Adapting Literature

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 07.01.07

  1. Unit Guide
  1. Introduction
  2. Rationale
  3. Objectives
  4. Strategies
  5. Film and Visual Representation
  6. Classroom Activities
  7. Notes
  8. Resources
  9. Appendices

Blade Runner Redux: Teaching a Sci-Fi Meta-Art Classic

Clary W. Carleton

Published September 2007

Tools for this Unit:

Introduction

At my small, alternative high school I teach a semester-long course entitled "The Future is Now." This course is designed to help students see the connections between today's world and imagined worlds by reading classic Science Fiction or Speculative Fiction—my preferred term (both abbreviated as SF for convenience). This is one of the most popular classes I teach, allowing students to consider who they are and who they might become as human beings. Students are inspired to examine contemporary issues—technological, biological, psychological, sociological, and environmental—portrayed in future settings. Regardless of background, students appreciate the opportunity to discuss the complex issues they are facing in the 21st century. Saturated by manipulative media and overloaded with information, these same students need guidance to read their multifaceted, high-tech world. Today's teachers have a responsibility to prepare students to use critical inquiry and their imagination, to solve problems in a future that may look very different from today, and Speculative Fiction can help in this preparation.

This unit examines Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) and Blade Runner (1982), Ridley's Scott's classic sci-fi film adaptation. Prior to this unit, students will have read Huxley's Brave New World and Orwell's 1984. Both dystopian novels function as relevant warnings about social control and totalitarian rule, but through very different means. To complete the semester, I have used short fiction, film, and other novels including Anthem, Cat's Cradle, Ender's Game, Fahrenheit 451, The Giver, and The Handmaid's Tale. A number of these texts can be challenging for my students, who range from enthusiastic to reluctant and from skilled to inexperienced. My classes are generally small, approximately 15 students. This allows me to dedicate extra instruction to the development of reading skills at all levels with the belief that similar strategies (especially critical inquiry at each stage of reading) can help all readers improve comprehension and interpretation of what they read. The engaging subject matter compels students to make sense of these disorienting narratives. The same is true when readers approach Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, my latest addition to the course.

While I had seen Blade Runner, it was not until I read the novel that I began to appreciate the film. I now see the value of both texts in much the same way that Philip K. Dick did. After initially criticizing an early draft of the screenplay, he said the novel and the film "reinforce each other...it's like they're two halves to one meta-artwork, one meta-artifact. It's just exciting."1 After spending more time with these two works, I found myself examining them in a similar way—as one larger work with textual, visual, and auditory components.

This unit is timely. The year 2007 marks the 25th anniversary of Blade Runner to be celebrated with a long-awaited, limited theatrical run plus the DVD release of a remastered Director's Cut—the supposedly definitive "Final Cut." Even so, this extraordinarily influential film may be unfamiliar to today's teenagers who were born in the 1990s. The film, originally a box-office failure, was later recognized as a seminal science fiction film, featuring the postmodern explorations of proto-cyberpunk writer, Philip K. Dick. Teenagers may be more familiar with recent cinematic adaptations of other fiction by Dick. A spate of films, including Total Recall (1990), Minority Report (2002), Paycheck (2003), A Scanner Darkly (2006), and Next (2007) have been produced, and a biopic of Dick is in the works. While of varying quality, these futuristic films explore technological innovations, simulated realities, altered states, and identity politics—all prescient issues that motivate enthusiastic adolescent exploration.

Additionally, this year the authoritative Library of America is also reissuing a collection of four Philip K. Dick novels, including Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? The editor of the collection describes Dick as the "Shakespeare of science fiction"—a bold claim that demands further investigation. But where does science fiction (or even the more radical sub-genre of cyberpunk) fit into the English curriculum?

My unit attempts to answer this question, articulating a rationale for teaching Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (DADES) and Blade Runner by enhancing critical thinking, close reading, oral language, and writing skills. Because there are significant changes and interesting choices made by the director and screenwriters of Blade Runner, the unit will approach the film as an artistic achievement in its own right, rather than as a mere supplement to the novel. Students will thus explore issues surrounding the idea of adaptation itself, empowering them to consider how and why stories change, and the impact of the various media through which they are conveyed.

This five-week unit is designed for a mixed-level class of students in grades 9-12, targeting a wide range of reading skills. The school population is approximately 80% African American and 20% Caucasian. This past year, 48% of students qualified for free or reduced lunch. Over 90% of the students are accepted to college. Located in Richmond, Virginia, Open High School is a fully accredited, community-based public high school, which supports a student body of no more than 200. This unit supports the larger mission of Open High School to create students who are self-directed, independent learners.

Blade Runner is rated R for violence, but violence in 1982 looks much tamer than the gratuitous violence of 2007. Still, teachers will want to send home permission forms that explain the purpose of this selection. Students will be taught and assessed based on selected standards from grades 9-11 of the Virginia Standards of Learning. This unit also supports the basic principles of the Richmond Public Schools Instructional Model. (See Appendix A.)

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