Civil Rights Era Discrimination in Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner” Anonymous College

In Ridley Scott’s 1982 film “Blade Runner” a strong element of oppressive slavery pervades throughout the film. The people of earth, set in the year 2019, have developed a human like species in which they refer to as ‘Replicants’. These creations are primarily used for manual labor and are seen as inferior to the earthly human population. In this analysis, I will show the similarities between civil rights era discrimination and the replicants that this futuristic society has created.

According to IMBD.com, they refer to replicants as,” Primarily used as manual laborers in the ‘off world’ colonies in space. Because of their advanced nature and violent behavior, replicants have been outlawed on Earth” (paragraph one). During the 1960s, in which this dramatic film was written, our nation was in turmoil regarding the rights of African Americans. There are some distinct similarities between this film and the time period in which it was written. As represented in the film, the replicants were primarily used as manual laborers working to build this “off-world” colony. This is precisely the stereotype that our nation’s African American population was trying to escape from. They were pushing harder than ever before to gain their rights...