Blade Runner and Obsession: Autonomy and the Male Gaze

Watching Curry Barker’s Obsession, I was reminded of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. Both films feature a near-identical deconstruction of their female leads. They split soul from body, reflecting on the male gaze.

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The lighting in Obsession often obstructs Nikki. Bear wishes Nikki would love him “more than anyone in the whole fucking world”. Cut to a silhouette of Nikki on the porch. Her form remains, her looks and ability to act. But her soul is gone, darkness signaling its absence. The bedroom scene: Nikki is in the corner. Her eyes are obstructed. She moves to the bed, covering her face with flowers. Her eyes- her soul- are gone. As flowers in a vase, she is dependent and beautiful. Nikki is deconstructed for Bear’s sake. The part of Nikki that foils Bear’s desire, her soul, is split from the object of his desire, her body. She’s made to fit the male gaze: docile and attractive.

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Blade Runner is more literal in its soul/body split. Rachel, the female lead, is a replicant. She is a living product of the Tyrell Corporation. Her body and memories are built and installed. This part of her is not her own; it's company property. What is her own is her behavior since her production. She is an autonomous soul trapped in a product.

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Rick Deckard, the film’s protagonist, falls for Rachel. The part of Rachel that is manufactured is the object of his desire. When they first meet, Deckard administers a Voigt-Kampf test to Rachel. Eventually, she tests as a replicant. Later, she tries to prove that wrong. She shows him a photograph of her as a young woman. He yells, demanding she's a replicant, her memories aren't real. He forces her into the part of herself which he desires: body. Later in the film, he rapes her to smooth jazz. The jazz reflects his state of mind. Rape isn't romantic, but to Deckard this isn't rape. A product is meant to be used. A “no” from a product is a malfunction, invalid and illegitimate.

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Deckard and Bear detest the autonomous parts of Rachel and Nikki. It’s the part that can reject them, the part that keeps them from their desire. By “autonomy”, I mean the ability to act to satisfy individual desires and needs with reasonable expectation that those could be met. A completely autonomous woman could make the decision to apply to work at a magazine and expect a reasonable chance of getting the job. Half of feminism is getting that magazine to hire her or not hire her for the same reasons they would hire and not hire a man. The other half is making sure that she is able to try to work at that magazine, getting the education she needs to work there, not being forced to work there, generally having some degree of control on her side of things.

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Deckard and Bear violate the ladder. To control the right to act is to pull autonomy from its roots. In doing so, these men prevent the possibility of rejection. They make sure they get what they want.

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The male gaze is beauty in submission. No isn’t submissive. Autonomy isn't submissive. In splitting Rachel and Nikki each into body and soul, Blade Runner and Obsession reflect the want for body; The want for something that is attractive and accessible regardless.

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