Bruno, Ramble City
Posted by admin on October 10, 2008, 3:39 pm
“Of all the replicants, only one, Rachel, succeeds in making the journey. She assumes a sexual identity, becomes a woman, and loves a man. . . . Rachel accepts the paternal figure and follows the path to a ‘normal’ adult, female, sexuality: she identifies her sex by first acknowledging the power of the other, the father, a man.” Comment on what it means to be a woman in either Blade Runner or The Sandman.
October 11th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
According to this quote, to “be a woman” is to consummate an intimate and sexual relationship with the opposite sex. This quote indicates submissiveness to the male gender through “acknowledging the power of the other, the father, a man.” This quote arguably represents the scene in Blade Runner, in which Rachel submits to Deckard’s aggressive pass at her. According to this quote, the others don’t “succeed” because they do not engage in sexual relations.
However, being a woman myself, I have to say that this quote is not a true representation of being a female and it is not indicative of Rachel’s succession. In the scene in which Rachel submits to Deckard, it is pretty apparent that she is not acting completely on her own accord, but instead is acting on Deckard’s intimidation tactics. I truly believe that even in the end, when Rachel escapes with Deckard, that it is partially a tactic to save her own skin, knowing that Deckard has the power to end her life.
Also, who is to say that the others don’t ’succeed’ in life due to not being sexually intertwined with a member of the opposite sex. Perhaps to some, this is a real concern for the NEXUS 6 creations, but I really beg to differ. With Pris and Roy being the only two NEXUS 6 creatures left, their relationship is not overtly sexual but instead it is closer to a friendship. We need to look beyond what is ‘normal’ in our own heads, and think outside the box. What is normal in our heads is that if one is alone with a member of the opposite sex, our instinctual primal natures cause us to engage in sexual activity. And although Roy kisses Pris in front of J.R. Sebastion, neither of them (Pris and Roy) show obvious unadulterated sexual attraction toward eachother. We don’t know what ‘consummation’ is to the NEXUS 6, so it is wrong to say Rachel is the only one who succeeds, simply because she has had sexual relations with a man.
After reading Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple” I’ve come to realize that the concept of ‘virginity’ is different for everyone. Although the protagonist of this novel is married, she doesn’t truly “succeed” in finding her true identity until she enters into relations with Shug. Perhaps my love of this book may be giving me biased views, but I just cannot agree with the above quote because I just can’t see past the apparent closed-mindedness.
Apologies for the ridiculous opinionated response, and maybe later, I’ll actually answer the question. haha.
October 12th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Also, as a topic of discussion, can the NEXUS 6 even reproduce at all? With the race dying out, one would think that they’d put personal feelings aside and sustain their survival as a race. right…?
also, we are prompted to think that deckard may be a humanoid. therefore, can NEXUS 6 engage in relations with humans?
Just questions I can’t answer, and hope someone can.
October 14th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Before beginning this response, I must admit that I read the book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? right before watching the movie it inspired, so my answer may be a little biased by the book, which I preferred over the film, but I’ll try to stay focused on the film.
There were many differences between the book and the film, but one of the consistencies between the two is the desire of the androids to blend in with the human society they escape to. Although Rachel’s story follows a much different path in the book, she still consummates a relationship with Deckard, and it is an odd moment of awkwardness. In the book, she almost can’t stop talking while she is undressing, and is seemingly unaware of the physical sexuality of her naked body. It is clear in the film that Rachel does not really comprehend the sexuality she is trying to emulate because she needs direction from Deckard on how to act. The scene where he pins to her the wall, her response is extremely apathetic, and it is only on the insistence and scripting from Deckard that she seems to know what to do.
Returning to the point about the androids trying to fit in with society, I think that Rachel’s “success” in making the journey is just as artificial as she is. Her sexual submission to Deckard is just her way to assimilating. The Nexus 6 androids, while nearly identical in image to humans, lack a sex, not even to mention a sense of gender. Thus, Rachel’s choice to fulfill her sexual role as a female is just a choice to assume a role in human society; another step towards her feeling like she belongs to human society.
