Fritz Lang’s German expressionist science fiction film Metropolis 1927 conveys the catastrophic consequences of modernisation on the world. Rather than helping to improve the quality of people’s lives, technology and new ways of thinking are portrayed as having a dangerous corruptive power. As the God-like control over the city shifts silently from humans to the machines, dehumanisation occurs on all levels of society.
The harrowing effects of modernity are evident in the beginning of the film where the two classes are introduced. The film opens with a montage of turning cogs and machinery. The shots fade between each other and begin to overlap as the music crescendos. This emphasises their domination and visually expresses their suffocating power. The camera cuts to two clocks on the wall. The larger clock’s seconds hand ticks faster than normal, highlighting the forceful persistence of time in the modern world. The clock is an example of technology taking control. While it was originally an invention made for human use at their convenience, it acts almost like a drill sergeant for the workers as they must act according to the measured schedule down to the last second. When the hours hand reaches the 10th hour, the camera cuts to a mid shot of chimney like pipes that expel smoke. Outside, no sky or ground is visible as the background is completely filled with plain rectilinear skyscrapers, symbolising the domination of manmade goods over the natural world as well as its creators. While the “city is a symbol of modernisation” (Lloyd, J. (1991)), these modern developments are far from progressive for humans thus, the city of Metropolis becomes “…the ultimate expression of the idea that human society is being sucked into its own developments”(Trutman, J. (2005)). The camera cuts to a text frame reading ‘shift change’. The objectivity and abruptness of the words fit with the unthinking regimented workers displayed in the following scene. The next frame is divided in two by the thin wall separating the elevators. On the left are the finished workers and on the right are the workers about to assume labour. As the gates of the elevators rise simultaneously, the workers all remain in static lines. As the march, the men move at a slow pace and have their heads hung low, suggesting the work has drained their life energy. All dressed in the same black uniforms and using the same foot while walking, the workers appear to be identical “anonymous creatures of labour” (Eiser, L. (1997). As the two groups move past one another, even when viewed from different angles, they look like mirror images of one another, highlighting their lack of individuality. As they descend down to the city of the workers, their heads remain low. They travel past dark walls until they reach a space filled with tall plain rectangular buildings, lit by harsh fluorescent lights. The City of the Workers symbolises Hell, an Underground world separated from the Earth where its inhabitants must endure eternal hardship.
In sharp contrast to the Hell like workers world, ‘The Son’s Club’, the place where the thinker’s sons reside is portrayed as opulent and idealistic. In a text frame, it is introduced as a place that “[towered] high above… with its lecture halls and libraries, its theatres and stadiums”. The accumulation of resources makes it seem similar to a perfect high-end university. The first shot we see of it meets this expectation. The stadium is a wide-open space. The group of young men on the grounds move freely and enthusiastically, juxtaposing with the zombie-like workers. The sky that is visible at the top of the frame is the first appearance of the natural world in the film. Despite first impressions, this place is a prison just like the underground city. While the sky is visible above, it is grey and consumed by clouds, functioning as the calm before the storm. The majority of the frame is filled with manmade architecture that towers over the tiny figures in “…what Kracauer calls ‘The complete triumph of the ornamental [or monumental design] over the human’” (McElhaney, J. (2015)) A high concrete wall, topped with statues of athletic human forms enclose the sons. The statues are an expression of man’s desire to not replicate humanity but humanity’s idealised image of themselves. This foreshadows the making of the robot in order to serve super-human purposes. The building on the left side of the frame that joins with the wall is covered with many black windows, suggested that the young men are possibly under surveillance by an unseen jailer. The running race appears to be light-hearted and unorganised; they run at different paces, are shown with animated expressions while they run and a non-participant of the contest jokingly passes through the finish to claim victory. When they initially crouch down, in a mid shot, they form a rectilinear line. The camera on a diagonal shows the men facing towards the same direction in concentration. Despite the casual nature of the activity, there is a sense of uniformity and organisation similar to that of the workers. The fact that Freder, the son of Metropolis’ leader initiates the race suggests that while being apart from the adults, they are still under the control of the same leadership.
The Pleasure Garden depicts the morally corruptive and dangerous effects of modernity on the wealthy. In the opening shot of the garden, many women gather towards an older man in a suit. They each wear very elaborate and modern haute couture clothing highlighting the growing emphasis on materialism in the modernising world. The women’s faces are not at first visible and they emerge into the frame in response to the man clapping his hands, suggesting that modern fashion expectations are having a subordinating effect on women. In a midshot, we see the man directing them while they walk around with blank glazed expressions like dolls or high fashion models on a runway.
The stylistic, thick and twisted trees are reminiscent of modern avant garde art highlighting the artificial nature of the façade. The sky cannot be seen from the thick canopy of vines reinforcing the notion of the garden as a prison. Ironically, whilst plants are known to produce oxygen, the ones growing in the pleasure garden appear to suffocate the space, suggesting that the growing fascination with art and manmade imitations of nature leads to a lack of regard for natural beauty. Like the field, it has a quasi-utopic quality however, it is a space completely segregated from reality. In this scene, the edges of the frame are fringed with smoky clouds, giving it a dream-like quality. While the son’s appear wide awake, they have the same lack of consciousness as the workers with their head hung low and who seemingly sleep walking through their lives. With this unconsciousness comes a chilling unawareness of the truth as each class through their “…fragmentation and alienation…” (Lloyd, J. (1991)) are conditioned to believe their microcosmic environments are the world.
