set design displays a dystopian Los Angeles with
special effects being the best of its time. A multicultural and multilingual city where it is ok to
unnecessarily bump into anyone you run past. In this future, an engineered race of androids lives
alongside humans but as second–class citizens. Perhaps taking some inspiration from the civil rights
movement, the film displays a social hierarchy where the upper class is lavish, and Caucasian and
the lower–class streets are multicultural and vibrant. This film depicts these androids known as
replicants, being made to work as slaves for their creators: (humanity). These replicants look, talk
and sound like and humans but lack emotions or the catalogue of experience. But newer models are
now having implanted memories for the purpose of control. The opening scene shows you the neon
wasteland for the first time, bright lights, dark and dingy alleys and highlighter pen shopfronts. In
the 1980s the American market was heavily flooded with Japanese technology such as video games,
phones, and sound ware. This I believe
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Blade Runner Essay examples
Blade Runner
The movie that I chose to analyze for this section is Blade Runner. This movie takes place in Los
Angeles in the year 2019. It is based on a futuristic situation where a company has created an
advance synthetic human form referred to as replicants. The replicants look identical to regular
humans, however they are faster, stronger, and more agile. Their intelligence is equal to if not
more superior to humans. The replicants were sent to the off world and used to further space
exploration and used as slaves. When a revolt of the replicants took place it was determined that
they would no longer be able to return to earth. A police task force called the Blade Runners was
established to retire (execute) any replicant...show more content...
As Deckert met with the creator and mastermind of this engineering, he met a replicant who has no
knowledge of her synthetic nature. The engineers have implanted memories into her brain to
compensate for her short life span and lack of experiences. When Deckert learns that the female
replicant believes that she is human, he is surprised. The mastermind indicates that she is beginning
to suspect her synthetic nature. The replicant who were not sure of their nature, used belief as a
sense of comfort. They used the photographs to validate their pasts.
The humans in the movie seem to have a very aristocentric point of view. They use the replicants and
other forms of genetic engineering to further themselves. Although the replicants bleed when shot,
have feelings, including the abilities to love, the humans still view them as mere experimental
specimens. The replicants are actually equal to if not superior to the humans, yet the humans still
see themselves as being superior. When the escapee replicant learn about their actual nature as well
as their short life span, they revolt. This is a fundamental response according to Camus. When
confronted regarding his mother, Lloyd (one of the escaped replicants) becomes violent and
irrational. Perhaps this is due to the lack of nurturing received as a child. The replicants have a very

Symbolism In Blade Runner
When Blade Runner was released in 1982, it was greeted with a lukewarm reception by general
movie–goers and critics alike. Director Ridley Scott's film –– a futuristic tale about a group of
renegade "replicants" (android slave labor banned on Earth, used in the colonization of space) and
the police officer (Rick Deckard, played by Harrison Ford) hired to kill them – was criticized for
being too gloomy and too dense. However, since its dismal box office run, Blade Runner has emerged
as one of the most thematically and stylistically influential science fiction films in recent history.
There are two key literary devices of the film that play a key role in relaying themes. The first is
setting––the time, place, and context of the story. In some literature, the setting is rich and
complex, a culture of its own, a set of rules alien to the reader that the characters in the story live
by. The second is symbolism, when a writer uses a tangible object to represent a higher, more
complex notion or idea. In Blade Runner, Scott uses key traits of the setting and symbols as a means
to propose the moral dilemmas that will one day face humanity due to its fascination with technology.
The setting of the film is possibly the most important device in terms of theme. Blade Runner takes
place in Los Angeles during the year 2017. In the opening shot, Scott immediately exposes us to the
side–effects of a full century of industrialization: Factories fill the cityscape, pouring a never–ending
stream of smoke into the sky. What was once sunny Southern California is now covered by a
constant layer of pollution that blurs night and day. Wrecked and abandoned skyscrapers trash the
city. Acid rain pours continuously. The overall sensation of the opening scene has a sobering effect
on the viewer. After decades of technological advances for the betterment of society, what remains is
a trashed, almost uninhabitable planet that has been virtually abandoned. In essence, Scott warns us
that technology has damaging effect on both the environment and culture.
The dreary setting of the film possibly me most powerful device Scott uses in order to relay his
warning, but an equally important message is symbolically demonstrated by the powerful Tyrell

