Analyse how Frankenstein and Blade Runner imaginatively portray individuals who challenge the established values of their time. Mary Shelley’s epistolary Novel Frankenstein and Ridley Scott’s pastiche film, Blade Runner both express the contextual concerns of the post-industrial and post-modern eras respectively. Shelley’s novel operates as a Gothic expression of the conflicting values of the romantic and enlightenment eras, whereas Scott’s film acts as a predicted response to disillusion of boundaries of the post-modern period. Both composers, however imaginatively portray individuals who challenge the established values of their time, in accordance with the values and attitudes of their respective contexts. Through the characterisation of Victor Frankenstein, Shelley explores the concerns of the two prominent socio-cultural ideologies of her own context.
Blade Runner Essay Question: In what ways does a comparative study accentuate the distinctive contexts of Frankenstein and Blade Runner? Answer: Through texts composers have been able to highlight and examine key ideas relative to their specific context. A text has the ability to bring to the forefront its contextual ideas in a engaging manner. In Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein the context is highlighted through 19th century ideas of Gothicism and Romanticism in an entertaining but concerning manner. Additionally, Ridley Scott’s feature film Blade Runner depicts a dystopian world devastated by capitalism, greed and technology which were primary concerns in the context of the 1980’s.
It suggests that an ambitious person will surrender moral integrity in order to achieve power and success. This is portrayed through Tyrell, the Creator of the Replicants and possibly the mastermind behind the world’s rapid propulsion into a world of science. Bladerunner is a dystopic science fiction that holds similarities to Huxley’s Brave New World (1932) and George Orwell’s 1984 (1949). Both these texts have influenced the themes present in the film regarding contemporary society’s failings and the speculation on the potential consequences of continued scientific pursuit. This pursuit of knowledge and progress is not unlike that of the Nazi regime.
(1818) Created by Mary Shelly. Strongly Influenced by the Romantic Movement and the Industrial Revolution. Evident from the critiquing of 19th century science in a world which was highly structured around nature. Also explored through Bladerunner: Sci-fi & Film Noir Created by Ridley Scott. Produced in the following century where technological advances and growth played a major role in life & society.
Tyrell: Also extraordinary things, Revel in your time. The irresponsible nature evident in Tyrell through his mere experiments and goals of prosperity was used as a caution to the audience of the time as these were highly sought after objectives of the time and were deemed hazardous by Scott. Parallels can be drawn in both Frankenstein and Blade Runner , If new life can be created through advancements and discoveries as such, how is one human or not. This theme is recurringly penetratingly enquired in Shelley’s Frankenstein. The monster is physically appalling but experiences human feelings.
Mary Shelley’s gothic promethean novel, Frankenstein (1818), was released during the industrial revolution as romanticism was thriving, while Ridley Scott’s futuristic sci-fi Blade runner (1992) grew with the dawning of a capitalistic increasingly globalised and technologically driven society. The comparative study of these texts encompasses themes of humanity and playing God through a tone of moral warning and allows the responder to explore how similar content in different contexts will reflect changing, but also constant values. Through the use of filmic techniques, Scott demonstrates how nature and religion are absent in a world overrun by consumerism and technology. Due to her context, Shelley alternatively uses imagery and allusions to hint at the consequences humanity will suffer if they try to better God through the misuse of science and the corruption of nature. Both of these texts reflect the distinctive contexts in which they were written; although separated by over 100 years of history, they still present similar issues and dilemmas which affected the form and features of the individual texts.
One becomes more intrigued by the relation between Frankenstein and Blade Runner when one considers the difficulty of their forms. The parallels in Frankenstein and Blade Runner are quite distinct such as their social and historical contexts, humanity motif and their differences in form. There is a notable similarity in their social and historical context, in Frankenstein as Europe moved away from a world dominated by superstition and religious faith to one of empirical scientific research and logical deductive reasoning, the Romantics helped to retain some of the personal and emotional compassion that makes us fully human. The swing towards a more humanistic attitude towards fellow mankind and the reverence for the natural over the manmade is clearly depicted in Frankenstein. Shelley questions the eighteenth-century scientific rationalists' optimism about, and trust in, knowledge as a pure good.
The multifaceted nature of humanity is revealed in both Mary Shelly’s novel Frankenstein as well as in Ridely Scott’s film blade runner. Despite the dissimilarity in time between the two, both texts essentially mirror each other, in effectively delving into the themes in which society was faced with. Together, both Ridley Scott and Mary shelly explore the repercussions that could come of growing scientific advancements that consequently slowly destroyed any concept of nature through out the 19th century, which brought about a rebellion against the concept of romanticism throughout that era. Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein unambiguously investigates the sublime in nature. Throughout Shelly’s era the notion of romanticism was highly influential
Both Shelley’s novel and Scott’s feature film are examples of texts that transcend the age they are created in – they serve as warnings to humanity about the dangers of scientific alteration of the natural cycle Shelley’s Frankenstein was composed during an era of rampant social and scientific change; although this change was not necessarily progress. Shelley’s novel examines the moral responsibility of the scientist, and offers the consequences of annihilation of nature. During the 19th Century, the environment stopped being a source of beauty and inspiration and largely became another commodity; a casualty of the Industrial Revolution. Shelley continues the Romantic theme of emphasis on nature with her repeated
Although sharing little in setting or premise, the texts Frankenstein and Blade Runner share many of the same concerns as they both challenge the values and morals of the societies in which they were set, most notably the notion of what it means to be human, as well as articulating the composers' critique of the advancement in science and technology. Both texts also exhibit the consequences of imprudent creation and the hubris of an individual to rise above and disrupt the natural order. Written in the eighteen hundreds by aggrieved writer Mary Shelley, the novel Frankenstein presents readers with a Romanticist perspective of technology ‘dehumanizing’ mankind as society was not made clear of their indistinct boundaries. Through Victor’s regression, “I, the true murderer, felt the never dying worm alive in my bosom”, the symbols of the ‘worm’ explore the downfall in