In the film, the powerful figure of the robot highlights the domination of modern manmade innovations over their human creators. As Rotwang introduces the robot, he calls her a recreation of his lost love Hel and asks, “Would you like to see her?” By referring to it as a living being and equalising it to a person of special emotional importance, Rotwang highlights humanity’s tendency to see image as reality; if it displays human-like qualities it should be regarded as living. Rather than wanting to create humans “in his image” as the Christian God did in the Bible, Rotwang creates the robot as a way to fulfil man’s desire to bringing to life their idea of the perfect person. In his declaration of creating “the man of the future, the Machine-Man”, he highlights that despite the robot’s human appearance, it will be without specific human faults such as emotion. Consequently, it could be used to fulfil tasks that satisfy the needs of modern society such as cost efficiency, accuracy and speed. In the process of making the robot, Rotwang lost his right arm. This functions as a symbol of “the destruction of humanity by its own technology”(Trutman, J. (2005)). In addition, it characterises “Rotwang, the Father of robots as half mechanical himself” a cyborg. In this respect, the inventor is dehumanised. While creating something to be like a human, ironically, the creator literally becomes more machine-like. The fact that his robot part was what made the creation calls into question whether power of mankind’s “technological future…escapes human control entirely” (McElhaney, J. (2015)) and had been in the hands of the machines all along.
In the film, ethics regarding robotics becomes a central concern. In the growingly technological modernising world, when the machines are matching and even exceeding human capabilities, the dangerous complications that could rise from creating artificial intelligence and granting them human form are explored. While the robot is a piece of technology, it seems to have a unique power because it has been given a human face. In the scene where the robot is given the likeness of Maria, the electricity bursts through the wires and flashes white against the dark room, functioning as the light of life. In a close up of the robot’s face, the lights flash until it magically appears as Maria. Her dark outlined eyes highlight that the robot has become the real Maria’s dark double or doppelgänger (double goer), which are “…considered as omens of bad luck or even signs of impending death…” (Holloway,A. (2014)) in folklore. Despite being dressed the same, later in Fredersen’s office; the robot is clearly Maria’s opposite. Her body language is suggestive and she winks and displays “The single eye, or the eye of Providence [which] originates in Egypt with the eye of Horus. In conspiracy theory lore, it represents allegiance to Satan and the Illuminati.”(Illuminatirex, (2014)) As well as being completely different from Maria, the robot behaves nothing like it did without a human likeness. The metal armored robot made slow careful movements and appeared to be completely obedient to her creator. This fact raises the question whether the process of bestowing a human form to the machine acted like a curse, inciting evil behaviour or whether the true will of all machines lays undetected until they are given the means to exercise it. While artificial intelligence and man creating manlike machines is an aspiration in modern technological development, this process involves humans going against natural and religious law by obtaining the god-like power to create life. For this, the punishing consequences could lead to their demise.
In Metropolis, the spread of modernisation through technical innovation runs parallel to the increase of oppression. While Rotwang intends to have the robot “…destroy Jon Fredersen- him and his city and his son”, it becomes a scapegoat figure for Fredersen to manipulate. While he uses the robot to ignite anarchy in the workers for the purpose of justifying his use of force against them, the robot also is framed to be the cause of all the issues caused by Metropolis’ leader and the oppressive world of the city he created. In the dimly lit lab, “The lighting is focused on the robot, causing its metallic surface to shimmer… a great deal of emphasis is placed on this fantastic artificial creation.”(Trutman, J. (2005)) The robot appears to be the perfect anthropomorphic embodiment of modern machine innovation however, the occult references surrounding it and the creation process leads viewers and the people in the film not to see it as the same sort of technology as the machine city is. In the scene where Rotwang is introducing the robot to Fredersen, above its head is an inverted pentagram. “If the upright pentagram represents healing, mathematical perfection and the five elements, the inverted pentagram stands for the corruption of those principles and black magic.” (Vigilant Citizen (2010)) In addition, the three figures form a pyramid of power. The robot’s chair is upon a platform, placing it higher than the two humans. This acts as a visual metaphor for the domination of the machine over the people that think themselves as its controller. In an occult sense, “the three sides of a triangle represent the number 3… a number of the divine, showing the union of male and female that create a third being. It’s the number of manifestation; to make something happen.”(Illuminati Watcher. (2015)) This phenomenon of a third being is evident in the robot. Externally, its body is armor-like, historically alluding to the masculine figure of the knight in shining armor while at the same time; it has a shapely feminine figure. Internally, it is “inwardly calculating like a man” (Sinclair, A. (1973)) but also possesses the knowledge of how to use feminine sexual cues to entice men. This feature emphasizes the robot as not a piece of technology but as a demonic entity for the purpose of destruction. The exterior of Rotwang’s lab resembles a dilapidated medieval cottage in order to “…add a bit of ‘medieval magic’ to this robot’s creation” (Jenkins, S (1981)). The sharp juxtaposition between the architectural style of the lab and the rest of the city works to characterize the robot not as another piece of powerful technology part of the city. Rather, it appears as an invading outside force, product of ancient, forbidden arts rather than of new scientific innovation.
