Frankenstein and Blade Runner

Although written more than 150 years apart from each other, and with very different mediums of
production both Mary Shelleys Frankenstein and Ridley Scotts Blade Runner reflect upon the
societal concerns of their times in order to warn us of the consequences of overstepping our
boundaries and unbridled technological advancement. Subsequently, it becomes evident that
despite their temporal and contextual differences, both texts are in fact linked through their
common concerns and concepts.
Frankenstein was written in 1818 at the height of the industrial revolution. Frankenstein is infused
with some elements of the Gothic novel and the Romantic movement and is also considered to be
one of the earliest examples of science fiction. The story is partially based on Giovanni Aldini's
electrical experiments on dead animals and was also a warning against the expansion of modern
humans in the Industrial Revolution.
Blade Runner, on the other hand was written in 1982 at the beginning of the age of computers. The
movie is set in Los Angeles in 2019 inside a post-modern, post-industrial and post-apocalyptic city.
The world is devoid not only of nature, but children, sunlight and real animals. In the opening
scene, film noir characteristics, such as disoriented visual schemes and heavy reliance of shadows
and rain are used to show the vast yet dwarfed city. This leads us to believe that this city is a result
of past consequences where nature has not just been subjugated, but destroyed. This mirrors a time
where society was fearful that technology was taking over to the detriment of humanity through the
invention of the computer.
The theme of nature and its role on humanity is present throughout both Frankenstein and Blade
Runner. Shelley presents nature as very powerful. Shelley shows natures ability to affect the
monster powerfully and, as it does Victor, humanise him. It has the power to put the humanity back
into man when the unnatural world has stripped him of his moral fiber. The sublime natural world,
embraced by Romanticism as a source of unrestrained emotional experience for the individual,
initially offers characters the possibility of spiritual renewal. When Victor becomes Mired in
depression and remorse he heads to the mountains to lift his spirits. Likewise, after a hellish winter
of cold and abandonment, the monster feels his heart lighten as spring arrives. The influence of
nature and its healing effect is evident throughout the novel, but for Victor, the natural worlds
power to console him wanes when he realizes that the monster will haunt him no matter where he
goes. By the end, as Victor chases the monster obsessively, nature, in the form of the Arctic desert,
functions simply as the symbolic backdrop for his primal struggle against the monster.
This is a stark juxtaposition to how nature is represented in Scotts Blade Runner. Nature has the
opposite effect in the film. Due to Blade Runner being set in an environmental wasteland, instead of
healing, nature like many aspects of the film, is devoid of any sort of humanity. Early in the movie we
see acid rain
Shelley aims to seek the truth of the elementary principles of human nature and supply some
innovative ideas regarding those simple human truths. The allusion is to the age of Romanticism and
the Gothic novel. Romantic novels concern themselves with passion, not reason, and imagination
and intuition, rather than the logical. Gothic novels frequently deal with the supernatural and
remote, far away settings.
Mary Shelley makes full use of themes that were popular during the time she wrote Frankenstein.
She is concerned with the use of knowledge for good or evil purposes, the invasion of technology
into modern life, and the restorative powers of nature in the face of unnatural events.
Shelley questions throughout her novel: "How much learning man can obtain without jeopardizing
himself or others? This is a question that has no clear answer in the novel for the answer is not an
easy one, and Shelley is not clear on her feelings about the use or abuse of technology. The
reanimation of man from the dead is a useful thing to revive people who have died too soon, but
what responsibility must we exercise once we bring people back from the dead? This is a morally
perplexing question. Thus, we are stuck in a dilemma:"How far can we go in raising the dead without
destroying the living?" Shelley seems to conclude that man cannot handle becoming both like God
and a creator without much difficulty.
Since the Industrial Revolution had pervaded all part of European and British society by the time of
her writing, Shelley questions how far the current wave of advances should push the individual in
terms of personal and spiritual growth. She conveys the impression that perhaps the technological
advances made to date rob the soul of growth when man becomes too dependant on technology.
Personal freedom is lost when man is made a slave to machines, instead of machines being
dominated by man. Thus, Victor becomes a lost soul when he tries his ghastly experiments on the
dead and loses his moral compass when he becomes obsessed with animating the dead. Victor's
overindulgence in science takes away his humanity, and he is left with the consequences of these
actions without having reasoned out the reality that his experiments may not have the desired
effects.
Blade Runner is no different, with Scotts reflection of the explosion of technological progress during
the 1980s, including the rise of computing giants IBM and Microsoft, highlighting the dangers of
unrestrained progress. Most notable is the opening panoramic shot of blazing smokestacks which,
together with the haunting synthetic pulses of the Vangelis soundtrack, gives the viewer a kind of
technological overload, adding further to the films nightmarish dystopian tones. Scotts portrayal of
a decaying environment also reflects the growing ecological awareness of the 1980s, which, whilst
different to Shelleys Romantic values, is similarly employed to highlight the destruction of mankind
due to technology.
The Frankenstein monster at the death of Victor Frankenstein goes off to die; as man is no more
immortal without God than with, perhaps Roy cannot exist, perhaps his finite life, that was so
thoughtfully engineered and is so thoughtfully discussed in the scene leading to Tyrells death is a
commentary on the impossibility of super humanity, on reaching too far beyond the origin of the
species. It could also be a commentary on the impossibility of abandoning parentage literally and
figurative; of us abandoning our roots, our identity, and the symbolic wisdom and unattainable
power that God represents.
Scotts warning of the dangers of such a desire is also evident within the expansive shots of 2019 LA,
revealing a dark and tenebrous world lit by the glow of corporate advertisements, a representation
of a bleak future dominated by commercial dominance. Hence, by drawing upon elements of his
context, including the growth of capitalism, and corporate greed Scott positions us to reassess the
consequences of overstepping our boundaries.