In what ways does Ridley Scott use stylistic features in the film Blade Runner in order to show that the replicants are equal to humans?
Ridley Scott uses stylistic features in his film Blade Runner in order to show that replicants are equal to humans. Blade Runner is set in a dystopian future where androids called replicants are created to be enslaved on extraterrestrial colonies. Several of these replicants develop emotions and independence, breaking their chains and escaping to Earth where they are ‘retired’ by assassins named ‘Blade Runners’. Several film and literary techniques are applied including prosthetic makeup, false protagonists, sex appeal and much more in order to explore sub-themes such as the value of artificial memories,
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The soundtrack is used when the introduced heartbeat stops very abruptly as soon as Zhora is shot, to give audience members the impression that she was living and therefore, mortal. Prosthetic makeup is used to shock the audience and inform them that to feel is to live and that Roy will cling on to life for as long as he can, even if it means driving a nail through his hand to feel pain. In similarity, Roy, Pris and the other replicants are characterised to have ‘done questionable things’ to the effect that viewers realise how far they will go to remain alive. Scott directs a rhetorical question to the audience through saying that ‘Rachel won’t live, but then again, who does?’ to agitate discussion and questions within the audience about whether we are more, equally or less alive than replicants. On top of this, the director employs metaphor stating that it is ‘quite an experience to live in fear’ and that to cling to life is ‘to be a slave’ to death. Viewers are left with the notion that no matter if one is an android or human, death is the master that ultimately dictates the actions taken in life and how one treats other people. It can clearly be observed from this evidence that Scott is trying to show the audience that mortality and attachment to life are problems that replicants struggle with, just as much as