Progression in Blade Runner

Progression in Blade Runner

Ridley Scott had a realistic way of predicting what the world would be like in 2019 in his movie Blade Runner. Since the movie was made in 1982, Scott used his imagination to create a world much different from what life was like back in 1982 or even today in 2006. Scott also showed a lot of progression in the story making things more advanced as the story goes on. His interpretation of the future is very detailed if you look at certain aspects of the setting and what the characters’ are like.

The setting is in Los Angeles in 2019 except it is not the same Los Angeles that exist today. It seems to be raining and very dark through out the whole movie. Scott could have used this because of the pollution and global warming that got worse over time which ended up ruining the environment. English is not the recognized language among the streets anymore, instead they talk in a “City-Speak” which is a mixture of Japanese, Spanish, and German.

The buildings in Los Angeles are in poor condition in Scott’s view of 2019. There is a lot of decay and poorly maintained streets in the area. However there are advertizement blimps flying over the tops of buildings which offer a new life of opportunity and adventure Off-World colonies. So despite the decay and the rough life there are signs of progression in the fact that the wealthier people can buy their way to another off-world colony to live a better life, leaving the poor and not so well off people behind to continue their life on earth.

The Tyrell Corporation which was located in Los Angeles was known for making human-like robots called the Nexus 6 Replicants, who were superior in strength and agility. They were at least equal in intelligence, to the genetic engineers who created them. Replicants were used Off-World as slave laborers, in the hazardous exploration and colonization of other planets. The replicants are the main subject and sign of human progression in the movie. The replicants are essentially genetic clones who are programed to do what they are told to do.

Different replicants are designed to do different things for example, Zhora was designed for pleasure, she spends all of her time dancing in a bar. Leon was designed to be a combat model, who attempted to kill Deckard. Roy was designed to be a combat model who was trained to fight and kill anything that got in its way. Lastly Pris was designed to be a military model who was also trained to fight but she could still trick enemies since she was a female.

The replicants show a lot of progression throughout the story. At the beginning one thinks about how they are robots and how they should do everything that they are told. In the film the replicants are not considered human. Instead they are property of Tyrell corporation. They do however progress and learn new thing and they become more human like. Leon for example had acquired