Reflections on Teaching Gnosticism V: Blade Runner
For our penultimate class in Gnosticism we took a bit of a break and watched Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner: The Final Cut (2008). For those in-the-know, Blade Runner is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Dick had an avid interest in Gnosticism and, though the film takes some liberties with his book, it is still suffused with Gnostic imagery and themes. Blade Runner was originally released in 1982 . Unfortunately, the film flopped but it became a cult classic and led to several further incarnations, including a Director’s Cut in 1992 and now the “Final Cut.” For more information on the film’s history, check out its WIKIPEDIA page.
After the film, we had a short discussion of the Gnostic themes and imagery we were able to observe. Several excellent ideas arose, including the identification of Replicant Roy Batty as a saviour figure (the nail in the palm and the ascending dove were tip-offs), Tyrell as Demiurge, the post-apocalyptic city as the dark earthly realm of matter, Rachael as the archetypal Gnostic seeking salvation, etc. Another observation made was that there are no children in the film. This led me to think further of my own take on it; so I thought I’d post that here to stimulate some discussion outside of the classroom. Note, however, that I have not consulted any commentaries on the film, so my comments risk being unintentionally similar to others and/or pitifully naïve.
As mentioned, the post-apocalyptic city represents the corrupt earthly world, a world of darkness, danger, and rain (lots of rain), with strange and nefarious inhabitants and unfamiliar languages. A flying billboard advertises a panaceaic life “off-world.” Above the noise and filth of the city fly the Blade Runners, moving to and fro in their halo-circled levitating cars between the city and the looming pyramids of the Tyrell Corporation. The Blade Runners represent the archons, and their master, Tyrell, creator of the Replicants, is the Demiurge, dwelling above creation on his heavenly throne. The Replicants are genetically engineered humans created to be slaves. They are “born” without emotions but develop them over time; to prevent them completely acquiring emotions (and in effect becoming “human”) their lifespan is limited to four years. Thus, our Demiurge has created a flawed copy of the perfect human, just as in Gnostic mythology.
Occasionally a Replicant will escape and it is the Blade Runner’s job to “retire” (that is, execute) the runaway slave. In the film, a group of escaped Replicants seek audience with their creator. They are looking to extend their lifespan, to in effect attain immortality or salvation. Their leader, Roy, is disappointed to find out that what he seeks is not possible. We also meet another Replicant in the film, Rachael, who believes she is human because Tyrell implanted her with false memories that belonged to his niece. In a sense, Rachael is Adam, given an extra quality akin to the spark of the divine; however, these memories are also meant to keep her docile, which is more suggestive of the Demiurge’s efforts to keep humans ignorant. Rachael shows her archetypal Gnostic features also in her efforts to learn her true origins. This may render the film’s lead character, the Blade Runner Deckard played by Harrison Ford, as the story’s real redeemer figure as he helps Rachael discover that she is a Replicant and endeavours to keep her safe from rival Blade Runners.
The film concludes with a battle between Deckard and Roy. When Roy seems poised to kill Deckard, he instead saves his life, delivers a monologue on what it means to be human, and dies. Roy did not achieve earthly immortality but his awareness of the value of life may have given him an eternal soul. In Christlike fashion, he finishes his allotted span on earth but leaves behind a message, with Deckard now awakened to a new conception of humanity.
That is one way of imagining the film, but the student’s observation of the absence of children and hints that Deckard himself may be a Replicant led me to another way of looking at it. Perhaps all of the characters in the film are Replicants, created as adults with false memories to keep them docile. Roy’s rebel Replicants are simply those who have become aware of their true nature and seek freedom from it. We may see, then, all of the apparent humans in the film as the fleshly who are unaware of their nature and origins and will not achieve salvation; the Replicants are the Psychics who have achieved gnosis and are on their way to salvation; and those who live “off-world” are the Pneumatics who have ascended. The billboard represents the efforts of the heavenly realm to tell us of this other existence and rescue us from the world of matter.
Blade Runner is a rich film that allows for a number of interpretations, both Gnostic and non-Gnostic. Our viewing of the film recalls the class’s earlier efforts to read gospel episodes through a Valentinian perspective. Then, as now, we found that there were numerous— sometimes overlapping, sometimes competing—ways to interpret the texts.
If the replicants are the Gnostics, then those hunting them down could be considered the ‘orthodox’ Christians who are oblivious to the true gnosis. This would mean that Roy’s cryptic farewell on the preciousness of human experience suggests that the type of Gnosticism present in Blade Runner is not of the ascetic variety.
