Chancellor
Instructor Hubbard
Liba 102
“Multifaceted”
Hampton Fincher and David Webb Peoples’ complex screenplay and Ridley Scott’s use of film noir combine together to produce Roy Batty, a character out of Blade Runner, whose diverse personality reflects Jesus Christ, Adam, and Lucifer. As a result, Roy Batty, is much more multifaceted than the heartless, man killing machine that is seen at first glance by an audience. Because Roy reflects Jesus Christ, Adam, and Lucifer, three religious icons, there is an unlimited amount of religious subtext in the film Blade Runner. Hampton Fincher and David Webb Peoples use these religious allegories to hinder a direct and understandable message from the film’s narrative. Therefore, Fincher and Peoples took their complex writing to a deeper level than most screen writers by denying the audience a straightforward interpretation of Roy Batty. One example is the allegory of the creation story and the fall of man. Parallels from the creation story are seen time and time again throughout the film, which is one way Roy’s character relates to the Biblical character, Adam (Gravett, pg. 38). In the Bible, Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil as it is stated in Genesis 2: 16-17: “And the LORD God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.’"
However, Adam an Eve did eat from the tree. This is seen in Genesis 3:6-7: “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” Because of this Adam and Eve turned away from their purpose- to worship and please God. They disobeyed. Therefore, God kicked them both out of the Garden of Eden. Relating to the creation story, earth, from one perspective, can be perceived as the Garden of Eden. Eldon Tyrell represents God because Tyrell is the creator of Roy Batty and the other replicants. Humans outlawed replicants from earth because they proposed the threat of taking over humanity; the replicants steered away from their purpose. Just like Adam, Roy and his kind were banished from earth (the Garden of Eden). Adam and Eve were only banished from the Garden because they disobeyed God’s direct command, “Do not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” But they both did. Why? They wanted to gain knowledge. Roy, like Adam, did not have any parental figure or human progenitors to instill knowledge of humanity into him. Once Adam and Eve ate from the tree, their eyes were open. They realized they were naked and felt this new knowledge burdensome. Roy also somewhere along his journey gains knowledge. Roy attests to this when he says, “I have seen things you people would not believe.” But clearly this knowledge, while broadening his awareness about the universe, did not succeed in satisfying his true yearning for extra life. Since there is always a period of tempting before a fall, the question may be asked, why did Roy return to earth? Why did Adam and Eve choose to eat the forbidden fruit? To enhance their life. The serpent tempted Eve in Genesis 3:5 by saying “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The phrase “ and you will be like God” stood out the most to Eve. The thought of improving her life was most intriguing. Roy and the other replicants were tempted to go to earth in hopes that their “maker,” Tyrell Corporations, could reprogram them so they could live longer. In other words, so their lives could be prolonged and therefore enhanced, just like Adam and Eve. This idea hints to the fact that earth may represent hell and the “other worlds” represent some sort of heaven or paradise. Therefore, to the replicants, the outer world is their Garden of Eden. After being tempted and giving into their temptation, it brought them to a place less paradise-like and resembling a place like hell. Adam experienced this after giving into the temptation of eating from the tree of knowledge. Ridley Scott’s usage of film noir helps elude to the conclusion that earth symbolizes a hellish place. The opening scene shows the industrial city's flaring smoke stacks and hazy pollution (Gravett, pg. 39). The undyingly gloomy sky never ceases to release a downpour of precipitation and not one glimpse of nature is to be seen throughout the entire picture. Because of the constant darkness, deserted alleys, bright city lights, and dim rooms shown throughout the film, the atmosphere offers no feeling hope or anything optimistic which again reflects the mood one might feel in hell (Desser, pg. 173). Keeping this approach of hell signifying earth and the outer world symbolizing a heaven-like area, we see similarities between Jesus Christ and Roy Batty. For Jesus Christ did live in heaven, yet He wanted to leave and come to earth. He humbled himself and chose to dwell among imperfect humans. He transitioned from a perfect society, where He belonged, to a dark and corrupt atmosphere. Jesus Christ performed this act for the sole purpose of saving the human population from death. This mimics Roy Batty’s actions as well. Roy and the others of his kind were created “perfect.” They were without flaw. Yet Roy and his clan came to earth and lived with the inferior human beings. He yearned to figure out a way to extend the lives of his kind. Roy’s first appearance in Blade Runner is a close-up view of his right hand. He mysteriously says, “ Time Enough.” He may be talking about there being enough time for the replicants and himself to gain more life. Roy takes it on himself to return to earth and confront their maker. He makes it his responsibility to provide more life for himself and the rest of the replicants. From this point of view, Roy is being a savior to himself and his kind just as Jesus Christ came to earth to be the savior of mankind. The final scene in Blade Runner gains even more religious significance, not from the narrative structure but from the visual proposal. When Roy returns to J.F. Sebastian's apartment, he realizes that Deckard has shot Pris to her death. He lightly caresses her bloody wounds, then smears his fingers