Frankenstein And Blade Runner: A Comparative Analysis

I can compare Frankenstein to the movie I saw by Tim Burton, Frankenweenie. They are similar but instead of a human body, it was a dog and the mad scientist was a young boy named Victor Frankenstein. The young Victor Frankenstein brings his dog back to life after being hit by a car for a science fair project while the real Victor Frankenstein wanted to create a real life human. Just like the real Frankenstein monster, the dog brings trouble. In the book, the mad scientist, denies the monster but in Frankenweenie, the young boy convinces his family and friends to like his creation. Some of his classmates had known the young Victor Frankenstein creation and was intrigued to do the same experiment like his but it went out of the standards of

“War is peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength”, These are the moral codes and social conventions citizens of George Orwell's 1984 live by. With high level surveillance and publicly inflicted ideologies that promote the governing force puppeteering its nation, 1984 shares shocking similarities with increased security, political power and technology seen in today's world. In the same vein, Ridley Scott's dystopian futuristic thriller Blade Runner, set in an overpopulated, corrupt, corporation governed world can be compared to the world of today in terms of the rapid development in technology and the political influence large corporations can have on governments. Both texts create a futuristic world that is able to form connections with its audience to varying degrees. But how do George Orwell's 1984 and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner depicted futuristic worlds specifically relate to the audience of today?

Contrastingly, the modern, technologically driven world of Blade Runner conveys man’s usurption of nature caused through his arrogance and desire for dominance. In this contrastingly industrialized, scientifically grounded world, nature has been relentlessly exploited and commodified, as man has attempted to ‘penetrate into the recesses’. The allusion to the Promethean myth through the symbolic use of fire is seen in the opening scenes of shooting fire, intercut with close up shots of an eye, symbolically representing fire as having the potential to both nurture and destroy life. The ignorance and metaphorical blindness of man, is highlighted through the self-imposed destruction of humanity, as nature is obliterated in favour of ‘commerce (being our) goal”, symbolically representing the destruction of our natural

Despite different contexts, both Shelley’s Frankenstein and Scott’s Blade Runner enthrall the audience in a journey to explore the inner psyche through the various perspectives that are drawn.

The idea of playing God is a strong theme throughout science fiction and portrays different effects in various works. One of the first characters to accomplish this is Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Another character of science fiction recognized to do this is Dr. Tyrell from Blade Runner. These men played God and created a new form of life, but for different reasons and different results.

Many similarities can be found between Mary Shelley's 1816 novel, Frankenstein and the 1982 movie Bladerunner . The number of similarities between these two works, created more than two hundred years apart, is staggering. A cursory look at both works reveals these similarities:

A Comparison of Film and Novel Versions of Frankenstein The nature of horror stories gives the reader/audience a feeling of intense fear, shock or disgust. It creates an atmosphere of tension for the reader/audience. Horror stories are designed to entertain people by causing enjoyable feelings of horror.

Throughout history, people have made works of art both praising and criticizing the development of science and technology. The novel by Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, shows an older form of this type of work, while the film, Ex Machina, shows the modern version of this. In both of the stories a new being is created, and while in the film the consequences of creating life are somewhat more thought out, both result in the deaths of the creators and others. This paper is going to analyze how different aspects of these two pieces compare including: their characters, their stories, and the themes or morals of the works. Both Frankenstein and Ex Machina involve realizing the complexities of life. They highlight the strengths and weaknesses of man, and warn of the advancements of the sciences. While neither are outright saying that science and advancement is a bad thing, they warn of the consequences of new technologies as well as the lack of understanding and planning. In the end, both of these stories warn and teach the reader or viewer about the shortcomings of mankind.