To say that Rachel is the only one who “succeeds” in the journey is to acknowledge that Pru does not. It is difficult for me to comment on Pru’s character because she is so undeveloped in the film. I suppose one could argue that she does not assimilate in any way into society, and she certainly does not appear to have chosen a gender identity to live by. Thus, while physically she may appear to us as a female, Pru was really nothing more than an asexual creature. Her lack of identifiable sexual motives leaves us with an ambiguous perspective of her identity.
Because we can only identify one of these “female” androids as actually following the path of a “normal” human female, I think this means that Bladerunner is commenting on how we identify and categorize ourselves in our societies. This goes back to Haraway’s idea of the cyborg (quite literally) and what it means when we define ourselves with terms that only further inhibit us. I think that Bladerunner is suggesting the same thing that Haraway does in that it admits that we confine ourselves to these definitions of gender in order to fit in. This is the only way that Rachel manages to form an identity, and it may in fact be one of the only way that we as humans form our own identities. I can’t really imagine my life without my ability to identify myself into one gender or another. It certainly is not the only part of my identity, but it is a significant one. Perhaps Bladerunner wants to challenge this conception of identity, or perhaps it serves to reinforce it, emphasizing how human we are based on our genders and our recognition of those roles we fulfill through them.
October 16th, 2008 at 2:04 am
Raven Adams
ENGL479W
Professor Fraistat
October 16th , 2008
Blade Runner
I agree that sexuality and gender play a major role in identity in Blade Runner. The movie constantly presents scenes comparing and analyzing men and women (whether they be replicant or human) and their relationships with each other. However, before even truly addressing this comment, there are a few points in the comment that bring up intriguing questions. First, what is this journey that Rachael, over all other replicants, makes? Where does it end? The comment suggests that the journey is toward assumption of identity through what is seen as “normal” sexual activity and personal sexuality between a man and a woman.
One of the more compelling scenes from the movie is the one in which Deckard and Rachael have sex. We are told that through this, Rachael is released from the constraints of what it means to be a replicant, a controlled possession, or slave. This is indicated through the symbolic loosening of her hair from tightly controlled to wild and free during the piano scene. Apparently, after the love making Deckard returns home and we learn that Rachael has come to “love” him. Their relationship has broken the barrier between replicant and human with their love for each other. This is the underlining purpose of all the replicants in the movie; to blur the line between human and not human and assume identities equal to that of humans and deserving of their compassion. I do believe that Deckard and Rachael’s relationship is a challenge against perceptions about what it means to be human. However, based on this same scene and several others, I don’t agree that the relationship allows Rachael to assume a real identity and the question that arises is, does she really “make it” at all?
Earlier in the movie, Tyrell describes Rachael as unique because he implanted her with memories which make her easier to control; movie watchers can see this is valid. Indeed, she is the only replicant in the entire movie that isn’t actively trying to rebel against humans, even after she learns that she has been lied to her “entire life”. Even if one were to say her sexual awakening with Deckard is her rebellion, I say that it only served to transfer her into the arms of another domineering male authority figure. The sex itself barely qualifies as consensual. Deckard slams her against a wall and forces her to tell him she wants him and then proceeds to ravish her. Even later when he returns from battling Roy, Deckard is the one that asks her, “Do you love me?…Do you trust me?” These questions are asked in order to gain her compliance in his scheme to escape the city together. Rachael follows the classic lifestyle choice of pre-feminist movement women. She goes from the patriarchal, father-figure Tyrell’s care straight into an almost “marriage” with Deckard. There is no in-between or a time where she is alone and independent of male influence.