on his face, painting a vertical red, thick line from below his nose to the bottom of his chin. A close up shot of Roy’s faces shows the combination of this vertical stripe and the horizontal pink line of his lips, which clearly forms a sign of a cross on the bottom half of his face; yet another biblical reference the Jesus Christ. Another note worth of recognition is that at this point in the scene, Roy has removed his demonic-like collared clock. Like Jesus, traditionally depicted as being crucified wearing only a loincloth, he has removed nearly all of his clothing and wears only shorts. In the mean time, Deckard had fled away from Roy. Before continuing the search for Deckard, he suffers the loss of feeling in his hand which is a warning of his upcoming death. Desperate for time, he finds large nail and jerks it out of a near by piece of wood. He stabs himself in the hand in order to salvage the feeling in it, and to lengthen his life for a few moments longer (Gravett, pg. 40). In the Director’s Cut version, Ridley Scott emphasizes the significance of the driven nail by producing a shot that has Roy standing in an almost completely dark room, facing to the left, with his hand in front of him, in front of the only source of light, a window. His hand and the nail in it are the only elements of the shot in high contrast to their background, and as a result they stand out, as does the comparison between Roy and the stigmata bearing Jesus that they draw. Roy Batty, in the end, backed Deckard into a corner on the roof. The Blade Runner, Deckard, runs away from Roy by leaping to another rooftop. Unfortunately he wound up short and manages to cling on to metal railings before falling. Before Batty leisurely jumps to the other side of the roof, Ridley Scott captures a high angle shot of him standing at the edge of the adjacent building. Another low angle shot, shortly after Roy’s landing on the other building shows Roy hovering over Deckard. Just when Deckard loses his grasp to the railings and begins to plummet into the darkness, Roy Batty grabs him with his spike impaled hand and lifts him onto the rooftop. As Roy Batty is lifting Deckard to safety, Ridley Scott again stresses the Christ metaphor by capturing a close up of Roy Batty’s punctured hand clenching ever so tightly to Deckard’s hand. This is definitely an example of Roy imitating Jesus Christ. Obviously, by Roy Batty piercing his hand with a nail represents Jesus Christ’s crucifixion which is when Jesus Christ died at Skull Hill, he was nailed to a wooden cross. Nails were driven into Jesus Christ’s flesh by roman soldiers. These roman soldiers and other people of the city were the ones that despised Jesus Christ and persecuted him. The ironic thing is that Jesus Christ came to the earth to save those people that wanted Him dead because Jesus Christ had mercy on those who persecuted Him.
The same irony is seen in this final scene. By leaving the nail in his hand, Roy survived off the pain. Using that exact hand, Roy Batty rescued Deckard. Deckard was the very person that had been hunting Roy down, the person that wanted to “retire” Roy Batty. Roy bestowed mercy on Deckard. Just like Jesus Christ showed mercy to those that persecuted Him, Roy demonstrated mercy to Deckard, the same person that wanted him lifeless. Even though Jesus Christ did die on the cross, He was resurrected from the dead and came back to life. In the last part of the closing scene, as Roy Batty bows his head and dies, he releases the dove he held into the sky, releasing his spirit. So the dove, from one standpoint, can represent Roy transcending his earthly exsistence. Another standpoint shows the dove as the Holy Spirit (Desser, pg. 177). A white dove is a infamous religious symbol. References made to a dove can be seen in Luke 3: 20- 22: “When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove.” This is similar to what was seen with Roy. When Roy bows his head the dove immediately flew into the sky. Next, The film noir portrays that “ heaven was opened” by an opening finally transpiring through the murky, depressing sky. This allows for the first time throughout the whole picture for the audience to catch sight of light. As the frame captures his bowed head from above in the rain and a glimpse of light shining on him, he completes the series of illustrations that present him as Jesus Christ. Even though Roy Batty imitates Adam and Jesus Christ, throughout the entire movie he reflects Satan the most. This idea is first conveyed at the proposal of the replicants representing fallen angels (fallen from the heavens/outer space). Satan himself was a fallen angel. The film noir helps supports the idea of Roy being a fallen angel. This is seen when Roy descends from Tyrell's bedroom. Stars can be caught sight of for the first and only time in Blade Runner. The part of this scene eludes to the idea that Roy is in fact literally falling from the sky. Being compared to a fallen angel is only one facet of Roy's connections with Satan. Satan was one of God’s most brilliant angels. However, Satan yearned to be like God and wanted His power. In fact Satan demanded God to give him more power. This parallels to when Roy finally meets Tyrell's, and says, "I want more life, father!" This is not a request, it is a demand! Tyrell rejected his request. Just like Roy, Satan’s request was denied. God drove Satan out and he “fell from heaven.” Luke 10:18 states, “ He replied, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from the heavens’. ” In another scene of the movie, the first direct indication of replicants representing angels is shown. This occurs when Roy and a few other replicants locate Chew, a genetic designer that did some work for the Tyrell Corporation. When they meet Chew in his laboratory, they immediately behave in a hostile manner. Roy begins by paraphrasing a poem by William Blake: "Fiery the Angels fell, Deep thunder rolled around their shores, Burning with the fires of Orc."
