Blade Runner and Pluto, the Question of Human Identity
What does it mean to be a human? A lot of essays, books, movies, or any kind of work whether it be fiction and non-fiction stem from this question. And of course, no one has been able to really answer it. Rather, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the works of mankind is an exploration of this concept. Rene Descartes has once coined a very famous statement “Cogito, ergo sum” I think, therefore I am. According to Descartes the affirmation of human existence comes from our sentience, our ability to form thoughts for ourselves. But the question of identity still remains, what does it truly mean to be human and what separates us from other beings of creation? Is it our ability to feel emotions? Our morals and ethics? Or is it a “soul”? Something that we strongly believe to be exclusively ours.
Blade Runner and Pluto are two stories that also explore this very question. Immediately after reading the first volume of Pluto, I had drawn a parallel between the 2003 manga and the cult classic film. Both of them had tackled the same thematic questions, most prevalent in the relationships between human and robots, or in Blade Runner’s case, humans and replicants. Human existence have always leaned upon a certain idea. The idea of identity, “Who am I?” “Where do I belong?” and perhaps it’s most fundamental form “What am I?” This search for answers and higher purpose is the thematic center of our two stories, and both touches upon core ideas about human relationship and about the artificial vs the real.
Blade Runner is a sci-fi, neo-noir film directed by Ridley Scott loosely based on the 1968 book by Phillip K Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. The film follows officer Rick Deckard sometime in a dystopian future, he is a blade runner, a special kind of police in charge of hunting down and retiring rogue replicants. Replicants are a term for synthetic human beings, in this world the earth is dark and near inhospitable place dominated by futuristic mega cities and large sinister corporations. Replicants are products of a certain corporation called Tyrell, they are bio engineered humans designed to be slaves and are usually used for manual labor, military, and pleasure purposes. Essentially these pseudo-humans are cheap and dispensable creatures, that are servants for mankind in their ongoing conquest.
In Blade Runner and its sequel Blade Runner 2049 replicants are essentially robots, programmed to have a very short lifespan only serving the length of a contract, and are denied of their emotions. Every replicant must go through the Voight-Kampff test or Baseline Test in 2049, it is a test to determine whether a replicant has started to develop emotions or not, and once they have developed them then they are sent to be rehabilitated or retired. The main storyline of Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049 centers around these replicants, they ask questions of what it is to be human and the characters struggle with the notion of higher purpose. Whether it be human and replicants what are they created for? And does purpose give meaning to their lives, ultimately deeming themselves to be human or not. This sense of moral ambiguity is a trademark of film noir and is also what makes the Blade Runner series such a beloved classic.
Pluto can also be seen as a work of neo-noir genre, albeit in a different media. Pluto is a manga created by the highly esteemed Naoki Urasawa and the father of manga himself Osamu Tezuka. Building upon the story and universe of “Tetsuwan Atom, Strongest Robot on Earth” or better known as “Astro Boy” created by Tezuka. Urasawa took it upon himself to create a mature and darker retelling of the story tackling themes of human-robot relationships, war, the ethics of artificial intelligence, and of course the question of human identity itself. Best known as a mystery writer, Urasawa continues that trend after his critically acclaimed 20th Century Boys, employing his mastery of the mystery and thriller genre in creating Pluto.
The story also follows a detective by the name of Gesicht, a europol investigator and a robot. He is one of the greatest robots in the world of pluto, and is designed to be a super detective capable of solving any case. The manga also features familiar characters from Astro Boy such as Professors Tenma and Ochanomizu, Uran, and of course Atom the astro boy himself. Differing from Blade Runner, the robots in Pluto are portrayed in a more sympathetic light and the world around isn’t as dark, brooding, and pessimistic as Blade Runner, leaning more into a utopian future rather than dystopic. The robots in Pluto are also servants of mankind, but they lean towards a helpful kind rather than slaves, receiving salaries and having real jobs. Think of them as very high performance humans designed for one specific sector. The robots also have the same social standings as humans in society allowed by the various bills and legislation that stand for human-robot equality. But of course it is not as simple and there are many humans who resent the robots for who they are and feel they are inferior because they are created by human hands.
