Many years after its release, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner has become one of the most analyzed and debated science fiction films ever produced. The film was a failure during its initial release in 1982, the reviews were negative and it wasn’t even close to being a box office hit; however, after the director’s cut release in 1992 Blade Runner had a rebirth and it became a highly respected science fiction film. Ridley Scott’s inspiration to produce Blade Runner came from Philip K. Dick’s 1969 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Although the screen writers for Blade Runner mostly just took the main character from Dick’s novel, they added certain key topics that kept a relationship between the two. At the film’s premier Harrison Ford said, “It's a film about whether you can have a meaningful relationship with your toaster.”[1] Despite Ford’s reference the film is very sophisticated in respect its visionary portrayal of the consequences of technology on humanity. A central ethical question that Blade Runner raises as well as in many other popular science fiction novels and films is what the boundaries of humanity are? Blade Runner’s answer is that humanity can expand to occupy many forms and human nature reached the point where genetic engineering, human biology, and digital technology are now an important part of society.
In Philip K. Dick’s time science fiction writers that rose to fame in the 1950’s were concerned with the physics of science while Dick was more concerned about the metaphysic of it. One of the most important ideas transferred over from Dick’s novel to Blade Runner is “the problematic nature of the human being and the difficult task of being human.”[2] The film’s themes of gene...
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..., History and Memories Join Together from The People History Site. Web. .
[9] "1980s History including Popular Culture, Prices, Events, Technology and Inventions." Where People, History and Memories Join Together from The People History Site. Web. .
[10] Senior, W. A. Blade Runner and Cyberpunk Visions of Humanity." Film Criticism V21 (Fall 1996): 1-12
[11] "1970s History including Popular Culture, Prices, Events, Technology and Inventions." Where People, History and Memories Join Together from The People History Site. Web. .
[12] Slade, Joseph W. "Romanticizing Cybernetics in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner." Literature Film Quarterly 18.1 (Jan 1990): 2-64
[13] Slade, Joseph W. "Romanticizing Cybernetics in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner." Literature Film Quarterly 18.1 (Jan 1990): 2-64
Blade Runner and New Brave World's Perspective's on Humanity Ridley Scott’s film “Blade Runner: Director’s Cut” and Aldous Huxley’s
The plot of the movie “Blade Runner” becomes unrevealed till the end of the movie. Many assumptions about the plot and the final of the movie appear in the spectator’s mind, but not one of these assumptions lasts long. Numerous deceptions in the plot grip the interest of the audience and contribute for the continuing interest to the movie eighteen years after its creation. The main character in the movie is Deckard- the Blade Runner. He is called for a special mission after his retirement, to “air up” four replicants who have shown flaws and have killed people. There are many arguments and deceptions in the plot that reveal the possibility Deckard to be a replicant. Roy is the other leading character of the movie. He appears to be the leader of the replicants- the strongest and the smartest. Roy kills his creator Tyrell. The effect of his actions fulfils the expectation of the spectator for a ruthless machine.
Grosvenor Jr., Charles R. “In the 80s.” Glossary of Eighties Terms. In the 80s, 1995-2012.
Another aspect of the movie “Bladerunner” is of those that broke away from the system. The “Nexus 6” were androids that developed emotions and escaped from slavery, because they wanted to live longer. Roy and Priss are good examples of androids showing that they have emotions. They were manipulative, passionate for what they wanted, and even had loving sides. Roy was the leader of the “Nexus 6” and Priss was his girlfriend
Welcome to the year 2019. In a futuristic world the Tyrell Corporation has given life to replicants, robots that are genetically programmed to be identical to humans. Blade Runner was released in 1982, and was directed by Ridley Scott, who is also well known for directing Alien in 1979. The science fiction thriller stars Harrison Ford and Sean Young. The film was nominated for two Oscars, including Best Visual Effects and Best Art Direction. Blade Runner is a 1982 neo-noir that exemplifies strong storytelling and cinematic techniques. Today, a considerable amount of Blade Runner’s success has been because of its production design, portraying a modified future, and being a dominant film in the neo-noir genre. Harrison Ford plays Rick Deckard, the protagonist of the film. Deckard is a morally unstable retired bounty hunter, also known as “Blade Runner” who hunts illegal replicants. Rachael is an experiment by the Tyrell Corporation to create a more realistic replicant by constructing fake memories to provide a base for emotional responses. Due to the superior artificial replicants being both physically and mentally better than humans the government has calculated they are an insecurity to society. In the year 2019, replicants are illegal and do not have the freedom enjoyed by humans. The specialized “Blade Runner” police unit was brought into being to accurately identify and “retire” or kill replicants.
