Blade Runner is a science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick, one of sci-fi's greatest authors. Like the book, Blade Runner is about Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter who is sent to track down and retire (i.e. execute) rogue androids. These androids look just like real humans and can only be detected by an empathy test called the Voigt-Kampff. Along the way, Deckard begins to question the nature of humans, as well as the morality of hunting androids.
The answers to these questions are what truly separate the film from its source material. As I mentioned earlier, the only way to differentiate androids from humans is to test them for empathy and in the novel, it's as "simple" as that; androids lack empathy. They're sociopaths and are ultimately incapable of caring about anyone else, including other androids. Humans, however, are capable of empathy and that is what defines us. On the other hand, the film's androids (called replicants) aren't completely devoid of empathy, they just never get the chance to fully develop it. You see, replicants are built with a lifespan of only four years, so, despite their incredible strength and intelligence, they are basically toddlers; toddlers who spend their entire lives as slaves.
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In a way, the film's Roy Batty, leader of the replicants Deckard is hunting, is more of a deuteragonist than a standard antagonist. He's an escaped slave on the verge of death, who just wants a chance at an actual life. He gets about as much screen time as Deckard and even delivers one of the most iconic monologues in sci-fi cinema. Spoiler Warning: This monologue takes place at the climax of the film. Below it is a less spoiler heavy scene which shows Roy mourning a fellow android.
For comparison, here is how the novel describes Roy as he tells another android of their companions' deaths.
"He delivered the news as if, perversely, it pleased him to be telling this. As if he derived pleasure from Pris' shock... the worse the situation, the more he seemed to enjoy it."
True, the novel's androids are trying to escape a life of servitude, but they are also manipulative and sadistic. They are tragic, yet irredeemable; sympathetic, yet deplorable. Whatever empathy we may feel for them is a verification of our own humanity, not theirs, as we can even feel sorry for ruthless killers.
Given the movie's more positive take on mechanical life, you might assume that it doesn't portray killing them for money in the best light. You would be right. Likewise, you might also assume that the book, given its more negative view toward androids, would be in full support of Deckard's job. Well, not quite. The book has a Nietzschean "he who fight's with monsters" theme. Because the androids are so close to humans, Deckard is forced to sacrifice his sense of empathy to kill them. By doing this, Deckard risks his own humanity, which is a major conflict in the story. Below is a passage from the book showing how Deckard comes to see himself at one point.
"I'm a scourge, like famine or plague. Where I go the ancient curse follows... I am required to do wrong."
Here are a couple of quotes from the author himself on the topic. These are from an interview with Paul M. Sammon that can be read in the 25th anniversary edition of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.
"In my mind, android is a metaphor for people who are physiologically human but behaving in a nonhuman way." "Now, I wrote Sheep right in the middle of the Vietnam War, and at the time I was revolutionary and existential enough to believe that these android personalities were so lethal, so dangerous to human beings, that it ultimately might become necessary to fight them. The problem with killing them would be, 'could we not become like the androids in our very effort to wipe them out?' "Blade Runner is far from a carbon copy of it's source material and is all the better for it. The movie builds from the book's basic premise, while forging it's own identity from it. I highly recommend both Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and Blade Runner, as they are each among the most intelligent science fiction pieces in their respective mediums.
