Thesis Statements
The ideas/understanding you have gained from your study of both texts in terms of context, values and ideas.
These ideas/concepts become the framework and drivers for your response.
Your thesis integrates your response!
Respond immediately to the question or statement. You could agree or challenge it.
Develop a thesis or line of argument that relates to the question or statement and sustain this throughout your response.
Use both texts to support or challenge your thesis.
Developed and supported by judicious textual analysis.
These ideas/concepts become the framework and drivers for your response.
Your thesis integrates your response!
Respond immediately to the question or statement. You could agree or challenge it.
Develop a thesis or line of argument that relates to the question or statement and sustain this throughout your response.
Use both texts to support or challenge your thesis.
Developed and supported by judicious textual analysis.
Response 1
“The crafting of the setting in a text is crucial as it provides a framework for the intended meaning of the composer.” Explore the significance of the setting in Frankenstein and Blade Runner.
•Describe the settings: compare and contrast, and consider the purpose and meaning of the settings.
•Discuss the context and values and what is being said about life in the 19th and 20th century.
•Analyse in an integrated comparison and contrast the characters who move in these worlds, such as the creators and the creations , and the ideas that are conveyed.
•Discuss what meaning you have gained after a consideration of the significance of setting in both texts.
•Describe the settings: compare and contrast, and consider the purpose and meaning of the settings.
•Discuss the context and values and what is being said about life in the 19th and 20th century.
•Analyse in an integrated comparison and contrast the characters who move in these worlds, such as the creators and the creations , and the ideas that are conveyed.
•Discuss what meaning you have gained after a consideration of the significance of setting in both texts.
Your Thesis:
The crafting of the setting in a text is salient as it provides a literal and metaphorical framework for the world the characters move in, and the ideas that will provoke an audience to consider their times and humanity’s flawed wisdom.
Support Your Argument- Setting
While the setting of Frankenstein still has moments of great beauty and striking descriptions of the natural world, the universe we see in Blade Runner – 200 years later – has become the world that Frankenstein feared would arise if he created a female partner for his monster. There is only ugliness and despair: “…a race of devils would be propagated on the earth who might make the very existence of the species of man a condition precarious and full of terror” (p. 170).
Dystopian, dark world of acid rain, pollution and devoid of natural light.
Oil refinery stacks belch flames, symbolically signifying hell.
The city, with its composite of time and place and its references, through architecture and fashions, to the 40s, conjures up memories of WWII & Nazi Germany.
Shelley creates a setting of contrasts between light and warmth, and cold and darkness. The novel immerses you in the icy Arctic in the opening and in the closing chapter.
The physical setting is subsumed by the psychological mindscape of Frankenstein and his monster.
Dystopian, dark world of acid rain, pollution and devoid of natural light.
Oil refinery stacks belch flames, symbolically signifying hell.
The city, with its composite of time and place and its references, through architecture and fashions, to the 40s, conjures up memories of WWII & Nazi Germany.
Shelley creates a setting of contrasts between light and warmth, and cold and darkness. The novel immerses you in the icy Arctic in the opening and in the closing chapter.
The physical setting is subsumed by the psychological mindscape of Frankenstein and his monster.
Support Your Argument- Context and Values
Frankenstein early 19th C: -London industrialised, polluted, dank and dark -Poverty, crime and child labour -Industrial revolution and increased interest in what it is to be human -Women subjugated -Values: enterprise, individualism, freedom.
•1982 America: -Multinationals -Worst depression since 1929 – high unemployment -Fear of atomic warfare – peaceful demonstrations -Invasion of Lebanon -Pollution and acid rain -Technology fast tracking -Values: Individualism, liberalism, democracy
•1982 America: -Multinationals -Worst depression since 1929 – high unemployment -Fear of atomic warfare – peaceful demonstrations -Invasion of Lebanon -Pollution and acid rain -Technology fast tracking -Values: Individualism, liberalism, democracy
Support Your Argument- The Creators
Both the ‘creators’ in Frankenstein and Blade Runner reflect the new emerging world they move in. The setting has provided them with the means and the motives to embrace the technologies. They have pandered to their curiosity and desires, and they lack insight, humility and empathy. They are egocentric and indifferent to the needs and feelings of their creations. Tyrell is what Frankenstein feared he would become if he made a female monster.
