Frankenstein and Blade Runner

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Recommended: technology's effect on ethics

The notion of humanity is a picture intricately painted using the ideals and morals that define us as human beings in contextual society. The audience is influenced by the morals and values present through techniques in texts to paint their own image of humanity. Our ideals and morals that differ in texts through context, scrupulously shape our image of humanity

Despite different contexts, both Shelley’s Frankenstein and Scott’s Blade Runner enthrall the audience in a journey to explore the inner psyche through the various perspectives that are drawn.

BR depicts the hunger of mankind to break the barriers of humane principle and intrinsic concepts of nature. The extended irony in the film paradoxically gifts the artificial replicants with more emotions than humans, much like the monster in Frankenstein. Made in 1982 at a time of global de-stabilization, consumerism and a flux of migration, disaffection was a major concern in society, and Scott used this to predict a futuristic environment.

The scene portraying a bright advertisement in a gloomy backdrop epitomizes the scenery void of nature. It urges the audience to adopt Scott’s concept of “de-humanization through a consumer-driven outlook” of contextual society of 2019, provoking interpretations about the concept of humanity while reflecting on our own principles. The dark monolithic pyramid masking Tyrell’s well-lit room shadows the monstrosity in the principles of the Tyrell Corporation. Through “immortal themes of cheating death and controlling emotions”, the audience receives insight to the monstrosity being developed within humane society, much like F, where Victor banishes his own creation.

In the scene where Roy Batty finally confronts Dr.Tyrell in a quest f...

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.... However, unlike the humane approach portrayed by the monster, Batty kills his creator in an outburst of his “inner replicant self”. Despite contextual difference, the texts target the hunger of man trying to play God. It is the method of creating such experiments that is questioned through the use of language and film techniques. BR abides the concept of “post-modern Prometheus”, whereby technology has taken over humanity. F is a re-contextualization of the “modern Prometheus”, paralleling the Titans’ classical myth from the gospel.

The ideals and morals evident through techniques in both texts are consistent, despite their context. Thus through the texts, it is our ideals and morals that shape our image of humanity. Both texts highlight important facets of human nature in relation to context and its values, urging the audience to reflect on their own morals.

Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley and Metropolis, by Fritz Lang
1922 Words | 4 Pages
Literature and film have always held a strange relationship with the idea of technological progress. On one hand, with the advent of the printing press and the refinements of motion picture technology that are continuing to this day, both literature and film owe a great deal of their success to the technological advancements that bring them to widespread audiences. Yet certain films and works of literature have also never shied away from portraying the dangers that a lust for such progress can bring with it. The modern output of science-fiction novels and films found its genesis in speculative ponderings on the effect such progress could hold for the every day population, and just as often as not those speculations were damning. Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein and Fritz Lang's silent film Metropolis are two such works that hold great importance in the overall canon of science-fiction in that they are both seen as the first of their kind. It is often said that Mary Shelley, with her authorship of Frankenstein, gave birth to the science-fiction novel, breathing it into life as Frankenstein does his monster, and Lang's Metropolis is certainly a candidate for the first genuine science-fiction film (though a case can be made for Georges Méliès' 1902 film Le Voyage Dans la Lune, his film was barely fifteen minutes long whereas Lang's film, with its near three-hour original length and its blending of both ideas and stunning visuals, is much closer to what we now consider a modern science-fiction film). Yet though both works are separated by the medium with which they're presented, not to mention a period of over two-hundred years between their respective releases, they present a shared warning about the dangers that man's need fo...
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1172 Words | 3 Pages
“Frankenstein”, otherwise known as the “Modern Prometheus” explores the prominent theme of scientific progression and the transgression of science threatening religion in the post-Augustan age where society valued the power of the imagination and the spirit. Allusions to Coleridge works such as “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” act as an effective tool to re-iterate many Romantic values. Also, Shelley alludes to Galvani’s experimentations in the late 18th century to mirror that of Victor’s “infused spark of being” into a “monster of hideous proportions”. Shelley utilizes a framing device to parallel the expeditions of Walton to the trials of Victor through the use of Walton’s opening letters. Both men share an ambitious desire to achieve brilliance and fame such as to “discover the power of the needle…tread a la...
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Young Frankenstein and One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest
1401 Words | 3 Pages
The films Young Frankenstein and One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest can be viewed as a critical analysis of society’s issues and dysfunctions in the form of satire and parody using humor. While Young Frankenstein, Mel Brooks cinematic version of the gothic novel, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, uses parody in the form of Horatian satire, which is achieved through gentle ridicule and using a tone that is indulgent, tolerant, amused and witty. The film One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the adaptation of the Ken Kesey novel, uses a form of satire called Juvenalian satire which is demonstrated in the form of attacks on vice and error with contempt and indignation. Horatian satire will produce a humor response from the reader instead of anger or indignation as Juvenalian satire. Juvenalian satire, in its realism and its harshness, is in strong contrast to Horatian satire (Kent and Drury).
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A Comparison Of The Blade Runner And Mary Shelley's Frankenstein And Blade Runner
839 Words | 2 Pages
The characterisation of characters in texts are a reflection of the composers societal values and zeitgest of their time. The comparison of Mary Shelley’s 1818 gothic novel Frankenstein and Ridley Scott’s 1992 science fiction film Blade Runner accentuate the mutable societal values and human identity. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley challenges aspects of the Enlightenment era seeking knowledge, scientism and rationalism. Ridley Scott explores in Blade Runner the effects of corporatism and industrialisation. Although the texts show a difference in societal values, both explore similar aspects of humanity to show that human nature is perpetual regardless of context.
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688 Words | 2 Pages
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Frankenstein and Blade Runner
1133 Words | 3 Pages
Humans have an intrinsic fascination with contravening the innate tenets of existence, as the proclivity of the human condition to surpass our natural world leads to destruction. This inherent desire of man to augment our knowledge through conquering science and the secrets of life has transcended time, denoting literature premising the corruption of humanity. These pieces are reflected in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Ridley Scott’s film Blade runner, perpetuating this assertion that man’s unnatural desires of deducing reality are precarious. Thus both composers postulate a grim future arising from man’s predilection of aberrant behaviour, as commonalities reinforce this desires opportunity to cause destruction. Paranormal creation and humanities emotive detachment are explored in both pieces, as their respective context has shaped conceptualisations of man’s desires which lead to destruction.
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Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus
622 Words | 2 Pages
Gaining inspiration from Ancient Greek Mythology, Mary Shelley published a classic gothic science fiction novel, known informally as Frankenstein. In Ancient Greek folklore, Prometheus is said to be the wisest of all the Gods. In the form of fire, he has been praised for bringing forth knowledge and enlightenment to mankind. The history of Prometheus’ fate is depicted throughout the text. Victor Frankenstein, whom upon years of study and fascination of natural philosophy and chemistry, discovers the secret of life, just as Prometheus once discovered the secret of fire (in many cultures, fire is a portrayal of energy and life), which makes a direct link to the relations of Prometheus and Victor. Armed with the knowledge he has long been seeking, Victor secludes himself in an apartment and begins to fashion a creature out of old body parts....
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1591 Words | 4 Pages
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1354 Words | 3 Pages
Sympathy for the Devil is a concept most people of lesser intelligence cannot comprehend. Sympathy should be the first thing one thinks when the primary character in Frankenstein, the unnamed result of Victor Frankenstein’s laborious task in the opening chapters of the novel, is mentioned. The “monster”, we shall call him, came into the world as innocent as a newborn babe; he had neither been corrupted by the wickedness of man, nor tainted by the animalistic savagery of nature. When the monster realizes the inherent destitution of the elementary components of human happiness he has been brought into the world with, his disposition is corrupted. It is because of his lack of the love of a family, the security of belonging, and a creator watching over him that he is driven to a bitter perspective towards his existence. Sympathy is warranted towards the monster’s plight, as any rational being can understand the misery of a creature in such miserable circumstances. The monster deserves our sympathy because he is a victim of circumstance.
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1034 Words | 3 Pages
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Metropolis, by Fritz Lang and Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
982 Words | 2 Pages
... mind can think of any progressive idea, and the hands can toil to make those ideas reality, but the heart must step back and ask “is this necessary?” Shelley and Lang seem to agree that progress can, indeed, be a good thing. Even after all he's been through Frankenstein still urges others to “be men, or be more than men! Be steady to your purposes and firm as a rock.” (Shelley, p. 292), and Lang was surely aware that without the marvels of technological progress his visual spectacular would have never graced the screen. However Shelley and Lang, in their works, warn of the dangers of not thinking progress through, of not asking “should we do this?” in lieu of “can we do this?”, and they warn readers and viewers alike that sometimes it's better, like Captain Robert Walton, to witness the perilous end of your journey from afar and to return home to safety instead.
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1116 Words | 3 Pages
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1211 Words | 3 Pages
The reason human universals are so powerful when examining humanity is because we all understand them. These concepts hold true for each individual so it makes it easy to compare one person’s character to another via these ideals. The reader compares characters based on the present human universals and in turn allows them to examine their own humanity. The identity of species through humanity allows the human race to construct ethical and moral codes as explored in crime and punishment and in the world as a
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1543 Words | 4 Pages
Donna Haraway says, "The cyborg is our ontology...The machine is us." Frankenstein's monster, the replicants, and Star Trek's Borg each is analogous to the monster within a subconscious or unrealized level within modern reality. The unconscious needs of modern technology, the uncertain amount of genetic programming within us, and the unknown about the human's unconscious mind are all objectives explored in the allegorical genre of science fiction as we explore the monster within.
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Frankenstein and Blade Runner

Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley and Metropolis, by Fritz Lang

Scientific Progression in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and the Film, Blade Runner

Young Frankenstein and One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest

A Comparison Of The Blade Runner And Mary Shelley's Frankenstein And Blade Runner