tears-in-rain

parties but that he can watch them. That he can skirt on the edge and drink a little. Both
within and without.
“I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the
inexhaustible variety of life.”
That’s from Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, a book which itself completely
revolutionizes the idea of the ‘American dream’ and ties it straight into the human
experience. A book which shows its protagonists as rubbing elbows with the ‘capitalist
machine’ but yet not a true part of it, both a character and a narrator. Deckard is a lot
like the protagonist of The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway, especially more so in some of
the Theatrical Versions. He narrates the film yet is a character of it, giving the audience
some grounds to question his narration and the possible bias behind his words. We
know his opinion of people, but thankfully this isn’t a story being told straight from
Deckard’s lips but from Ridley Scott’s eye.
And Scott shows the full face of this ‘capitalist machine’ as, ultimately,
destroying. That eventually capitalism will completely erode away mankind’s
individualism, that our skies and cities will be populated both by gas but by the neon
flurries and that we (ourselves) as human beings will fail to show compassion for when
we create life. That we will simply boil it down to whether or not it’s of “benefit to the
public.” Our ‘consumerist’ appetites always clouding our vision.
So who is responsible for this ‘capitalist machine’ gone wild?
There are no real political systems or governments or presidents or even
dictators in Blade Runner’s world but instead just a conglomerate of corporations and a
police state affair. The Tyrell Corporation being the dominating force, it seems, as it
produces life itself and bases its very existence around the sole idea of ‘commerce’.
If we come back to Deckard and Rachael’s first meeting, Deckard eventually
says that Replicants are either “Benefit of a hazard.” Is there some irony in that? Is
Deckard a benefit to humanity? Are blade runners?
Deckard, if he is a Replicant as I well believe, in his saying of this is ultimately
ironic. The ‘capitalist machine’ that created his very job clouds his vision to his
statement. He doesn’t see humanity in these machines, until the end of the film - when
he possibly sees it himself too - with this then he is a ‘benefit’. He does ultimately show
to humanity that humans can evolve and be compassionate to the Replicants, that we
can change our ways. Isn’t that what we should do? Feel for one another and join hands
and sing and dance into the socialist nights?
To the ‘system’, however, Deckard is not a benefit. He is a hazard. Killing Zhora
and Pris, letting Leon die and with Batty swallowed up by his longevity he has
completed a good portion of his job. He just can’t bring himself to pursue Rachael,
instead falling in love with her. This ‘capitalist machine’ would then pursue Deckard
soon after he turns his back on them, truly showing just how the ‘capitalist machine’
values love... humanity.