Blade Runner
From DharmaflixWiki
 Add to Queue Not a Member
|  Wikipedia Entry
|
 Buy DVD
|  del.icio.us
|
[edit] Blurb
Blade Runner was directed by Ridley Scott, starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauger, and Daryl Hannah. Scott had achieved fame with Alien (1979) and stated before his new project that he had not read the novel. Dick was afraid that the director would make a movie with the spirit of "eat lead, robot!" Dick did not expect much from Hollywood and told in an interview in 1980: "You would have to kill me and prop me up in the seat of my car with a smile printed on my face to get me to go near Hollywood." Blade Runner was set in Los Angeles AD 2019, where a licenced-to-kill policeman tracks down and destroys a group of intelligent robots who have returned to Earth. But is the police also an android? The film did not do well at the box office, and the studio insisted on a happy ending. Directors original cut, which different ending and without much voice-over narration, was released in 1991. Dick's novel covers one "marathon" day in the life of Rick Deckard. The second plot, removed from the film, deals with John Isidore, who seeks a messiah called Mercer and falls in love with an outlaw android. In wilderness with Mercer Deckard learns to love an electronic toad, but Isidore learns that Mercer is a fraud.[1]
[edit] View from Nowhere
[edit] Other Views from Nowhere
One of my favourite books is The Dharma of Star Wars by Matthew Bortolin, in which he explores Buddhist themes in the classic science fiction movie Star Wars. Perhaps I’ll write a review of Bortolin’s book one day, but right now I’d like to combine the spirit of his work with one of my all time favorite films: Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. This movie is beautifully shot, with thoughtful acting (particularly by Harrison Ford), and is accompanied by the sensitive sounds of the electronic music composer Vangelis. It oozes class, and an ambiance that encourages consideration of some of the ideas that it contains, despite also being a decent action film.
In the film, Deckard (Harrison Ford) is a detective given the task of hunting down and eliminating a group of replicants (man-made super humans used as slaves) that have illegally landed on Earth, killing many humans in the process. Watching this cult SF movie again, I was struck by the Buddhist nature of some of the ideas that run through it (even though it wasn’t consciously made that way, to my knowledge). The following are a few reflections on Blade Runner seen through the lens of a Buddhist eye.
The Three Characteristics of existence that reveal everything as anicca (impermanent), dukkha (suffering) and anatta (not self) infuse Blade Runner, with pretty much all the characters in the film experiencing them. (For more on these three fundamental Buddhist concepts see Buddhism by Numbers: 3 Refuges) First, lets take a look at anicca:
“All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain.”
The above words are those of the character Roy Batty, who is the leader of the replicants, and is both physically and mentally powerful, yet insightful. It’s a statement indicative of the sense of impermanence that drives Batty and his fellow replicants to kill in their pursuit of longer life - they have a short four year life span. And like Roy Batty, how many of us desire to live as long as possible, clinging to those we love, and mourning their death, as he does when finding the dead body of his lover, Pris?
The replicants in the film cling to their implanted memories as a source of identity, and they have photographs to back up their false recollections. Leon, a companion of Batty, leaves his photos in an apartment, which enables Ford’s character, Deckard, to hunt them down. And another artificial human, Rachael, is only aware of the falsity of her memories after Deckard runs a test on her. All her memories are not self; they do not constitute part of a person. This is also true for you and me, for although our memories are not implanted in some technological procedure, they do come and go of their own accord, and they can change over time. They are a natural process. Rachael asks Deckard:
“Did you ever take that test yourself?”
He doesn’t answer her, and a similar question arises for us all: have we ‘taken the test’ of reflection, and discovered what, if anything constitutes the self? The true nature of Deckard as to whether he is a human or a replicant is left unanswered in Blade Runner – but can we afford to leave the question of our real identity unsolved if we’re to let go of suffering and the ignorance that creates it?
“Quite an experience to live in fear, isn’t it? That’s what it is to be a slave.”
More words of Roy Batty, spoken to Deckard as the detective lies at his mercy, with the look of helpless fear in his face. The Buddha revealed that we are all living in fear, slaves to greed, hatred, and delusion, which are the three unwholesome roots that cause our suffering. And everyone in this movie is capable of eliciting compassion from the audience, as they can all be seen to be suffering in one way or another; the replicants desperate for a longer life; Deckard, a man running from his violent past; and the lonely genetic engineer J.F. Sebastian, suffering from a degenerative disease that causes him to age prematurely.
The causes of the character’s immediate problems lie in their previous actions (kamma), which were performed under the influence of the unwholesome roots. Tyrell, the genius behind the artificial intelligence of the replicants, dies at the hands of Batty, as does J.F. Sebastian. The replicants themselves reap the results of their kamma too, for just as they have killed humans, so they too are killed by humans, as when Deckard hunts down Zhora and shoots her in the back as she ties to escape. Even Deckard, the movie’s ‘hero’ has his previous actions to blame for being out fought by the Herculean Batty.
Despite the suffering that’s found throughout the film, it does have an uplifting and unexpected climax. Roy Batty displays immense compassion (karuna) towards Deckard, saving him from a lethal drop from the top of a building; this despite the detective having just shot Batty’s lover, Pris. This act of compassion seems to have good results as Batty settles back and peacefully passes away.
The Buddha (or ‘Awakened One’) suggested that it’s time for us to peacefully ‘pass away’ by dying to the delusion of self: for without this delusion, there’s no one here to suffer. Perhaps we can listen to the last words of the replicant Leon, and find a hint of what’s needed in them:
“Wake up! Time to die!”[2]
