Frankenstein and Bladerunner Essay

A holistic understanding of a textual matter merchant ship be only be pursued by the consultation only when they are suitable to pinpoint the intended value of the composer and resonate these values with the time and context of the text. It is evident that by a comparative study of Mary Shelleys 1818 novel Frankenstein unneurotic with Ridley Scotts 1992 film Blade Runner, scorn the one hundred year gap between the two texts, the values each composer wishes to deliver to the audience echo the concerns of kindliness and its susceptibility against themselves.Frankenstein explores how humanitys obsession with scientific and medical developments in the nineteenth Century while Blade Runner explores the societal vales of consumerism and capitalist economy in the 20th Century. Evidently, it is clear through the comparison of the texts as to how the well-disposed values of each society bring detrimental outcomes for humanity. A newspaper publisher that is seen in Frankenstein is t he danger of unrestrained scientific progress and creation, a theme most evident when Frankenstein bestows the foam of life upon his creature in his effort to pour a torrent of light into our dark human being.Here Shelley alludes to the sciences of the period of enlightenment or in phonationicular, Galvanism which held the belief that corpses could be reanimated through an electrical current, or spark. The characterization of Frankenstein serves to symbolize the desire of humanity to be able to create and checker aspects of life which were limited to god. This becomes clearer as Frankenstein states, A new species would bless me as its creator and source many an early(a)(prenominal) happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. Here, Shelley uses a listing of descriptive language which embeds positive connotations in establish to depict the naive hopes of humanitys desire to create and control life and nature. As the plot unfolds, it becomes evident that this desire only leads to false hopes as Frankensteins creation states, You are my creator, except I am your master obey . Here, the paradoxical statement by the creation is indicative of how humanitys desires will in the long run backfire when the power to create and control is unchecked and abused.Ultimately, the monster is responsible for(p) for the death of many associates of Frankenstein as well as Frankenstein himself which shows the ultimate backfire of scientific progresses on humanity. Scotts Bladerunner recognizes the same flaws within humanity as Mary Shellys Frankenstein. He portrays a world where humanitys hunger for power, control and technological advances ultimately leads to their downfall. In the opening scene, Scott portrays the dominating figure of Tyrells building through the use of a panoramic shot, where the ample and tall building juxtaposes with the other buildings of the society.In order to give more focus on Tyrells building, a dolly shot is used and together with eerie setting music, the director creates a mysterious atmosphere concerning Tyrells practices. Tyrells company alludes to the rise of capitalism and consumerism in the twentieth century, where this lead to large transnational corporations being one of the dominant forces of globalization. This can be witnessed in the low angle shot of the high rise buildings, which embed Coca Cola and move Am Airlines advertisements through neon lighting.The forces of globalization can be further recognized with the oriental background music which accompanies the advertisements together with a follow up mid shot depicting a large screen with a Japanese geisha dominating the screen. This alludes to the dominant Asian culture in LA alludes to the aggressive Asian Tiger Economics of the late 20th century, where the drastic rise of Asian countries such as Japan and China was seen.Hence, by blending these notions of social values with the dystopian depiction of LA, where the continuous rainfall and t he absence of sunlight indicates the destruction of nature and its endowments, Scott is foreshadowing a society which humanity has ultimately destroyed with their own hands. Once the responders understand the contextual influence on the two texts, the responders are thence able to grasp the core idea of two texts humanitys negligence in their power. both(prenominal) texts indicate the self-destructive nature of humanitys potency to which responders can reflect upon in correlation coefficient with their contemporary society.Firstly, Frankenstein portrays how the ambition to redefine human limitations through creation is bound to result in failure, and because create something monstrous. Frankensteins Creature is the very embodiment of the monstrosity that humans are capable of creating. The symbolization of light in, until from the midst of this duskiness a sudden light broke in upon me conveys Victors instinctive awakening to the possibility of creating a perfect being impervio us to diseases. The contrast between the darkness and light hints the didactic purpose which Shelley tries to convey to her responders.Such a taboo act of trespassing the domain of the bode providence signifies the beginning of Frankensteins blindness. Frankenstein is quick to realize that he has created a monster, as shown by the dark tone in, I beheld the wretch the miserable monster whom I had created. This depicts that untamed human ambition can lead to the inadvertent creation of the grotesque and through this, Shelly is alluding to the ideology that creation is the work of God and should not be attempted by humanity. Blade Runner examines this notion of the negligence of humanitys empowerment on a much broader scale than Frankenstein.This is achieved by depicting the detrimental consequences of humanitys persecute of power upon an entire country. Frankenstein was a forewarning of the dangers of human ambition of that context, but Bladerunner portrays the aftermath of the overambitious pursual for knowledge in the future if the misuse of power cannot be contained by depicting a dystopian world. Appropriately, the human beings in this alternate future seem artificial and lacking humanity except for the lifter Deckard. Deckard is the primary voice of the director, where Scott portrays his ideas on how humanity should be living through the actions of Deckard.In Bladerunner, Deckard is a character who distances himself from the social norm of technology and the rigid structure of society. He is indicative of the traditionalistic human who responds emotionally and takes part in conventional human actions. Although this notion is strongly evidenced towards the end of the film, the director foreshadows Deckards humanistic characteristics from the beginning of the film. The idea of Deckard holding human qualities can be witnessed in the scene when Deckard is reading the newspaper. A dolly shot is utilized by Scott in order to capture the setting of the c ity and in stages focus on Deckard.Through this shot, the responders recognize the strong juxtaposition between the social values and Deckard. Deckard is reading the traditional newspaper, whilst in the background, numerous television screens showing the news can be seen. This contrast in effect highlights that Deckard abides by the more traditional conventions of humanity and through his heroic portrayal, it becomes evident that Scott wishes to address that in order for humanity to survive, it will require us to restrain ourselves from being too consumed with social cults and conventions which bawl out control, creation and power.In order to fulfill an understanding of a text, responders need to identify and understand the true intentions of the composer. When both Frankenstein and Blade Runner are read on parallel, although their contexts are different, the problematic issues resonate with each other and furthermore, responders can also illustrate that these texts induces the re sponders to reflect on the contemporary society to understand that the social values of our time, although they may seem standard may be in fact detrimental for humanity.