Praise Be To Tyrell: Religion in Blade Runner

“‘More human than human’ is our motto. ” (Scotts, BR) This famous quote, said by the character Tyrell in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, sums up the overall theme of the movie, which is the nature of being human. Blade Runner is Scott’s depiction of what is to become of Earth and how civilization has come to a point where humanity can be questioned. Reality is blurred and the nature of what is human is changing. Replicants appear identical to humans and even have emotions while the real humans appear cold and unemotional. The characters in this film are staged perfectly to compliment their environment as well.

Scott uses mise en scene to suggest a vision of the future that is not only a collapsed, technological metropolis, but also a sad, lonely, and overall soulless place. Scott also uses the typical film noir protagonist who is often alone and faces an inner struggle between being a hero and looking out only for himself. Deckard, played by Harrison Ford, is far from a knight in shining armor, in fact, some of his actions might suggest that he isn’t a hero at all. However, in order to understand Scott’s complex film, a closer look is in order.

We must look past the basic actions of the characters and focus on rather why they do their actions. One way to do this is by focusing on the films subtle subtext element of its allegorical relationship to Christianity. Throughout the film, it appeared that the analogy between the Bible and events in the movie actually had a relative connection, for example, Tyrell could be seen as God, Roy Batty as Lucifer, and Rachel as “the biblical wife of Israel in the Old Testament; the mother of a culture that will rule the Earth. ” (Romero, 114) Also known as Eve, and Deckard as Adam.

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Humanity itself is brought up for definition in this film, as the Replicants are in many ways more human than the “real humans” they are interacting with. These Replicants are artificial organic humanoids which only have five-year life ps, and are banned from Earth. Death is an obsession to the Replicants. This is because although they know that they will die in a few years, they do not know their incept dates, thus not knowing when the clock actually started, or when it will end. Death to the Replicants is represented by their own mortality and the outside personification of the Blade Runners.

This could possibly be why they live much more passionately than the human characters. Also, the main Replicant Roy Batty, displays a greater importance to life. Roy, and his loyal followers Oris, Zora, and Leon, are representations of fallen angels. They can be represented by Lucifer in the way that they have been expelled from the earth (much like Lucifer being expelled from heaven), and is obsessed with the same questions of morality. Roy’s angelic side is displayed, however, at the end of the film when he spares Deckard his life.

During the scene, Deckard is filmed from a high angle to suggest vulnerability and a lack of understanding, with his eye’s clenched shut as he clings to the building; a keep of blindness to the world around him. With the end near, Roy Batty goes through a change that manifests in the fact that he prevents Deckard from falling to his death and becomes his savior. In fact, as Roy grabs Deckard from the ledge he shouts, “Ah, kinship! ” (Scott, BR) As the two face each other, their proximities become closer. So close in fact, that they fit the frame tightly together.

Now the angle of the camera is level, almost like an understanding simply by the two characters sitting eye to eye. As they face each other, Roy seems to come to terms with his own morality and the inevitability of death. Though Roy is put at peace, this shocking and moving scene stirs up questions and thoughts within Deckard’s head. He states, “I don't know why he saved my life. Maybe in those last moments he loved life more than he ever had before. Not just his life - anybody's life; my life. All he'd wanted were the same answers the rest of us want. Where did I come from?

Where am I going? How long have I got? All I could do was sit there and watch him die. ” (Scott, BR) Thus, Roy Batty has redeemed himself by following in the footsteps of Christ. This is where the nail in the hand begins to make sense, as Roy is in effect attempting to become Christ-like himself. He has also forgiven others as he would have God forgive him in that he saved the man who killed his beloved Pris. As he dies, the white dove he had been holding escapes from his hand and flies up into the sky. Roy’s newly purified soul is now free, and on the way upward to peace and salvation.

With evil there must be virtue to counter balance it. In this case, to counter balance Batty’s symbolism of Lucifer, J. F. Sebastian symbolizes Christ in the film. He is the missing link between the Replicants and Tyrell. He is also human in the fact that he was born rather than created, but he has a disease which is quickly killing him, thus he is in a similar predicament that the Replicants face with morality.