The novel Frankenstein was written by Mary Shelley in 1818. This gothic romance novel tells the story of a philosopher who discovered how to create life, without the full knowledge that his actions could cause grave consequences. Universal Studios made the film version of this novel in 1931. Unfortunately, the film version of Frankenstein has more differences than similarities to the novel. In the novel, Victor’s mental obsession seems to be more severe than in the film. The character of Victor Frankenstein was portrayed in both the novel and the film as a veriphobe, or one who is afraid of the truth, in this case, the truth of his actions. He

Ridley Scott’s film Blade Runner reflects some of the key themes seen in Mary Shelley’s classic novel Frankenstein. For one, both the sources touch on the necessity of creators taking responsibility for their creations. Another key theme established in both works is the idea that emotional complexity and knowledge, over memory and appearance, allow people to be defined as human beings.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, whilst separated by 174 years, feature very similar content which can be seen by comparing the two side by side. Coming from different contexts, they both express their anxieties about technology, which is shown through a man made creature, and they both exhibit a strong valuing of nature. However due to their different contexts, these ideas are represented differently. The medium of production is clearly different, as is the representation of the creature and whether or not they are able to assimilate into society. In both texts the responder

In today’s world, innocence cannot be preserved forever. As humans age, they lose their innocence due to the corruption that exists in society. This is demonstrated in the two novels, Catcher in the Rye and Frankenstein. The two authors, J.D. Salinger and Mary Shelley prove this statement through their use of various literary devices. Key characters in both novels- Holden and the creature- learn through personal experiences that innocence cannot, in fact, be preserved forever, and they both face the reality of corruption.

Bound by different contexts, authors often use a popular medium in order to depict the discontent of the ideas of society. This is evident in the module Texts in Time; as Blade Runner, having been written more than one hundred years after Frankenstein is still able to reflect the ideas proposed in the latter. Blade Runner by Ridley Scott deals with the effects of globalisation and consumerism during 1980’s. Alternatively, the epistolary novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley deals with the kinship to the natural world set in the Romantic Era and enlightenment period. However Blade Runner, although subjected by a different context, also portrays a similar idea to Frankenstein; the fear of science and technology coupled with the value of the definition of a human. Through this commonality, we are able to utilise the values of Blade Runner in order to truly understand Shelley’s purpose.

     Romantic writer Mary Shelley’s gothic novel Frankenstein does indeed do a lot more than simply tell story, and in this case, horrify and frighten the reader. Through her careful and deliberate construction of characters as representations of certain dominant beliefs, Shelley supports a value system and way of life that challenges those that prevailed in the late eighteenth century during the ‘Age of Reason’. Thus the novel can be said to be challenging prevailant ideologies, of which the dominant society was constructed, and endorsing many of the alternative views and thoughts of the society. Shelley can be said to be influenced by her mothers early feminist views, her father’s

Blade Runner’s L.A. 2019 sets the scene, a sprawl of urban spires amidst fiery miasma presenting our nightmarish future in an aerial shot. Our anti-hero is Deckard, a bureaucratic detective confronting the world in monochrome, impassive as he methodically “retires” replicants. Riddley Scott’s euphemism sparks immediate discomfort, estranging us as we witness the progressive humanisation of replicants throughout the film, in Rachel’s tears and Roy Batty’s breakdown beside the lifeless Pris. Machines become more deserving of our empathy, whereas Deckard, a seemingly flat character is simply there to “do his job.” Blade Runner’s “Voight-Kampff test” is the quintessential exploration of Roberts’ “diversity and difference” [or lack of], assisting in the testing of individuals to discover potential artificiality. However, Scott’s mise en scene establishes the apparatus as solely measuring bodily functions such as heart rate and eye movement in response to emotionally provocative questions. Thus, by measuring the physical to scrutinise the human, Scott suggests replicants, though imitations of humans are virtually indiscernible in regard to emotive response. Furthermore, emotive response being product of the human condition, “opens up new possibilities” of technological adoption of human individuality. Scott’s Rachel, and Roy Batty have become Tyrell’s vision – “more human than human” and arguably more so than our traditional hero.