In an interview on Blade Runner, Rutger Hauer talks about how Deckard does not really seem to understand Roy’s character (something that is unusual in Hollywood blockbusters):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laKYg7gy6U8
Another interesting note: several comparisons with Chinatown were brought up in class. James Hong (the eye manufacturer) is actually in Chinatown as Mrs. Mulwray’s head servant. Just thought I would throw that out there.
Cheers,
Joshua
Cheers,
Joshua
mixed reviews of the film that we screened in the last class. The sci-fi genre doesn’t really appeal to me, so that contributes to my mixed reviews and lack of interest. However Blade Runner does remind me of one of the first Japanese Animes that I have ever watched. Blade Runner (1982) probably influenced the makers of the Anime that I am talking about is Akira (1989). Come to think of it, the two films are very similar although the setting is a futuristic post atomic Tokyo. In Bladerunner the materials or pneumatics are portrayed as Japanese. I wonder if there is a connection with the development of Akira?
Blade runner was very interesting for me, since I had not seen it before. The number of different potential interpretations is surprising. I also thought that the replicants were the Gnostics and the normal people were Orthodox Christian. However, this would not account for the Replicants killing others. Or it could be, as someone mentioned, that the Cops are fallen angels who must be killed.
I really liked the end where Roy is chasing Deckard and they start climbing up floors, I instantly thought of the “Heavens”. It is as if Roy completes his ascension and then achieves salvation and true Gnosis.
Overall it was very interesting. A bit Gruesome at times but I guess that is something that has to accompany Gnostic films.
Regards,
Abdullah
I am currently taking a Religion and Film course and we watched Blade Runner in a religious context. If anyone is interested, here is a link to one of the articles we read.
1) “Knowledge and Morality in Blade Runner and Genesis 2-3”
http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/Vol9No2/KeeferKnowMortal.htm
Coincidentally I’ve been reading some Valentinian literature lately…
As you point out, Blade Runner is gnostic (the rain standing in for the Fog of Error); but I don’t think it’s a Valentinian form of gnosticism.
In Valentinus’s “Fragment C”, the model human lies somewhere between the True human in the Platonic sphere and us imperfect humans down here. The model human is a portrait of the Platonic human, but with a portion of the divine realm. For that, the angels are jealous of the model and try to hide it. We could infer that the Demiurge intended to praise the Platonic human, and that he was acting in good faith; rather than intent on making a race of slaves (which seems more Islamic than gnostic, anyhow). This understanding of tiered perfection, with the Demiurge as not evil but also not perfect, is more fully developed by Ptolemy in the Epistle to Flora.
Second, BR doesn’t seem to have any mention of the “book written in the heart”, as seen in On Friends (“Fragment G”) and the Gospel of Truth.
And the world in Valentinus is not a prison; it’s a facade. Valentinus has a concept of “the realm of appearance” and its “nullification” (Gospel of Truth, paraphrased in “Fragment F”), absent from BR. Conversely, the heaven of BR doesn’t lie behind the world, it lies outside the world entirely. I would say The Matrix illustrates a more Valentinian world, although its Creator happens to be a creature of an earlier generation of men.
personally I did not really understand to much of this film, a little too sci-fi for me. But after the class discussion I understand how the christian notions of the nail and dove can be associated to Roy. I also see how roy had “seen” things that Deckard hadn’t.
However, after seeing this film and having the dicussion, I see its greatest connection to gnosticism to be the fact that there were so many different interpretations of the film. Personaly the differing interpretations of other students demonstrated the films connection to gnosticism then the actual film itself.
For starters, the book and movie are quite different (and -like most movies- aren’t as explanatory as the book).
For example, no kids – in the book if you could have kids, you were supposed to leave Earth for the “Off-World Colonies. Radiation makes you sterile.
Also, Philip makes it rather explicit that Decker is human (but I believe the Director’s cut alludes that he isn’t). And the book makes it very central on “What is human” – replicants who want to be human, who think they are human, and even humans that think they are replicants.
The book also makes the replicants out to be more like what we think of as clones, than androids. But I think the purpose of that was to make the case that people didn’t know if they were human or not – it was hard to find out, and in the end, who cares?
And even more interesting (because it’s so unique) is the *religion* in the book – that you couldn’t go to heaven when you die if you don’t have a real living animal (whether it be a roach or a horse). I have no clue where that would fit in. The only thing I can make from it (along with other books by Mr. Dick) is that he really liked animals.