Analysis of the Chase Scene in Blade Runner Essays -- Film, Movies

The chase scene is a key part of the film as it influences the viewer's overall opinion of the main character, "Roy". Throughout the film "Roy" is interpreted as the "villain" and "Deckard" seen as the "hero". However this scene creates sympathy for "Roy" and portrays him as a saviour figure. Ridley Scott, the director, does this using a range of technical, cultural and symbolic codes. These are the semiotic codes this essay will explore. Technical codes are the use of technical techniques used to create a certain atmosphere, mood or feeling. For example a Blue Filter is used to set a melancholy feel putting forward the image of "Roy" having "the blues". Cultural codes are themes or techniques used in media that are linked in some way to: religion, culture, events in history or previously published books and films (media). An example would be Ridley Scott's use of neon signs (TDK), behind "Roy" at the end of the chase scene. This suggests links with Tokyo, a main focal point for manufacturing goods. Symbolic codes use words, objects and images to represent a certain emotion or idea. In this case their main purpose is to provoke sympathy. An example would be "Roy's" black Nazi style coat symbolising/portraying him as an evil character. To begin the scene, the mood is set by a blue filter. This is a technical code: provoking the emotion of sadness. This effect creates sympathy for "Roy" because the atmosphere is dismal and melancholy. Likewise the establishing shot is in soft focus, another technical code creating a gentle, calm mood, which contrasts with the violence later to come. These two techniques toget... ...s meanwhile show he feels yet again as a human does and hence the viewer relates to "Roy" and therefore empathises with him. Finally he dies and a dove flies away out of his hands, representing peace and "Roy's" soul. But does "Roy" have a soul? This is one of the many rhetorical questions the viewer is left to think about. It is not a spoken question, it is an open-ended sign, there is no limit the audiences' interpretation; it is a mere guide to their emotional response. To conclude I think the piece is extremely successful in making the viewer feel sympathy for "Roy" through each semiotic code. The issues raised about "Roy" through these leave the viewer in suspense with unanswered questions like: Was "Roy" programmed to have emotional responses? What are his rights? Maybe he was man made. But aren't we all?