Mental deficiency versus
Intelligence plays a huge role in the story of Blade Runner. It is evident from
our first interaction with John Isadore that there is a hierarchy based around
the world. Those who are registered as “chicken heads”, such as Isadore, are
deemed as second-class citizens. They are not allowed to emigrate to Mars
because Mars must stay “pure” and are only allowed to take menial labour jobs.
In Dick’s future, empathy is valued above all else, however, some lives are considered
more important than others. Throughout the novel, we see that Isadore has the
most humanity and thus displays the most empathy towards life than any other
character. Isadore appears to be more “human” than many other characters,
including, Rick Deckard.
This very much reminds me of a movie called Elysium. There are two groups of people, those who are very wealthy and then the rest. Elysium is a "pure" man-made space station where everything is pristine, young, and advanced. Only those wealthy enough can emigrate there. The rest are stuck, on an overpopulated and ruined Earth. People on Earth try every day to get to Elysium, but will fail because the government has strict security protection. Similar to the novel, where the government will not allow John, a chickenhead, a special, to emigrate to Mars. This demonstrates the same principle of wanting a new "Earth" to be as pure as possible. We can also relate this to Hilter. He wanted a world of only blonde hair and blue eyes and so killing all those that do not possess those qualities will increase the chances of babies that will receive those qualities. This extreme idea has been experienced, displayed and predicted.We've made a lot of progress accepting everyone, but this principle appears to continuously occur. Are we foreseeing the unborn future as a discriminatory home?
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