Frankenstein’s ego, natural curiosity and intelligence cause tragedy and suffering.
His inexorable desire to embrace new technologies and create life, leads to a self-imposed exile. He abandons his family and his values of honesty and integrity, but he does come to realise the tragic ramifications of his ambitions – ‘how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge’
Dr Eldon Tyrell is a remote and god-like individual who represents corporate greed, ambition and the willingness to sacrifice morality and humanity.
Blind to the needs and feelings of his creations.
He is not horrified by his creations like Frankenstein; rather he delights in his own handiwork.
Frankenstein’s ego, natural curiosity and intelligence cause tragedy and suffering.
His inexorable desire to embrace new technologies and create life, leads to a self-imposed exile. He abandons his family and his values of honesty and integrity, but he does come to realise the tragic ramifications of his ambitions – ‘how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge’
Dr Eldon Tyrell is a remote and god-like individual who represents corporate greed, ambition and the willingness to sacrifice morality and humanity.
Blind to the needs and feelings of his creations.
He is not horrified by his creations like Frankenstein; rather he delights in his own handiwork.
Response 2
“Both Blade Runner and Frankenstein question what it means to be human.” Evaluate how this question is explored in both texts and what meaning you have arrived at from this evaluation.
•Discuss the context and values and what is being said about humanity in the 19th and 20th century
•Humanity : imagination and intelligence, flawed, mortality, relationships, empathy and love
•Analyse in an integrated comparison and contrast the creators and the creations , and the ideas that are conveyed about what it means to be human.
•Discuss what meaning you have gained after an evaluation of what it means to be human in both texts.
•Discuss the context and values and what is being said about humanity in the 19th and 20th century
•Humanity : imagination and intelligence, flawed, mortality, relationships, empathy and love
•Analyse in an integrated comparison and contrast the creators and the creations , and the ideas that are conveyed about what it means to be human.
•Discuss what meaning you have gained after an evaluation of what it means to be human in both texts.
Your Thesis
Both texts, through their representation of the loss of reason and humanity in the creators, and the very human qualities and flaws of the creations, raise the question about what is a human.
The Creations
The ‘creations’ of this technology in both texts raise many significant moral and ethical questions about what it is to be human. In Frankenstein, the monster is represented sympathetically as being intelligent and sensitive, but his experiences with humanity transform him into a dark creature.
In Blade Runner, the opposite occurs as when we first meet the replicants they are cast in the role of villain, yet as the narrative unfolds we develop empathy for their plight. Despite their terrible deeds we realise that at times they were more human than their creators.
Shelley creates a monster that is intelligent and sensitive.
Influenced by John Locke’s 17th century essays that argued that when individuals are born they are neither good nor evil, but as they grow their attitudes, values and behavior are shaped by their early sensory experiences. Emerges as Adam but becomes the fallen angel hell-bent on revenge and retribution.
The monster’s experience of cruel rejection by his creator is tempered by his observations of the kind and virtuous DeLacey family.
“But my chief delights were the sight of the flowers, the birds, and all the gay apparel of summer”
Bible, Plutarch’s Lives of the Noble Romans and Goethe’s The Sorrows of Werther teach him about the duplicitous nature of humanity.
In Blade Runner, the opposite occurs as when we first meet the replicants they are cast in the role of villain, yet as the narrative unfolds we develop empathy for their plight. Despite their terrible deeds we realise that at times they were more human than their creators.
Shelley creates a monster that is intelligent and sensitive.
Influenced by John Locke’s 17th century essays that argued that when individuals are born they are neither good nor evil, but as they grow their attitudes, values and behavior are shaped by their early sensory experiences. Emerges as Adam but becomes the fallen angel hell-bent on revenge and retribution.
The monster’s experience of cruel rejection by his creator is tempered by his observations of the kind and virtuous DeLacey family.
“But my chief delights were the sight of the flowers, the birds, and all the gay apparel of summer”
Bible, Plutarch’s Lives of the Noble Romans and Goethe’s The Sorrows of Werther teach him about the duplicitous nature of humanity.
Robert Walton
Like Deckard, a narrator and a foil for Frankenstein.
Explores the treacherous North Pole and find an Arctic passage to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Raw, blind ambition and hubris prompts Frankenstein to relay his tale of woe and confront Walton with his flaws.
