Rick Deckard - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Rick Deckard is the protagonist

Protagonist

A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...

in Philip K. Dick

Philip K. Dick

Philip Kindred Dick was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist whose published work is almost entirely in the science fiction genre. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments and altered...

's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is a science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick first published in 1968. The main plot follows Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter of androids, while the secondary plot follows John Isidore, a man of sub-normal intelligence who befriends some of the...

,and also the 1982 film adaptation

Film adaptation

Film adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even...

Blade Runner
Blade Runner
Blade Runner is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K...

directed by Ridley Scott

Ridley Scott

Sir Ridley Scott is an English film director and producer. His most famous films include The Duellists , Alien , Blade Runner , Legend , Thelma & Louise , G. I...

. The cinematic version of the character Deckard is played by the actor Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford is an American film actor and producer. He is famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. Ford is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in...

Overview

In the film adaptation Deckard is a blade runner, a special member (or bounty hunter) of the Los Angeles Police Department

Los Angeles Police Department

The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...

whose job is to hunt and retire androids, called replicants, as they have been declared illegal on Earth

Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...

. At the beginning of the film, a group of replicants hijack a shuttle to Earth, intending to infiltrate their place of manufacture and extend their four-year lifespans. Deckard, formerly the best blade runner in the LAPD, is called out of retirement to hunt them down. He is reluctant to resume work, but is told he has no choice and must use some of "the old blade runner magic" to succeed.

Adaptation

The term "blade runner" is, in fact, never used by the author of the original novel. Deckard is an active bounty hunter working in San Francisco rather than a Los Angeles detective, tasked with hunting down six escaped replicants, called "androids", who hope not to extend their lifespans, instead only to escape slavery on the colonies.
Philip K. Dick stated in review his approval of Harrison Ford's performance, claiming that Ford brought to life a "a genuine, real, authentic Deckard."

Is Deckard a replicant?

There are lengthy debates among the movie's fandom on whether Deckard is a replicant himself. The Director's Cut

Director's cut

A director's cut is a specially edited version of a film, and less often TV series, music video, commercials, comic book or video games, that is supposed to represent the director's own approved edit...

of the movie seems to lean towards the idea that Deckard is a replicant, as new footage was added that raises the possibility. Earlier in the film it is established that the Tyrell Corporation has created replicants with implanted memories. Rachel, created by Tyrell with the memories of his niece believed she was human but Deckard confirms this to her by recalling memories she had told no one about. The footage added in the Final Cut shows Deckard has dreams about unicorns. In all versions of the film, Gaff leaves a unicorn origami figure in Deckard's apartment, confirming he knows about the dream for the same reasons he knew about Rachel's memories.
Actor Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford

has stated that when he and director Ridley Scott

Ridley Scott

Sir Ridley Scott is an English film director and producer. His most famous films include The Duellists , Alien , Blade Runner , Legend , Thelma & Louise , G. I...

were discussing the character prior to filming, they both agreed that Deckard was not a replicant. However, in multiple subsequent interviews, director Ridley Scott has come forward stating that Deckard is in fact a replicant. Scott also states that Harrison Ford may have given up the idea of Deckard being human.

In K.W. Jeter's Blade Runner novels, Rick Deckard is rediscovered by the Tyrell Corporation, who want to use him to retire the mysterious "sixth replicant" from the group he last hunted. (These novels use the character of Deckard as shown in the movie, not the original novel.) This mission ends up leading to further adventures involving various conspiracies between the Tyrell Corp., the United Nations, and Replicant Sympathizers.

External links

Marj Kibby [Department of Sociology and Anthropology, The University of Newcastle] journal of interdisciplinary gender studies V1 N2 September 1996:139-146 retrieved 10:13 2011-11-02
Slavoj Žižek Tarrying with the negative: Kant, Hegel, and the critique of ideology published:Duke University Press, 1993 retrieved 10:24 2011-10-02

(short listed links)

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