Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982) - Isolation

[jvanhorn]

I think one of the main themes in this film is isolation. Specifically, the dangers of isolation. The movie is set in a futuristic world where cultures have blended together so thoroughly that almost all of Los Angeles appears to be Chinatown, yet the citizens can still barely speak to each other due to the language barrier. Deckard lives an isolated life and he is a bitter, tired man. J.F. Sebastian is the only person living in an abandoned apartment complex and is so lonely that he is forced to build his own friends. His desperation leads him to invite Pris into his home, and later Roy. The Replicants are only using him as a means to get to Tyrell, however, and so in a sense, Sebastian’s loneliness helped to kill Sebastian. The Replicants themselves are even a sign of the isolated and lonely state of the world. There are “pleasure models” that are built to satisfy the needs of humans, but without humans having to make any real effort to accomplish this. Rachel was even built to satisfy Tyrell’s needs.

[aburns]

Is that what Rachel was built for? I didn't get that but it's interesting. Did they say that or imply it somewhere? I like that you chose to approach this from the theme of loneliness because it was something that I noticed but didn't really take any notes on. I'm sure you already have something along these lines but you could also mention that Deckard seems to be really lonely (and sort of emotionless and boring) until he meets Rachel, at which point he becomes more human.

[jvanhorn]

I suppose it's never explicitly stated why she is built, but they do talk about her being an experimental model, so I made the assumption that there was something sketchy going on there. And what's interesting about that interpretation of Deckard being lonely until he meets her is that, with the whole idea of Replicants gaining emotion over time, it's almost as though they both taught each other how to be human. Although, at that point Deckard still thought he was human, so there's that. But he certainly did start to act less like a jackass when he met her.