Compare and Contrast One – Bladerunner & Trouble and Her Friends

ENVIRONMENT

      - Both Bladerunner and Trouble and Her Friends (“Trouble”) are set in two very different contrasting environments.  In Bladerunner, everything is dark and dreary and it seems to be constantly raining.  The buildings also seem to be a state of disrepair, which seems normal for this society.  This is different in Trouble however, were Cerise describes the way the sun is setting.  A similarity between the two is the use of neon lights and electronic billboards that seem to run rampant in both societies.  

TIME

      Both of these stories are set in very futuristic times, which seem out of the scope of where society may be headed. 

      Trouble gives us very little when it comes to what time period it takes place in, however, it does hint at the fact that the nets have been around for at least a hundred years. 

      Bladerunner takes place in 2019, thirty-seven years into the future from the time it was made.  It is interesting to note that the book that Bladerunner is based off of, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, was published in 1968 and takes place in 1992. 

      It is interesting to see the different portrayals that the writers took in showing us their vision of the future.

CHARACTER

      There are similarities between the characters in Bladerunner and Trouble.

      One example is the idea of modified humans so that they are capable of doing things that other humans cannot.  The replicants in Bladerunner are genetically modified humans, who appear no different than the average human.  They are created for a specific purpose and will only live for four years.  However, they possess certain traits and skills which make them distinctly different and therefore dangerous to the rest of society.  In Trouble, the humans are able to get a variety of different implants that allow for them to go on the nets.  There vary from the original dollie-boxes to the new more sophisticated brainworms.  These brainworms is what makes Cerise and her friends different from other of their kind.

      In both stories there is also a group of characters which have similar ideals and goals which draw them together.  This in affect creates the dramatic tension in the plots.  In Bladerunner, the rebellious replicants, Roy, Pris, Leon, and Zhora, are fighting to find a way to continue to live.  In Trouble, Cerise, and in essence Trouble as well, do not want things to change especially when it comes to the implanted technology that they possess.

THEMATIC CONCERN(S)

      Both stories display distaste for authority and what they are capable of doing in the running of people’s lives.  Bladerunner clearly showcases how someone with a limited life-span wants to have more time, i.e. Roy.  Trouble shows how one important made by the government can so drastically change the lives of so many people.  In both instances there is a group of characters who want to defy the norms and rules put into place; Roy wanting to live longer and Cerise continuing the use of the brainworm.      

OTHER

      It is interesting to view the way that these authors view the advancement of technology in our society.  Bladerunner claims the use of hover cars and human-like cyborgs.  Trouble, on the other hand, shows the extreme expansion of the internet (or what seems to be the internet) and how people are able to “plug” themselves into it.