Blade Runner (1982)
Man has made his match... now it's his problem.
In the smog-choked dystopian Los Angeles of 2019, blade runner Rick Deckard is called out of retirement to terminate a quartet of replicants who have escaped to Earth seeking their creator for a way to extend their short life spans.
In Blade Runner, consciousness is carried by machines — a plane of “future corporate dystopia”. The story fights on E8/E10 of the E0–E14 reality ladder, compressing technology, consciousness, mortality, power, identity.
Same rung, same subject
Films fighting at the same level of reality, about the same things.
Ghost in the Shell (1995)E8/E10 · consciousness, identity
Open Your Eyes (1997)E8/E10 · consciousness, identity
M3GAN 2.0 (2025)E8/E10 · consciousness, power
Morgan (2016)E8/E10 · consciousness, power
Ghost in the Shell 2.0 (2008)E8/E10 · consciousness, identity
Short Circuit 2 (1988)E8/E10 · consciousness, identitySame subject, different rung
The same preoccupations examined at another scale — one mind versus a nation.
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)E7/E12 · rare rung · power, technology
Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)E11/E14 · rare rung · power, technology
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)E12/E14 · rare rung · mortality, technology
Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)E6/E11 · rare rung · power, technology
Arthur 3: The War of the Two Worlds (2010)E6/E11 · rare rung · identity, power
King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)E6/E12 · rare rung · power, technologyAlso bends a rule of reality
Other films that change a standing rule of their world — ranked first by those bending it at the same rung.
Ghost in the Shell (2017)alters at E6 · same rung · loose
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)alters at E6 · same rung · rigorous
Blade (1998)alters at E6 · same rung · loose
Bicentennial Man (1999)alters at E6 · same rung · loose
Appleseed (2004)alters at E6 · same rung · loose
GANTZ:O (2016)alters at E6 · same rung · looseAlso hides consciousness here
Other films that move a human interior onto the same kind of thing.
Lucy (2014)consciousness in machines · brain machine singularity
Transcendence (2014)consciousness in machines · singularitarian digital realm
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004)consciousness in machines · cybernetic ghost market
TRON: Ares (2025)consciousness in machines · digital grid
Mazinger Z: Infinity (2017)consciousness in machines · mecha-quantum universe
Alita: Battle Angel (2019)consciousness in machines · cyberpunk scrapyardSame subject, different mask
The same preoccupations carried by a different kind of thing — grief told through the dead, an animal, a machine.
The Man with Two Brains (1983)consciousness carried elsewhere · consciousness, identity
Doctor Who (1996)consciousness in aliens · identity, mortality
The Golden Compass (2007)consciousness in animals · consciousness, identity
Morbius (2022)consciousness in monsters · identity, mortality
Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)consciousness in aliens · identity, mortality
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)consciousness in animals · identity, mortality
