Metropolis (1927)

Fritz Lang

Figure 1.Film Poster

Metropolis is a 1927 sci-fi film made directed by Fritz Lang, it was inspired by a book written by his wife (Thea Von Harbou), the film also drew inspiration from many science fiction sources at the time and the environmental design for the film was Langs reaction to seeing the Manhattan Skyline at night. The plot of the film is simple and straight forward to follow, it doesnt deviate from the main plot and every scene is essential building up to the final parts of the film. Metropolis is a story of a leader and his workers; Jon Fredersen is the leader of the city Metropolis, his son lives a life of luxury oblivious to struggle and turmoil workers go through keeping the city functioning, one day Freder leaves in search of a woman, on his search he witnesses an explosion where the workers slave at the machine for the sake of the city, he saw the conditions they worked in and rushed to his father to inform him, his father wasnt fazed by this and believe that was the way things should remain, as the film goes on he finds the woman he was looking for, hes instantly mesmerized by her looks, but his father captures her in order to control his workers, an android copy of the woman (Maria) is made to go back to the workers to preach havoc, the plant is destroyed and the city stopped functioning, the story ends with Freder being able to bring the workers and their leader together.

For a film made in 1927 Metropolis is very heavy on the editing and special effects, its was a film that would later inspire many other science fiction films and novels. Religion plays a big part in this film, parts of the bible are referenced in it especially the Tower of Babel story, the films environment seems to be heavily inspired by the tower Babel.

Figure 2. The Tower of Babel

Although the director had skyscrapers in mind going into production, the tower of babel is mentioned a lot the biblical myth is used to construct the ideological message about the division of labor into the hands that build and the brains that plan and conceive (Mahiques, 2012), as the main plot of the film is based on the tower of babel story, its fair to say that the building which made up the entire citys environment took most inspiration of the biblical story. Like many films which stood out in the silent era of cinema, Metropoliss music went with every scene on screen, from building suspense to adding atmosphere to a scene, music played a subtle but effective role in this film. The buildings and structure in Metropolis was a combination of the directors reaction to the idea of skyscrapers and the wonder of tower of babel, although it does take inspiration from two very different source the film manages to have its own distinct art direction which was unique to its time; this was German expressionism, which plenty of German films during the silent era of cinema adapted but with each film was a different purpose, Metropolis conveyed a growing sense of skepticism towards industrialism and the roles that society had placed on its citizens, through its design and story Metropolis achieved its goal to provoke thought and make people think about the social dynamic, like many films or work of arts the product always reflects the situation the director/artist is in whether it be politically or personally, in the case for Metropolis it was political.

Figure 3. The Workers

The workers are characterized as drones that seem as if the very essence of life is being sucked out of them (J.M), this is evident in the opening scene of the film where the characters move together almost in an animalistic manner like a controlled herd of sheep, with their heads bowed down signifying the submission and tiredness as a whole, like they lost all hope. The beginning scene also portrays the feeling of slavery environmentally, theres a lot of open spaces and the fact its in black and white (even though it was the only option) added to the domineering atmosphere upon the workers; as they go through the walkway first thing which is visible is the arch made of bricks right at the top middle of the screen containing the workers, this draws the viewer in and as you look down there are bars which gives the audience the feeling of a prison, all of that in conjunction with the movement of the workers show the audience the mind state of the workers at a very early point in the film.

Illustration list Figure 1: http://doomcheez.com/reviews/metropolis.html Figure 2: http://www.photokunst.com/photo_detail.php?photo_id=346 Figure 3: http://en.paperblog.com/why-you-need-to-see-metropolis120610/

Bibliography Myriam Mahiques, 03/18/2012 (Online) http://myriammahiques.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/tower-of-babel-inmetropolis-film.html (Accessed on 03/10/2012) Author unknown, date unknown (Online) http://www.screened.com/german-expressionism/27-99/ (Accessed on 03/10/2012) J.M, date unknown (Online) http://www.philfilms.utm.edu/1/metropolis.htm 03/10/2012) (Accessed on