An analysis of a film that does more than just entertain its audience: Blade runner

The film itself is regarded by most to be a very entertaining film, due to a number of different factors. Firstly the film is set in the 2019, giving people a fascinating insight into the future. However the unusual thing about the future is the dystopian outlook, which is not the habitual preconception we most have. The special effects and fight scenes did much to increase the entertainment level of the film. But most of all the aspect of the film that entertains the audience the most is the presence of Harrison Ford, who still is to this day a huge star. And stars like him make people want to go and watch a film.

Blade runner addresses some of the eternal questions that humans have asked for centuries, for example:

"What does it mean to be human?"

"What is reality?"

"What is the difference between real memories and artificial memories?"

"How does our environment affect us?"

"What are the moral issues we face in the creation of artificial people?"

Moreover, Scott's better films reach toward higher truths. Blade Runner, thus, cannot be understood without comprehending the deeply felt moral, philosophical, ecological and sociological concerns that are interwoven throughout the story. Take, for instance, the film's title-a "Blade Runner" is one who runs on the razor's edge of life, cutting, as the film proposes, somewhere between humanity and inhumanity. There are multiple examples of narrative mirroring (or doubling) throughout. Deckard kills two replicants; two replicants save his life. Deckard finds a reason to live; Batty wants to live. Religious parallels are also rampant: Tyrell is literally the replicants' God, and Batty, as Tyrell's prodigal son, symbolically pierces his hand with a nail, suggesting crucifixion. Even the film's horizontal/vertical design scheme makes a statement; Blade Runner's privileged few live in luxurious towers, literally high above the disenfranchised masses below.

Three key, yet profound, questions contribute to the core of Blade Runner-Who am I? Why am I here? What does it mean to be human? Thus, the eternal problems in the film are essentially moral ones; that is, should replicants kill to gain more life? Should Deckard kill replicants simply because they want to exist?

Defining the human, however, provides most of Blade Runner's philosophical focus. This is increasingly the dilemma faced by contemporary society-that is, the most vital question confronting us is how to maintain humanness in the human race in the face of overwhelming technologies that tend to dehumanise.

Rene Descartes' cogito ergo sum is implied throughout the film, raising the larger issue of what it means to be human. In this respect, the replicant Pris (Daryl Hannah) stakes her claim to cognitive humanity by remarking, "I think. Therefore, I am." And Deckard (as in Descartes), as part of his police work, gives empathy tests to suspected non-humans. Indeed, who is or is not a human in Scott's futuristic vision is up for grabs. This includes Deckard himself. "How do you know you haven't retired a human by mistake?" Rachael asks him. "Have you ever taken the test yourself?"

In the case of the replicants in Blade Runner, the so-called fusion of machine preciseness is meshed with the matrix of human flesh-but supposedly without the human characteristic of emotions, empathy and so forth. Deckard, who had been indoctrinated into believing that replicants were mere machines, was facing an emotional dilemma because of a stirring of regret (or empathy) when "retiring" the replicant/machines. As we find out in the later 1992 director's cut of Blade Runner, this could be that Deckard, possibly a replicant himself, intuitively identified with them. Or was it simply his humanity emerging from the closet of decayed urbanity that engulfed him?

The central problems in Blade Runner are essentially moral ones, producer Michael Deeley points out. "Should the replicants kill to gain moral life? Should Harrison Ford be killing them simply because they want to exist? These questions begin to tangle up Deckard's thinking...especially when he becomes involved with a female replicant himself."

The ultimate relevance of Blade Runner lies in its challenge of what it must mean to be human. It raises the eternal gnawing doubt as to our own humanity or lack of it. These are the same issues raised by the great religions and philosophies of the past. And it goes to how we respond to the pain of those around us. Do we reach for the one downed by the crushing perplexity of modernity or do we merely pass by, forgetting about that grizzled human lying on the sidewalk who is drowning in the gutter created by the disintegrating and dehumanising post-modern existence?