Metropolis

FLMART1 DLM21 September 15, 2015 A Glimpse of the Future (A Film Review on Metropolis by Fritz Lang) We always tend to imagine what our future society will look like. We are fascinated by modern discoveries and technologies; we can’t wait for this future world to happen. Director Fritz Lang found a way to exhibit the image of the future through his critically acclaimed silent film entitled Metropolis (1925). Lang’s silent sci-fi flick is inspired by German Expressionism approach and…

(1948) & Fritz Lang’s metropolis (1927) both composers demonstrate similar ideas which can be linked to their contexts, despite the time gaps, condemning physical control of people and society. Fritz Lang warns of the consequences of rapid tech expansion on human lives through the machine age, closely followed in 1984 George Orwell cautions against totalitarian regimes, surveillance and the role of technology within this. Fritz Lang’s epic German expressionist silent film ‘Metropolis’(1927)…

reflected in Metropolis and 1984? Humanist concerns usually stretch across time and this is apparent in my comparative study of the attitudes Fritz Lang and George Orwell have towards certain ideas and values. These composers present ideas of individual oppression and values towards personal freedom and love through their specific textual form — the film Metropolis and novel 1984. Influential of Lang’s concerns during Weimar Republic in Germany regarding the rise of capitalism, Metropolis is…

shows the extreme physical and psychological control of the masses and is able to present a pessimistic future for humanity to a great extent. However, Fritz Lang only reflects this pessimistic perspective of society to a limited extent in his film “Metropolis” (1927), as he demonstrates the humanity of society and the power of the individual to oppose the authoritarian power structure. Orwell is able to maintain…

UCLA students are highly interactive individuals that not only carry the role of being academic scholars but carry other responsibilities: such as employments, research positions, volunteering or are involved in additional social organizations. This type of behavior is a result of the culture of over-productivity that is present at UCLA, meaning students are expected of being efficiently productive and maximizing their time within the institution. In this setting that treats time as money,…

The classic silent film Metropolis (1927) was directed by the famous Fritz Lang and co-written by his ex-wife Thea Von Harbou. The film was produced in Weimar Germany post WW1, reflected by its German Expressionist style. Large portions of the film were believed to be lost until recently and the restored version was released 2010. It was the first film on UNESCO’s Memory of the Wold Register and has inspired sci-fi films like Star Wars and Bladerunner. George Orwell’s 1984 is a fiction novel…

Simmel discusses the division of labor in his essay titled "The Metropolis and Mental life" in terms of how it has changed due to the rise of modernity. There has been a rise in specialization in which the city provides a variety of diverse services. It is now important that an individual refines and specializes in a service that was not provided in the past so that they can make a profit and be different. Another change is the impersonal nature of the inter-human contact. In traditional society…

As grandiose as the production design was for its time Metropolis, set designer huge sets to show the hellish factories of the subterranean world. The models of the city's towering skyscrapers are also surprisingly convincing for a 1920s film. Even beyond the expansive production design and (for the time) special effects, Lang's visuals are all consistently inventive. The robot Maria provides some of the movie's most iconic images, including her transformation into a human being. In a later…

In the book Black Metropolis, St. Clair Drake and Horace Clayton show the lives of African Americans during the Great Depression. In their description, one particular phenomenon catches my attention: The white accept a few black residents in their residential area; however, when the number of black people increase, the white start to move out of the area and eventually the area will become “black neighborhood”. In my opinion, the reaction of the white to the increasing number of African American…

Dystopian texts subvert ethical standards, extrapolating on contextual fears to present inter-textual perspectives on harrowing political landscapes. Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) and George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) value freedom and self-determination by positioning responders to invest emotionally in the plight of individuals. Metropolis represents an industrial cityscape to convey the division of labour in the Weimar Republic and the need for the “heart,” characterised through…