Synthesis Paper
Cyber Christ: Religious images in Science Fiction Film,
The Good and The Bad:
Blade Runner and The Lawnmower Man.
Where do religious themes come into play in a sci-fi world? A majority of science fiction films have a bleak outlook on the future. Technology is often placed first in importance over anything else. When religion outwardly surfaces in many science fiction films, the images are those of an ignorant past. Characters that are religious are often portrayed as wild eccentrics, and often just plain crazy. However, even with obvious religious elements being somewhat subdued, there are strong and often thinly veiled religious themes that are played out just under the surface in classic Sci-fi film. The following essay outlines two prominent science fiction films and the religious themes and elements found within. Blade Runner is one the most highly regarded science fiction films of all time, and after more than twenty years it still seems pertinent and powerful. Adversely, The Lawnmower Man is a film whose popularity is only equated to the films absurdity; it’s a film that is so good because it is so bad.
The fall from Grace:
In Blade Runner, director Ridley Scott creates a dark, desolate future for planet Earth. A large portion of the population are living off-world, but only those who are seen as fit specimens of the human race are eligible; those who are smart enough, healthy enough, attractive enough. The people left behind are either traditionalists who don’t want to give up on the poisoned planet Earth, or those who were found unfit to leave.
I propose that the roll between the Replicants and their creator Eldon Tyrell is one of divinity. Tyrell heads a large corporation that manufactures the recplicants, superior artificial humans with a limited life span, one determined by their creator. Tyrell plays a godlike role throughout the film, living atop the clouds in the giant pyramid that is the Tyrell Corporation; he sits on a throne behind a large table, light filling the room of his office. Later, when confronted by Roy Batty, the leader of the rogue replicants, and also Tyrell’s greatest creation, Eldon is attired in saintly garb, white robes atop a bed of white sheets, surrounded by burning candles. Subsequently, he also has a long running chess game with J.F. Sebastian, chess being a game of kings. The Replicants in this divine relationship are Angels, created by God to work off-world, in Heaven; they have unique abilities, more physical strength and prowess than normal humans. The Replicants however rebel, and steal a ship to come back to Earth, in order to find a way to prolong their time in the universe. By rebelling against their creator, they in effect fall from Heaven (off-world), and come back to Earth seeking a life of their own, escape from a life of servitude. Roy is in essence Lucifer, leading the fall from grace with his other followers, Pris, Leon, and Zhora. He leads his followers toward a life and power of their own, refusing to work for lesser humans anymore. When Roy finally meets his creator, ascending the tall tower of the Tyrell Corp. in a glass elevator, rising above the diseased city to Eldon’s perch in the clouds. Once there the meeting shared is somewhat intimate, a proud father reuniting with his son, but also aware of his imminent demise, and resigned to his fate. Soon after learning that his fate is sealed, and that there is no way to reverse the degenerative process that will lead to his death, Roy viciously murders his creator.
Rick Deckard is a Blade Runner, a detective who chases down renegade replicants, and is sent after the rogue group and asked to “retire” them. This choice of language is deliberate and is used so to help separate the emotions both related to killing another human (artificial as it may be, looks can be deceiving) and to separate any feelings that the replicants might be real. They are just creations, organic machines, so killing them isn’t actually killing anything; it’s just like breaking a toaster. Deckard feels decidedly human in this movie, he seems very vulnerable in his dealings with the replicants, and seems tired and drained during many moments of the film. However there are times when watching it you begin to question whether or not Deckard might also be a replicant. Another police officer in the film, Gaff, seems to regard Deckard very negatively in the film, he seems quite suspicious, and is heard to remark at the end of the film “you’ve done a man’s job”; perhaps eluding that Deckard himself is not actually a human . He is the one who first picks up Deckard at a noodle stand in the rain, and while they are flying to the police station, Gaff seems almost like he is wary of Deckard, as if he knows something that we do not. In fact, Deckard’s interaction with people seems somewhat overdone throughout the film. Often he is just living the role of the hard-ass detective, but he seems to be playing the character of himself as well, rather than just being who he is, as if he’s programmed to behave a certain way.
The least subtle imagery comes at the end, in the final fight between Deckard and Roy. Roy pierces his hand with an old nail, square headed and looking to be almost handmade. This is a direct representation of stigmata, turning Roy into a Christ-like figure. Roy is also the one who ends up as Deckard’s salvation. At the end of the film, as Deckard is beginning to fall from the top of the building, Roy reaches out and grabs him, with his nail pierced hand, and cries “kinship!” , hinting at some relationship between the two: perhaps they are both replicants, and Roy knows this, or perhaps there is a closer connection between man and machine, real and artificial that has been displayed in their battle. Not only does Roy save his life in this moment, he himself dies shortly after, holding a white dove that soon flies away. This has been seen as a symbol of Roy’s ‘soul’ ascending back to Heaven. He gave up the fight against Deckard right at the end, when his time was up.