So the connection can be made that he is a composite of man and Replicant just as Christ was a composite of man and God, and also the fact that as Christ lived among men, J. F. ived among the Replicants. When asked by Pris if he ever gets lonely, J. F. responds, “Not really. I MAKE friends. They’re toys. My Friends are toys. I make them. It’s a hobby. I’m a genetic designer. ” (Scott, BR) Another similarity between Christ and J. F is that Christ attempted to bring humanity to God, and was killed by the very people he attempted to help. J. F also attempted to bring man (Replicants) to their maker, Tyrell, and was murdered for attempting to help. Though J. F. Sebastian’s trust and faith leads him to a gruesome fate, it allows the Replicants to meet their creator.

Even the way J. F. and Roy ascend up the elevator to meet Tyrell is symbolical to the ascent into Heaven. The whole experience of meeting Tyrell is parallel to the Old Testament of the Bible. For example, the Replicants were created by Tyrell just as man was made by God and they were each separated from their maker and sent off the world. In Blade Runner the Replicants were sent off to a different planet whereas in the Bible man was banished from the Garden of Eden. Eventually the created begin to seek out the one who had made them, almost as a quest for God, and he does commits several sins in his search for the creator.

Through the help of Sebastian, Roy is able to finally come into the presence of his maker, who welcomes him warmly and without reservation. “I’m surprised you didn’t come here sooner. ” (Scott, BR) Tyrell comments as Batty enters his church-like quarters. Tyrell in this scene is a perfect symbol of the New Testament God — slow to anger and quick to forgive. He is happy to throw out the past, and look only at those things which are positive about his children. However, Roy is angered and upset by the presence of Tyrell, and he begins to make demands of the man who created him, much like Lucifer demanded to be in higher power in Heaven.

In the end, Roy is like any other man. He is aware of his own mortality, and looks to Tyrell to give him a new lease on life. When he finds that his pleas to Tyrell are not answered he lashes out and rebukes the man who he had thought of as a savior in the past. This is akin to a man who prays faithfully to Heaven for a release from disaster or distress, and loses faith if his condition does not improve. Upon losing faith, Roy also kills the messenger, Sebastian, thereby paralleling the killing of Jesus. After these acts, he returns to the elevator and falls from heaven, returning to the material world as a fallen ngel.

Lastly, Deckard and Rachel can be compared with the biblical characters of Adam and Eve. In the Bible, Genesis tells the story of two people, a man named Adam and a woman, who was made from his rib, named Eve. They were placed together in the Garden of Eden and given only one rule, to never eat from the tree of knowledge. Later, Satan, disguised as a serpent, coaxes the two perfect humans to eat an apple from the sacred tree. When Adam and Eve ate the apple, God grew angry and chased them out of the Garden and gave them sin, pain, and imperfections.

There is an obvious parallel between the characters in Blade Runner and the biblical references of Eden. However, in Blade Runner the audience is able to see two couples portray Adam and Eve; Deckard and Rachel, and Pris and Roy. The two couples differ in the way that Deckard and Rachel find paradise, whereas Pris and Roy die. Pris and Roy do not find their Paradise at the end of the film because Roy rebelled against Tyrell, his God, in demanding to become immortal. In doing this questionable act, he destroyed any possibility of entering back into the Garden of Eden.

Deckard and Rachel, on the other hand, are able to run away and stay alive together, thus “Deckard escapes ‘into a new Eden with a new Eve, hoping to regain at least a personal paradise. ” (Romero, 115) Throughout Blade Runner, the idea of immortality and the desire to be like the creator is quite recurrent. The great strength of Blade Runner was that it successfully dealt with the tenuous nature of human life, and examined what really makes a person human. The film was meticulously crafted, and created a world which was decadent, dirty and yet strangely beautiful. The same can be said of its inhabitants, and maybe of all of us.

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