Theme: The Soul of Story

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During the cat-and-mouse scene between Roy and Deckard, Roy’s monologue is an out-loud philosophical debate with himself about the nature of life and morality. At one point Roy taunts Deckard with the line, "Aren't you supposed to be the good man?"

The final proof that Roy has indeed accepted responsibility for his actions, and in fact refuses to be a mere puppet of destiny, comes when he saves Deckard's life instead of letting him fall to his death. In doing so, Roy breaks the pattern set out for him by fate – he goes against his nature to demonstrate that he is capable of shattering the narrow behavioral mold set forth by his maker. And although he accepts the unavoidable fact of his impending death, he thwarts the inevitability of Deckard's death by saving his life – which has the side effect of renewing Deckard's reason to live.

All of these powerful symbols and moments point to layers of depth and substance which comprise the real story behind "Blade Runner": It’s not about a man sent to track down synthetic humans, but about a man who rediscovers his humanity. The hunt for the replicants is the framework, not the message.

Creating Theme

In confusing physical action with a story’s meaning, or by simply ignoring deeper purpose than to entertain, is why so many films these days feel hollow. Your task as a writer is to incorporate theme from the beginning of the writing process, and not to merely insert it as frosting on the cake; theme is the cake.

Themes relate to the inner goals of characters, their psychological and/or emotional needs which are explored via subplots. Therefore, a solid approach toward creating theme could be taken through the following series of steps:

Frame your story's central idea either as a question or a premise.

Examples:
Questions: What is love? What is identity? What makes a person evil ? What is morality? What is madness?
Premises: Greed creates its own downfall. Unrequited love leads to life-threatening despair. The "insane" merely have a different point of view. War turns all men into savages.

Identify the main argument of the issue.

Examples: Life vs. death, greed vs. charity, hope vs. hopelessness, idealism vs. cynicism, sanity vs. insanity, reality vs. illusion.

Create characters that embody these arguments.

Example: Idealistic cop vs. a cynical gangster.

Frame the story's structure in terms of the argument.

Example: As the cop battles the gangster in pursuit of his pure ideal of justice (idealism), he is lured by the sweet temptations of crime. The cop sees that all of society is corrupt, that every member of the police force is on the take and enjoys the good life because they all know the dirty score. He sees that if people have enough money, they go unpunished because of bribery in the right places, or beat their raps with high-priced lawyers. He begins to become disillusioned (and now moves towards cynicism).

Personalize this argument for the main character in the form of a subplot or subplots that tear the character between the two extremes.

Example: The cop is in financial straights, and his family is housed in a cheap apartment in a bad neighborhood. His kid needs braces and gets beaten up on the way home from school, the wife is harassed on the mean streets and longs for a better life as she has sacrificed her dreams for the cop's career, etc. The very gangster he pursues offers him cash to drop his chase, and cop knows that simply to begin taking bribes would be a way out for himself and his suffering family.

The above example's idea of a moral main character's struggle to avoid temptation has worked for many films, the easy example being the "Star Wars" Trilogy, in which Darth Vader tempts Luke with the power of the Dark Side. Han Solo's arc goes the other way -- he moves from cynicism to idealism, just like Bogie in "Casablanca."

In Blade Runner, its "story argument" of humanity vs. inhumanity perfectly delineates the transformational arcs of both Deckard and Roy. It also connects the idea of humanity with morality. (For further info on how to create a workable story premise, and for a great discussion of the dialectic approach to storytelling -- i.e. two warring points of view -- see the important and influential book "The Art of Dramatic Writing" by Lajos Egri.)

Note that you can cover more than one theme in a story (if you're brave!), but that they should ideally be related and intertwined with your other themes, and each theme typically demands its own subplot.

If you think about theme from the beginning of your writing process, you'll imbue your work with the necessary depth that will allow you to take your storytelling to the next level.

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