Blade Runner
Importance of Presentation
The movie 'Blade Runner' is a science fiction which deals with ideas, such as time travel or human
cloning. The movie has certain terminologies which form the base of the movie and which makes
the movie interesting, such as 'Replicants' and 'Blade Runner'.
What are blade runners? They are androids that look like real human beings. They are artificially
created humanoids with short, fixed life spans, which are illegal on Earth but are used in the off–
world colonies. They display not only great physical strength in the film but also great intelligence.
In simplest terms, 'Replicants are Robots or Clones' created by humans. The term replicant, in the
movie, is used in such a way that it gives a new meaning and concept

Mla Citation For Blade Runner
The name of the movie is Blade Runner
Blade Runner was made in 1982, its theatrical release was September 9th 1982
The main setting of the movie is the dark and despaired Los Angeles, of the year of 2019
The main characters are Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) the protagonist, and Ray Batty (Rutger
Hauer) the antagonist. Rick Deckard is an ex–cop who is a "blade runner". Blade runners are
assassins sent to "retire" replicants who have returned to Earth. Ray Batty is the ruthless leader of a
group of Nexus Generation 6 replicants who have escaped their slave labour and returned to Earth.
In Blade Runner, the Tyrell Corporation created cyborgs called "replicants", who were created to
mimic humans in every aspect, except emotion. The...show more content...
This is shown through the outfits worn by the characters in Blade Runner. Rick wears a noire
styled 1950's detective outfit in the year 2019, while Roy wears a 1970's black, leather, greaser
jacket. Blade Runner is also different from the other pieces we have examined in this lesson because
it takes place in a dystopian society. Pollution has destroyed the environment and large mega–cities
cover most of the earth. Cities are overcrowded, depressing dumps where sunlight is never seen
and rain is a common occurrence. Whereas in other stories such as Worker Drone, we see
technology and the future depicted, as a place where technology and progression has created a
somewhat better place. People are able to get help starting their cars by getting help right away
using technology and Rahul is able to video chat his significant other

Blade Runner Analysis
'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.
Throughout 'Blade Runner' the directors use many symbols, representing the real and not real to
add more meaning and they don't show every detail of the story, giving the audience the ability to
interpret and make their own ideas and opinions. Something that wasn't real in the film was the
use of a unicorn. Deckard dreams of a unicorn and then in the end an origami unicorn is left for
him by Gaff, which means he knows Deckard's memories bringing up the question on whether
Deckard is real (human) or nor real (replicant). Although real, the humans on earth aren't seen as
real, most are nameless and faceless, often covering their faces or are seen blurred in the
background. To Tyrell those left of Earth aren't seen as important so they're not seen or treated as
people.
Throughout 'Blade Runner' both the good and the bad are Juxtaposed throughout film. Deckard is
promoted as the "good guy" throughout the film. He's on Earth under the orders of Tyrell on the
Off–World colony to get rid of the replicants (the "bad guys"). Deckard has a job that he is doing
for the greater good of the world and off world while The Replicants are selfish. They are trying to
increase their life span of 4 years, they are doing it for themselves and are represented as the bad
guys. There is good and bad when it comes to how the humans use the Replicants and the
differences of how the genders are treated. Replicants are the perfect "human" specimens made
specifically for their jobs, so while the men are put to more manual work, women are exploited for
their bodies, working as pleasure models or are just submissive to men as it's the social construct. As

