Bladerunner and Frankenstein

To what extent has your study of two comparative texts led to a greater understanding of the ways texts reflect the contexts in which they were composed whilst exploring universal concerns?

Whilst texts may be fictitious constructs of composers’ imaginations, they also explore and address the societal issues of their eras. This is evident within Mary Shelley’s compelling novel Frankenstein (1818) and Ridley Scott’s sci-fi classic film Blade Runner (1982 director’s cut). Although these two texts are from completely different centuries, they both share many of the same values, themes and issues. These consist of the ‘natural world,’ scientific advancement and man’s hubris in playing god. In addressing these main ideas, Scott and Shelley utilize allusions, imagery, mise-en-scene and irony to effectively put forward and explore the issues of their era’s.  

The period in which Shelley wrote her novel was an era in which Romanticism was developing, a time which focused on the wonders of nature and on the individual. This theme is evident throughout the novel and is used to emphasise the emotions of the characters and to suggest the power of nature for both beauty and destruction. Shelley often uses the astonishments of nature as an invigorating device for victor, “when happy, inanimate nature had the power of bestowing on me the most delightful sensations. A serene sky and verdant fields filled me with ecstasy.” Vivid imagery is utilized to illuminate the peacefulness and contemplation of the sublime nature that is constantly surrounding victor.  
During Scott’s time, there was a greater consciousness of the vulnerability of nature in the 20th century. Rather than being resilient in Frankenstein, nature in Blade Runner is fragile and vulnerable, and increasingly degraded when fundamental natural rhythms are ceaselessly destroyed by ruthless exploitation. The opening image of the film which displays the cityscape with belching fire provokes association with heavy...