A deeper understanding of compassion and hubris emerges from considering the parallels between Frankenstein and Blade Runner. Compare how these texts explore compassion and hubris.

It is through an examination of the eerily striking parallels between Mary Shelley’s gothic novel Frankenstein and Ridley Scott’s cyber-punk, film noir science fiction film Blade Runner, composed with over a century of supposed human growth and development between them, that responders may glean a heightened awareness of rising levels of hubris, and dwindling compassion amongst humanity, exposing a terrifying lack of adherence to warnings conveyed repeatedly by anxious composers. Shelley and Scott both warn of an overflow of hubris in their depictions of the dangers of overreaching, Shelley using hyperbole and Scott using film noir lighting, and emphasise a need for compassion in the explorations of the meaning of being human, Shelley through rhetorical questioning and Scott through symbolism, and of the importance of parenting, Shelley through use of positive connotations and Scott employing the use of lighting and sound.

The parallels in the two composer’s depiction of the dangers of overreaching lead to a deeper understanding of humanity’s flaws, in their obsessive greed and hubris. When considering these texts as modern and postmodern gothic interpretations of existing didactic tales such as the Rime of the Ancient Mariner and the Promethean myth, a distressing lack of adherence to such admonitions amongst humanity becomes clear. Both texts were composed during periods of rapid technological evolution, times in which this arrogance was rife, Shelley and Scott having witnessed the commencement of the Industrial and Technological revolutions respectively. Such an innate yearning to excel is seen in the texts to have led to the evolution of technology and subsequent devolution of humanity.

Shelley’s depiction of the hubris of scientists in the Enlightenment is clear in the hyperbolic words of Mr Waldman, “they ascend into the heavens they have acquired new and almost unlimited powers”. This biblical allusion parodies the egocentricism of scientists of the time who elevated themselves to such positions of deity. The dehumanisation and greed ensuing from such ambition is also seen when Frankenstein says, “so much has been done more, far more will I achieve”, his abhorrent, smug tone, repetition and egotistical use of first person repelling the reader. This may be linked to Scott’s similar depiction of the debasing avarice in his own commercialist society through Tyrell’s cold and emotionless statement, “commerce is our goal here”. Tyrell’s costume mirrors this dehumanisation, a slick suit and glossy hair. His reflective glasses obscure his eyes, this metaphorically obscuring his humanity.

The composers’ paralleling condemnations of this hubris is made clear in the way they both depict the negative consequences of such arrogance in beings which turn on their creators. Shelley makes use of mise-en-abyme in Walton’s framing narrative, seen when he exclaims, “Unhappy man! Do you share my madness? Have you drunk also of the intoxicating draught? Hear me, let me reveal my tale, and you will dash the cup from your lips!”, so that the reader enters the story with an ominous sense of foreboding, knowing the consequences of hubris, represented metaphorically in the “cup”. Scott’s use of gothic horror is similarly effective in warning against the consequences of such greed through his graphic imagery and operatic soundtrack when Roy bends over Tyrell and crushes his skull. This, the strikingly similar ways in which the two composers explore the dangers of overreaching provide a terrifying insight into humanity’s hubris, and tenacious rejections of warnings.

A continuation of such arresting parallels becomes evident in the composers’ examination of the meaning of being human, which provide an insight into the way humanity have abandoned compassion increasingly in their pursuit of material wealth. Such parallels may help to explain the similarities between the composers’ ideas. Both Scott and Shelley’s contexts were marked by intense philosophical questioning – that which existed in the Age of Enlightenment and that of the Cold War, in which terrifying exposure to the horrors of which humanity was capable resonated uncomfortably within the population, revealing a deep-rooted lack of compassion. The possibility of creating life also loomed over both of these composers, experimentation in galvanism foreshadowing the genetic manipulation of the 20th century. Shelley and Scott thus critique an abandonment of compassion through their similar depiction of non-human creatures which paradoxically display more emotion and empathy than their human counterparts.

Shelley’s mise-en-abyme allows an insight into the monster’s mind, and the reader is positioned to sympathise with his emotive and eloquent language, seen when he describes how “when I discovered that [stealing food] inflicted pain upon the cottagers, I abstained”. Roy shows similar compassion when he grieves for Pris, who is presented at this point as an embodiment of humanity, splayed broken and vulnerable on the floor, and covered in blood, a universal symbol of mortality. Close ups of Roy sobbing, howling, and painting his face in Pris’ blood reveal the depths of this emotion which humanity now lacks, and allude to ancient human rituals for the dead, dwelling on the poignant paradox in which machinges are able to usurp their creators in their humanity. Shelley uses high modality and sibilance in order to emphasise this in descriptions of the monster as “super- human” and Tyrell ironically states their goal to make replicants “more human than human”. Thus these unnerving similarities expose the lack of compassion amongst humanity through an exploration of what it means to be human, revealing distressing trends in human behaviour.

The composers extend their call for compassion to the realm of parenting, in which the paralleling warnings suggest a neglect of compassion during infancy as a reason for later negative consequences. This value may be linked to the composers’ contexts, both writing in periods in which the creation of human life seemed imminent, Shelley taught the value of parenting from a young age. The birth of Frankenstein’s monster becomes a symbolic representation of a newborn child reaching out to its mother. Victor describes how “A grin wrinkles his cheeks one hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me”. The positive connotations of “a grin wrinkled his cheeks emphasise the monster’s initial innocence, however, when Victor displays a heart-breaking lack of compassion when he “escape[s], and rush[es] downstairs”, Shelley alludes to John Locke’s theory of Tabula Rasa when she suggests that it is this lack of love which leads to the monsters’ flaws, emphasised through the sibilance of “stretched”, “seeming”, “escaped” and “rushed”, which negatively draw attention to Victor’s adolescent cowardice and lack of care for his creation. The fiend itself fortifies this idea when he laments that “I was benevolent; my soul glowed with love and humanity, but am I not alone, miserably alone?”, again stressing the need for compassion through the repetition of “alone, miserable alone”, which causes the reader to sympathise with the monster’s parentless plight.

Pris provides a similar explanation for her later violent and erratic behaviour. When Sebastian asks, “Where are you going? Home? She replies, “I on’t have one”. Scott’s use of film noir and decayed, lettered urban mise-en-scene liken Pris to an abandoned child, and close ups of her downcast, sopping face encourages empathy with the viewer, emphasising the need for compassion in childhood, and a true home. In Roy’s confrontation of Tyrell, he refers to Tyrell as “father” in an attempt to force confrontation with his paternal responsibilities. The lack of parental compassion which Tyrell displays in response is again conveyed in a negative light, in the way he refuses to meet his son’s eyes and spouts emotionless scientific jargon such as “a coding sequence cannot be revised once it’s been established”, and objectifying his son as “quite the prize”. Thus, the composers’ similarly negative portrayals of negligent parenting provide a heightened understanding of the lack of compassion which occurs frequently, and increasingly amongst humanity, and the importance of change.

It may therefore be seen that the texts examine compassion and hubris in strikingly similar ways through their warnings against hubris in their portrayal of the dangers of overreaching, warning of the disappearance of this emotion in their explorations of the meaning of being human and the importance of parenting. It is through the heightened understanding of these values gleaned from these paralleling texts that the inability of humanity to adhere to recurring admonitions becomes clear.