In most “Chosen One” stories, the hero gradually learns that he/she is special by birth or destiny. Blade Runner 2049 reverses the pattern. Officer K (played by Ryan Gosling) spends most of the movie trying to uncover the truth about his potential uniqueness – only to conclude that being chosen by birth or destiny is a meaningless concept. Instead, the film explores the idea that meaning should be created by people’s actions.
The story builds up the hero’s unique nature – only to strip it away
The plot of the movie revolves around Officer K and the question of whether he is the miracle baby that was born to the couple, Rachael and Rick Deckard. Evidence accumulates over two acts that confirm this assumption. First, the wooden toy horse found by K is a part of the memory that proves he actually lived in the family. Also, the memory designer Doctor Stelline can differentiate the fake memories from the real ones, and the latter seem real.
As K’s confidence grows, he starts believing that he is special, getting the nickname “Joe.” The last piece of evidence that convinces him of this idea comes from his AI girlfriend Joi, who calls him special. The story creates a very convincing impression that there is something unique about the hero, but it all falls apart once Freysa reveals that the boy was not unique – there are many replicants with the same memory.
It turns out that people can decide for themselves if they want to belong to humanity
Once the hero loses hope that he is special by birth, he starts doubting that he has a soul. However, he decides to do what he considers right anyway – he saves Deckard from death. His selfless act doesn’t serve any greater purpose – he just decides to help the man. At this stage, K creates his identity with actions. The concept is further highlighted through the personality of Luv. For her, superiority comes from belonging to an elite. For K, it stems from actions, not hierarchy.
“Joe” and the idea of being ordinary
As mentioned before, the name given to K by Joi is “Joe” which is not unique at all. Moreover, at the end of the movie, K finds out that Joi gave him that name in order to make him feel unique, and a commercial suggests that it was part of a standard script that is usually implanted in all the replicants.
It doesn’t affect the resolution, though – K knows that he is not special and makes the decision anyway, accepting that he is not different from anyone else.
The creators (director Denis Villeneuve and screenwriter Hampton Fancher) decided to highlight the fact that the hero is an average person in a controlled society.