I will begin by saying that I am mostly new to the science fiction genre. I’ve watched some movies before but never read any type of stories. I have to say that the movie “Blade Runner” was really good, and I really enjoyed it. “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” was the first science fiction novel I have ever read, and I really enjoyed it a lot. “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” is a great novel, and it influenced the making of “Blade Runner.” According to IGNMovies.com, “Blade Runner” is the number one science fiction movie of all time. Being that I haven’t watched much science fiction movies, I can’t agree with that. I will say that it the best science fiction movie I have ever seen. I will be talking about the differences of the main character, Rick Deckard, from the book to the movie.
The novel shows a wide range of topics from humanity, relationships, technology, and religion to environment, war, and animal extinction. The film focuses primarily on artificiality, romance, mortality, and relationships. The main character, Rick Deckard, is a blade runner meaning he kills or retires androids called replicants. His latest assignment is to find and retire a group of replicants that has escaped from space. The movie portrays that it is an order to Deckard and he does not have a choice, and the novel it seems like he has a choice whether or not to do the assignment. In the novel, Deckard wants a higher position in his office and wants the challenge. Deckard’s aim in the novel is to find answers about god and humanity. He searches for his answers through Mercerism and holds tight to the notion that in order to progress and be better, he must have a real, living animal. To get one, he must retire androids so that he can earn money. This does not exist in the Film, therefore, the impression of Deckard as a needy or vulnerable individual in search of answers, does not exist.
In the movie, Deckard has no wife and no electric sheep. There is no religion in the film and no mood altering module. The status of owning an animal is not significant in the film either. In the novel, Deckard is a man who desperately wants something to make him complete as a person. The Novel focuses mainly on the aftershocks of war and extinction and how it has impacted the religious and philosophical landscape of this world. The Film shows a future where artificiality blends with reality. In the novel, Deckard is battling a deadness that is trying to creep inside of him and his life is full of heartbreak and disappointment. In the novel, Deckard is in a state of anxiety and exploration. In the film, Deckard is just a blade runner who does his dirty work, gets the girls, and ends up being sad because the girls’ time is running out.
In the film, Deckard starts out by just trying to accomplish what needs to be done and get some sleep. The novel portrays Deckard as someone who is battling with religion and spirituality. It also shows Deckard as a person who needs a wife who displays something more than programmed feelings or an animal to love and care for. In the film, he just needs to be touched by the perfect woman and realize his own mortality. Also in the novel, Deckard commits adultery with Rachael, a girl he is physically attractive too, and then realizes that she is an android wholly devoid of empathy or real emotion and poised for revenge; whereas in the film Deckard is not married and Rachael and his relationship is sweet and she has no ill intentions. In the film when he finds out that Rachael is an android, he feels her pain and relates it to his own loneliness in his life which gives him a sense that they belong together. Any view of a real bond between them is shattered in the Novel when Rachael shows her true android colors and Deckard’s problems in the Novel has less to do with his loneliness than they do with trauma and adversity.
After reading the novel and watching the movie, I came to realize that the character Rick Deckard portrays is a big difference. In the film he is a bad ass blade runner that is very lonely and falls in love with an android; whereas in the novel he is also a blade runner but he is more confused with god and humanity and commits adultery with an android. The plot of both stays similar to each other but the main characters feelings and ideas differs tremendously. I really enjoyed watching the film and reading this novel even though I was not a big fan of science fiction coming into this class. The novel and movie gave me a different outlook on the science fiction genre in a good way.
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