Treaty Of Versailles Essay

The Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919, forcing Germany to pay reparations for World War I, catalysing hyperinflation and accentuating class divisions. Lang establishes this social hierarchy through the juxtaposition of the triumphant music of the Eternal Gardens, with the melancholy music and darker lighting of the underground. Hence, he employs mise-en-scene in the long shot of the workers drudging, their slumped body language manifesting the extent of their oppression; yet Lang reveals its dehumanising impact through their mechanised movements, thereby denouncing the capitalist ethos. Thus, Lang constructs his protagonist Freder as a character foil for Fredersen, the archetypal industrialist, through the contrast in their use of the hand motif. Whereas Fredersen simultaneously orders the Machine Man to “visit those in the depths” and mimics strangulation, suggesting materialistic ideologies engender the corruption of human morality, it acts as an externalisation of Freder’s pathos for the workers. This is epitomised by Freder’s Expressionistic reaction to the transmogrification of …show more content…
Yet, whereas Lang conveys the prescient nature of his dystopian vision through futuristic Art Deco sets, Orwell employs the recurring motif of “telescreens,” epitomising the difference in textual