Discussion 1: Creation

CREATION

Discussion I

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 The theme of creation is one of the oldest ideas that exist. Blade Runner, Never Let Me Go, and Frankenstein share a common theme of a creation gone wrong. In Frankenstein, the creation is a monster that is shunned by society because it is so ugly and unpleasing to look at. In Blade Runner, the replicants are beautiful and extremely powerful—unlike Frankenstein’s hideousness—but they are despised by society because they are better than humans. Never Let Me Go is different because they never felt shunned or disliked until the very end. It was then that they realized who they truly were and their purpose. Humans had been shunning them secretly since the beginning, but never let them know.

All three of these stories try to make you feel sympathy for these characters even though, as in the case of Frankensteinand Blade Runner, they were malicious toward others. Still, you can’t help but feel bad for these creatures that truly only want to be loved and appreciated, instead of hunted down and killed. In contrast, Never Let Me Go has characters like Ruth, who—while unlikeable—were not truly malicious. This gives you more of a chance to feel sympathy, whereas in Blade Runner and Frankenstein, you feel this constant back and forth of sympathy and revulsion for the characters depending on their actions.

In Never Let Me Go, you have children that seem exactly like humans. They look, feel, and think as humans, even though they are not. By contrast, even though in Blade Runner the replicants looked and seemed human, there were always things you could spot, and their power and strength made you almost fear them. They were wild cards—unpredictable androids who could kill or be good. It was never something that was predictable.

Frankenstein was also a sort of wild card who would change depending on his mood and the things that were done to him. In the part where he is looking inside the window at the French family, you see his tenderness and you almost start thinking that he is good. Then, from one second to the next, you feel fear when he lashes out because they shun him. While no one can certainly blame him for this, the depths to which he takes his anger make it feel unforgivable. In the end, he earns the title of monster.

The kids in Never Let Me Go felt that same anger, yet never hurt each other physically, nor even rebelled. Theirs was a quiet misery. This was what made me the most hurt by their story. It made them feel the most human. Their reactions were calm in contrast to the other two works, and this gives the reader the sense that they are more emotionally intelligent.

Were any of them human-like? I would say that the only ones I felt had any human qualities were the kids of Never Let Me Go. Despite what Blade Runner wants you to believe and sets up in the story, the replicants are emotionally cold and distant. They can easily screw as well as kill, and for this they are monsters. What makes one human-like is their humanity, and that involves sympathy toward others. Frankenstein was a killer too. This takes from his humanity. He wanted so much to be human, but by the end of the book, while I did feel sympathy, I also felt a clearly drawn line from the fact that he was not human—simply because he was such a murderer.

Were the creations themselves simply a product of their failed creators, though, or were they failures in and of themselves? Were they this way innately, or because they felt like outcasts in a world that constantly told them they were not good enough? In Frankenstein and Blade Runner, you feel it may have been both. Both the creations and their creators had a part in creating these monsters. If the creators would have given them more time and energy to teach them empathy, maybe they would have been different.

In Frankenstein, his own father rejects him because he is too busy to bother to teach him. In Blade Runner, Tyrell is so out of the way that the replicant Roy has to go through great lengths just to speak with him. So really, how can anyone expect these creatures to learn if their own creators never took the time to teach them differently?

In Never Let Me Go, they were well cared for and were strictly taught, so they were better behaved—but their creators did not care for them either. They were factory-farmed, one created right after the other.

You have to feel sorry for all of these characters because they were not given ideal circumstances to live in. The world outright rejected all of them and made their lives seem worthless. It is all creation, but also death—because in the end, none of the stories end in happiness. They all end in bitterness and sadness.

I wrote this essay in 40 minutes! I had forgotten I had to turn it in and I rushed the last 40 minutes before the deadline. Not bad for a rushed piece.

Would you like a suggested title or thesis sentence to tie it all together more tightly if you use this in a portfolio or class submission?