Blade Runner (Scott, 1982)
Discussion Questions
North Seattle College, HUM 110: Introduction to American Film, JC Clapp
Come to class prepared to answer the below questions. Have notes ready, with specific examples, for
each question. You will not be asked to turn in your notes, but you may be called on or asked to give
your response. You may want to use these questions as a viewing guide, so that as you watch the film
you have a sense of what you might look for.
1. Ridley Scott builds for us a complex dystopic world of the future. What is his vision here of the
future? What’s familiar and what’s not? Does this film seem dated now? How might it have
been viewed differently by audiences in 1982 when it was released?
2. There are fascinating motifs and repetitions in this film. Choose one (from the list below or one
you noticed) and identify when we see the element, what the element is associated with, why it
might have been included, and what it communicates to the viewer:
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The color blue
The color yellow/gold
Birds
Cigarettes and/or smoke
Umbrellas
Rain and/or water
Fans
Glass
Signs and neon signs
3. There are consistent nods to Film Noir style in this film. Choose one place in the film where you
see that style at work.
4. Choose a scene where the music is particularly interesting and describe how it works.
5. The world Ridley Scott constructed is presented to us as constrained and closed in. There are
lots of boxes (and boxy patterns), crowded streets, packed-together buildings, etc.
6. What does this film tell us about what it means to be human? Where are the lines between toys,
replicants, humans, and animals in this film?
7. When J.F. Sebastian takes Roy up to see Tyrell we see candles lit around the bedroom – like
church candles, as if they are entering a cathedral or a sanctuary. Tyrell is in heavy white papallooking robes. Roy calls Tyrell “father” even. Roy gives his “confession” to the “god of
biomechanics” – kisses him, in gangster style, then puts his eyes out with his thumbs. The music
swells, and Roy and Sebastian leave with flickering blue lights. What sense can you make of this
scene? There are references to the mob and to religion here – why might Scott have done this
scene this way?
8. Near the end of the film, Roy has the opportunity to let Deck die, but he doesn’t – he pulls him
back up onto the roof, then monologues and dies in slow motion. Why might Roy have done
that?
9. Discuss the ending of the film – and how it compares/contrasts with the opening.