The original lines are: "Fiery the Angels rose, & as they rose deep thunder roll'd Around their shores: indignant burning with the fires of Orc And Boston’s Angel cried aloud as they flew thro' the dark night." Roy elucidates his self image by altering "Angels rose" to "Angels fell" in conjunction with the theme of rebellion in this masterpiece of a poem. Being compared to a fallen angel is only one facet of Roy's connections with Satan (Character Analysis). Also in the poem, there is a reference made to fire. When Roy confronts his maker, Eldon Tyrell, face to face in Tyrell’s bedroom, Tyrell makes another citation of fire when he is in awe at of Roy‘s brightness. Using the adjective, bright, Tyrell relates Roy with fire by saying: “ You were made as well as we could make you. The light that burns twice as bright, burns half as long. And you have burned so very, very brightly, Roy.”
The name Lucifer literally means “bringer of light.” Shortly after their exchange of dialogue, Roy embraces Tyrell’s face with a kiss then brutally crushes his skill and gauges his eyes. This is truly an act that only a evil being would carry out. Roy was clearly a menace to his God and those around him. From this view one may consider Roy Batty as the antagonist in Ridley Scott’s picture, Blade Runner, for he is against God, Tyrell, and man. Roy Batty searched for revenge against Tyrell. In doing so, Roy and the other replicants committed may crimes, such as, killing the space crew of their ship and returning back to earth after being deported. Satan is also the antagonist of this world. He is against God and continuously tempts God’s creation, mankind, to rebel against God. Therefore, Satan becomes the adversary of man. This adversarial stance is a function of his jealousy of man. Roy Batty, also, is jealous of man. Because as a replicant, his lifespan is significantly shorter than that of an average human being. This built-in life expectancy is what restrains Roy Batty and others like him from fully achieving an authentic human status. Another, more minor, similarity falls in the fact that Roy is more advanced than human beings. He and the other replicants are smarter and more physically equip. Humans could never win in a struggle with a replicant whether it be mental or physical.
In the same way, Satan is much more intelligent than human beings. Satan sets up traps for people to fall into, and the only way people can resist an avoid his deceptions is by the power of the Holy Spirit. Ridley Scott’s directing and applied film noir assist in represent Roy as Satan as well. Roy is portrayed as evil personified, and is shot in close ups that emphasize his sweaty, sneering, and menacing visage. Throughout most of Roy's screen time in Blade Runner, he visually corresponds with the part of the evil Lucifer. For instance, on both occasions that he walks, within the Bradbury Building, towards J.F. Sebastian's apartment, he appears as an intense, dark shadow, made nominally observable only by the minor back lighting outlining his arm and head. He sports a coat with the extremely high, turned-up collar that has associated with evil since previous films. Discovering these religious allegories greatly contribute to audiences gaining an advanced appreciation of Roy and his intricate personality. To the simply minded, Roy Batty is a typical villain throughout the picture. However, after taking a closer look, one can see Ridley Scott’s creativeness and Fincher and People’s screenplay at its finest. From the innocence of Adam, to the compassion and mercy of Christ, and the corruptness of Satan, Roy possesses it all; he is indeed multifaceted.

Works Cited
“Character Analysis: Roy Batty.” brmovie.com. 23 March 2003. 13 Oct. 2009.
Desser, David. “Blade Runner: Science Fiction and Transcendence.” Literature Film

Quarterly. 1985. 8 Oct. 2009.

Gravett, Sharon L. “The Sacred and the Profane: Examining the Religious Subtext of

Ridley Scott‘s Blade Runner.” Literature Film Quarterly. 1998. 12 Oct. 2009.