Blade Runner
Director Ridley Scott has a chilling story to tell, and there is a complex web of allegory and meaning lurking in the background. We are unmistakably in a future time, yet this future world is one we can easily recognize, as it is not so different from our own. As with all good science fiction, futuristic concepts provide the basis for the story, but do not dominate the more universal themes expressed by the film. This is not to say that the special effects of Blade Runner are anything less than stunning, but they serve to flesh out the story, as well as to give us a vision of the future in which this story can take place. This is not the cardboard cutout future of Forbidden Planet, but a world we can almost touch and absolutely believe in. Onto this stage are placed a group of characters who perfectly compliment their environment. The enigmatic characters' actions are seldom clear cut or simple to understand, and are even less certain of the motivations which move these characters. Our protagonist, Deckard, played by Harrison Ford, is not exactly a knight in shining armor. Because of this, it seems that to understand this film we must look past the actions of the characters and focus instead upon th
warmly and without reservation. "I'm surprised you didn't come here sooner." Tyrell comments as Batty enters his church-like quarters. Tyrell in this scene is a perfect symbol of the New Testament God -- slow to anger and quick to forgive, he is happy to throw out the past, and look only at those things which are positive about his children. But Batty is not satisfied to just come into the presence of Tyrell, and he begins to make demands of the man who created him. In the end, Roy is like any other man. He is aware of his own mortality, and looks to Tyrell to give him a new lease on life. When he finds that his pleas to Tyrell are not answered he lashes out and rebukes the man who he had thought of as a savior in the past. This is akin to a man who prays faithfully to Heaven for a release from cancer, and loses faith if his condition does not improve. Upon losing faith, Roy also kills the messenger, Sebastian, thereby paralleling the killing of Jesus by the men of millennia past. After these acts, he returns to the elevator and falls from heaven, returning to the material world. and damnation in Hell?) I have some problems with the theory of Batty-as-Savior, though. For one thing, Batty is a man of violence, while Sebastian is one of peace. For another, Batty gouged out Tyrell's eyes, which makes no sense at all if he is a symbol for Christ and Tyrell is a symbol for God. As a way of understanding these actions, I find it is more reasonable to consider Batty to be a symbol of mankind. By this, I mean that he was created by Tyrell's genius (as man was by God) and was separated from his maker when he was sent off world (expelled from the Garden). Eventually he begins to seek out the one who had made him (as nearly all men quest for God at some point in their lives), and he does "questionable things" in his search for the creator (as many men throughout time have committed heinous crimes in the name of God). Through the help of Sebastian (in this example an obvious Christ symbol) he is
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1349
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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