Lisa Christopher
Dr. Christine Boese
English 102-101
February 8, 1999
In the Eyes of the Beholder
Director Ridley Scott uses an underlying theme of eyes to get the viewers attention in the movie Blade Runner. In the opening sequence, the Tyrell Corporation and an eye are superimposed onto each other, starting the theme of the replicants and the eye.  In the movie, replicants have escaped to earth and are being hunted because of their threat to the world.  The Blade Runner, Deckard says that the replicants are either a benefit or a hazard to the world.  If they were a benefit they wouldn’t need him.  To find the replicants, Deckard uses a technique that detects rapid movements of the eye; involuntary movement of the pupil, erratic motions of the iris.  The replicants have specially manufactured eyes that do not reflect emotion like normal human eyes.  It is the Blade Runner’s job to retire the replicants and save the world.  It is then the audiences’ job to decide if the replicants are being treated fairly.  Scott uses the eyes to focus the audience on their perception of the plot.  He brings up a question about whether or not the replicants can be treated as real humans.  Here, the answer lies in the perception of the audience.   One might say that in Blade Runner, the audience is persuaded to believe that the replicants cannot qualify as human beings.
Defining Sentience
The dictionary defines a sentient being as one who is responsive to or conscious of sense impressions.  In Blade Runner, the replicants do not act as sentient beings.  They were not programmed with any emotional system and creating one with a life span of only four years prevents them.  The replicants have no sense of feeling.  Leon, one of the replicants, can place his hand in a freezing cold container and not feel a thing. The memories of the replicants are implanted into their brain.  When Leon is asked to remember the good things about his mother, he shoots the testing administrator.    Rachel, another replicant does have memories.  She can remember being a child and watching a spider build her web.  She watches the spider have her babies and then Rachel watches as it is eaten by her children.  These memories have been placed there by the manufacters of the replicants, the Tyrell Corporation.  Rachel’s memories are implanted from the memories of Tyrell’s CEO’s niece.  So, the replicants have no emotions and no memories, therefore they cannot be considered a sentient being.
Replicant Emotions
So it seems, the replicants anger toward the Tyrell Corporation can also be portrayed as an emotion.  The replicants do have emotions and feelings.  They have developed their own system, equivalent to human emotions.  One cannot create a person with a functioning mind and expect her to be totally unconscious to the senses around her.  But, in Blade Runner, the replicants can only interpret feelings between each other.  Batty shows emotions by crying when Pris dies.  Leon shows anger when he is questioned about his mother. Rachel also cries when she realizes that her memories are not real.  Yes, the replicants can show emotions, but they have only developed feelings toward themselves and not everyone surrounding them.
Defying the Program
Rachel defies the replicants creation of their emotional system.  She falls in love with Deckard.  Rachel and Deckard share an intimate relationship.  Rachel admits that she loves Deckard and she trusts him.  So, Rachel has broken the code that the Tyrell Corporation has implanted and she is showing feelings toward a human.  But, what if Deckard is a replicant?  What if he was programmed to kill all the replicants that have come to earth?  It is a possibility that the Tyrell Corporation created a replicant to kill the other replicants so that a human would not have to suffer the wrath.  In the movie Rachel asks Deckard if he has ever taken his own test.  The movie leaves the question unanswered, the audience than has to perceive its own conclusion.  Scott, once again, leaves it to the eyes of the audience.
Sentience In Cyberspace
The thought of replicants being, or not being, sentient being can also arise the question about cyberspace.  In cyberspace, what are we?  We know that we are sentient beings because we are human, and we show emotions every day.  But, in cyberspace, how do you show your emotions?  You can make smiley faces, you can change the size, style, and color of your font to show how you feel; but, how do you know that the person reading your message can understand what you are trying to say.  Therefore, in cyberspace we must not be sentient beings.  Each one of us has created our own form of feelings that only we can understand.  There is no universal language in cyberspace; there is no universal language anywhere.  You can try to imitate how you are feeling, but who is to say that what you are reading is the truth.  Just because I type a cute little smiley face, does that mean I am happy?  It is all unknown in cyberspace. Everything that we have created here in the real world is unknown to the rest of the cyborgs.   It is much like how the replicants fit in with the lifestyle of Blade Runner.  They cannot express how they feel, even though they have feelings.  Only the people like them, who are trained to understand their language, can interpret how they are feeling.  Humans do not understand the replicants and replicants do not understand the humans.

“If only you could have seen what I’ve seen with your eyes,” says Batty.  His eyes have shown the audience a variance of perception throughout Blade Runner.  The audience has been able to see the reality of the replicants as robots and not as human beings.  The audience also saw the revelation of a human being and a replicant.  Batty’s eyes also helped us to see how we have a similar situation in today’s society.  Today we are able to compare our lifestyles as web surfers as that of one similar to a replicant. As cyborgs, we were created to show no emotion and work in a foreign terrain.  Each one of us can relate to the life of the replicant.  Replicants may show emotions, but they cannot be considered sentient being because their emotions cannot be shared by the human race.