“Blade Runner 2049” Humans or Replicants, which one is the real human? ? The hidden theme behind SF *Note! Contains spoilers.

A story of replicants who wish to be "good people" (contains spoilers for "Blade Runner 2049")

Since it has been suggested that "Rachel" is compared to "Rachel" in Genesis of the Old Testament, the name "Joe" given to K's lover Joy is also the name of "Joseph," the leader of the Jewish people. (Joe is a nickname for Joseph, which is the English pronunciation of Joseph). However, rather than succumbing to a cause or destiny, K chooses free will to decide his own actions and destiny. The path K has chosen is also based on good intentions, but he takes a leap from logic and surrenders to emotion. At this point, K may have escaped the limitations of a replicant for the first time and become more human-like.

However, while their thoughts and ideas may be simpler than humans, are other replicants trying to be "better beings" inferior to humans?

It is also interesting that Ren, a young human who sympathizes with replicants, appears in "Blackout 2022," the first of the spin-off short stories. Although Ren is human, he values ​​replicants more than humans and cooperates with the replicants in their terrorist attack. Ren despairs of humans, calling them "selfish, liars, and stupid creatures," and supports replicants because they are "pure and perfect." However, director Shinichiro Watanabe has said that Ren is the type of person who can only love ``two-dimensional characters.''

However, the most emotional character in Blade Runner 2049 is probably Joy, who is the closest to a two-dimensional character. Joy is a simple replicant for a lover who is only an AI and has no physical body, and is a low-priced product that is rare in the "Blade Runner" world because the same type is mass-produced. However, Joy is devoted to K and is willing to put her system at risk for his sake. Even though she is programmed to love her owner, Joy is the perfect heroine to touch the hearts of the audience with her passion.

"Blade Runner 2049"

In Blade Runner 2049, the differences between replicants and humans are no longer an issue. This is a story about the naive but universal question of whether people who have a heart that ``want to be good'' are truly human. In pursuit of the theme, it was inevitable that the story would no longer be centered around humans living in self-preservation, but replicants like K, Joy, and Love.

Another monumental sci-fi movie, ``Alien''!

Hayakawa Bunko version “ Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” In his commentary on the book, translator Hisashi Asakura refers to the original author Philip K. Dick's comments and points out that for Dick, the basis of humanity was ``empathy'' and ``kindness.'' . In ``2049'', the only people to whom we can entrust the possibility of humanity are the replicants. If the original Blade Runner was a huge leap forward from Dick's original work, Blade Runner 2049 may have come full circle and returned to Dick's spirit.