Death and Bladerunner: thoughts
So this time i'm off talking about one of my fave heartbreaking films "BladeRunner". I watched it with an old friend recently who I hadn't seen in years and years and the results were interesting.But it just made me think why did I find Roy Batty's death so upsetting so I decided to work it through here.
THIS POST HAS MAJOR BLADE RUNNER SPOILERS
So i have watched it with people before in my old media class and when people called Roy Batty "the evil blonde guy", I wanted to punch them because I don't think he's evil(or if he is, he isn't the main evil). In fact the real villain could be seen to be either Time itself or if we had to put a character on it, it would be Tyrell. It's the Frankenstein's Monster situation again. Yes the monster is monstrous but the real monster is who created him. Tyrell expressly limited the lives of the Nexus Replicant's because of their emotions. It's cruel and kinda meaningless. Surely there would have been better ways like just befriending them or treating them like people.
Thats probably why Tyrell's death whilst shocking doesn't feel like an evil act but a desperate one. Bare in mind at this point Roy knows he is on a really tight schedule as soon as he walks in he hopes he and Pris can be cured so they live longer. he literally is running out of time, He dies not long after wards. Everything has just been taken from under him: he's lost the others leaving him just with Pris, Priss and him are just about to die, he's realising at this point what this entails. JF Sebastian sees him like a computer and whilst JF seems pretty happy with his lot in life even though he's going to die young, Roy certainly isn't.
Tyrell's false platitudes about candles and his condescending attitude always annoyed me.Therefore his death isn't sad or even that poignant, it's bitter. Because in the end Roy just wants his team to live and what is a more human thought than that. Thats the true crux of it, Rachel illustrates it better but in the end they are machines that are more human than human and in Roy Batty's last moments he proves that.
THIS POST HAS MAJOR BLADE RUNNER SPOILERS
So i have watched it with people before in my old media class and when people called Roy Batty "the evil blonde guy", I wanted to punch them because I don't think he's evil(or if he is, he isn't the main evil). In fact the real villain could be seen to be either Time itself or if we had to put a character on it, it would be Tyrell. It's the Frankenstein's Monster situation again. Yes the monster is monstrous but the real monster is who created him. Tyrell expressly limited the lives of the Nexus Replicant's because of their emotions. It's cruel and kinda meaningless. Surely there would have been better ways like just befriending them or treating them like people.
Thats probably why Tyrell's death whilst shocking doesn't feel like an evil act but a desperate one. Bare in mind at this point Roy knows he is on a really tight schedule as soon as he walks in he hopes he and Pris can be cured so they live longer. he literally is running out of time, He dies not long after wards. Everything has just been taken from under him: he's lost the others leaving him just with Pris, Priss and him are just about to die, he's realising at this point what this entails. JF Sebastian sees him like a computer and whilst JF seems pretty happy with his lot in life even though he's going to die young, Roy certainly isn't.
Tyrell's false platitudes about candles and his condescending attitude always annoyed me.Therefore his death isn't sad or even that poignant, it's bitter. Because in the end Roy just wants his team to live and what is a more human thought than that. Thats the true crux of it, Rachel illustrates it better but in the end they are machines that are more human than human and in Roy Batty's last moments he proves that.
The reason Tyrells death don't seem evil. Is that in script it's not Tyrell but a replicant. The real Tyrell is upstairs in a sarcophagus which keeps him alive. Batty kills him. It wasn't filmed due to time.
ReplyDeleteBattys death is proper sad. He's a child. He redeems himself for evils he cannot understand. 8ts heartbreaking.
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