It seems that almost every Edgar Allen Poe story ever written has a much deeper and darker meaning hidden inside its lines. Many of these pieces are demented enough even if the reader does not read “between the lines.”
“The Black Cat” is an example of this kind of story. In this morbid look into the narrator’s mind, the reader follows the narrator as he does many disturbing things in his household. This story, like many of Poe’s other pieces, is a venture into abnormal psychology where the narrator is completely insane, not only because of the horrible things he does to his cat and his wife, but because of his state of mind that he shows the reader throughout the story. At the beginning of the story, the narrator makes the writing out to be “plainly, succinctly, and without comment, a series of mere household events” (p. 1495). As the story progresses, the reader finds out that this is
> clearly not at all the case. The events within the text of this account are unmistakably the ramblings of a madman who cannot seem to control his actions and keeps drifting deeper and deeper into insanity. In the first paragraph of the story, the narrator begins to defend himself by saying that he is not mad. This definitely seems like he is trying to reassure himself more than the reader of his state of mind. This seems to be Poe’s way of gradually easing into showing the reader that this story is, in fact, an exploration into the abnormal psychology of the human mind.
The narrator says that from his childhood, he has been considered a very docile person. He also mentions in the first part of the story that his
“My tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous as to make me the jest of my companions” (p. 1495). At the point in the story when he says all this, it seems fairly feasible. However, as the reader goes on to read, the rest of the story, they find out that this is not the narrator’s present demeanor in the least. Just from seeing what is obvious about the narrator and not even reading deeper into his mindset, the reader can gather that the man is probably not a reliable source for correct information.
Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner: Technology’s Link to Humanity
Many years after its release, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner has become one of the most analyzed and debated science fiction films ever produced. The film was a failure during its initial release in 1982, the reviews were negative and it wasn’t even close to being a box office hit; however, after the director’s cut release in 1992 Blade Runner had a rebirth and it became a highly respected science fiction film. Ridley Scott’s inspiration to produce Blade Runner came from Philip K. Dick’s 1969 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Although the screen writers for Blade Runner mostly just took the main character from Dick’s novel, they added certain key topics that kept a relationship between the two. At the film’s premier Harrison Ford said, “It’s a film about whether you can have a meaningful relationship with your toaster.”[1] Despite Ford’s reference the film is very sophisticated in respect its visionary portrayal of the consequences of technology on humanity. A central ethical question that Blade Runner raises as well as in many other popular science fiction novels and films is what the boundaries of humanity are? Blade Runner’s answer is that humanity can expand to occupy many forms and human nature reached the point where genetic engineering, human biology, and digital technology are now an important part of society.
In Philip K. Dick’s time science fiction writers that rose to fame in the 1950’s were concerned with the physics of science while Dick was more concerned about the metaphysic of it. One of the most important ideas transferred over from Dick’s novel to Blade Runner is “the problematic nature of the human being and the difficult task of being human.”[2] The film’s themes of gene…
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…, History and Memories Join Together from The People History Site. Web. .
[9] “1980s History including Popular Culture, Prices, Events, Technology and Inventions.” Where People, History and Memories Join Together from The People History Site. Web. .
[10] Senior, W. A. Blade Runner and Cyberpunk Visions of Humanity.” Film Criticism V21 (Fall 1996): 1-12
[11] “1970s History including Popular Culture, Prices, Events, Technology and Inventions.” Where People, History and Memories Join Together from The People History Site. Web. .
[12] Slade, Joseph W. “Romanticizing Cybernetics in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner.” Literature Film Quarterly 18.1 (Jan 1990): 2-64
[13] Slade, Joseph W. “Romanticizing Cybernetics in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner.” Literature Film Quarterly 18.1 (Jan 1990): 2-64