Resumo

The main objective of this contribution is to explore how Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982) and Chappie (Neill Blomkamp, 2015) construct posthuman identities through processes of memory, learning, and affective relationships, straining the boundaries between the human and the mechanical.
Blade Runner defines the cyberpunk archetype of replicants with implanted memories; Chappie, on the other hand, is a contemporary exploration of embodied artificial intelligence and relational learning. In Ridley Scott’s film, replicants are biotechnological bodies designed for slave labour, whose rebellion arises from the desire to prolong a limited life and reclaim their own memories. On the other hand, in Chappie, identity emerges from a prefabricated memory that, through a learning process, grows in a similar way to a child, modifying itself based on its environment and the bonds it establishes with its particular human family. This film emphasises the relational dimension of the artificial subject, showing how the acquisition of memory and the ability to move consciousness are linked to the desire for survival.
The methodology of this work adopts a qualitative interpretative approach, focusing on the comparative analysis of two science fiction films that serve as cultural texts reflecting on artificial subjectivity. The main strategy would be filmic and symbolic analysis, for which significant film sequences representing processes of memory, learning, and emotional bonds in posthuman entities (replicants and robots) would be taken as a reference.