Phillip Root
Film 301/319
May 15, 2009
Final Prompt 1
Artificial Freedom and Intelligence
When looking towards the future, one must ask the questions of what shall be, or what could be, and with Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982, U.S./UK) the audience is shown a unique perception of a possible future. With the financing of 15 million from Warner Brothers studios (4), Ridley Scott was able to create an incendiary world of fantasy, while maintaining a logistical take on what the future could be. With the basis of the book, “Do Androids dream electric sheep” (5), by Phillip K. Dick, Scott began to craft a tale of the future loosely based upon the text. Looking towards specifically the impact of, “Hyperreality”, and historical context of racism in history, I will also be using another film to help convey my message. Using the film as a way to reflect ideas I will use the film, “The Terminator”, by James Cameron (17), I will explore these two topics in retrospect to each other in certain instances.
Coming off of the enormous success of Aliens, and the mourning over the death of his brother, Ridley Scott began the journey towards creating a film that once again would visually and mentally arrest the viewer (9). Considering the films being made at the time such as, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, by Steven Spielberg (15), and “The Empire Strikes Back”, by George Lucas (16), Scott was given the freedom to create a film with both an exciting visual concept and the capacity for philosophical undertones.
Such evidence is in the way in which Scott establishes humanity within his science fiction films. This humanity was present through his ability to create humanity in his earlier science fiction film Alien, by creating a blue-collar mentality to the characters, or as he called it, “truckers in space”(9). This mentality created an opportunity to service the story in a new and fresh strategy, by allowing the audience to connect to the journey taken by Harrison Ford’s character, Rick Deckard. This is seen through the un-extraordinary attitude that Deckard carries with himself. Also the surroundings that have the feeling of wear and tear give precedence to this connection of the normal, everyday life of a working stiff.
Following the main character of Rick Deckard, the audience is shown the city of Los Angeles in 2019. The world of factories and clashing cultures, crashed together by overpopulation and globalization, created an incredible sense of mise en scene for the picture to convey the image of claustrophobia. With the narrative following the use of a science fiction setting through the use of flying vehicles and larger than imagined architecture, the audience is thus transported. The story focuses on Deckard, a former Blade Runner, which is the label for an assassin of Androids known as Replicants. The main functions of these machines are to work as the slaves for the off-world planets, even though they resemble humans in learning and features. Upon the escape of six replicants, Deckard is once again asked to terminate the problems that exist, and upon his journey he finds love with a female replicant himself, and a deep revelation of what humanity is.
Rob Batty, the head replicant responsible for the exodus, escapes slavery to come to earth to plea for extra life from his creator, Tyrell. This topic of a robot wanting life or even fathoming the concept of life is remarkable due to the time in which the film was made. Considering the original character concept of androids such as Robby in, Forbidden Planet (15), and C-3P0 in, The Empire Strikes Back (16), androids had a structured purpose that dealt with servitude and the role of support to human kind. This perspective on free will and determination for freedom was new territory, and with the murder of Tyrell by the hands of Batty due to his refusal for extended life, the film thus takes on a different viewpoint of what purpose an android has. This exploration of the blurring lines between what is reality and what is not are prevalent in, “Blade Runner”. Nobuyoshi Terashima details this examination of humanity without origin by stating,
“"[Hyperreality] is nothing more than the technological capability to intermix virtual reality (VR) with physical reality (PR) and artificial intelligence (AI) with human intelligence (HI) in a way that appears seamless and allows interaction."(11)
After looking deeply into the film concerning how humanity is blurred, I found another film that correlated this idea as well. “Terminator”, by James Cameron explored this subject as well by showing the main character played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, as a cyborg bent on destruction of Sarah Connor. Though the Terminator looks human, underneath is an exoskeleton that has one purpose of destruction. In “Simulacra and Simulations”, Jean Baudrillard states that hyperreality is showing life without origin or reference (1), and with both, “Terminator”, and “Blade Runner”, this is evident. Both come into existence from a non-human origin, and are breed to serve a singular purpose.
I relate these embodiments of humanity to Joe L. Kincheloe’s observation of how a symbol, such as the restaurant McDonald’s, “golden arches”, represents something but nothing (8). Though the symbol is prevalent and attracts many to the establishment there is nothing behind it, as correlated with the Terminator and the replicants. They symbolize humanity; yet can never fully obtain it, which leaves emptiness to their characters. Even though they are empty symbols, they create anxiety of loss of self. As Judith Roof puts it, the loss of culture and transfer to machine culture adds the risk of all that is known being erased (10).
This subject is very interesting due to the way in which the goals of both the replicants and Terminator feel the need to obtain goals, even though they are not programmed to want or need these things. What captures our attention and breaks the realms of reality are the characteristics that are shown by both cyborg characters. As Forest Pyle writes in, “Making Cyborgs, Making Humans”, the basis of what we believe is reality is made askew by the continuing changing perceptions leading into a tweaked realm. By understanding in the beginning of, “Blade Runner”, that machines are machines, we begin the film with this solid idea, but are morphed throughout the film. From the replicant Rachael and Deckard’s relationship, we the audience let the hyperreality take place to change our perception of what is real, and in essence become confused of what love could be (2).
