The movie “Blade runner” is an interesting representation of a possible future that humanity may enter into within the coming years and brings to light several ethical dilemmas that we as a species will eventually face. As technology continues to progress, it may very well come to pass that the “replicants” depicted in the movie may eventually become as common as television sets, however, it thus becomes questionable as to whether or not something that looks human will be treated in a humane way.
Even though the replicants showed the desire to live, depicted various forms of human emotion and complex thought processes they were still disposed of and thought of as nothing more than mere appliances. Despite the fact that the aforementioned characteristics are one of the defining traits of sentience and being “human”, the apparently dystopian society that humanity lives in within the futuristic setting depicted has come to consider such aspects as being nothing more than a byproduct of a manufacturing process.
This can actually be considered as a subtle attempt at having people question just how much emotion can be vested into what is considered nothing more than an appliance. The film thus becomes a form of critique against the continued development of technology without sufficient care and morality. Not only that, the film also heavily implies that humans are beings whose needs can be artificially met.
Evidence of this can be seen in the scene involving Sebastian wherein he lives with artificial companions and the fact that the escaped replicant Zhora was able to get a job in a strip club. This shows that not only can a person’s need for friendship and companionship be satisfied through artificial means (i.e. manufactured companions) but their sexual desires can also be equally met as seen in the case of Zhora.
When taking such factors into consideration the film thus delves into the moral dilemma of whether specific forms of technological advancement should even be enacted given the possible social, moral and ethical consequences. From a cinematographic perspective, the movie is somewhat drab when compared to modern day science fiction films that are practically laced with CGI and other forms of graphical enhancements.
However, when taking into consideration the fact that the film continues to illicit numerous questions from modern day viewers (i.e. whether Deckard himself is a replicant, or whether his romance with Rachel would even work out) shows how the acting, story and directing were able to create a timeless masterpiece that questions numerous aspects of human nature and the consequences of technological advancement. It should be noted though that the film does have some rather questionable elements.
For example, in the scene involving Deckard and Rachel where he forcibly stops her from leaving and forces himself on her, such a scene can be considered equivocal to rape when placed into the current context of present day society.
Yet, it also creates a rather strange question: can an act be considered rape if the person being raped is not even human? Overall, the movie is an excellent view into one of the possible futures that humanity may find itself in. Combing science fiction with moral dilemmas, the film helps to shed light on the deficiencies of humanity as a whole and how such aspects can impact our views on what is right and what is wrong.