The other females in the movie are also only seen under the influence of men. Zhora, whom we know is an assassin and thereby a strong female warrior, is reduced to the role of an exotic dancer, a role of female sexual subjugation. We know right of the bat that Pris is a “pleasure” model replicant. She is also used by Roy to seduce J.F. Sebastian. I do not mean to say that Roy didn’t care for Pris. His visible anguish over her death is striking, moving and quite obviously real. However, his actions still result in her exploitation.
It seems that the only way for women in the movie to “ascend” from servitude to “independence” is through physical and sexual exploitation by men, specifically Deckard. If you notice in the movie, Deckard is the one that assumes control over all of the women; Zhora and Pris through their deaths and Rachael through her submission. Pris and Zhora fight Deckard, in these extremely sexually connotative positions; Zhora half naked while hold him around the neck, strangling him and Pris straddling his face between her thighs. Both women fight Deckard and wind up killed by him; penetrated by his phallic “weapon”, his gun. Rachael fights with Deckard, but submits and stays alive. If you notice, Deckard only kills women in the entire movie; and then he pseudo-rapes the only other woman left.
So, the only replicant, and woman, in the movie that “succeeds in making the journey” to identity is the one that submits to a man through an almost rape scene. If the way Rachael gains her identity is through a stripping of identity, I question again does she really “make it” at all? I don’t think so.
October 16th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Stephanie Garcia
Blade Runner
October 16, 2008
Though my argument appears sexist superficially, I think that Rachel is able to assume her sexual identity by feeling and experiencing true emotion. I think that Rachel was able to successfully assume a sexual identity when she could feel freely and personally experience the feelings of the femininity rather then simulating her ideas of the sex. When viewing the film I received the notion that Rachel was a replicant in the later stages of her development therefore she began to feel genuinely. She was no longer experiencing synthesized emotions; rather she was formulating her feelings from the experiences that she became to know as the truth. The dramatic alteration where she has feelings independent from her creator and simulated emotions is the turning point in the film where she assumes a feminine sexual identity.
Historically people have believed that the female sex has been closely linked to passion rather then reason. When Deckard initially meets Rachel and she performs the Voight-Kampff test, her responses were very rational and cold and void of emotion. Furthermore after Deckard shows his distain for the creation of replicants, she responds in a philosophical manner she does not appear to think or feel about his response. Her responses to Deckard feel as if they were preprogrammed. The way in which she engages his argument is considered to be against the conventions of how women are expected to act. This aspect of Rachel is completely altered when she begins to feel rather then think.
It is ironic that the moment where Rachel assumes a feminine identity, is when she realizes that she is not a human. When we see Rachel on the Piano, we see her come undone, her emotions have become genuine and her disheveled feelings would be a very idealist feminine response to a dilemma she is subject to. The genuine emotion that Rachel experiences is able to give her the ability to feel and act as a woman. I think that receiving a feminine perspective through her emotions is also coupled with her acceptance of a paternal power to submit to. However, I do not believe that her willingness to submit was the point that created her sexual identity. The scene where Rachel is in Deckard’s home playing the piano is very indicative of her feminine identity. This happened before the rape scene where Rachel physically submits to Deckard against her will. Therefore, I think that there is something is being invoked within Rachel that makes her feminine. However I think her new sexuality leads her to be more submissive because historically women were supposed to assume the role of being subservient to the patriarch.
In order to truly discern why we can consider Rachel successful in obtaining a sexual identity, I think it is important to explain how the other female replicants fail to do so. Though there was no clear indication of whether the other female replicants could feel emotion, they did fail to have a sense of womanhood for several reasons. It was clear that the other female replicants could not really grasp what womanhood meant, yet in trying to simulate it, they further proved that they could not understand femininity. As Pris applies make up, her excessive use symbolizes her distorted perception on womanhood. Because of her makes up and general appearance, she makes herself look more synthesized. Her makeup is juxtaposed to Rachel, who takes on a natural look once she establishes her femininity. Also Rachel is able to portray a traditional view of sexuality amongst women. The love scene between her and Deckard shows that she is conflicted. Rachel desires to be chaste; she knows it is wrong to spontaneously engage in sexual relations; however she ultimately submits to the will of the man. The other female replicants try to be over sexualized and outwardly seeking intimate relations with man. The other female replicants are still under a false impression that womanhood comes from using sexuality. Rachel is successful in assuming a sexual identity because she genuinely feels and eventually understands what it means to be a woman.
