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       Blade Runner & Trouble and Her Friends -

ENVIRONMENT -

       Both Blade Runner & Trouble and Her Friends seem to take place in a cyberpunk world; a futuristic setting that uses the dark, damp bleakness to show a more gloomy, dystophic setting. Not too promising, if you ask me. The future is a great thing to contemplate, but it seems like the people of our past weren’t too sure about how it would all play out. They are not afraid to show the darker side, much of which is actually happening to our world now thanks to global warming. It looks like they had a lot more correct then we expected. Really, both stories are set in a city that has just become more populated. There are still bars, night clubs, and all of those places people go to after dark. The words crowded, dark, and gross are excellent ways of describing both settings.

TIME -

       Of course, both are set in the future. Blade Runner is said to be set in 2019, not to far off, while Trouble and Her Friends seems to be a lot more distantly set in the future.

CHARACTER -

      Blade Runner and Trouble and Her Friends seem to share the same type of characters. They all are going through tough times and trying to make it on their own. Blade Runner’s characters consist of humans and Replicants, robot slaves that are in every way human except for emotions. We see this is not true, though, when we watch Roy Batty’s actions. Humans are sometimes commissioned as “Blade Runners,” those who “retire,” or kill, Replicants. Of course, we find out that not only humans can be Blade Runners. Our main characters are Rick Deckard, the Blade Runner, his love interest, Rachel, and the four Replicants Deckard is sent out to retire: Batty, his lover, Pris, Leon, and Zhora. Trouble and Her Friends consists of humans, but a large mass of them have taken on the “brainworm,” a device that is plugged into the brain and allows the user to place themselves inside the world wide web. In it, we have Cerise, the main character, her lover, Trouble, who has run off, and the group of gays they hang out with.  

THEMATIC CONCERN(S) -

       I would say Blade Runner is about the human nature of fearing what we don’t understand. Deckard goes to kill these Replicants, but we see in Batty that they do have a heart and can love and feel just like we can. It’s the whole, “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover” thing. Trouble and Her Friends could be showing us how corrupt or world is and how it can be when one man is forced to make the decision of what is best for the whole. When people don’t agree, we tend to single each other out, forming groups with those who share the same interests. When all else fails, we run. Cerise is the example we should follow, the one that shows us to keep going strong and to never change who you are just because someone wants you to be something you’re not. 

OTHER -

       One thing I noticed is the idea of thought/memories. In Blade Runner, Replicants are given thoughts. How did Deckard know about Rachael’s past? Her memories were all implanted into her brain. In Trouble and Her Friends, memories are made through the brainworm. Reality isn’t necessary anymore. You have experiences in a made up, virtual world. Both show the elapse of reality and the dying necessity of it in the future, a place where we continue to make technology that entertains us.