By corrupting morality, modernity in the form of technology can have a dehumanising effect on society. In the dance scene, the robot performs a series of purposeful and constructed movements, each with a planned erotic appeal. Interestingly, her performance has the same effect on each male member of the audience. As they watch her, they all lean forward, stare and grab each other’s shoulders in disbelief. In a shot, many clips of the men’s eyes overlap and combine to form a ghostly collage. This use of synecdoche shows the men lose their human forms and reduce them to a sea of eyes. This acts as a visual metaphor for their lack of identity and power. When she is suspended on the podium, dressed like the Babylon and surrounded by the seven deadly sins, all of the men jump and reach up to her together. Their identical reactions suggest that the robot possesses knowledge of the computer like ‘programing’ of a human male. It warns the audience against becoming too fascinated with the technology that comes with modernization as it can indeed make humans more machine like. By displaying her as “the Great Harlot Babylon of the Book of Revelation” (Vigilant Citizen (2010)), Fredersen is again able to reinforce the connection between the robot and unholy destruction. In the ending, the robot is sacrificed and burned on a stake like a witch. The killing method highlights that she is an ancient dark magical force rather than modern world technology gone wrong. In this way, the city of Metropolis is exempt from demonization. The film “…opts in the end for class reconciliation rather than struggle” (Grant, B. (2013)). When the robot is gone, there is the illusion of peace. While the city is without the destructive robot, the oppressive circumstances enforced upon the workers still remains the same. In the scene where the hands and head are joined by the heart, a staged reconciliation takes place where “…the industrialist acknowledges the heart for the purpose of manipulating it.” (Sinclair, A. (1973)) The worker’s representative is one of Fredersen’s ex-spies and the great mediator is the impressionable son of Fredersen. The ideology makes Metropolis “…not just a German film. It is…all of official Germany as we know it and experience it everyday on our own hides.”(McGilligan, P. 1997)) The group of workers watching the exchange marched into place in their uniform lines like from the beginning of the film, highlighting the nothing has changed and how there are no improvements. The “anti-humanist anti-democratic perspective was…embelm[atic] for the tragic inadequacies of the Weimar Republic in the face of imminent fascism.” (Elsaesser, T. (2012)) The ending highlights that in the modernising world; technology can allow greater tyranny in the guise of progressive hope for the future as the seemingly defeated leader actually tightened their grip on power.
Therefore, Metropolis conveys the horrific consequences of modernisation on the world. As a result of technology and new ways of thinking, dehumanisation occurs on all levels of society, oppression becomes greater and machines continue to become a growing threat to humanity’s existence as they become the real controllers of society.
References
Books:
Eisner, L. (1977), Fritz Lang, Oxford University Press, New York
Elsaesser, T. (2012), Metropolis, Palgrave Macmillan, London
Grant, B. (2013), 100 Science Fiction Films, Palgrave Macmillan, London
Jenkins, S. (1981), Fritz Lang: The Image and the Look, British Film Institute, London
Lloyd, J. (1991), German Expressionism: Primitivism and Modernity, Yale University Press, New Haven & London
McElhaney, J. (2015), A Companion to Fritz Lang, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., West Sussex
McGilligan, P. (1997), Fritz Lang: The Nature of the Beast, St. Martin’s Press, New York
Neumann, D. (1996), Film Architecture: Set Designs from Metropolis to Blade Runner, Prestel, Munich & New York
Sinclair, A. (1973), Metropolis: A Film by Fritz Lang, Lorrimer Publishing Limited, Great Britain, Letchworth, Hertfordshire
Trutman, J. (2005), Fritz Lang’s Metropolis And Its Influence On the American Science Fiction Film: Blade Runner, Terminator I + II, Die Blane Eule, Germany
Online:
Holloway,A. (2014), ‘Doppelgangers and Mythology Spirit Doubles’, http://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/doppelgangers-and-mythology-spirit-doubles-001825, accessed on 20/10/15
Illuminatirex, (2014), ‘Top Ten Illuminati Signs’, http://www.illuminatirex.com/illuminati-signs/, accessed on 21/10/15
Illuminati Watcher. (2015), ‘Decoding Illuminati Symbolism: Triangles, Pyramids and the Sun’, http://illuminatiwatcher.com/decoding-illuminati-symbolism-triangles-pyramids-and-the-sun/, accessed on 20/10/15
Vigilant Citizen (2010), ‘The Occult Symbolism of Movie “Metropolis” ad It’s Importance in Pop Culture’, http://vigilantcitizen.com/musicbusiness/the-occult-symbolism-of-movie-metropolis-and-its-importance-in-pop-culture/, accessed on 17/10/15
Comments