Because of Pluto’s larger body of work, it can expand upon its world and can comment a lot of things about our current society. Mainly identity politics, geopolitics, social disparity, and the cycle of violence created by war. By expanding and making the character Gesicht go through parts of the world with different problems, the robot learns and eventually realizes that part of himself that is more than just a robot. While the typical everyday robots are drawn as conventional robots, most of the main characters are drawn as humans such as Gesicht himself, Atom, and others. They have sympathetic expressions and reactions in their faces, but their problem is that they cannot recognize their own emotions as they are not programmed to do so.
After reading and watching these works, the question arises again, what does it mean to be human? The question of our identity leads us to become transient creatures, not only in a physical sense but in an emotional level as well. As we begin to develop an inner self, a self made representation of what separates us from other humans, and also other forms of creation. This state forces us to confront the question of identity and of course, of purpose. Are we created to serve an ultimate purpose in this world? Each human being an essential cog in the machine of the universe. Or is our existence just a mere secretion of sensory information? Are our experiences are what constitutes as a life with purpose or meaning? Or is it all just random chance cycling through the space of eternity?
In Pluto and Blade Runner, the robots and replicants are endowed with meaning early on in their life. They are after all created for one sole purpose, to help humankind in whatever things that needed help with. They are expendable replacements for human life. But after the characters have developed an inner self, their desires, their assigned meaning becomes shallow and irrelevant, they begin the search for ‘true’ meaning in their own terms, embracing the transient nature of humans. Humans are transient because in our search for ultimate purpose and life we move and cycle between different lifestyles and ways of thinking. Physically our bodies grow and we adjust to that growth, and we move through different places in this world searching for whatever it is that can bestow upon us fulfillment. We go to school, to work, to different cities, to different houses. And emotionally we move as well, through different ideologies and states of mind.
These are what the characters experience throughout the story, and how they come to terms with their new perceived notion of individuality. In Blade Runner Roy Batty and the Nexus 6 replicants comes to earth to demand an extension of his life from Tyrell, the ‘Father’ that created him. While Deckard, in pursuit of Batty and his gang is confronted with the morality of the situation and his own understanding of humanity. The main character Deckard is not the agent that drives the story but rather, an observer in the stories of Batty and the replicants, with a playing role sometime. The complex morality of the show is represented through the dark and gritty tone and the character’s unique struggle with life, mortality and ultimate purpose.
Later on in Blade Runner’s sequel Blade Runner 2049, we are introduced to officer K a replicant who is a Blade Runner, a killer of his own kind. Officer K’s journey is an allusion to Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Pale Fire, in which a man who has a near death experience goes through a journey to explore his distinct memories only to find later on that it is not what it seems. Blade Runner 2049 explores deeper on human/replicant relationships and the distinction between a ‘real’ human and an artificial one. In 2049 Los Angeles, it is discovered that a replicant has given birth, something that has never happened before, and something that is thought to be impossible. In his journey to hunt down this replicant, Officer K develops an interior self, something that he must come to terms with, as replicants are not meant to have and develop a psyche. The journey led him to believe that he is the born replicant and a ‘special one’ only to find out later on that his memories are implanted and a dozen other replicants also have the same memories. With this realization K gives up his desire to become distinct and helps Deckard reunite with his daughter, showing that meaning is constructed and the human existence is affirmed by the act of giving oneself towards a higher purpose.
In Pluto the robots are also given meaning in their creation, Gesicht is a detective robot created for the purpose of solving crimes. Montblanc is created to serve as a mountain guide and guardian of the Swiss Alps. But Atom the astro boy is created for a different purpose altogether, he is designed by Dr Tenma as a replacement for his dead son Tobio. Atom is designed to be a human, that is his created purpose, that is why robots around the world are fascinated by the acts of empathy done by Atom, as his actions are not driven by utility but rather by natural curiosity. This unique perspective of empathy in robots is what drives the story in Pluto, as the 7 strongest robots gets pulled out of their occupations to serve in a fruitless war this causes the robots to re examine their inner selves and think for what purpose they are created.
