Metropolis

Not often does a decision made by a director due to lack of funds create an end result that critics will continue discussing for nearly a century. However German director Fritz Lang, made such a decision for his 1931 film, M. Partly due to monetary constraints, and partly due to feelings that his own artistic vision would be compromised by including sound in his piece, the end result was a film with roughly a third in total silence. No film, as of yet, quite encapsulates the deafening power of silence like M. Lang uses sound, and lack thereof, to elicit emotional responses from the audience and amplify suspense. Through these techniques, Lang creates a piece that not only works as a thrilling crime drama, but also shines a light on the total depravity of humanity. Fritz Lang, a formerly silent film director, created a non-silent piece that Tom Gunning describes as “turn[ing] like a hinge between Lang’s silent cinema and sound cinema.” (Gunning, 164) The lack of music is what keeps it from becoming the quintessential blend between silent and sound cinema. On the surface, it may seem to embody both styles perfectly. However, the hallmarks of a typical silent film included accompaniment by an orchestra, intertitles conveying relatively trace amounts of dialogue in terms of a typical movie, and excessive acting to fill in the lapses in spoken conversation. While Peter Lorre’s somewhat over the top and larger-than-life portrayal of Hans Beckert is reminiscent of silent film…

Power is maintained by fostering ignorance through propaganda/deceit, abuse of technology and manipulating the subjects as desired by the party, consequently destroying any opposition. These ideas are presented through a satirical manner in, ‘Nineteen-eighty Four’ (1984) by George Orwell (1949) and ‘Metropolis’ directed by Fritz Lang (1927) about a fictitious totalitarian society linked with contemporary events showing how power is maintained by its elite and its destructive and dehumanising…

EXAMINE HOW THE TREATMENT OF TECHNOLOGY IN METROPOLIS AND NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR HEIGHTENS OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE VALUES, SIGNIFICANCE AND CONTEXT OF THE TEXTS. In both the political satire, ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’ (hereafter 1984) by George Orwell and the science fiction film ‘Metropolis’ (1927) by Fritz Lang, the composers explore the values and attitudes brought about by each of their historical contexts which is impacted by the influence of technology. The composers both use technology as a…

The film Metropolis by Fritz Lang tells the story of a futuristic city, a city that might as well be called paradise. Yet this paradise has a secret, a secret going into the depths of the city where hell is overflowing, where workers operate the giant machines that run the world above. A careless leader, Joh Fredersen, controls the city. As he works in his office in a big building towering above the city, his spoilt son, Freder, lives like royalty in the Eternal Gardens where everything goes the…

Candace Eugene Professor Schmidt September 25, 2014 Metropolis: 2.1 Gender and Technology The depiction of technology and femininity is evident in Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis” (1927). This urban dystopian film has distinctive elements that allegorize the female identity and sexual idealizations to appeal to the mass by incorporating technology. In the beginning of the film, viewers see a clear indifference between the ruling class and the working poor. We also see how technology is…

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…

Everyone has an opinion about how their children should grow up. In a small scaled metropolis or in the enormous municipality which is better. My position on this matter is a located in a small scaled metropolis. Where everyone knows everyone. Where your children can have fun and do awesome daring stunts and try everything that pops in their head.That is safe for them to do. A small scaled metropolis is where I would want my children to grow up.The reason why is because there is more space and…

The location of the metropolis of Constantinople was strategically located between the European and Asian continents. It was known for its colossal infrastructure, easy access of trade routes between continents and diverse cultural background. This massive city was also the capital of the Byzantine Empire, an empire built on a wealth of gold and Christianity. The strategic location of the metropolis of Constantinople plays a critical role in its functions as an imperial capital, trade emporium…

The general premise of the film Metropolis relies on the duality and segregation that causes tension within the film. The duality of the films animation style can suggest a metaphorical description of the separated society. This brewing tension within the story stems from reactionary circumstances due to causations of tyrannical government, militant and radical forces within the segregated city of Metropolis. Although there is an obvious wealth and power imbalance that separates the city from…

A comparison of two texts can result in a heightened understanding of the value, significance and context of each through the differing perspectives they present on the same thematic concerns. [Q] Fritz Lang’s 1927 expressionist film Metropolis portrays the loss of human autonomy through the lens of the rise of industrialisation in Weimar Germany and conveys the message of the importance of mediation. Contrastingly, George Orwell’s 1948 dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) explores the…