The novel, ‘ Parable of the Sower’ by Octavia. E. Butler and the movie, ‘Blade Runner’ are set in a future that is marked by the breakdown of the traditional society, violence and fight for resources. Both the novel and the movie are set in Southern California, Los Angeles to be exact and show a society that is deeply divided along class and racial lines. The setting is a dystopian world which is filled with pollution, economic meltdown, war, drought and danger. These divisions not only affect the society that they live in but also affects the environment as a whole. There is also a visible breakdown in the government in both the works. The government is no longer capable of controlling the population and is composed of power hungry people who do not care much for the citizens. Both the novel and the movie belong to the science fiction genre and invest largely on humanism and pursue the question of what it is to be human. In the novel it is through the protagonist Lauren Olamina that the author questions what it is to be human and in the movie, humanity is questioned as well as shown by the replicant Roy. Both Lauren and Roy are forced by circumstances to be inhuman or lose their humanity. Lauren’s parents are murdered and she is forced to flee to a better place, struggle for survival and do anything to stay alive. Roy is a replicant and is programmed to not feel or have any emotions other than the memories assigned to him. But both Roy and Lauren go beyond their circumstances, they refuse to submit themselves to fat or outside influences and instead hope for change. Eventually this resistance and conquest of their outer world is what makes them arbiters of change. Lauren and Roy also embody the class and racial divisions that are prevalent in both the works. Lauren is African-American and not privileged enough to live in a secure environment. She cannot afford the security of the rich nor the means to support herself. Roy is a replicant and is seen as inhuman by Bryant who calls the replicants ‘skin jobs’. Bryant comes across as racist and it is not only the threat posed by the replicants that makes him want to do away with them but also their difference. There is an underlying fear of everything that is different and that is what forces Bryant to kill the replicants. In spite of the problems and the dystopian world, both the authors talk about hope. Lauren goes to northern california to start ‘Earthseed’ while Dekart and Rachel too leave the city and live in a rural area away from the misery.
Both works focus on the aspect of humanity in circumstances that are not entirely favourable for it to sustain. Lauren is human not only because she thinks, but also because she feels. The reader is introduced to Lauren as someone who goes to church but does not believe in God as she is told by her preacher father. She does not believe in a God who preaches or in a God as seen by her parents and friends. She is a precocious child who is also prone to what the novelist calls hyperempathy. Lauren vicariously feels the suffering of the people she encounters and feels their pain as her own. The sights that she sees outside of her walled compound stresses her and makes her extremely sad. She is capable of stepping outside of herself and feel for others. Roy is similar to Lauren in many ways. Although they are programmed not to feel, he feels for the death of his partner and also in the nd gives up his own life to save the life of his enemy. Although a replicant, it is Roy who is the most humane of all the characters in the movie Blade Runner. The humans or ordinary folks are out to kill, either due to hatred, fear or for their own survival. In the case of Bryant it is fear and hatred that drives him to get the replicants killed and Deckard kills in order to survive. Roy kills and hurts too but it isn’t for his own survival but because he can feel and is avenging the death of his partner and the injustice done to his kind by Tyrell. It is the hyperempathy of Lauren that stops her from becoming a monster, she remains human till the end no matter what the circumstances. In the Dystopian world of Sower, the slavers control the slaves through electronic collars. They do this not only to control their bodies but also stop them from ‘feeling’. By controlling their emotions they make them feel less than human. The replicants in the movie are also designed that way. But they end up having feelings and not only feel for themselves but also for the others.
Both the works talk about the lack of feelings in the supposed ‘normal’ people. Both Lauren and Roy are what can be labelled as outsiders. But it is them who feel for the others and not the rest. In Blade Runner, Deckard, Bryant and Tyrell are ‘normals’ but they do not share the empathy of Roy. Although Deckard constantly questions his actions, he is eventually self centered and is worried more about his safety and life. Although he tries and saves Rachel, it is more a result of what he feels for her and not out of magnanimity. The ability to reason is not the only thing that makes humans human. It is also the power to emphasize that makes them human. Lauren embodies this empathy. She is not closed form the outside world but she defines herself in relation to other people. Her feelings towards others and her sense of community among strangers makes her human. Roy displays his humanity many times in the novel. He comes close to taking the life of Deckard twice in the novel but each time he gives up because he does not want to take a life unnecessarily. The readers can't help but see this incongruity. There is humaneness in places where it is seldom expected and it goes missing in places where it should be. Men in their desire to control and exert power over everything act worse than animals and it is the persecuted who have every reason to get mad that show empathy and pity for other lives.
