Being an avid fan of the sci-fi genre, I'm constantly astounded with Hollywood's ability to create incredible cautionary tales of dystopian societies that one might surmise a turning away from, only to witness an inability to heed their own warnings. Instead, we are constantly bombarded by the all-too-often lurch towards the very mechanisms that perceivably enable such dystopias by so many of our coastal brethren, be it creators, actors or related mediaites.
Be that as it may, I thought it a worthwhile change of pace to highlight a positive message discovered in a contemporary piece of science fiction entertainment. Whether purposefully or not, Blade Runner 2049 (and less explicitly in its predecessor) touches on a profound message that's quite rare these days in film (and particularly among Hollywood circles)...that is the message of LIFE.
Related link: A False Abortion DilemmaTheResurgent: There are also a great many ideas floating around here, not the least of which is the intrinsic value of life. In the first film, animals have become so rare that realistic facsimiles of them are among the most prized—and expensive—of possessions. The replicants, meanwhile, realize that their allotted lifespan of four short years is running out, so in desperation they come back to Earth to find a way to extend that time. “I want more life,” Roy Batty, the leader of the rogue replicants, demands of his creator. And in the end, Roy spares Rick Deckard even though he could have killed the Blade Runner sent to kill him. “I don’t know why he saved my life,” Deckard says. “Maybe in those last moments he loved life more that he ever had before. Not just his life—anybody’s life. My life.”
Blade Runner 2049 takes that idea and runs with it, extending it to the replicants being able to have children of their own. In fact, in the film, this is what defines them as human. The people running the show don’t want anybody to find out about the child, because they know it would completely upend the existing world order. Replicants would no longer be seen as slaves if they were capable of creating life themselves. As K observes at one point, to be born is to have a soul—and to have a soul is to have value.
This is a profoundly pro-life subtext. I’m not sure if this is what the filmmakers intended, but it’s definitely there—and it’s bound to make some people uncomfortable. Just as it’s more convenient for people in Blade Runner to not think of replicants as human, so is it easier for pro-abortion activists to cast unborn babies the same way. But real life, as in the film, is a lot more complicated than that. Pretending otherwise doesn’t change anything.