Film Analysis
MAC 170: INTRODUCTION TO FILM STUDIES
ASSIGNMENT ONE – FILM ANALYSIS
FILM CHOSEN: Blade Runner (1982)
EXTRACT: INT – Sebastian's Building, starting with the shot of Deckard climbing up the wall.
Duration: 9 minutes (Chapter 30, Blade Runner: The Final Cut, 2007)
The following essay will be a close analysis of an extract from the 1982 film Blade Runner, which
was directed by Ridley Scott. Blade Runner is a science–fiction film based on the book 'Do Androids
Dream of Electric Sheep' which was written by Phillip K. Dick. This essay will also explore how
Ridley Scott's use of mise en scene and editing in Blade Runner can exhibit him as an auteur. An
'auteur' is known as the 'author' of the film; a director that uses recognisable...show more content...
Ridley Scott can be classed as an auteur for his use of setting in his films; he tends to create a
post–apocalyptic setting, mainly set in the not–so–distant future. This can be seen in the extract of
Blade Runner, from the wide angle, long shot of Deckard on the roof. The tall buildings, which
are close together, help to connote an industrialised city, and the lack of organic matter helps to
show the futuristic world as very bleak, old and dirty. The use of space surrounding Deckard when
he is hanging from the roof help to establish that the city lacks people and is very de–humanised and
an almost dystopia, which is very similar to Alien.
Alien and Blade Runner warn us against a capitalist future gone wrong, where such feelings and
bonds are so severely truncated that a quite literal dehumanization has become perhaps the gravest
danger. (Byers, 1990: 39)
This dehumanization feature which Ridley Scott has placed into both Blade Runner and Alien
gives both films a sense of fear to the audience when both films were first released, that the
possibility of the earth being dehumanized is quite great. The shot of Deckard hanging from the
roof also shows how high the building is, with the audience barely being able to see the floor,
which helps to connote a sense of uncertainty from the audience, as they are unsure as to whether
or not Deckard will fall. The use of rain in this scene is very powerful, as it makes the scene feel
very depressive, creating a bleak aspect

Film Blade Runner Essay
Film Blade Runner
Director Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner" is a film adaptation of the book: "Do androids dream of
electric sheep." The film is about a man in the division of the police that involves the "retirement"
of NEXUS 6 Replicants; this division is called the Blade Runner division.
The film begins with a view in long shot of Los Angeles in 2019 as a dystopia. In the middle of
the dark and crowded city, under the blackened sky and blanket upon blanket of rain, are several
towers repetitively spewing flames into the dark beyond making the country made of city seem like
hell at night. During the longshot there are three occasional shots of a close up eye belonging to
Holden of the...show more content...
The lighting is very dim and dark, which is a film genre almost, this genre is called "film noire,"
meaning black film saying that the film is dark. The darkness of the scenery highlights the masses
of smoke that is in the air, from Holden smoking, the flying cars exhaust and the dense pollution of
the ever–burning power stations. The blades of the fan on the ceiling of Holden's smoky, dim–lit
office constantly remind you of the films name, Blade Runner as the blades spin from the buildings
interior. The ease of the office wall breaking as the effect of Leon, a NEXUS 6 replicant, firing a
gun at Holden and violently pushing him through the wall shows how brittle and poorly built the
future is shown to be.
This, the second, scene introduces us to the main character, a former recruit of the Blade Runner
division and he is found waiting behind an "fleet" of people bearing umbrellas with neon–lit handles
as a protection from the evil darkness of the merciless city, to be seated at a noodle bar. As he is
waiting we, the viewers, can see a multitude of blimps plastered with advertisements persuading the
remaining inhabitants of Earth to vacate to a different planet. We can also see whole building faces
covered with advertisements showing upper class women eating foods and the lower classed
impoverished civilization have to watch these adverts and feel like

