Bladerunner: Science Fiction with an Angle
Bladerunner is a science fiction film that is focused on the human struggle for identity.
While Bladerunner is science fiction, the movie is also a means of communicating
complex ideas, such as "What defines the human?" A science fiction movie that attempts to
convey such messages to the audience needs to fulfill certain criteria to be effective.
One of the most important components of a science fiction film is that
it is grounded in technology and techonology's effect on the future. Technology is essential
for a science fiction movie because it is an integral part of the "science" in science fiction.
Bladerunner fulfills this criterion because technology is a fundamental aspect of the plot.
The main characters in Bladerunner are Replicants, products of advanced technology. The
problems that arise from this technology are the focus of the film's action.
Technology has made the Replicants so similar to humans that the even Bladerunners
like Deckard, who are hired to kill Replicants, have a hard time distinguishing them from humans.
It takes a complex analysis of verbal responses and bio-feedback using the Voight-Kampff machine,
also created by technology, to make the distinction between the artificial life and the human.
Technology has not only created the problem of the Replicants, but it is also used to
eliminate them. For example, Deckard uses a voice controlled machine to zoom in and focus on the
indistinct background of a picture he found in a Replicant's apartment. He contacts Racheal using
a telephone that has a screen to allow the users to see each other.
Creating the illusion of Bladerunner's advanced technology is aided through the use of
special effects
which are the second criteria for a good science fiction movie.