Metropolis: Review

METROPOLIS-1927 REVIEW 

Fritz Lang is the director of this Science Fiction Drama Film (Hybrid Genre ) who worked along side his wife Thea Von Harbou who wrote the screen-play and novelisation. This Silent movie was created in Germany and was set in a futuristic urban distopia However he didn't seem to like what his wife had done,they separated and she joined the neo-nazi revolution. One interesting part about this film is its social/historical context it includes.

"This vision of plutocracy vs. labor would have been powerful in an era when the assembly line had been introduced on a large scale and Marx had encouraged class warfare."- (Ebert, 2010)

After Watching Metropolis i noticed that the lower class was working for the higher class as they made Jon Fredersons Metropolis for him and then were disregarded and used as slaves whilst his son Freder tried to help these depressed half humane people by giving them work hour breaks underground all of the mechanics are done by hand and the feelings of exhaustion and Industrialisation by using smoke and time continuation and showing how people go crazy. Freder is the go-between the sympathetic character that shows what doesn't work with the system., Religious References and Communist messages are also included in the film.
The Set is done really well as it includes the tower of Babel which is a myth/legend which follows the idea of the creators wanting to reach the stars but the building never got built due to misunderstandings and conflicts between them and there is also gothic areas in terms of religion. Also how these different buildings that show these ideologies from the high dominion and indulgence of what people imagine of consumerist quality with spotlights and music that seeks entertainment.

Bauhaus,Cubist,Futurist and Art Deco designs are clearly used in Metropolis to provide the aesthetic appeal with its miniatures. Which is seen as rather impressive and practical for the way the machine age was shown. The setting also has a Pathetic Fallacy to it when it look drudgery -industrial it looks like the way the workers must feel on the other hand it can look how the owner feels proud an indulged even though he used slave labour.

Metropolis resembles H G Wells Time Machine by the leisure of this city for the higher class but the fact that the workers are downtrodden and actually acts as a worry of what could happen in the future if put in the wrong hands The German Expressionism suits well because of the Neo Nazi Party that was taking place at the time and Hitler was actually reported to be a big fan of the film.

The Dr Frankenstein, Avante Garde professor, CA Rotwang creates the Machine Man, Bridgette Helm. influenced the character C3PO in Star Wars and the film In general could be argued the first science fiction film, it influenced others like Blade Runner.. and as a women Bridgette was represented as a damsel in distress sexist view when she is abducted and replicated to become the aesthetic of the robot in the film and later becomes sexually objectified when the men are drooling over her, she winks her eye or subjectively you could say she becomes empowered in terms of manipulating and deceiving the workers into destroying the work they had done in hopes that they will all flood themselves. She also has these two sides shown of her one of that of a sign of hope an angel type figure then the other version a devil robot.

You could say that this film that's ideology is that society's technology is what actually drives or controls the development of the social structure and cultural views or values This is called Technological determinism which is a reductionist theory, However Lang saw his movie as anti authoritarian see quote:

Freder: "Of where they belong?...In the deeps? ...And if those in the deeps one day rise against you?"-(Rotten Tomatoes, Film Quotes 1927) 

Ironically the Nazis liked the film and offered him control of their own film industry so he went to America and the ideas in Metropolis are kind of echoed in "Triumph of the Will" (1935) a pro-Hitler film by Leni Reifenstahl.

"Maria/Robot: The mediator of the head and the hands must be the heart."- Metropolis 1927 quotes ( Rotten Tomatoes Film Quotes 1927 )

Right at the very end of the film the two forces end up becoming equal and work together as if a statement about conflict that arises from industry and rebellion. The Anti-Humanism could be to emphasise how fighting against each other in terms of that power is wrong. and Anti-Science could be trying to show what is included in conflict and the impact the dictators actions have on the rest and that science is not political,conservative,liberal..its more neutral and that's how the right system should balance out to have more peace.

Bibliography

Ebert, R. (2017). Metropolis Movie Review & Film Summary (1927) | Roger Ebert. [online] Rogerebert.com. Available at: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-metropolis-1927 [Accessed 12 Oct. 2017].

I.makeagif.com. (2017). Cite a Website - Cite This For Me. [online] Available at: https://i.makeagif.com/media/10-31-2015/npObJ_.gif [Accessed 12 Oct. 2017].

Thumbs.gfycat.com. (2017). Cite a Website - Cite This For Me. [online] Available at: https://thumbs.gfycat.com/FriendlyBeneficialKawala-max-1mb.gif [Accessed 12 Oct. 2017].