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Is this symbolism? In Bladerunner (1 Viewer)

bmn

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I have had a mind blank, and can't tell if this is symbolism or not...

Does the term 'retirement' symbolise replicants as being employees? Replicants were originally designed for economic use, as are employees, and their death is the end of their usefulness to the economy, as are employees when they retire.

Can't remember if thats symbolism or not... if it's not what would it be? Or what other techniques are there related to it? And, is there anyway to link the euphemism in it to the economic use thing above?
 

Venetiad

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I haven't looked at Blade Runner that way before but, yeah your Symbolism sounds pretty clean there. You just need to tie it in with your ideas/values/context well, in which case they can't really deny you anything.
 

hermand

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yeah, i'd take that as an answer.

it's also kind of desensitising the issue, as they are being killed, but being retired sounds nicer. can't remember the technical term for it.
 

Gdedaj

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You could say that its a euphemism, i guess.
Its worded 'nicely' but put into context its another way of saying executed..
 

jolly28xx

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The term "retirement" is Bladerunner doesent mean they are employees it means they have been killed. It says this in the opening scene of the movie.
 

gibbo153

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I have had a mind blank, and can't tell if this is symbolism or not...

Does the term 'retirement' symbolise replicants as being employees? Replicants were originally designed for economic use, as are employees, and their death is the end of their usefulness to the economy, as are employees when they retire.

Can't remember if thats symbolism or not... if it's not what would it be? Or what other techniques are there related to it? And, is there anyway to link the euphemism in it to the economic use thing above?
yeah, i'd take that as an answer.

it's also kind of desensitising the issue, as they are being killed, but being retired sounds nicer. can't remember the technical term for it.

don't listen to dani, she's a hectic tard. jksluvyabeb.

to OP yeah you can argue that 'retirement' and replicants in general are symbolic of/alluding to the capitalist context of the 80s. other techniques related to it are quotes like Tyrell saying "commerce is our goal here at Tyrell Corp" and Deckard saying "replicants are like any other machine, they are either a benefit or a hazard". the fact that such 'human like' beings are so consistantly paralleled to machines reflects how much capitalism has infiltrated society, which is influenced by context.

at the time globalisation and capitalism were greatly gathering speed. computers were becoming mass produced blah blah blah etc. so yeah any 'commercial' or 'capitalistic' can be used to argue that point being influenced by context.
 

beve

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I have had a mind blank, and can't tell if this is symbolism or not...

Does the term 'retirement' symbolise replicants as being employees? Replicants were originally designed for economic use, as are employees, and their death is the end of their usefulness to the economy, as are employees when they retire.

Can't remember if thats symbolism or not... if it's not what would it be? Or what other techniques are there related to it? And, is there anyway to link the euphemism in it to the economic use thing above?
i baulk at the idea of calling them "employees" when in truth the replicant is merely a slave. retirement, for me, is a way the replicant is de-humanised in blade runner. they are also 'lacking humanity' in that they have odd emotional responses, if at all - they're only seen as fulfilling a purpose; Pris is referred to as a "basic pleasure model"... the feminists would go mad...

went off on a bit of a tangent there; sorry. but yeah. i guess if you can support it... i just don't think you could call the replicant's lot in life "employed"
 

nosh22

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I have recently completed the assessment task for this module. One word in a phrase at the beginning of the movie isn't really symbolism. The purpose of the word "retirement" in the opening scene is to allude to the audience, that the replicants are machines, and not humans. This is because their death is called "retirement" and not anything harsh, such as "execution," which is the reality. And, I wouldn't tie in anything with the economy. The replicants are slave labour. The question of weather the people in society have humanity is raised. :wave:
 

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