Blade Runner Essay

Dylan Koester
English 1010
Long Essay 1
02/05/12
Monsters through Music and Film:
How Replicants Become the Guiding Force of Change
The plot of Blade Runner is centrally focused on the idea of personhood and humanness,
namely in the context of modern, far-reaching technological developments. The decrepit,
dystopian Los Angeles that is depicted is the result of a world that is developing far beyond its
means; a world in which humans are bound by the technology that they themselves create; a
world in which, paradoxically, humanity has threatened its own ability to proliferate and in turn
must rely on a being that has the capability to challenge the human race. As a result of their
inherent siliconicity and abnormal creation, these beings, or replicants, are labled as the
monstrousthe Others, whose lives hold a mere four year value. And if in those four
years a replicant goes unchecked, it is the victim of retirement, as murder is certainly an act by
men, against men. Because of this, a select few replicants find it necessary to rebel against the
unjust system that created them and conspired against them. In Blade Runner, Ridley Scott
utilizes camera angles and music to characterize replicants not as monstrous Others but humanlike Others, substantiating by means of character examples Cohens theses that The Monster
Polices the Boarders of the Possible and The Monster is the Harbinger of Category Crisis. In
effect, replicants can be viewed as both outcasts and conduits of change in a society in which
humans are less defineda society in which replicants are becoming more human than humans
as characteristics of human life are being attributed more and more to artificial life.
Shortly after Rachel kills Leon, effectively saving Deckards life, there is an intimate
scene between the two in Deckards apartment. In it, the bass drones, synthesizers and
exaggerated electronic glissandos are the focus of the music, maintaining the futuristic mood.
Furthermore, the electronic music accentuates Rachels presence as a replicant in Deckards

house. She had just killed one of her own kind to save him, and now theres a very real sexual
tension between them as she questions the Voight-Kampff test while the futuristic synthesizers
play in the background (Scott 1:07:30). However, right after Rachel asks if Deckard has taken
the test himself, the music switches to a jazz saxophone solo. The whining saxophone plays
blues-based melodies full of growls, slurs and crescendos exaggerated with vibrato, all of which
add to the melancholy passion of the love scene. These musical techniques have a distinct
passionate, humanistic feel, in stark contrast to the previous synth heavy electronic movie. This
along with the close up camera shots of a shirtless Deckard and Rachels face adorned with
makeup suggest Rachels humanity. These visual and music elements also emphasize those
emotions that the Voight-Kampff reveals as absent in replicants; emotions such as love,
compassion, empathy and sorrow. In effect, Rachel is given human-like qualities that are said to
be absent in her kind, suggesting a less defined line between humans and replicants. Jefferey
Cohen states in his thesis The Monster Polices the Borders of the Possible that The monsters
destructiveness is really a deconstructiveness: it threatens to reveal that difference originates in
process rather than in fact (Cohen 14). Through her characterization, Rachel reveals that the
emotional divergence between humans and replicants is non-existent. It is simply a difference in
origin, not a difference in the actual personhood of kinds. This revelation begs a possible change
in status quo. Perhaps Rachel, with her extended lifespan and full memory, is erasing the
boundary separating the human from the replicant.
Although they were not given the same characteristic life span and memories of humans
like Rachel, the other replicants of Blade Runner are characterized in a similar fashion. As soon
as Deckard shoots Zhora, there is synthesizer playing minor, blues intervals at very contrasting
speeds. There are sustained notes followed by rapid descents and Mannheim Rockets, or scalular
ascents. These rhythmic choices complement the slow-motion straight shot of Zhora running as
she falls though panes glass, getting shot in the back twice (Scott 58:30). The music and the
camera shot both suggest a sorrowful, painful and unfortunate loss. Zhoras death was not one of
satisfaction such as killing a dangerous fugitive on the loose, but seemingly a death without
purpose and necessity. When Zhorah is caught strangling Deckard by workers who enter the
room, she runs in fear. She panics as people see her do what she should not be doing, even
though these people presumably would not have stopped her. As she flees Deckard and his
bullets, Zhoras will to live appears greater than even Deckards when he faced death at the
hands of her and Leon, an extremely human and relatable trait. In the scene of her death, glass
flies in a blur across the chaos of the shot, and she falls to the floor in an almost elegant fashion
amidst the mayhem. This gracefulness, even though in death, is at odds with the industrialized,
confusing and barbaric manmade dystopia of the film. In her fear and panic, Zhora is apparently
more humanlike in her emotions than the bystanders and on-lookers of her death, who seem to
illicit a minimal response to such violence. Zhora has essentially become more human than the
humans surrounding her. In his thesis The Monster is the Harbinger of Category Crisis, Cohen
writes, they demand a radical rethinking of boundary and normality (Cohen 6). Zhora, in her
emotions, actions and death demands a rethinking of the boundary between human and replicant.
There is a beauty in her death through the combination of music and visuals that suggest that
Zhora is more beautiful than the humans around her, and perhaps more human.
While both Zhora and Rachel represent the propensity for change in such a binary
society, Roy in the climactic scene of the movie demonstrates this to the highest degree. As
Deckard barely clings to life on the side of a building, Scott uses a close up, low angle of Roy,
blood covering his face and water running down his body (Scott 1:45:35). In the background,
atonal electronic sounds crescendo and decrescendo descend and ascend, and in combination
with the camera angles Roy is a textbook monster at first sight. But after Roy saves Deckard,
there is a miraculous transformation. The music becomes hopeful, optimistic and far less
electronic, and the camera angle is no longer looing up to Roy, but at him symmetrically. This
all underlines Roys humanlike characteristics as he reflects evokes emotions like sorrow,
empathy and remorse; traits and emotions that characters like Gaff never express. Cohen writes
that the monstrous offers an escape from its hermetic path, an invitation to explore new spirals,
new and interconnected methods of perceiving the world (Cohen 7). In this sense, replicants
function as mirrors by allowing the scrutinization of human morals through the technology they
create. Roys death is essentially depicted as that of a tragic hero, and in turn, there is an
ultimate catharsis.
The ultimate catharsis at the end is almost an epiphany for both the audience and
Deckard. Replicants were originally distinguished by a lack of identity, but with his music and
camera work, Scott gives them just that: an identityand a human one at that. Although they
are originally the monstrous Others who return to earth in a ruthless effort to extend their limited
lives, the Scott transforms them into a more superior human than any human in every aspect
except for life-expectancy (save for Rachel). In this way, replicants are the conduits of change;
the new driving force behind their own acceptance as their boundaries between humans blur.
Ridley Scott is able to accomplish this by his work with music and cameras as he characterizes
replicants as human-like Others, substantiating the theses of Jeffery Cohen that The Monster
Polices the Boarders of the Possible and The Monster is the Harbinger of Category Crisis.

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Dylan Koester

Furthermore, the electronic music accentuates Rachels presence as a replicant in Deckards

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