More Human than Human or More Replicant than Replicant?
By Ann Chen
LOS ANGELES NOVEMBER, 2019. Flying vehicles. A dreary atmosphere. Replicants and blade runners. The world surely didn't look like this three years ago nor does it now. But the failure of its predictions do not diminish the 1982 dystopian film Blade Runner: The Final Cut. On the contrary, by using various cinematic devices, director Ridley Scott successfully depicts the image of humanity through two foil characters - Dr. Eldon Tyrell ( Joe Turkel) and Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer). This is an uncommon combination as many would not expect any connection between two antagonists that have contradicting pursuits. Yet this creator-product relationship demonstrates a reversed worldview in their essence. In other words, Tyrell is arguably the only known human being that behaves like a replicant, whereas Roy is the only replicant that accomplishes the process of human transformation. Being on the conflicting side of opposing forces, both characters offer the audience a comprehensive view of their different paths that have been led by the choices they have made in their lives. There is no definite answer to what type of individual we should become. When encountering hatred and hostility in life, it is up to ourselves to decide what to do: to seize dominance or to let it go?
If Replicants are programmed to be superior in power and lack advanced emotional abilities such as empathy, Tyrell has made himself the most successful product for his company. Ridley Scott intends to give the audience this perception of Tyrell’s character by utilizing different camera perspectives that each represent his exterior and interior nature. The camera perspectives follow the same pattern during Tyrell’s appearance in both the office scene (18:00) and the bedroom scene (1:21:03). The director starts off by applying an extreme long shot in both scenes to display a panoramic view of the settings. The spacious and grandiose settings of the office and bedroom reflect the replicant industry and Tyrell’s social status within it. The positioning of Tyrell in the center of the screen within these two settings conveys the message that he sees himself as the foundation of the business, either on or off work, indicating his yearning for power. Especially in the office scene, the camera angle of the extreme long shot is from top to bottom. Using a high-angle shot in a setting where Tyrell conducts his business, the director is highlighting Tyrell’s dominance over his company and that he holds absolute authority in manipulating the emotions and lives of his products. This marks the first outlook on Tyrell's presence as a human being. After communicating this information with the audience, it prompts curiosity in discovering his essence as a replicant.
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Empathy is the defining boundary between human beings and replicants. But by taking away empathy from the replicants, Tyrell has made himself an authoritative man with a soulless mind. Ridley Scott foregrounds the emptiness of Tyrell’s mind by using a close-up shot to emphasize the lighting.The distance of the close up guides the audience to concentrate on the details of Tyrell’s face. It is easy for the audience to notice the visual discomfort caused by the backlight. With the source of light coming from the back of the subject, it separates the subject from the background, and creates depth with the surrounding shadows. Tyrell is wearing glasses in both scenes. The backlight makes the glasses reflect off the brightness and covers Tyrell’s eyes (22:09 & 1:24:28), so it is harder to see them clearly. As the saying goes, “The eyes are the windows to the soul.”
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Here, the use of lighting suggests that Tyrell is soulless by not treating the replicants equally but merely as products and experiments for his business. His fear of rebellion and betrayal provokes him to grasp onto emotional control so that he can ensure his power. What he is unaware of is that the more he seeks to eliminate from the replicants, the more he is withdrawing from his inner self. Tyrell’s behavior presents a preview of a possible outcome for the audience. There are times in life when people are afraid to lose certain things and try to manipulate them, preventing themselves from sneaking out of their comfort zone. However, what this really achieves is that we create chains of emotional bondage for ourselves based on our own decisions.
It can seem biased by judging the entire human race’s moral standards based on a single human being in the film. Some would argue that out of all the characters in the film, excluding the controversy that lies in Deckard (Harrison Ford), there are others that could be considered human and not as cruel as Tyrell such as Sebastian (William Sanderson) or Hannibal Chew (James Hong), the eye designer. One interesting quality of Blade Runner: The Final Cut is that none of the characters’ identities are certain, including Tyrell. However, there is sufficient evidence in the film that confirms his human role compared to the other supporting characters. First, it isn’t reasonable for a replicant to create an industry that produces other replicants because it then raises the paradox on who created Tyrell. Plus, what is the purpose of generating the same people to do slave work then eliminating them afterward? Moreover, there is a higher possibility that Sebastian and Hannibal are both replicants since they work for Tyrell. A normal human being might at some point protest against the content of their job and the moral value of Tyrell’s corporation. By creating replicants to design the genetics of other replicants, it is easier to have them under control. Tyrell being the only and absolute standard of human being bolsters the significance for his performance as the variables are narrowed down, making it more explicit for the audience.