He is pursuing that “country of eternal light.”— unknown and elusive knowledge
"How gladly would I sacrifice.”
Explores the treacherous North Pole and find an Arctic passage to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Raw, blind ambition and hubris prompts Frankenstein to relay his tale of woe and confront Walton with his flaws.
He is pursuing that “country of eternal light.”— unknown and elusive knowledge
"How gladly would I sacrifice.”
Roy Batty
‘All he wanted were the same answers any of us want …’ Deckard sees that Roy experiences the same doubts and worries, loves and mysteries, as his own.
Endowed with strength and intelligence
We acknowledge or deny humanity in the attitude we adopt towards the ‘other’.
By living longer Roy hopes to become more human, by dying he becomes human.
Sense of self preservation, love for Pris and the seeking out of Tyrell [his father] are all demonstrative of his humanity.
At the end of his life Roy displays the most enlightened and transcendent of all human emotions, compassion and integrity. Like a Christ-like figure, Batty dies for the sins of humanity and the sin of being human - hands an eloquent and moving soliloquy before he dies: “I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe…All those moments will be lost in time like tears in rain. Time to die.”
Endowed with strength and intelligence
We acknowledge or deny humanity in the attitude we adopt towards the ‘other’.
By living longer Roy hopes to become more human, by dying he becomes human.
Sense of self preservation, love for Pris and the seeking out of Tyrell [his father] are all demonstrative of his humanity.
At the end of his life Roy displays the most enlightened and transcendent of all human emotions, compassion and integrity. Like a Christ-like figure, Batty dies for the sins of humanity and the sin of being human - hands an eloquent and moving soliloquy before he dies: “I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe…All those moments will be lost in time like tears in rain. Time to die.”
Deckard
Deckard has lost his humanity – too much killing and no relationships
Cold, calculating, ruthless and suspicious
Roy and Rachel teach him what it means to be human.
Deckard is changed by Roy’s selfless act and his stoic acceptance of his death:
Deckard acknowledges that the replicants are just as human, if not more human, than their masters.
Cold, calculating, ruthless and suspicious
Roy and Rachel teach him what it means to be human.
Deckard is changed by Roy’s selfless act and his stoic acceptance of his death:
Deckard acknowledges that the replicants are just as human, if not more human, than their masters.
Response 3
“Blade Runner and Frankenstein explore the ramifications for humanity when technology is used with a disregard for ethics and morality.”
•Discuss the context and values of the 19th and 20th century and how technology was viewed.
•Compare and contrast why and how Tyrell and Frankenstein used technology to push the boundaries of the nature : hubris, myopia, self-aggrandisement...
•Analyse the consequences: the creations and the victims, and the ideas that are conveyed.
•The meaning conveyed about technology through an analysis of both texts.
•Discuss the context and values of the 19th and 20th century and how technology was viewed.
•Compare and contrast why and how Tyrell and Frankenstein used technology to push the boundaries of the nature : hubris, myopia, self-aggrandisement...
•Analyse the consequences: the creations and the victims, and the ideas that are conveyed.
•The meaning conveyed about technology through an analysis of both texts.
Your Thesis
Both Frankenstein and Blade Runner explore a dilemma that continues to resonate in the 21st century: the ethical and moral tension between the fear of humanity’s abuse of technology because of our inherent flaws such as ambition, ego and greed, and the incredible potential for technology to extend life and even defy death.
Response 4
“The relentless pursuit of the re-creation of life through technology leads to a world devoid of the compassion of women in both Frankenstein and Blade Runner.”
•Compare and contrast the role and treatment of women in the 19th and 20th centuries.
•Compare and contrast how and why Tyrell and Victor have used technology to replace the natural creation of life, and the consequences.
•Analyse the representation of women in both texts.
•The meaning conveyed about the pursuit of technology and its consequences.
•Compare and contrast the role and treatment of women in the 19th and 20th centuries.
•Compare and contrast how and why Tyrell and Victor have used technology to replace the natural creation of life, and the consequences.
•Analyse the representation of women in both texts.
•The meaning conveyed about the pursuit of technology and its consequences.
Your Thesis
The role of women in Frankenstein and Blade Runner is overshadowed by the actions of men who relentlessly pursue the creation of life through technology. When this right is taken from women their voices are barely heard, the danger of hubris leading to myopia resonates.