Revisiting the Biblical Tradition: Dante, Blake and Milton in Blade Runner

Abstract

Although Blade Runner is based on a postmodern novel of the cyberpunk genre, its protagonist shares some similarities with the medieval epic hero, and its motif may be compared with the epic plot as well. Allusions to this tradition are implicit not only in the dialogues but also in the film’s imagery. Rick Deckard, although fighting for a race (the human species), becomes an anti-hero nonetheless. The “evil” he fights turns out to be the hero, also fighting for his replicant species. As in medieval romances, love becomes the major force of a heroic cause, and he ends up protecting that which he had set out to destroy. According to this tradition, the beloved was always out of the lover’s reach, and conflicts always obstructed their marriage, making their relationship impossible. By the same token, Deckard and Rachael’s love in Blade Runner is conflicting. It is both impossible and undesirable, since they are situated at opposite sides: she is a replicant with a limited life span, and he is a hunter of replicants whose job is to terminate her species. He is supposedly a human, whereas she is an android, a mechanical being.