Blade Runner

Despite the futuristic setting unique to Blade Runner, the film has followed a similar format to our mid-90's detective stories. We still see a loner detective without much investment in the case, little to no development of the detective's past, and a female interest. What I found unique was the complexity of the antagonists. I found myself, more so than in any of our other stories, empathizing significantly with the androids. Rachael especially facilitates a crossover from human to robot, since she is for almost every purpose a cloned human. She has memories and emotional responses, and though created specifically with flaws, she remains nearly human. It is then a small jump from her to the Nexus6 robots, who rebel against their prescribed role, in order to seek more from life. This is a very human quality, and one often specifically seen in American ideals, such as Manifest Destiny.

Whether one empathizes with the robots, as I have, or condemns them as mere machines, they clearly were a menace in their current form and had to be retired. However, it leads directly to the question of whether such projects should be halted or continued with further caution. Humans are not, by nature, peaceful and obliging. We are bellicose, we are greedy, we are prone to mental disorder and each one is full of minor and major mistakes. I do not know the premise of Blade Runner and whether these android uprisings are common or in a significant minority. It would be foolish to think however, that when creating something approximately human, the 'race' as a whole would not be subject to similar problems such as our own psychopaths and serial killers. It may indeed be that the incidence of these problems is lower in these manufactured, and otherwise perfect, almost-humans. It is thus that I cannot condemn these androids to be unilaterally retired, but rather must empathize with the situation they are in and urge these sci-fi scientists to create a better android.