Frankenstein_and_Bladerunner__Parenting

Frankenstein and Blade Runner both explore the issue of the role of parenting. Through their texts, Shelley and Scott express their concern for a lack of parental responsibility. Their concern is shown through the poor parental guidance illustrated in the texts and the negative repercussions that follow, for both ‘child’ and ‘parent.’ From comparing both texts on this common issue, the responder gains deeper insight into the universal importance of the concept. Both texts individually portray a lack of parental responsibility, and in the novel this is represented through Frankenstein. Upon the birth of his unnamed ‘son,’ the monster, Frankenstein describes in horror the monster’s, “yellow skin [that] scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries ... his watery eyes, that seemed almost the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set.” The pejorative, grotesque imagery emphasises Frankenstein’s rejection of his creation, based purely on physical appearance. The use anatomical terms also alludes to the macabre influences of the Gothic novel, an important literary contextual influence on Shelley. Frankenstein, exclaims in the name of “Great God!” and abandons his ‘son,’ as he was “unable to endure” such his birth, condemning it a “catastrophe.” The repetition of derogatory epithet’s used for the monster by Frankenstein, like “daemon,” “vile insect” and “wretch,” dehumanise the monster, as his ‘father’ fails to recognise him as a human and as his offspring. Frankenstein shows prejudice to his ‘child,’ based on appearance, not fulfilling the parental responsibility of accepting a child for who they are. Through exposing the responder to this and the latter consequences of Frankenstein’s actions, Shelley expresses the integral value of parenting and her concern for parental responsibility. In Blade Runner, Tyrell is the ‘father’ of the Replicants, whom he had created for the “Off-world as slave labour, in the hazardous exploration and colonisation of other planets.” This section, from the rolling titles sequence at the start of the film, expresses Tyrell’s ignorance towards his parental responsibility over living creatures that he created, with the pejorative, deprecating connotations of the words “slave labour” in reference to his the Replicants. The pervading advertising blimps in one of the first scenes, hovering menacingly above advertising the Replicants as a “tireless field hand[s] ... designed especially for you needs,” also elucidate Tyrell’s lack of parental responsibility as he rejects the view of Replicants as humans, they are objectified as “just an experiment.” The blimps also convey the influence of context on Scott, as during the production of the film consumerism and advertising were the pinnacles of society’s progress. After Rachael’s “Voight- Kampf” test, Tyrell comments that, “Commerce is our goal here are Tyrell.” This is a difference to the novel, as Frankenstein had created the monster to progress science and “penetrate into the recesses of nature ... show how she works in her hiding places,” while Tyrell’s core purpose of creating the Replicants was commercialisation. This dehumanises and commercialises the Replicants, which is also emphasised by them being ‘built’ for specific roles, like Pris, a sexualised, “basic pleasure model.” The responder gains insight into Tyrell’s attitude towards his offspring, which is completely ignorant and inhumane. This expresses the influence of Scott’s historical context, as during the 1980s commercialisation and globalisation were central to America, exponentially progressing. Frankenstein and Blade Runner also convey the consequences of this lacking parental affection, on the offspring. In the novel, without a father’s guidance, the monster was not mentally prepared for the human world. His moral philosophy was not conditioned by a parent’s love and knowledge of life. The monster’s physiological needs were also not upheld by a parent, the monster “felt cold ... half frightened ... instinctively, finding [himself] so desolate.” The use of sensory words, such as “cold,” in this quotation enable the responder to relate to the monster, and portray that the traditional family structure is imperative. In a tripartite construction, the monster continues that he “was a poor, helpless, miserable wretch.” The results of Frankenstein’s inhumane actions are elucidated here, through the monster’s words. The monster also states that, “when [he] looked around [he] saw and heard none like [him].” In a rhetorical question he then painfully ponders, “was [he], then, a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled and whom all men disowned'” The responder gains insight into the monster’s psyche and through Shelley’s use of metaphorical language, begins to empathise and understand that a lack of parental guidance is the core behind the monster’s “insatiable thirst for vengeance” for his “accursed” creator, later in