tears-in-rain

He is trapped between Replicant and Human and, more so, across Blade Runner
itself. There are over seven versions of the film, all with a different spin on the ending
and all different spins on how human that Deckard becomes. The Theatrical Cut calls it
‘love’, the Final Cut calls it ‘acceptance’ and all the versions in-between may or may not
have clues in every single one of them pointing towards either end of the spectrum.
I’d like to mention that, in my mind, being a Replicant in this world would be a
result. They seem to be the most emotional, most empathetic and most ‘human’ in our
sense of the world. If Deckard turned out to be a human, he’d be different from all of
them; he was already different to begin with anyway. What makes Blade Runner
different is that its protagonist is not stuck within fiction but meta-fiction. He is stuck
across the Theatrical Cut, Final Cut and so on and so forth. He is the only protagonist in
the history of cinema that is stuck within the film itself, never learning who he really is,
given it is so easy to then throw on the Theatrical Cut and see the Unicorn as a sign of
brotherhood from Gaff.
This entrapment of Deckard has probably led to his paranoia and obdurate view
on the world. He seems quite comfortable in telling Rachael her whole life has been a
lie, then tries to cover it up with what he knows best - “a drink” - all of which pointing
towards one definite fact: Deckard is both trapped in the meta-fiction and the fiction in
more than a few senses. His character with all the paranoia he carries differentiates him
from the fickle sheep that mull the world, but also the Replicants who dis-regard
everything and search for the truth to life.
In fact, I feel Deckard might fit in well with Roy’s gang, don’t you think? He’d find
a meaning, a purpose, and that seems like the rarest trait in 2019. There is no ‘truth’ in
this world, it seems everyone is affected by this system or this Orwellian nightmarish
structure that invades homes with lights and allows the richest of the rich to produce life.
This is a world away from 1982, and a world away from some of that year’s films such
as E.T (more on that later). As Harrison Ford himself said in an interview with David
Letterman: “It’s no musical comedy, David.” [4]
Blade Runner could be said to be an amalgam of all popular science-fiction film
traits and of the typical film noir, together creating future noir, perhaps an oxymoron.
Considering this, we see a very vague American sense to the whole picture, yet Blade
Runner does not come across as an American film. We have Harrison Ford, a new
heavyweight on the block, fused with a cast full of Dutch and English and Mexican and
French.
Considering this then, here is an interesting thought: was Rick Deckard built as a
protagonist for the Western audience? He is an alien in a world of the alien, to a 1982
audience; this would come across as a very scary thought. Reagan was in the White
House, the ‘American’ sensibilities still held and a small ounce of nationalism to bind the
people together. Rick Deckard then is perfect for a 1982 audience to confront its fears