Plot in Blade Runner

This portion of the text will aim at discussing the three aspects of good plot, as outlined in There are several basic struggles throughout the movie, but the most obvious was Deckard vs.the replicants. The premise in the story is that Deckard is a Blade Runner and his job is to retire replicants, but if the conflict was just that, then Blade Runner would be just another Science Fiction movie. What makes the movie exceptional is that Deckard begins to question the validity of his profession, and the moral implications of killing replicants. This inner conflict draws the audience in to the movie, and actually requires the audience to think and even pass judgement. A movie goer is not able to simply stand by and passively watch Blader Runner; he/she is drawn in to the movie and is subconsciousy forced to take sides and determine who is the true villian, and is it right to kill Rachel and the other replicants.

In my opinion Dr. Tyrell is actually the true villian. When Roy, Rutger Hauer's, character confronts Tyrell in his room, Tyrell patronizes Roy and is shown as deceitful. This portrayal of Tyrell as a lunatic genius is compounded in his intoduction to Deckard. Tyrell uses Rachel as a pawn, by subjecting her to the tests of Deckard, and then admits that she is oblivious to her true identity.
The shear fact that there is a dispute over who is the true villian and what is the right course of action proves that the conflict in Blade Runner is so strong and dynamic, that the viewer is forced to make his own conclusions.

  • Realism,

    Blade Runner does not seem to be farfetched or fantasy-like due to it's basis in the science and technology of the present and the presentation of familiar objects in the sets. For example, the existence of the replicants themselves would seem far-fetched and absurd in less developed movies, but Ridley Scott convinces the audiece of the possibility of such beings through the discusssion of their creation. Scott shows the man who makes the eyes of the replicants, he shows a discussion of their basic brain function, and shows Tyrell discussing the basis for memory implants, all of which gives the viewer reasons to believe that replicants could exist.
    Also Ridley Scott's set contains many billboards and other memorabilia that exist in the present. For example, by showing a large Coca-Cola billboard in several outdoor scenes, Scott gives the viewer something to grasp in the present. It allows a person watching the movie to believe that the movie is a portrayal of the future and that we are heading towards a reality of replicants and other worlds.

  • Symbolism,

    Ridley Scott, in the creation of Dr. Tyrell, defines a character symbolically representing a detached god. Tyrell creates replicants that are set free on society only to be restrained through their inevitable death. This is similar to many people's view of God, as a creator who just watches his creations in society, only to pull the strings on their death at some point in the future. This parallel of Tyrell as God could be taken even further to include Roy's meeting as judgement day. Roy meets his maker and questions his existence and the possibility of prolonged life, just as man would like to question his God on the fundamental questions of life. Also Tyrell judges Roy's life as full and enterprising which is definitely likened to the Christain viewpoint of judgement at the end of one's life.

    Furthermore, if Tyrell is the creator then Deckard is the Grim Reaper, or death itself. In many religious beliefs there is a divinity likened to death that terminates peoples lives for the Creator. Obviously Deckard would satisfy this requirement, for he is killing for Tyrell.
    The strong symbolic reference of Tyrell as God heightens the strory by taking it to another level, and enhancing the plot through stonger characterizations and development.

    Home