Blade Runner Essay example
Blade Runner
"Mise en scene, in discussions of film, refers to the composition of the individual film, the relation
of objects, people and masses; the interplay of light and dark; the pattern of colour; the camera's
position and angle of view, as well as the movement within the frame". The complete film dictionary.
The Ridley Scott film Blade Runner, begins with opening credits, these are plain, bold, white text
on a black background. This along with quiet music and sudden beats of drums creates a very tense
atmosphere and helps with suspense; there is a very military feel to this opening sequence. We are
then given an update of events, this tells us the film is set in the future and...show more content...
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The lighting is another prominent feature of Mise–en–scene used here, colours such as orange, red
and black are very dominant, these along with what looks like smoke or steam help with the
atmosphere and are a commonly found in sci–fi films. There is no sign of nature, no greens of trees
or blue in the sky, this is perhaps to show that it is set in the future as this is what we may expect
due to pollution and urban development. The only factor we can so far relate to our world is the
rain, and lightning. These help to add to the atmosphere and gloominess of the film that helps to
create the futuristic setting required.
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We are then shown a large space ship like building, which size is hard to determine. This again
helps us visualise the developments of the world, and that this is a sci–fi film, Mise– en scene is
often used as a definer of genre and therefore this helps to conform to the generic

Analysis Of Blade Runner
Blade Runner: what makes a Human?
Blade Runner is a 1982 film directed by Ridley Scott. It is a loose adaptation of 'Do Androids Dream
of Electric Sheep?' written by Philip K. Dick. It has spawned a loyal following of fans and is seen as
a cult classic by many people. The film has inspired a lot of popular culture in movies, anime and
video games (Hills, 2011). The films cult popularity is so great that it even received theatrical
rereleases with additional scenes in 1992 ('Director's Cut'), 2007 ('Final Cut') and a sequel in 2017.
The academic side of the film industry has given plenty of attention to this film too. There are
hundreds of articles written about it. For instance, a few articles in the 'Alien Zone' (Kuhn ed., 1990)
mentioned this famous film and base their arguments on it. And there are certainly reasons why.
Blade Runner touches upon a variety of interesting subject and exhibits rich metaphors and
symbolism. The most engaging subject of the film, for me at least, seems to be the question of how
human are replicants. One of the best examples discussing this question is the scene in which Rick
Deckard meats Rachael and administers to her a Voight–Kampff Test. The 'Final Cut' version of the
film will be used in this analysis.
The scene is set after Deckard has been given the case of the rogue replicants. His Boss suggests
visiting the Tyrell Corporation to learn if Voight
–Kampff test will work on the hunted replicants as
this is the organization that builds the

Blade Runner Essay
Category One – Context Context investigates a text's personal, social and historical context. Blade
Runner, directed by Ridley Scott, was first released in 1982. At this time, computers were at an
all–time high in popularity and productivity, businesses were booming and the environment was
being ignored for financial profits. All of these values had an impact on the way Blade Runner was
written and directed. Blade Runner was released right in the middle of the 'Computer–Age.' This was
the period in which computers were at their peak in popularity, and were moving away from the
industrial sector and more into people's households. This technology clearly influenced they way in
which Blade Runner was directed, due to the amount of...show more content...
Also, when speaking to Zhora, we hear that real snakes are extremely expensive. Both of these
comments suggest that wildlife is extremely rare – if not extinct. This shows the lack of value placed
on the wildlife. Both of these aspects of the physical environment of Blade Runner show a lack of
ecological values held by the people. This can relate to the module; Texts in Time. This module
aims to compare and contrast texts from differing periods. Blade Runner and Frankenstein oppose
each other in this aspect of the worldspace. Whereas in Blade Runner, there is a lack of nature, in
Frankenstein, nature is an integral part of the story, and the sublime is a major part of the plot. This
is a difference between the two stories, and is a part of the module being studied – Texts in Time.
Category Four – Genre Blade Runner has aspects of a number of genre's, but ultimately, the two
genre's that are most portrayed through the setting, characters and plot of the movie are Science
Fiction and Crime Fiction. Science fiction is defined as a genre of fiction dealing with the impact of
imagined innovations in science or technology, often in a futuristic setting. The worldspace of Blade
Runner and the plot of the movie perfectly fit into this definition. The movie itself revolves around
the impact of the creation of replicants, which is an imaginative innovation in technology. The movie
itself is also set in the future (the year 2019).

Blade Runner Essay

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