Products

About

©2018 StudyMode.com

Humanity+Frankenstein+Blade Runner

Topics: Frankenstein, Blade Runner, Romanticism Pages: 4 (1131 words) Published: April 1, 2011
A text embodies and reflects key issues and concerns of the composer’s context, whether it be social, cultural or historical. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982) are two prime examples of how similar concerns may differ in representation due to varying times and contexts. Both Shelley and Scott strongly explore the essence of humanity alongside science and development, cautioning the audience about the concerns of these explorations as a possible path of severance with the natural order and the seemingly inexistent future of mankind due to their concerns and issues present in their time.

Frankenstein and Blade Runner explore elements of the human nature in a way that attempts to identify the characteristics that would be considered uniquely human. These characteristics that should enable us to identify the differences between the metaphysical and the natural are blurred within the two texts, reflecting the composers’ fears of the loss of humanity. Shelley and Scott strongly advocate the notion that there are inherent dangers to the human psyche in an environment in which the advance of science and technology goes unchecked. Shelley clearly warns in her novel the lack of refrain which men display in their temptations in search of knowledge, curiosity and glory. This maybe reflected by her own personal context in which her husband Percy Shelley was often absent due to his work. In terms of Frankenstein, it is the monster that is portrayed as the one possessing the characteristics of being human instead of his creator, Victor Frankenstein. Victor denies his humanity in order to pursue his unscrupulous ambitions in creating life, destroying the distinction between man and “God”. “Whence, I often asked myself, did the principle of life proceed?”

In Blade Runner, the replicants are described as “more human than human.” The intelligence (is it their intelligence or is it more than this?) that is embodied in the replicants...
Continue Reading

Please join StudyMode to read the full document

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Frankenstein and Blade RUnner Essay

    ...Mary Shelley’s nineteenth century epistolary novel, Frankenstein (1818), and Ridley Scott’s late twentieth century post-modern film, Blade Runner (1992), bear striking similarities when studied as texts in time, as they both aim to warn humanity about attempting to usurp of the role of God in creating life. However, their respective contexts mean that the way in which they present notions about humanity differs. Shelley and Scott have extrapolated their various concerns born from their respective contexts regarding the confusion and anxiety that results when mankind pursues their knowledge without regard for their responsibilities. Shelley presents us with humanity’s flaws, which are evident in the way they have neglected what they have created. Scott portrays a futuristic world that has become horrifically debased and inhumane, as mankind has failed to maintain the natural order after overstepping scientific and technological boundaries. Both composers conceptually focus on the parental duties of creators toward their creation and the consequences of abandoning them. Through their different styles and techniques relative to their respective audience, each composer is extremely successful in presenting the changing values and attitudes respective of their eras. Shelley’s novel enlightens the reader to the changing values and perspectives of her era following the concept of Galvanism. Shelley’s...

    Read More
    1116 Words 2 Pages
  • Essay about Humanity

    ...Both Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner are texts that explore what it is to be human. Many parallels can be drawn between the two texts even though they are set some two hundred years apart. The texts present a view that questions the morality of science that progresses unchecked. Is this what is to become of our society? Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is set in the eighteenth century romantic period in Europe, whereas Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner is set in the futuristic twenty first century. In both texts science and technology are explored and human identity is an important concept that is played out to a chilling end. Within Shelley’s novel, Victor Frankenstein plays God to the monster. While creating the creature he believed that what he was creating what was the best for humanity although his ideas began to change when he finally stood back and viewed his work. The viewing of the monster is a moral setback for Victor and he finally understands that “the being whom I had cast among mankind and endowed with the will and power to effect purposes of horror”. He is morally affected by the creation that he has cast upon society and realises his error of judgement when the creature he has created kills his younger brother. Victor feels responsible and is eventually consumed by this overwhelming sense of guilt and remorse. The...

    Read More
    1397 Words 4 Pages
  • Frankenstein and Blade Runner: Impact of Progress on Humanity Essay

    ...‘The texts are overwhelmingly negative in their portrayal of progress and humanity’ The film ‘Blade Runner’ and the novel Frankenstein are overwhelmingly negative in their portrayal of progress and humanity, through values, ideas and language forms. The contrast between the creator and the creature in both texts specify a warning from each composer about the excesses of scientific exploration, which may have a negative impact on human society. In addition, Frankenstein explores the theme of monstrosity in relation to what it means to be human; while ‘Blade Runner’ explores this idea of the nature of humanity through the creation of the replicants. Interestingly, these texts explore the impact of progress on humanity despite their different contexts, (19th century, romanticism, the Enlightenment and globalization, environmental degradation etc and refer to the composers) respectively. The portrayal of negative progress and humanity is illustrated through the characterization in the novel Frankenstein. Victor is a complex, ambivalent and deeply flawed character, as described by Walton as a man on the “brink of destruction”, his eyes full of, “an expression of wildness, and even madness.” The interaction with Frankenstein throughout the novel...