The temptation of Power:
A cult classic among some and known as a terrible film among many, The Lawnmower Man was none too subtle with its religious symbolism. The main character is named Job, a reference to the biblical Job. A simpleton by any standards, he lives in a small shack on church property where a rather maniacal priest lets him reside on church property, but is abusive too him, lashing him with a leather strap when the priest discovers bugs in the church, assuming it’s Job whose been slacking on his chores. Job is a nice enough guy, who doesn’t want to hurt anyone, and really likes mowing lawns and reading comic books. He gets picked on quite a bit, but the gardener who he works with seems to take care of him pretty well.
Dr. Angelo is a fretting scientist who is in some form playing God, trying to manipulate the human brain in order to increase intelligence through the use of drugs, brain scans, and virtual reality. Dr. Angelo used to use apes for his experiments, but one went a little berserk when the “aggression factor” that he was using made the ape a little too aggressive. He is upset that his experiments that should have only increased intelligence were being used by the government types to increase hostility for war, and he chooses to go ahead with his experiments at home, but without the aggression factor administered. All he needs is a willing participant. So he chooses to experiment on his friendly neighborhood gardener.
Job reacts extremely well to the experiments, though he is hesitant at first to even begin them. By not using the aggression factor, Job is progressing immensely well, but staying level headed. The obvious soon happens when the government types hear about the success of the experiments, and they switch out the drugs the doctor is using with the aggression factor ones. Job’s abilities continue to shoot through the roof, as does his confidence and his aggression. He learned Latin overnight but also gains telepathic and telekinetic powers. He now has superhuman powers, godlike powers in a way, and combined with his newfound confidence and increased aggression, some kind of climax is immanent.
Job begins to seek revenge on the people who bullied him. The experiments Dr. Angelo performed where working too well and since he wasn’t aware of the aggression factor being added secretly back into the experiment, Dr. Angelo had no idea what to expect. Job’s intelligence became astronomically higher. His brain evolved so much that he was able to control other people’s minds; he’s able to influence decisions. Job sets off on a rampage setting the abusive priest on fire within his own church, setting loose a lawnmower within another guy’s brain to make him go crazy, and even telekinetically controlling a lawnmower to chase down and kill another bully within his own house.
Job however realizes that man is mortal, and he could still die despite his great powers, so he decides that he will become digital and join with the computers at the government controlled lab where Dr. Angelo works. By entering into the network, in essence the Internet, Job will be able to infiltrate all of the computer systems on the planet, thereby becoming a God.
Even before entering the mainframe, Job’s powers have continued to accelerate to such a point that he is able to projects a giant golden floating head outside of the house when some of the government hit men decide to end Dr. Angelo’s experiment. He then is able to completely dematerialize one of the goons into nothingness using the power of his mind. This is first incarnation of the Cyber-Christ, or perhaps more appropriately, the Digital-Christ. Job’s giant pixilated face floating in mid air is one of the earlier incarnations of the God that he plans to become.
Job summons his gardener friend to drive him up to the lab in his truck. Once there, Job summons a swarm of digital wasps to scare away the troops guarding the gate. The swarm could very easily be associated with the eight plague of Egypt in the Bible, that of a swarm of locusts. Already Job’s powers are taking on divine reference. Again, the images of the wasps are incredibly pixilated, as if they were created on a computer. It is like Job’s powers stem from technology, computers, and the cross over between virtual reality and real life. He is able to manifest things in real life as if he was in the virtual world.
Job eventually gets into the lab and gets into the VR suit. He melds his being with the mainframe, and leaves his body lifeless. His body is found lifeless by Dr. Angelo, hanging in the virtual reality machine in a pose of Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, almost as if from a crucifix. Job sacrificed his human body in order to attain a more divine role within the digital world. The entire lab is destroyed, and it is assumed that Job was not able to leave the confines of the lab and infiltrate the network. Earlier in the film, Job said that after he entered the network, his birth would be signaled by every phone in the world ringing simultaneously. At the conclusion of the film, before Dr. Angelo leaves with his neighbor and her son, the phone rings, followed by more and more, signaling that perhaps Job was reborn into network, and had fully infiltrated computers all over the world. Not only was Job crucified, he was also reborn, rising from the dead as an entirely new entity.