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These worksheets are designed to introduce genre conventions to A level Media Studies students.
The worksheets focus on Blade Runners contribution to Science Fiction cinema and aim to
encourage students analytical skills. (NB: Use the superior Director's Cut rather than the originally
released version. )
Science Fiction and genre
Science fiction themes
Textual analysis: Star Wars
Blade Runner
Analyse how Star Wars confirms these expectations and compare it to The Empire Strikes
Back.
1. How are aliens and androids perceived in ET, The Terminator, Men In Black and Star
Wars?
3. What symbolic and audio codes differentiate the goodies and baddies?
4. Compare and contrast this sequence with the opening of The Empire Strikes Back.
Blade Runner
1. In order to be defined as a science fiction movie, Blade Runner must share common
conventions with other films in the genre.
What does it have in common with Star Wars and how does it differ?
2. Many science fiction films offer a specific image of the future. They can be set on earth or in
a galaxy far, far away.
Some comment directly on the present despite being set in the future.
a What kind of futuristic society is presented in Blade Runner?
b To what extent does director Ridley Scott draw parallels between futuristic LA and the
present?
c How does its vision of the future compare with The Terminator?
3. At the centre of Blade Runner is Deckards quest to retire the escaped replicants.
a What initial judgements do we make about the replicants and why do we judge them so
quickly?
b How do our reactions change towards them and why?
c To what extent is the division between them and us questioned in the film?
d Why do Deckards attitudes change?
e To what extent are the replicants lacking in emotions compared to a human character like
Tyrell?
f How does director Scott subvert our initial expectations of a science fiction narrative? Are
there variations on the typical conventions of science fiction in this film?
Summary