Blade Runner: The 2019 of Ridley Scott’s Design


04.10.19

One aspect of society in Ridley Scott’s projection of 2019 is the ethical questions that the existence of the replicants poses.

Do humans have a right to engineer beings to be slaves?

Is it unethical to program them with a designated lifespan?

Society appears to operate under an egoistic system in which they allow these genetic slaves with feelings to be assassinated to suppress rebellion. These people appear to believe that utilitarian theory cannot be applied to analyze the violation of ethical obligations of this scenario, for how can they measure the pains and pleasures of engineered beings?

Yet, through Rachel we learn is clear that they feel pain, pleasure, happiness, fear, confusion, frustration, and doubt.

 Over the course of the film, the viewer begins to understand that the replicants are not the threat to humanity but the victims of oppression. The film does an excellent job leading the audience to adopt the same fear of and bias against replicants of the people in that society, then causing all that to be called into question the moment that Roy spares Deckard’s life.
 I want to watch it again with this perspective from the beginning, because I did not realize it until after.

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