In comparing the book Androids dream of electric sheep? and the film adaptation Blade Runner, my attention was immediately drawn to the differences in the relationship between Deckard and Rachael. In particular, the two mediums approach opposite dynamics of dominant and submissive roles between the two. In the film, Deckard forcefully seduces Rachael, referencing a master-slave narrative. He approaches her by kissing her on the neck and she resists, even running to the door to get away. He then stands between her and the door, pushing her against the wall, demanding, “I need you to kiss me.” She tries to protest but he interrupts her with “Say, kiss me.” In this way he intimidates her into consent. Even in the final scene, it is his active questioning that prompts her passive reply to admit her love for him.
On the other hand, in the book it is Rachael who owns her total agency in seducing Deckard actively. Their union is totally premediated and implicitly agreed upon on the phone beforehand. The whole situation is discussed in terms of negotiation and transaction. He describes her as being unwomanly and like a child while also as a “wary hunter of perhaps the Cro-Magnon persuasion” focusing on her subhuman qualities. ‘I wonder what is like to kiss an android, he said to himself. Leaning forward an inch, he kissed her dry lips. No reaction followed; Rachael remained impassive. As if unaffected.”(189) This scene totally contrasts with the passion of the film version. Dick uses a rational and observant inner narrative in the book to describe a passivity in Deckard. Finally, the role reversal of active versus passive is reincorced in the very end of the chapter where Dick simply writes, ” ‘Goddamn it, get into the bed.’ Rachael said.” On a separate line, “He got into bed.” (192) This parallels the repetition in Deckard’s query for Rachael to repeat after him in the film, but the role of active and passive are totally reversed.