October 16th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Apparently, the above quote is ironic, so my whole spiel basically coincides with said ironic twist. I don’t know how in the world we were supposed to detect the irony, but okay.
October 17th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Elizabeth raises a good question. How were you supposed to know that the quote is ironic? I knew because of the larger context of the article, and I may not have left enough of that context in for you to see it. One clue to the irony, though, is the quotation marks that surround “normal” woman and the fact that a “normal ” woman is defined as “first acknowledging the power of the other, the father, a man.” That doesn’t sound to me as though the writer approves of this concept of normality. Apologies to all if the quotation was misleading, but, even so, my question doesn’t ask for you to evaluate the quotation, but to discuss what it means to be a woman in Blade Runner. For me that comes down at some level to deciding whether the movie itself is endorsing this concept of “normality” or critiquing it.
October 30th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Throughout Blade Runner the times when women are most human are when they are identified by their sex; when they accept the power of the other. It is then that they see what they are not and they are more human in those moments. Rachael appears to be a real woman when she lets her hair down and it is messy and curly. It is almost savage and after she lets her hair down, they play the piano together and it is almost as if he is guiding her in playing. At that point she is like a savage that is being tamed because then he attempts to instruct her in love by making her repeat the words to him and having sex with her.
Being a woman in Blade Runner means being submissive; following a leader. The woman are discovered as human-like when they are trapped or act as sexual objects. The audience first discovers Zhora as a performer, where is is nearly naked, dancing for men. The audience sees that her body is human-like, we are given the impression that she has this job because she is a single woman trying to get by and that is suggested when she explains that she could not afford a real snake. Although we know that she is powerful, she acts as a sexual object to get money. Then when she tries to escape, she appears human when she is trapped. Deckard is chasing her and he shoots her, the audience sees her fall and bleed and at that moment she is a human woman who is mortal.
Pris is seen as a woman several times but it is when she is inanimate, acts submissive, or is trapped, that we see her as human. The audience first discovers Pris in an alley. J.F. finds her in a corner, covered with trash, in a pose. J.F. is attracted to her and she appeals to him with her sex and so he takes her into his home. He wants to help her because she is lost and she acknowledges him as a type of savior; a man who she can follow to security. Another moment that we see Pris as a woman is when she and Roy are reunited. He kisses her, but she is a woman when she is standing next to a man. She is submissive to Roy, she follows him and his plans. She turns her attention towards him instead of J.R. She is also more human when she covers her face with makeup and dresses up with the veil. At this point, she is inanimate and that is when she is discovered. Deckard sees her with makeup on and makeup is strange in this scene because makeup hides the true face but at the same time it emphasizes parts of the face that a woman wants to highlight or give life to. By being inanimate, she is hiding from Deckard but the makeup and her presence signals to him that she is alive.
It is always when the women in the film are acting submissive, acting as sexual objects, or are trapped that they are discovered as real women. Rachael, Zhora, and Pris all share the same sort of feminine identity where they are trapped and they must follow a man, if not they die. It is when Pris and Zhora are alone with Deckard that they killed. When they are not following a man, then they are prey to other men. It is strange that the whole time that Deckard is away going after the other Replicants, Rachael stays in his apartment. During that whole part of the movie, she is in his apartment and when she is in his security she is safe. By staying trapped in his apartment, staying submissive by not going anywhere, she is protected. She gets to live, as opposed to the other female Replicants who die because they did not follow a man.