A Comparison of the Themes of Blade Runner and Brave New World

A Comparison of the Themes of Blade Runner and Brave New World

‘Humanity likes to think of itself as more sophisticated than the wild

yet it cannot really escape its need for the natural world’

Despite different contexts both Aldous Huxley within his book Brave

New World and Ridley Scott in the film Blade Runner explore the idea

that humans feel themselves more sophisticated than the natural world,

yet are able to completely sever relations between humanity and the

nature. Through various techniques both texts warn their varied

audiences of the negative ramifications that will come from such

disdainful, careless opinions and actions.

All aspects of the ‘New State’ within Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New

World indicate a belief that humanity is more sophisticated than the

wild. Huxley’s continuous use of fake scientific jargon, while setting

up his science fiction genre, also allows his characters and their

actions to appear intelligent. Words such as “bokanovskified” serve

the purpose of describing how science has replaced the natural process

of reproduction. This implies that there is a general feeling in the

‘New State’ that the people, particularly those at the head of the

social hierarchy, feel that humans, aided by science, are more

sophisticated than the wild.

While this may be so Huxley makes it clear that the members of this

new world are unable to escape nature’s rhythms. At various points

through out the book different characters make reference to needing a

“pregnancy surrogacy”. This indicates to the audience that, although

natural reproduction has been replaced by science, the instincts of a

woman...

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...e audience is presented with a voight-kampft test. Dark lighting, a

smoky, shadowy room with a low swinging fan and a jaded detective

institute the film noire aspect of the plot. This plays the purpose of

indicating a further isolation from the natural world. Such controlled

environments provide examples of humanities belief that it is more

sophisticated and indeed more powerful than the wild.

Despite being written some fifty years apart both Brave New World By

Aldous Huxley and Blade Runner Directed by Ridley Scott present the

same message. Both texts argue that with advancing technology humanity

feels itself more sophisticated and more powerful than the natural

rhythms of the world. However, at the same time aspects represented in

each text point out that Humanity can never be completely isolated

from nature.