The theme of human heart or ‘Kokoro’ is very prevalent in Japanese literature, many Japanese authors and artist allude the heart to the soul or psyche. In a sense it is a broad classification of human emotions and desires. Over the course of the story Gesicht develops a ‘heart’ in his journey, meeting with friends and strangers, experiencing loss and love. He is conflicted with his own emotions as he is not used to it, perceiving emotions as a program that can be installed and uninstalled where in reality it is something that one develops overtime by accumulating experiences and learning to separate oneself from others. In this case Gesicht also develops an inner self, same as Officer K in 2049, represented by him lying, even though robots are not designed to lie. In his book ‘The Birth and Death of Meaning’ Ernest Becker believes that lying is an integral part of claiming an inner self, to keep secrets and lock away a part of oneself from the prying eyes of the outside world is a necessary part of developing an identity. Unconsciously Gesicht put up barriers from his outside world and stored away a memory that is too painful to recall.
In the final acts of the Manga, the villain is revealed to be Goji, a robot that believed itself to be human, to be his deceased creator Dr Abullah. The final confrontation pits Goji, the robot who believes himself to be human, and Atom the strongest robot on earth, believed to be the most perfect robot creation as he is the closest one to being human. This duality offers a fresh perspective in human/robot relationships in literature as it is not the typical, malevolent AI that subjugates human like in Terminator or The Matrix. But rather a poignant mirror that reflects our own existence, where the line between ‘real’ and ‘artificial’ is blurred. In the perspective of Dr Tenma the idea of human perfection is an idea flawed by such things as love and hatred. And in his desire to create Atom as a surrogate for his son he makes the perverse decision to have these artificial beings to be as close to human imperfection as possible.
In the sixth day of Genesis, God created mankind in his image to rule over all things in this world. Meanwhile in our quest of creation, what image do we want to project to our robots/replicants? Is it like Pluto where we impart on robots our flaws and emotions? Or like in Blade Runner where they are nothing more than slaves and tools. For in our Genesis, also comes the subjugation of other life forms, of animals, and plants, and later on if it comes to pass on robots and machines. The passage “to rule over all things in this earth” gives us a sense of superiority and sovereignty, where the rightful owner of things in this world are humans. We claim things in our perceived grandiosity and shrug off other creatures with the argument that they do not have a soul, something that we exclusively claim to be ours.
In Blade Runner 2049 officer K states that to be born is to have a soul, negating the possibility of a replicant having a soul because they are not born, but rather created through chutes of plastic inside a factory. In Pluto also, multiple characters explore the concept of the soul, and Dr Tenma while retrieving Gesicht’s memory chip says that it is his soul. Here we have two different views over the same concept, the soul. In Blade Runner the soul is an abstract thing that is given to things that are created naturally, and allows for connection with other beings. While in Pluto a soul is the sum of one’s whole lifespan, their memories, and their emotions, their hatred, love, pain, joy, and sorrow.
In our search of meaning, purpose, and identity we develop a sort of paradoxical state. In our process of attaining the inner self, we are also overcome with the desire to be connected to others. While we struggle with our personal distinction and identity reflected in our inner self, at the same time we also yearn to be understood. This tension between the inner self and the outer world can be considered as the thematic center in Pluto and Blade Runner. While the character navigates their own emotions, they also learn what it is to interact with others, to empathize and to understand each other’s motivations
Ultimately the exploration of humanity in these two works forces us to reflect on our own humanities, and our own attitudes towards other creations. What is it that makes us so special? What is it that makes us unique? Why do we treat others this way? Is it because the perceived idea of our souls, that we feel most worthy among other creations? That we seek to divide and subjugate that which is not ‘alive’, being over non-being. There are lots of other broader ideas that are portrayed in Blade Runner and Pluto such as identity politics, war, geopolitics among many others and I recommend anyone to check out for themselves these amazing works of art. Although the question of identity still persist and may never be solved, for what it’s worth I believe my understanding of what a human truly is, is to understand and share each other’s pain. To be connected to others yet painfully aware of our own loneliness. At least that’s my two cents. If anyone wants to discuss further feel free to hit me up in my DMs!