    Read More
    1016 Words 3 Pages
  • Frankenstein and Blade Runner Essay

    ...Analyse how Frankenstein and Blade Runner imaginatively portray individuals who challenge the established values of their time. Texts provide us with a gateway to the values and ideals of a given time, as it is difficult, if not impossible, for any author to compose in isolation of their cultural, political and historical contexts. They shape the ideas, themes and relationships explored within a text and enable us to better understand the concerns and values of the author. In particular, texts often focus on individuals that contest the traditional concerns and values of their time, and implement an original, innovative approach to an otherwise out-dated manner of thinking. Both Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818), a gothic cautionary tale, and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1992), a futuristic science fiction film, creatively use the enduring themes of the nature of humanity and the dangers of the challenging the natural order to portray individuals who contest the conventional values of their time. By questioning the attributes of a human being and how one becomes integrated into society, Shelley has explored the nature of humanity through the complex characters of Frankenstein. After Victor Frankenstein, a revolutionary scientist for his time, created life using an amalgamation of body parts he rejects his grotesque Creature who...

    Read More
    1464 Words 4 Pages
  • Frankenstein and Blade Runner Essay

    ...” How do your prescribed texts considered together support or challenge this idea? Through the use of numerous techniques, the prescribed texts demonstrate that although times change, human concerns about aspects of the world remain the same, or very similar. This is apparent in a comparison of Mary Shelly’s novel, Frankenstein, and Ridley Scott’s film, Blade Runner. Techniques like imagery, atmosphere, camera angles and contrast, portray contextual concerns so that despite the texts being composed 164 years apart, we note parallels demonstrating that aspects of the world can remain very similar over time. In particular, the attitudes concerning the need for scientific responsibility, artificial procreation of humans and the human desire for status and wealth are trans-contextual concerns. Through the characterization of Walton, the narrator, and Victor, Shelley’s Frankenstein depicts the passions fuelled by desire for renown, that drive people to discover, reflecting contextual concerns over scientific irresponsibility. In 1818, there was excitement about both geographical and scientific discovery, with Walton symbolising the former and Frankenstein the latter. Walton’s “great purpose” of discovering a northern passage to facilitate trade parallels Victor’s desire to, “banish disease…and render man invulnerable”. Ironically, despite their voiced altruism, neither are responsible. Imagery...

    Read More
    1569 Words 5 Pages
  • Frankenstein vs Blade Runner Essay

    ...English Advanced 2010 Max Whitehouse What does it take to be human? Why do some so relentlessly lust for the power of the creator? And if acquired can they wield that power or is Pandora’s Box best left unopened? Good Evening Students, welcome to the Sydney University lecture on “Comparative Study of Texts and Contexts”. On today’s agenda we have a comparative analysis of the texts Frankenstein and Blade Runner. You may already notice the many similarities they share but I intend in today’s lecture to take you to a new depth. Both are foreboding tales of creations run amuck. They convey themes of morality and facing our own mortality whilst exploring humanity. You never know students that rhyme may be help come the exams. Today I will discuss the moral dilemmas faced by the characters in both texts. I will provide insight to the influence the creator’s context has on the themes present within the texts and finally the ever haunting motif of death. In Frankenstein we find that Victor is an isolationist who wishes to give life to a new species that would herald him as their creator. It should be noted that both the protagonists in the texts are in some way given the power of the creator whether it is Victor’s ability to breathe life into inanimate bodies or Deckard’s ability to so swiftly tear that life away. They both play a role that is akin to God. Deckard is forced to “retire” mankind’s...

    Read More
    2387 Words 6 Pages
  • Blade Runner and Frankenstein Essay

    ...Although perspectives and values change with time, ideas and concepts can transcend. The gothic novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and the science fiction film Blade Runner directed by Ridley Scott although composed over one hundred years apart contain the same perennial concepts on the nature of humanity. This is portrayed through notions of dehumanization, monstrosity and redemption, of the “indistinguishable” creator and creature relationship. The romanticist Shelly wrote her gothic novel the enlightenment era which posed questions concerning the mystery of life and nature of humanity. Scott on the other hand composed in the post-industrial age, where technology and morality played a dominant role in society. The composers explore their contextual values while upholding transcendent concepts of humanity incorporating morality and creation though unique techniques in accordance to their text type. Both Frankenstein and Blade Runner, although established within different contexts, communicate the universal notion that knowledge, beyond the morally conventional limits of society, initiates the human desire to understand and manipulate the natural world. Shelley’s novel, influenced by romantic writers such as Coleridge and Percy Shelley, sees her examine and hyperbolize the obsessive passion of the scientists of her day. Thus, her archetypal...

    Read More
    1267 Words 4 Pages
  • Blade Runner and Frankenstein: Comparison Essay

    ...texts written in different times is seeing the differences in what people value. To what extent does your study of Frankenstein and Blade runner support this statement? Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Ridley Scott’s Blade runner although created in different times and contexts are both used to comment on their society and explore the values and perspective held during their times. Mary Shelley’s context is heavily reflected in Frankenstein, with the discovery of electricity and the growth of the industrial revolution mirrored in her book by the creation of the monster, shows the detrimental effect unrestricted use of the technological advancements can have and how it can lead to destruction. Blade runner also confronts the idea that human actions due to their increase in power by technology is leading to the extinction of nature and to the downfall of society. Both texts show humans playing god and abusing their knowledge and power for creation. Tyrell and Victor both create life, which Shelley and Scott use to question in these societies, what it means to be human. In Frankenstein, the monster is educated and intelligent, at first kind and shows compassion and sympathy by helping the De Lacey family with their chores and saving the girl from the river, yet he is still shunned and shown no sympathy by society because of his...

    Read More
    926 Words 3 Pages

Popular Essays

Become a StudyMode Member

Sign Up - It's Free