the novel. In Blade Runner, the Replicants, like the monster, are abandoned, in the “off-world,” as slaves. Scott conveys this through Roy who says that it’s, “Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it' That's what it is to be a slave.” This echoes Leon’s words to Deckard, “Painful to live in fear, isn't it'” These two quotations from the dialogue of the film use the repetition of fear, sense and rhetorical questions to portray the experiences of the Replicants, a consequence of Tyrell’s lack of responsibility for his creations. Roy and Leon almost question the audience, who can empathise with the them, as they do with the monster of Frankenstein. A parallel can be drawn between the monster’s first sensations, after being abandoned and alone, “dark and opaque bodies,” surrounding him, and the scene where Pris is alienated on the sordid, dark street of Los Angeles. The influence of film noir can be seen here, with the uneasy jazz sound track and contrasting dark shadows. Pris buries herself under refuse and it is clear to the responder that she truly is “an orphan,” abandoned by Tyrell. The monster’s physiological needs, as he “felt ... hunger and thirst and darkness,” are mirrored through Pris, who exposes to Sebastian that she is “hungry.” By comparing these two characters, the monster of Frankenstein and Pris, who were deprived of the imperative needs provided through parenting, it can be seen that Scott and Shelley both share a similar concern for the lack of parental responsibility. Frankenstein and Blade Runner expose not only the repercussions of parental ignorance on their children, but the consequences on the parents themselves. Through this, both composers represent their value of parental responsibility. In the novel, the monster, “an unfortunate and deserted creature,” was exposed to the “barbarity of man,” as Frankenstein failed to attend the duties of a parent. The monster’s emotions “gave place to a hellish rage,” and he “vowed eternal hatred and vengeance” to his creator. The monster murdered Frankenstein’s family which resulted in a hell of intense tortures,” that would “torment and destroy” Frankenstein. The high modality of these phrases exposes the intensity of the monster’s “rage,” which resulted from Frankenstein’s own ignorance. Frankenstein had the “weight of despair and remorse pressed on [his] heart, which nothing could remove.” In this quotation, Shelley employs pejorative terms, “despair,” and negation, to expose the emotional and psychological ramifications on Frankenstein. Throughout the novel this continues and the responder sees Frankenstein’s dehumanisation, as life was “torture to [him]; solitude was [his] only consolation - deep, dark, deathlike solitude.” The tripartite construction in this quotation, strengthened by the alliteration, represents the consequences of Frankenstein’s blindness to “the duties of a creator towards his creature.” An allusion to a Gothic classic, Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is used to further represent the emotional consequences of the monster’s actions, on Frankenstein. A rhetorical question is used when Frankenstein asks, “Could I enter into [marriage] with this deadly weight [of guilt] yet hanging around my neck, and bowing me to the ground'” The allusion to Coleridge is expressed through the “weight,” around Frankenstein’s neck, a reference to the albatross, and this emphasises the paralysing consequences of Frankenstein’s actions, paralleled to those of the Mariner. In this quotation it is also evident that Frankenstein’s human relationships are damaged as a result of the monster’s actions, and he cannot fulfill traditional family commitments, as he did not provide these to the monster. In Blade Runner, the consequences on the ‘parent,’ are different to those illustrated in Frankenstein, however they still express the concern of parental responsibility. In the scene where Roy had come “to meet his maker,” Tyrell, the outcomes of Tyrell’s ignorance to his ‘children’ are explored. Tyrell’s blindness is illustrated through his thick, crystal glasses and the dark lighting in the scene, obstructing metaphorical and literal vision. Tyrell’s ironic remark towards Roy, “The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long,” is representative of himself, as the music foreboding, builds dramatic tension to Tyrell’s death. Death is the consequence in both texts, with Frankenstein’s relatives murdered by the monster, and Tyrell killed by his “prodigal son.” Roy kills Tyrell by gouging out his eyes, which continues the recurring motif of eyes, so that Tyrell may see clearer what he had done. Scott incorporates close ups of Roy’s face and diagetic sounds of bone cracks to expose the physical “tortures” or Tyrell, contrasted to Frankenstein’s emotional and psychological pain. Through this Scott represents the importance of parenting, by exposing to the responder the consequences of a lack of parenting, as does Shelley in her novel.F