The perpetual struggle for societal perfection erodes social egalitarianism by distorting human values. This is explored through Lang’s German expressionist silent film, “Metropolis” and Orwell’s dystopian novel, “1984” these texts elucidate the contamination of the human spirit due to one’s obsession for control. Both texts are constructed by composers who have lived through hardships in their society, which heavily influenced their visions of the future to be a dystopian world, controlled by either capitalists or totalitarian regime.
Erosion of the social egalitarianism is emphasised through the immense control of the authorities to gain personal power. To begin with, Lang effectively explores the abuse of power by capitalist regimes, whereby …show more content…
This concept is explored in “Metropolis” as Rotwang’s robotic hand is a representation of the altering of human values as a result of the machine age and German expressionism whereby individuals were able to express their emotions through the art of creation, hence Rotwang created a perfect machine man in his eyes, to express his values for machines and oppression to gain more power, despite causing others to suffer, “Do you think losing a hand is too high a price to pay for re-creating Hel?!” The rhetorical question enhances Rotwang’s faustian character as he yearns for a satisfying relationship with another, resulting in his cynical creation. His metallic hand is covered with a black leather glove, the symbolism of black represents rebellion and disobedience, the close up of Rotwang’s rising metallic hand with the black glove foreshadows a sudden rise of rebellion and betrayal of the workers as a result of the machine man. Also, throughout the entire film, Frederson showed no signs of facial expression, highlighting that financial gain leads to a lack of empathy within the individual, his desire to gain control through oppression of the working class, this is a result of his immense value for a capitalist society, striving for a perfect …show more content…
Intensifies the impact of a capitalist society after the industrial revolution where machines and technologies have been used to exploit the lower classes, making them expendable. Due to the workers constantly working for the machines with a strict 10 hour schedule, they have eventually become one like the machines, walking in synchronised, robotic movements, expressionlessly into the catacombs, so since they already present themselves with characteristics of robots, it would be difficult to distinguish between man and machine. Similar to Orwell’s “1984” the working class in Metropolis walk in an unnatural robotic movement to conveys their acceptance of capitalists rule, the lower classes in “1984” conform to the society as they fear punishment by the government and inner parties, this emphasises that the abusive power by authorities dehumanised workers, taking away their morality as they are expected to abide by the laws presented by the government, this gives rise to a close reference to the Soviet Union whereby Stalin oppresses the lower class individuals in order to maintain and gain more personal power, the antagonists in each text which present these characteristics are Big Brother and Frederson, abusing power for personal
Erosion of the social egalitarianism is emphasised through the immense control of the authorities to gain personal power. To begin with, Lang effectively explores the abuse of power by capitalist regimes, whereby …show more content…
This concept is explored in “Metropolis” as Rotwang’s robotic hand is a representation of the altering of human values as a result of the machine age and German expressionism whereby individuals were able to express their emotions through the art of creation, hence Rotwang created a perfect machine man in his eyes, to express his values for machines and oppression to gain more power, despite causing others to suffer, “Do you think losing a hand is too high a price to pay for re-creating Hel?!” The rhetorical question enhances Rotwang’s faustian character as he yearns for a satisfying relationship with another, resulting in his cynical creation. His metallic hand is covered with a black leather glove, the symbolism of black represents rebellion and disobedience, the close up of Rotwang’s rising metallic hand with the black glove foreshadows a sudden rise of rebellion and betrayal of the workers as a result of the machine man. Also, throughout the entire film, Frederson showed no signs of facial expression, highlighting that financial gain leads to a lack of empathy within the individual, his desire to gain control through oppression of the working class, this is a result of his immense value for a capitalist society, striving for a perfect …show more content…
Intensifies the impact of a capitalist society after the industrial revolution where machines and technologies have been used to exploit the lower classes, making them expendable. Due to the workers constantly working for the machines with a strict 10 hour schedule, they have eventually become one like the machines, walking in synchronised, robotic movements, expressionlessly into the catacombs, so since they already present themselves with characteristics of robots, it would be difficult to distinguish between man and machine. Similar to Orwell’s “1984” the working class in Metropolis walk in an unnatural robotic movement to conveys their acceptance of capitalists rule, the lower classes in “1984” conform to the society as they fear punishment by the government and inner parties, this emphasises that the abusive power by authorities dehumanised workers, taking away their morality as they are expected to abide by the laws presented by the government, this gives rise to a close reference to the Soviet Union whereby Stalin oppresses the lower class individuals in order to maintain and gain more personal power, the antagonists in each text which present these characteristics are Big Brother and Frederson, abusing power for personal