English essay

What elements of Do androids dream of electric sheep translate well into

film.

The book Do Androids dream of electric sheep is the sort of science fiction

story that has several elements which can be put into film. One element of

this book that goes well into film is the setting in particular the

infrastructure. It is set in the futuristic Los Angles it is a place with

big tall skyscrapers and virtual cities inside buildings this can be seen on

the front cover of the book. The concept of having towns inside huge

buildings has been used before in many Science fiction films. The most

notable of which I Believe is 2001 a space odessy. Although it is not a huge

part of the film early in the movie we see a shot of a space station

orbiting the earth in this space station there is a type futuristic city.

This was a revolutionary idea in its time. Although the two cities are

completely different it is the concept of having cities inside these

futuristic worlds which always translates well into film. Another classic

example is the death star in the Star Wars trilogy. There are many other

elements of the futuristic cities, which translate well into film things

such as flying cars which were used in the film blade runner.

There is an important question that is asked in this book that works well on

film. That is that this book questions reality it asks us the question how

do we know what is real and what is not. On the screen this sort deep moral

question has the capicity to catch the audiences attention and keep them

interested. An example of this is 2001 a space odessy.

In this movie our view on what reality is is questioned. Another film, which

demonstrates this well but in another way, is the Matrix. The plot is very

deep this usually means that people either like the film or hate it. This

has been the case with some of the most acclaimed films of our time. So if

Do Androids dream of electric sheep is in any way similar to films such as

2001 and the Matrix it would a matter of personal opinion as to weather it

translates well into film.

The idea of the character Rick Deckard translates well into film. Rick

Deckard has the image of the typical cop who is the best at what he does but

he has had enough and he agrees to come back to do this last mission because

they need him. Deckard's interaction with the Androids is interesting his

job simply is to retire them and the way Deckard and the other characters

refer to them and interact with them is really different.

The idea of memories is looked at closely in this book. This is demonstrated

in the part where Rachel finds out that she is a Android. She finds out in

this moment that everything she has known was a sham this gives a whole new

meaning to her so called life and it also makes all of as question reality.

This section leaves the reader confused. There is not nearly enough emphasis

on this section in the book. This could be demonstrated much better in film

where more time could be spent on it. If it was done in film the viewer

would more easily be able to understand Rachel's feeling because we would be

actually able to see her reactions and we would be able to appreciate this

as a key moment in the whole story.

The concept of having Androids is something which has been used in many

films before most notably the Terminator parts 1 and 2. Androids that look

like humans always go well on screen they help to generate the audiences

imagination especially when faced the situation when you cant tell who are

Androids and who are humans this situation arises quite a few times in the

book. In the book the Androids are being hunted by Rick Deckard often the

reader ends up feeling sorry for the Androids as all they want to do is lead

a normal life on earth. The Androids in this book are very advanced to the

point where they can experience emotion. This leads us to the moral question

of if they can feel emotion why cant they be considered to be alive. This

the sort of question that you have to answer your self it really is a matter

of opinion. Questions like this work well on the big screen because it makes

it clearer than it does if you were reading it. It is very easy to miss

things like this in a book.

Do Androids dream of electric sheep is the sort of novel which a film can

very easily accompany. This was demonstrated in the movie blade runner which

was based on this novel but did not follow the story line exactly. This book

deals with very deep moral issues which leaves asking questions about

reality an ourselves. It is the sort of science fiction book that will be

better understood on the big screen where people can see what is going on

and take more in.