1. Deckard’s an android eh? So…what
In Blade Runner Rick Deckard is played by Harrison Ford, who does a great job acting out a hard-boiled detective, or Blade Runner. At the end of the movie though, similar to the book, the viewer (or reader) is left to wonder whether Deckard is human, or an Android… Throughout the movie at several points Deckard is questioned whether or not Rachael, played by Young, has true feelings (or empathy?) The movie seems to portray Rachael as much more expressive then Deckard, who seems to almost fade into the dark future-esk background of dark 2019 Las Angeles In both the book and the movie, the director and author plays with this concept, but leaves it up to the viewer to decide on the definite outcome. Also, in the directors cut Gaff drops an origami unicorn to Deckard resembling a dream he had the night before. The fact that Gaff is dropping unicorns from Deckard’s dream shows that he is aware of the content he is dreaming, implying that he might have a shared programmed memory to Deckard, leaving them both as androids with nexus-6 brains. Some other theories also suggest Deckard may posses a nexus-7 brain, unique to him and Rachael and potentially leaving them immortal.
2. Compare and contrast Spade and Deckard:
Deckard is a hardedge detective of the modern world; he has to keep up with the threat of technology and fight with robots. He is married but that means little. His style of work is more daring and adventurous, taking serious risks on the field. Deckard uses weapons and brutal violence in his work, not hesitating to blast a stray android in his path. He is a model of perfect film noir detective, using old-fashioned detective strategies to solve cases with. Similarly to many noir heroic figures he can’t let down a woman in need of help, (Rachael) and eventually is defeated by her. In contrast with Sam Spade, Spade represent’s one of the slickest detectives of his time. He can talk his way out of anything, is smooth in heated situations and clearly has no problem with the ladies. Sam isn’t exactly a regular main character though; resembling a “blond satin” speaks to the fact that he isn’t exactly good looking. An important difference between the two is that Spade doesn’t use weapons; his power seems to be in his cunning attitude. On the other hand though, he does have the soft side for ladies but in a different way: he almost uses them to get what he needs. Both characters do have similar uses of women in their work but all together go about their detective jobs in very different ways.