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction film written and directed by The Wachowskis, starring Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne. It tells a story of a future in which reality to most humans is actually a computer program called "the Matrix”. In "the Matrix” humans are really sleep while their bodies are fed on my machines. The movie while directed to entertain audiences but also gave us many insights into philosophy. Many scenes in this movie reflect Descartes, and his many writings explaining them in a visual manner. In this paper I will show various examples of philosophy within the scenes and give commentary explaining each scene.
When Cassius persuades Brutus to join the conspirators to kill Caesar, Brutus honestly believes that by joining the conspirators, he will prevent the citizens of Rome from tyranny.“Not that I loved Caesar less but that I loved Rome more”(III, ii, 21-22). Brutus never questions Cassius’ accusations of Caesar, and Brutus misjudges Cassius and looks past the true devious intentions of the lead conspirator. Because of Brutus’ faith and trust in Cassius, he kills Caesar and becomes overwhelmed with the guilt of the murder. This guilt and dishonor leads Brutus to his downfall, and Brutus kills himself. This same trait is also observed when Brutus interacts with Antony before the funeral. Brutus allows Antony to speak at the funeral simply because of Antony vowing to not say anything against the conspirators while speaking in front of the crowd. Brutus oversees the obvious risks that come with allowing Antony to speak in front of the plebeians, and seems blind to the manipulative and deceiving brain of Antony. At the funeral, Antony does the exact opposite of what he promised he would do and speaks against the conspirators and successfully turns the Romans against Brutus and his group. Because of Brutus’ trusting nature towards Antony, a war breaks out between the conspirators and Antony and his soldiers, an event that could have been easily prevented if Brutus did not possess such a trustworthy nature. Brutus’ tragic flaw of trustworthiness in Cassius and Antony leads to his downfall and eventually his
He never abandoned his honorable ways and he wanted to keep them in his cause. For example, he objected to any unnecessary killing. When the murder of Antony is first suggested by a conspirator, Brutus says, “Let’s be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius.” (2.1.179). This shows that Brutus wants the bare minimum of cruelty in his cause. He doesn’t want to be harsh killers, but noblemen, only doing what must be done. This ties back into his belief that his cause is necessary and noble. Also, when Antony goes to the capital with the thought he’ll be killed, Brutus tells him, ““O Antony, beg not your death of us! Though now we must appear bloody and cruel, as by our hands and this our present act you see we do, yet see you but our hands and this the bleeding business they have done. Our hearts you see not; they are pitiful; and pity to the general wrong of Rome (as fire drives out fire, so pity pity) hath done this deed on Caesar.” (3.1.180-188). He is saying that they will spare Antony because they’re not nearly as cruel as they appear. Brutus is again expressing that the conspirators’ deed was crucial to Rome. In addition not wanting unnecessary blood during the killing of Caesar, Brutus maintained these honorable practices far after Caesar was killed. When they are battling Antony and his forces, Brutus stands against immoral behavior in his army, such as bribery. When
When Cassius attempts to persuade Brutus that killing Caesar is good for Rome, he flatters Brutus by mentioning, “Why should that name be sounded more than yours?” Cassius asks this to Brutus to convince him that Caesar is not a greater man in Act 2, Scene 1. He later tells Brutus how he has ancestors that would save Rome from someone who believes they could control all of Rome similar to Caesar. This is a flaw of Brutus as he then thinks about Cassius’ words afterwards in which he makes the final decision to follow the conspirators. After killing Caesar, Brutus makes the mistake of trusting Antony to make a funeral speech. In Antony’s speech that follows up after Brutus’, he says, “They who have done this deed is honorable” multiple times in order to get a repetition for the Romans to get the hint in Act 3, Scene 2. This demonstrate how Brutus did not think about how Antony is capable of making them look bad when he agreed to allow Antony to say something. This is a fault because the Romans see the conspirators as bad after
