Reversal of Hero and Villain in Bladerunner




According to the Bladerunner discussion forum found on Daniel Anderson's web page (www.en.utexas.edu/cgi-bin/forum/anderson.309m.blade), a requirement for an excellent science-fiction film is the use of the classic battle of good versus evil. In order to make this battle persuasive to the audience, the villain must be considered a vile person who would not hesitate slaughtering an entire planet to make a point. A classic example of the science fiction good versus evil theme is the Star Wars saga. In Star Wars the audience knows from the beginning who the totally evil character is going to be, Darth Vader. From the all black costume to the, menacing hiss rasp of his breathing, the audience can at once determine that this is a person not to cut off on the interstate. The movie Bladerunner does not allow the audience to come to this distinction. Near the end of the movie, I felt saddened by the demise of Roy Baty and experienced a large amount of pity for this poor soul. Why was this so?

From the beginning of the movie, the motives of the main "hero" are brought into question. From Deckard's opening lines he casts himself as a killer, not as a hero. Further into the movie Deckard's boss, Bryant, refers to the Replicants as "skin jobs". Deckard goes on to state that in our time a person such as Bryant would be known as a racist. In our day and time Policemen who are found to be racist are not considered heroes, instead they are scorned and sent to jail. A case to illustrate this would be Mark Fuhrman, an undeniable racist person, who might have single handedly destroyed the prosecution's case against OJ Simpson. I know of noone who looks up to or admires people like Mark Fuhrman or the policemen who beat Rodney King. Instead, these people are either on leave of absence or serving time in jail. For the character of Bryant to be characterized in this manner allows the viewer to subconsciously develop a bias against him.
In order to feel some attachment to the hero of a story, the viewer must feel some sort of connection to them. In Bladerunner most of the sympathy and connection is attached to the Replicants. The reason these Replicants braved the danger of returning to Earth was to find some way to lengthen their lifespan Who among us cannot sympathize with this? Many of the pursuits we human's take are to lengthen our lifespan. A person only needs to look at the scientific fields to see this. Now that man has eliminated most of the diseases that strike us down in early life, we are looking at ways to eliminate diseases that our grandparents never even considered. Also, the literary field is filled with people trying to attain immortality. If someone writes a book, that creation will live forever in the hearts and minds of all those who read it. The continued life of this work allows a little bit of the author to be sustained as long as people read and remember his thoughts and ideas. So, who among us cannot feel saddened hearing Roy's final words right before his demise.
The use of the Voigt-Kampff empathy test for Replicants is used in order to destroy the audiences sympathy toward the androids. A number of tests could have been included in the plot to test for the presence of androids. Why not include a tracer into the design of the androids? Or why not use a brain-wave scanner tolocate the brain waves given off by a super-human intelligence? Out of any other test that could have been conceived, a test for the presence of empathy was used. How can a person feel sympathetic and empathy for a being that is not able to return these emotions? It becomes a barrier that the audience must overcome in order to develop a bond with the Replicants. But, if the viewer will notice, the empathy test is never used on Roy Baty or on Rick Deckard. I believe this could be due in part that Roy would have shown an empathetic response on the test and Deckard would have shown little to none. Throughout the movie, Roy exhibits a concern for both the other Replicants and for his antagonist, Deckard. During a conversation with Sebastion, Roy inquires about who may be able to help them extend their life. And, near the end of the movie Roy saves the life of the person who has hunted and tormented him during the entire movie. Deckard cannot believe that Roy has saved his life and reflects on why he did.
This level of compassion for other beings would seem to constitute a certain amount of empathy for other creatures. In using the Voigt-Kampff test to detect for Replicants, it is apparent that Roy would have a very good chance at being "human". Rick Deckard, on the other hand, at times expresses an utter lack of empathy for the Replicants, but, this is to be expected from a society that considers Replicants to be sub-human. The ability to be more empathetic toward an animal then toward a biological machine that is almost human still seems barbaric. According to the book, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick, most of the world's animals have become extinct due to a nuclear war. Because of this, any animal still surviving is considered very valuable and is provided the utmost care. Throughout the movie, Deckard expresses little sympathy for the plight of his quarry.
Also, from the book DADoES Deckard states, "Empathy, he once decided, must be limited to herbivores or anyhow omnivores who could depart from a meat diet. Because, ultimately, the emphatic gift blurred the boundaries between hunter and victim, between the successful and the defeated." (Dick, P. K. (1968). Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. New York: Ballantine Books. This statement is important because it gives a clue that the androids being hunted and killed are the ones that possess empathy and not the ones hunting. In order for the hunter to be successful he must be able to shut down the empathy felt for his prey.
One last source of sympathy between the audience and Roy's plight is the fact that all of these androids are seeking escape from slavery. Roy expresses to Deckard what it feel like to be a slave. To live in fear is Roy's description of the life of a slave. It's not hard to hope that the androids might somehow avoid "retirement" from slavery.
From a close inspection of Bladerunner it can be seen how the director used an odd yet successful technique to uniquely shift hero-villian status between the two main characters of the story. Blatantly showing the good and evil side at the beginning of this movie would have been a mistake. A movie of this type requires a person to sit down and think before all of the nuances of it become apparent. That is what has made this movie a classic.

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Questions or Comments? E-mail Tim Josey hozer@mail.utexas.edu