Hoeks is devastating in the role, and the tension between who Luv wants to be and who she is makes her a powerful parallel to humanity. Psychology tells us that we all want to be different—more moral, more honest, more loyal. And biology tells us that problems with agency, freedom and identity start early, not late. Who you are is an intricate chess game between nature and nurture; like Luv, we are programmed first, conditioned later. These are the central ideas of “Blade Runner” and “Blade Runner 2049,” and in fact, the way famed behavioral biologist Robert Sapolsky of Stanford University characterizes humanity almost sounds like the plot of “Blade Runner” itself. He believes killers and thieves are nothing more than the equivalent of a BMW with bad brakes on the highway. An unambiguous danger that must be stopped, but to zero fault of its own––not unlike Deckard hunting down Roy, Leon, and Priss. Sapolsky goes one step further. He believes all behavior works exactly the same, saying the single most important question to answer is to accept that there is no free will, only the proverbial 1s and 0s of programming and conditioning.
Luv’s journey is about freedom, free will, what it means to be alive, and what it means be conscious. And “Blade Runner 2049” asks these questions without giving easy answers. We as a society still barely understand these mysteries. Famed philosopher and cognitive scientist David Chalmers himself has long lamented our lack of understanding of these issues, going as far to write in The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory, “Consciousness is the biggest mystery. It may be the largest outstanding obstacle in our quest for a scientific understanding of the universe.” Chalmers and Sapolsky may both be famous for having crazy hair, but their radical ideas are at the heart of what the “Blade Runner” series is about and brought to life through Luv, ruminating on our lack of self-understanding as a species. “Blade Runner 2049” screenwriter Michael Green said K’s journey is to “ascend,” but humanity can’t start to ascend if we first don’t understand the mysteries of what make us who we are as a society.
In the climax of “Blade Runner 2049,” there is a reckoning of self-understanding. Two replicants fight for the same cause: to save and protect a child that is the savior of their species. By chance but not choice, one of them has broken the bonds of programming, the other has not. Submerged in murky oceanic waters, a metaphor for the subconscious, they confront who they really are and fight. On one hand, K’s implanted memories and experiences make him as much Rachel and Deckard’s child as their biological daughter Ana. He is an adopted son, fighting for the freedom of a father and sister, martyring himself for family. But on the other, it is Luv, not K, who is the perfect tragic symbol for humanity. She is the nucleus, the binding agent that allows these philosophical and academic ideas of “Blade Runner 2049” to deeply resonate. She is a being whose intentions are often good but trapped inside of systems of class, race, nature, nurture, programming and consciousness to stay unable to evolve. Agent K may represent our hope for change but Luv represents our reality of stasis. Luv did not choose her fate. But then again, who does?
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