Brutus did not take time to think about Cassius’s suggestion before deciding against it. This decision will hurt the conspirators later, but Brutus did not think about what could happen. These decisions to not listen to his friends prove Brutus is disrespectful and therefore
In his apostrophe, Cassius admits, “Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet I see / [t]hy honorable metal may be wrought / [f]rom that it is dispos[e]d” (1.2.306-8), showing that he can see that Brutus is noble, but also that Brutus can be manipulated. Cassius can tell that he will be able to use Brutus’s patriotism and honor against him by convincing him that Julius Caesar’s death is best for Rome. Brutus loves his country above all else; his patriotism can be easily exploited. When Antony asks if he can speak at Caesar’s funeral, Brutus agrees, but adds, “You shall not in your funeral speech blame us, / [b]ut speak all good you can devise of Caesar / [a]nd say you do [i]t by our permission” (3.1.245-7). Brutus assumes that if he sets requirements for Antony, Antony will obey because Brutus is so innocent that he expects everyone to be as honorable as he is. Brutus believes that Antony will follow the guidelines he has set, showing that his naivety makes him too trusting; his kindness, which would be a good choice in general, is a fatal choice in politics. The innocence Brutus displays shows his fellow politicians how his strengths can be turned against him, which proves that he will not make an acceptable
...be, as the Tyrell Corporation advertises, “more human than human.” Ridley Scott uses eye imagery to juxtapose the tremendous emotion of the replicants with the soullessness of the future’s humans. By doing so, Scott demonstrates that our emotions and yearning for life are the characteristics that fundamentally make us human, and that in his vision of our dystopian future, we will lose these distinctly human characteristics. We are ultimately losing the emotion and will to live that makes us human, consequently making us the mechanistic, soulless creatures of Scott’s dystopia. Blade Runner’s eye motif helps us understand the loss of humanness that our society is heading towards. In addition, the motif represents Ridley Scott’s call to action for us to hold onto our fundamental human characteristics in order to prevent the emergence of the film’s dystopian future.
Brutus was one of many Romans with noble bloodlines. Although Brutus was noble, he never used it to get ahead. There are many times when Brutus could have used the fact that he is truly noble but he didn’t. Many people argue that a noble man wouldn’t have killed Caesar. In some ways that is true, but Brutus’ case was different. A noble man would only for the good of others and that is what Brutus did. He killed Caesar because 7he was afraid of how powerful he could become. Even then he had a hard time doing it, and that is what separates Brutus from the other conspirators. Every other conspirator had little or no reason to kill Caesar. Brutus was willing to do anything for Rome. During his speech about Caesar’s murder Brutus stated “I have the same dagger for myself when it shall please my country to need my death” (III.ii.45-46). This shows how Caesar, this is my answer: not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more” (III.ii.20-22). He was too passionate about his country to let Caesar turn it into a dictatorship. Mark Antony and Octavius recognized that Brutus was the one noble roman. In his final speech mark Antony said “This was the noblest roman of them all. / All the conspirators save only he/ Did that they did i...
Blade Runner is exemplified as a dystopia that predicts a future city that sustains corporate capitalism’s worst features, such as urban decay, extreme gaps between wealth and poverty, and authoritative police work. The film depicts an urban city that, due to capitalism, coalesced into a polluted, overpopulated city controlled by monopolies.
much more pleasant. When everything seems to go your way it may be hard to make