Both the works also touch upon the inequalities in the world. There is class as well as racial inequalities that are portrayed in the novel. The dystopian world that is described in the novel and the movie are a result of the selfishness and the rampant greed among men. Technology also plays its part in furthering the differences between the people. The haves in the novel exert control over others, have access to resources as well as security. The have nots constantly live a life of struggle. They either have to live a life of constant fear like the ones living inside the walls or have to let go of everything human in order to survive. The government, although completely broken down still favors the rich or the ones that can afford their services. In the novel, the firefighters will come to help only if the residents can afford to bribe them. The cops also help only when the residents can afford it and not otherwise. Blade Runner is also filled with despondency. Those who cannot afford to go to a better place, outside of the earth are doomed to live their miserable lives on the planet. They have to beg, kill and steal in order to survive. Both the novel and the movie are reminders of what would happen if we continue to live at the pace we do. Environmental degradation is accelerated every single day and in a few decades there would be fierce competition for the limited resources. In the novel, water becomes more expensive than gasoline and gasoline is not something that everyone can use or be able to buy.
Parable of the Sower and Blade Runner are also about defiance and self reliance of the people. In both the works, the system that holds everything in place collapses. Robledo is a place where there is no government and people with nothing are left to fend for themselves. In Blade Runner, the world that Tyrell has created has collapsed with the escape of the replicants and his eventual killing. Both Lauren and Roy defy their fathers, literal and figurative to go on their own path. Lauren does not believe in the God that her father preaches about nor does she believe in the artificial security that the walls give her. Although she has been told that the outside world is dangerous and that she would not survive on her own, she goes on her voyage to find a better place. Roy is similar in a lot of respects. Although he nows he has a limited life and that he cannot do certain things, he does it anyway. Programmed to live for only four years, he nevertheless questions Tyrell about why he cannot go on living and why he had to be made this way. He breaks out of his place and goes back only to question and eventually kill his ‘father’. Tyrell is the person who creates the replicants and is killed because of what he has done. Roy kills him not out of anger but to bring an end to what tyrell has done and will do in the future. He is defiant and takes matters into his own hands. When Lauren goes to the north to start the Earthseed community, there is not much going for her or her community. They realize that they have to fend for themselves. They not only have to grow what they need but will also have to sell their food in order to survive. Even when she leaves the compound, she does it after detailed planning and does not forge a path like her brother. She relies on herself and is not only defiant but also clever. Unlike her brother who dies, she manages to survive and reach a better place.
Thus both the works are situated in a dystopian world that has been ravaged by human greed. It is a world that is filled with hunger, violence, war.murder and the survival of the fittest. However both the authors also seem to imply that all is not lost. There is hope for humanity and this is evinced by the two characters, Lauren and Roy. Lauren is an empath who feels for other people and helps forge a community out of strangers. She is also the hope for a better world as she seeks to form a new community away from the destruction. Roy, although a replicant is also very humane. He gives up his life to save the life of his enemy. They both question what they are tile, are defiant and self reliant and these are the characteristics that give hope for a better world. In the end the survivors go to a better place, away from the destruction to start a new life. The works also discuss the role of the government's. The governments either have an absent, minimal role or has an authoritarian role. These works of fiction deal with the serious issues of racism, greed, environmental damage and economic inequality and describe a world of the future. The future is hopeless if this greed and destruction goes unchecked. The only hope for the world is the resurrection of humanity. There is a need to feel for others and stop being self centered and selfish.
Both the novel and the movie came out at a time when Los Angeles was overcome by economic strife as well as racial violence. As new immigrants moved into the city and jobs became scarce, tensions erupted. Underlying racial tensions were also set aflame that led to riots in the city. Although the novel and the movie are set in the distant future and are duly exaggerates as any dystopian or science fiction work would be, the base and inspiration for these works remain true life incidents. Reality is not too far away from the world that is being described in these works of fiction. Resource scarcity is something that the world has to deal with in the near future and future wars would be fought over resources such as water. Income inequality keeps rising every day and the rich are always favored over the poor. With the liberalism in the markets, governments also play a limited role. Most of the government’s job is privatized with companie taking over the previous responsibilities of the government. Profit making is the sole aim and this eventually leads to the destruction of the economy and the environment which is shown in the novel as well as the movie. The hope as evinced by Lauren and Roy are emblematic of the new movements across the world which dream of a better future.
Works Cited
Butler. E. Octavia. Parable of the Sower. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows. 1993.
Blade Runner. Dir. Ridley Scott. Perf. Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young. Ridley Scott Production, 1982. Film.
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