Metropolis

The mediator between the head and hand must be the heart. What does this mean? Well Metropolis goes onto question and answer this and even resolved it. Well the head in my view represents the rich and wealthy, whereas the hands represent the poor who are working away to provide for the rich. Whereas the heart must be that empathetic balance that makes both sides feel sympathy and understand and well truly get along with each other. It's a fascinating line and one that is often echoed a lot in pop culture. The film in general presents the stark contrasts in the upper class and the lower class. The upper class live a hedonistic lifestyle, going to parties all the time, playing sports, having sex, you know pure luxury and excess. The working class however are exploited, oppressed, not worthy enough to live with the big elites. It's a story and in a sense a theme we often see reoccurring since Metropolis. Metropolis really must be set far in the future, but it actually still echoes today and even the era it was made in. I'm sure there was a stark division between the rich and the poor. The 1920s were a time for excess and materialism, ironically we know now that two years later all that would change. But Metropolis is in a sense a warning of that culture. The rich and elite take advantage of the poor and it's depressing to see. Men work away 10 hours a day, no breaks, if they do, severe consequences will be met. There's also themes of technological advancement, and the dangers of it. It's really funny we live that today. There's a sense of uncertainty in the future, about the creation of machines. Metropolis came out just while the industrial revolution was still reaching it's zenith. And today the creation of the Robot Maria echoes the creation of things like AI and how the dangers of technology can call in the wrong hands with someone using the robot for their own benefit. In this Rotwang uses the Robot Maria for a personal vendetta against Joh Fredersen, the master of Metropolis. Freder, son of Joh, is the mediator in a way, he sees the people of the lower class getting oppressed. He visits them out of curiosity but realises the pure suffering they are facing. Maria the real one is a religious like figure, she's devout, wholesome, even in a sense like the Messiah. The crowd begins to place their trust in Maria. Their trust in Maria begins to be so apparent they follow orders of the false Maria who asks them to wreak pure havoc. It's so interesting because people say Hitler wouldn't get this film but I do think he did in a way. He used the suffering of the people to get at them, to put his name in their hearts as he wanted them to trust him. He did too. He then used that trust to make them commit some of the truly most disgusting vile acts ever. Also Joh Fredersen in a way reminded me of him. When Joh Fredersen uses the poor working class' rebellion to even oppress them more, Hitler did that too. The religious symbolism is all here. There's discussion of the seven deadly sins that the greedy and wealthy upper class represent. The Tower of Babel represents the pure differences between the different classes and how they can easily be divided. And the religious buildings such as the church yes gothic in nature, however are more flexible and contrast the differences between religion and industrialisation. The False Maria is also an allegory for the whore of Babylon, a woman who represented the seven deadly sins and was a blasphemous woman, who drew people away from God, exactly what the false Maria does in the film. The film explores themes of rebellion and revolution but eventually we realise that violence is not the way and that we need mediation, empathy and understanding. Finally there's fears of women, the femme fatale, the dangers of women, such as the false Maria embodying feats of female sexuality, chaos and seducing and corruption men. The film is truly one of the most technologically advanced films ever made. Even to this day, it's a feat still impressive. The set designs are so seated in art deco, but it's so stunning to actually see. The range in the sets are so different. Metropolis does indeed evolve some of the images of real life cities like New York. The gothic cathedral is stunning as well. The film even took inspiration from real life art movements that just make it so amazing. The films special effects are unprecedented, truly amazing. The maschinenmensch is so amazing and wonderful like the way it's designed and it's to this day one of the most famous robots ever. The acting is so wonderful too, work the cast being so wonderful! Especially Brigitte Helm who was so sweet as Maria but so jerky and physical as the Machine man. This is Fritz Lang's magnum opus in my opinion, he truly surpassed a lot of directors in his era. Yes his films are big in scale but their big in their ideas. Anyways such a great film and I'm amazed by it!