Even in 2021, Blade Runner (1982) hasn’t left the public consciousness. If anything, it has gained more popularity in recent years since its sequel Blade Runner 2049 made it on the scene. Recently, Jared Leto even expressed an interest in reprising his Blade Runner 2049 character, which hints at the possibility of another incarnation of the cult classic. Given the popularity of the films, it’s easy to lose sight of the original novel they were based upon—Philip K. Dick’s 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.
There are many differences between the book and the film, but in an age where film critics look closer at portrayals of women and minorities, studying the character of Rachael is of particular interest when contrasting the two mediums. In doing so, one can see that the Rachael on the screen is more sympathetic, but in exchange, less empowered than her literary counterpart. In essence, she transforms from a manipulative antagonist to a damsel in distress.
Blade Runner and Its Femme Fatale
Blade Runner follows Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a bounty hunter known as a blade runner. It’s his job to kill, or “retire,” renegade androids called “replicants.” His mission in the film is to hunt four replicants who are self-aware enough to escape servitude in an off-world colony. In keeping with film noir’s dealings with moral and existential ambiguity, Deckard finds himself in a position where he begins to doubt the ethics of his occupation after he falls in love with a femme fatale replicant named Rachael (Sean Young).
Rachael is a product of the Tyrell Corporation, the leading company responsible for making these biological machines and imbuing them with memories. Although touted as advanced machines—who Tyrell brags are “more human than human”—the replicants are close enough to human that they can be convinced themselves that they are, in fact, human.
Rachael is the first replicant appearing in the film who is not aware of her origins. Through Deckard’s empathy test, known as the Voight Kampff, it is discovered that she lacks a normal amount of social understanding and empathy and thus her identity is revealed to Deckard and the viewers. In time, Rachael’s discovery of her replicant identity plunges her into an existential crisis that strips her of her veneer as a confident and mysterious figure to reveal a child-like woman with a bounty on her head.
Ridley Scott as a Real-life Tyrell
Blade Runner’s director, Ridley Scott, departed significantly from the novel in many regards, Rachael’s characterization being one of them. Much like Tyrell, Scott designed Rachael to suit his needs and, arguably, his personal fantasies. Despite the cold, callousness of Philip K. Dick’s Rachael, Scott searched for a young actress who radiated vulnerability and inexperience. Nina Axelrod, already an experienced actress from the 70s, tried out for the part but she appeared too worldly for Scott. Indeed, Axelrod’s screen test portrays a Rachael who is at once vulnerable, forthright, and lacking the mechanical nature of Sean Young’s performance.
The love scene of the screen test even lacks the abuse seen in the final film. Axelrod’s Rachael is more active in consenting to Deckard’s advances, as opposed to the controversial scene with Sean Young where one sees Deckard behave violently and intimidatingly to seduce Rachael. Although both portrayals are a great departure from the novel, it appears as if Scott chose to reject a more layered version of Rachael in favor of a more traditional damsel in distress.
Meeting Rachael: The Novel vs The Film
At the start of the book, the Rachael we meet is very similar to the one seen on screen. She’s slender, dark haired, and dressed elaborately in a long coat. Yet Dick’s character bears a look of “sullen distaste,” countering the Vivian Leigh softness and stoicism Scott sought in his actress. The sharpness of her look is indicative of her sociopathic personality. Where Scott’s replicants have a sympathetic side to them, more comparable to autistics than psychopaths, Dick’s replicants are lacking any empathy or social conscience—and Rachael is no exception.
While she’s beautiful, forceful, and manipulative, she also stands as an embodiment of a world in decay; a world where beauty and affectation are entangled. Scott maintains this side of Rachael’s character, but ultimately chisels away at her original image of glamour and strength till she becomes something helpless and muted, rather than real and self empowered.
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Is Rachael Disempowered in Blade Runner 1982 Film?
By the end of the film, Rachael becomes one of the replicants that Deckard must hunt, which throws her into a vulnerable place. But because of his feelings for her, he chooses to protect her. And from the aggressive love scene onward, Rachael ceases to be an active character and instead largely echoes Deckard and puts her trust in him alone. Alternately, in the book, Rachael is worldly enough to dissuade Deckard from hunting her while being active in her sexual pursuit of Deckard.
Ridley Scott’s choice to transform Rachael from a worldly seductress into a damsel in distress may have been a personal choice as well as a calculated one. When one creates a film that’s intended to appeal to a wide audience, it is easier to uphold a trope that has consistently appealed to the masses for centuries.
Without knowing the full context of the choices that go into making and casting a film, it’s easy to miss that the trope is even there. Yet, looking at the portrayal of women in Blade Runner and other popular films should give one pause about the reasons certain tropes have maintained such a strong appeal. And, perhaps, a closer look at such characterizations can sharpen one’s perspective and lead one to watch future films with a more informed and skeptical gaze.
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