This is also shown in Terminator by understanding that machines are the destruction of humanity, but as we progress through the film, even more lines are blurred. For example, when both the T-800 and Kyle Reese are brought to the time period of 1984, we have no understanding of who is human and who is not. This reality is changed when the T-800 kills the street punks in the opening of the film and steals their clothes. From that point forward, we comprehend that the machines of the future have been able to replicate human tissue and are cyborgs, with thought and reasoning skills.
The historical context of the film also correlates with the effect of slavery and inferiority. According to Judith Kerman, in her book, “Retrofitting Blade Runner”, “That the replicants are perceived by the police as inferior is made clear by the racial epithet with which they are characterized by Capt. Bryant.”(7) This name used is “skin jobs”(7) and with this term is associated a prejudice connecting with any other racist term degrading person.
An interesting point that arises from this historical angle of the story branches from the anxieties of white America, as the world was beginning to change. With the Civil Rights marches made by Martin Luther King Jr., and the speaking done by Malcolm X, the establishment was being tested. As Robert Barrienger describes the atmosphere of, “Blade Runner” in his article, “Blade Runner, Skinjobs, humans and Racial Coding”,
“Clearly, the dangerous, dark city dominated by nonwhites and both crowded (at street level) and desolate (in Sebastian’s apartment building) marks a middle/ upper class white nightmare, from which those who are able have fled to "a better life" in the off-world colonies. We never see "the better life," but the film's foregrounding of crime, filthy streets, near-constant darkness and rain suggests that the colonies are safe, clean, sunny, and predominantly white” (3)
This fear of being the minority as well as having former structure being broken gave another layer to the landscape of, “Blade Runner”. For, “Blade runner”, the relicants represent change in foundation by breaking the chains of slavery and pleading for life/freedom akin to Martin Luther King pleas. Yet for all the change, the profession of Blade Runners like that of racism hinder the possible changes by cutting the source of growth before conception.
Correlating this to, “Terminator”, I found that as the replicants searched for freedom, the machines in Cameron’s film dissected how racism in American history became normal. In, “Technophobia”, Daniel Dinello explains that through our passive approach towards technologies growth, we accepted the dominance of what it could achieve (6). This connects to racism in America, by being submissive during the fifties to the atrocious acts of segregation. By allowing for this evil to grow it became dominant, as embodied in the, “Terminator”, with technology becoming self-aware.
Looking once again at each of these films allows for inspection into ourselves, as we reflect our problems and phobias. From the loss of humanity to the question of what horrors can occur when we forget thought and reason (racism). These themes transcend the boundaries of what can be achieved when proposing a message of multiple means. After once again exploring these films, I found that after each time incendiary ways in which both artist view the world. Through a camera lens these ideas translate, which makes these two films important in not only science fiction, but in contemporary news in our society.
Works Cited
1. Baudrillard, Jean, and Sheila F. Glaser. Simulacra and Simulation. 15th ed. University of Michigan, 1994.
2. Bell, David, and Barbara M. Kennedy. The cybercultures reader. Routledge, 2000.
3. "Blade Runner" by Robert Barringer." JCsplash. 15 May 2009
4. "Bladerunner - , the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia. 15 May 2009
5. Dick, Philip K.. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. Pg. 112 New York: Signet, 1969.
6. Dinello, Daniel. Technophobia! Science Fiction Visions of Posthuman Technology. New York: University of Texas P, 2006.
7. Kerman, Judith B. Retrofitting Blade Runner Issues in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner and Phillip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? New York: Popular P 3, 1997.
8. Kincheloe, Joe L. The Sign of the Burger McDonald's and the Culture of Power (Labor in Crisis). New York: Temple UP, 2002.
9. "Ridley Scott -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 15 May 2009
10. Roof, Judith. Reproductions of reproduction imaging symbolic change. New York: Routledge, 1996.
11. Tiffin, John. HyperReality Paradigm for the Third Millennium. New York: Routledge, 2001.
12. Alien (Two-Disc Collector's Edition). Dir. Ridley Scott. Perf. Sigourney Weaver. DVD. 20th Century Fox, 1979.
13. Blade Runner (Four-Disc Collector's Edition). Dir. Ridley Scott. Perf. Harrison Ford. DVD. Warner Home Video, 1982.
14. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (30th Anniversary Ultimate Edition). Dir. Steven Spielberg. Perf. Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Teri Garr. Theater viewing. Sony Pictures, 1977.
15. Forbidden Planet. Dir. Fred M. Wilcox. Perf. Leslie Nielsen. DVD. Warner Home Video, 1956.
16. Star Wars, Episode V- The Empire Strikes Back (Widescreen Edition). Dir. Irvin Kershner. Perf. Harrison Ford. Theater viewing. 20th Century Fox, 1982.
17. The Terminator. Dir. James Cameron. Perf. Arnold Schwarzenegger. MGM, 1984.