The relationship between Tyrell and Roy is clear cut: between the creator and his product. Ridley Scott visualizes this correlation through a religious metaphor in the dialogue. When Roy visits the eye maker, he purposely misquotes William Blake’s poem America a Prophecy. “Fiery the angels fell/Deep thunder rolled around their shores/ Burning with the fires of Orc”(27:20 - 27:40). By replacing “rose” to “fell”, Roy is referring to himself as the fallen angel and Tyrell as God. The line “Burning with the fires of Orc” originates from Orcus the god of the underworld. Relating himself to hell, Roy sees himself as a rebel of Tyrell’s business, hoping to change his destiny as a replicant from the ultimate power-holder. This part introduces the top-to-bottom power relation between Roy and Tyrell. The power distinction between the two characters undergoes a significant transition when the replicant first meets his creator. Ridley Scott applies the technique of reverse shot to interpret the equality between them (1:24:00 - 1:25:15).
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The switching of different shots on the same eye level implies how Roy is no longer under the authority of Tyrell, but able to confront the “God” of his life. The death of Tyrell appears to be an abrupt instance, yet it is the essential moment that marks the transformation of Roy’s mindset. Learning that the clock is ticking on his life, the killing of Tyrell symbolizes the beginning of autonomy for Roy when he ends the life of the one who forces the goal of living onto him. He no longer wants to live as a slave, but as Roy Batty. The death of Tyrell is also the death of Roy as a replicant. Starting at this point, the director takes the audience on a new journey of Roy’s new identity.
Accepting the unchangeable fate of his limited life, Roy lives up to the Tyrell Corporation’s motto, “more human than human” in his last moment. Even after witnessing how the blade runners brutally treated his friends, Roy still chooses to save Deckard’s life, breaking the tragic, hostile relationship between human beings and replicants. Ridley Scott parallels the close-up shot and lighting in the depiction of Tyrell’s soulless mind to accentuate Roy’s compassion. Despite the darkness in the setting, the key light on the side outlines a clear picture of Roy’s face, highlighting his eyes (1:45:11). This contrasts with the covering of Tyrell’s eyes by the backlight.
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Instead of adopting the idea of “an eye for an eye,” Roy’s abandonment of enmity adds a sense of humanity for his character, which completes his transformation into a human being. Regardless of his short life span, Roy has fulfilled his existence with empathy. By letting go of the antagonism towards others, he has received contentment in return. This suggests another possible attitude the audience can acknowledge when one struggles with revenge. When we choose to cling on to the emotions in a negative relationship, we are turning ourselves into the ones we hate, and the cycle continues, the hostility still exists. If we take the initiative to break the cycle, light might come through.
Claiming that Roy is the only replicant identical to a human being is a bold statement to make. Considering the context, Rachel (Sean Young) should be a better fit than Roy. She lived a human life before the truth was revealed to her by Deckard and according to the Voight-Kampff test, she appears to have a greater capacity for sympathy. Unfortunately, that doesn’t prove anything. First, Roy’s testing process was never shown in the film, but his action of saving Deckard at the end surpasses what a test done by a machine can determine. It was done out of pure natural reaction and autonomy. Second, disregarding the level of empathy in which both characters are considered to be equal, there is one major characteristic that Rachel lacks - the passion for living. Confronting her new identity as a replicant, Rachel is desperate in the beginning, as if she has suddenly lost an anchor in life. Her helplessness has caused her to lose independence. Many of her later actions rely heavily on Deckard’s request, including love. She doesn’t know what to do with her life or what she wants. But Roy is different. Since the beginning of the film, he knows exactly what he wants - he wants to live. His yearning for an extended life is highlighted in his final speech on the rooftop, “All those moments will be lost in time like tears in rain” (1:46:50). Roy’s expression of reluctance in leaving behind his memories indicates his passion for life. We create “meaning” in life as humans. But since Roy and Rachel were both produced as replicants, “slavery” was their only given purpose. When that given objective is taken away, Roy’s passion distinguishes his personality from Rachel’s incompetence, which characterizes her solely as a “tool.” Such traits make him the perfect replicant representative for the audience to compare with Tyrell.
Although we don’t exactly live in the setting illustrated in Blade Runner: The Final Cut, the film is still a reflection of our modern-day society. We are currently living in a blessed yet complicated era. With communication getting more convenient and education being widely encouraged, people’s awareness of social issues have escalated exponentially. As history leaves visible trails in people’s lives, we are constantly looking back to the mistakes our ancestors made and trying our very best to avoid the same path while advocating for change to reconcile past damage. The process is enduring. We see conflicts between nations, we see the division among races, we see the stereotypes that exist in a diverse gender community… When the preceding hatred clashes with our consciousness, it is our decision as to what kind of changes we want to make. Tyrell and Roy demonstrate different solutions towards fear and hatred - to hold on with oppression or to move on with forgiveness. Ridley Scott is not trying to persuade the audience towards any side but grants the freedom for selection.
Works Cited
Blade Runner: The Final Cut. Directed by Ridley Scott. Warner Bros, 1982.