A Comparison Between |
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All of the following references are taken from: Shelley, M.
(1969). Frankenstein (12th ed.). Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Many similarities can be found between Mary Shelley's 1816
novel, Frankenstein and the 1982 movie Bladerunner
. The number of similarities between these two works,
created more than two hundred years apart, is staggering. A
cursory look at both works reveals these similarities:
- Both stories feature a very intelligent person trying
to play God through the creation of life.
- Both of the
creatures were subsequently mistreated by their maker and
society as a whole.
- In both stories, the audience is left
feeling greater sympathy for the monster than for the creator.
Both stories contain a very intelligent creator who seems
unaware of the forces that they are dealing with. They are both
fascinated with human life and wish to create it themselves.
Victor Frankenstein states, "One of the phenomena which had
peculiarly attracted my attention was the structure of the human
frame, and, indeed, any animal endued with life. Whence, I
often asked myself did the principle of life proceed?"(pg. 51)
Both creators share a fascination with where life proceeds
from. Is it merely intellect? Or, as in the case of
Bladerunner, are emotions the defining element of human life.
Both creators are expressly interested in creating a life form
equal to human and Tyrell even wishes to create a life form
superior to man.
Both stories share a central theme, that the acquirement too
much knowledge is dangerous. Throughout Frankenstein, the
reader is left with the feeling that Victor's obsessive desire
to defeat nature, through the creation of another life,
directly led to the many tragedies that befell him, "Learn from
me, if not by my precept, at least by my example, how dangerous
is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man
is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who
aspires to become greater than his nature will allow." (pg 54)
In Bladerunner, the Replicants have been granted an intellect
superior to their human counterparts. Are the Replicants
revered or given special treatment because of this? No, in
fact, they are treated as slaves and hunted down when they
return to the birthplace of the human race.
Both creators are faced with limited
tools in which to create their new lifeforms, "...but my
imagination was too much exalted by my first success to permit
me to doubt of my ability to give life to an animal as complex
and wonderful as man. The materials at present within my
command hardly appeared adequate to so arduous an
undertaking..." (pg 53). This lack of materials causes both
creations to suffer with characteristics that make them very
different from the rest of humanity. Frankenstein's monster's
image was very disgusting, "...and I had selected his features
as beautiful. Beautiful! -Great God! His yellow skin scarcely
covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was
of a lustrous black, and flowing; ...only formed a more horrid
contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same
colour as the dun white sockets in which they were set, his
shriveled complexion and black lips" (pg 57), while Tyrell's
replicants are without the ability to feel empathy, and have a
four year life span. These
differences force the creatures to confront those that created them.
Frankenstein's confrontation
occurs high atop a huge glacier, "As I said this, I suddenly
beheld the figure of a man, at some distance, advancing towards
me with superhuman speed. He bounded over the crevices in the
ice, among which I had walked with caution...and I felt a
faintness seize me; but I was quickly restored by the cold gale
of the mountains. I perceived, as the shape came nearer that
it was the wretch whom I had created." (pg 98) While Roy's
confrontation with Tyrell occurs high atop a huge building that
appears to be a high tech mountain in it's own right.
During these
confrontations both monsters request
their creator to correct the flaw that has driven them to cause
so much death and despair, "Do your duty towards me, and I will
do mine towards you and the rest of mankind. If you will comply
with my conditions, I will leave them and you at peace; but if
you refuse, I will glut the maw of death..." (pg 99)
The misfortunes of their creation has caused these monsters to
do horrible deeds that noone can be proud of, "'And do you
dream?' said the daemon; 'do you think that I was then dead to
agony and remorse?-He,' he continued, pointing to the corpse,
'he suffered not in the consummation of the deed-oh! not the
ten-thousandth portion of the anguish that was mine during the
lingering detail of its execution." (pg 219). Roy expresses to Tyrell that he has done
undesirable things during his life that were caused because of
his desire to live longer than his allotted four years.
Both monsters express their longing to remain alive. Even
though life has not been fair to them and fait dealt them a
cruel hand, these creatures still cling to life dearly,
"Life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish, is
dear to me, and I will defend it.." (pg 100)
Lastly both Frankenstein's monster and Roy Baty state what it
means to be a slave, one to his envy and rage, and the other to
a human race that spurns him. "..but I was the slave, not the master, of an impulse, which I
detested, yet could not disobey...Evil thence forth
became my good."
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