Marxism In Fritz Lang's Film, Metropolis

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Fritz Lang’s film, Metropolis, portrays various themes on modernity; the film illustrates Karl Marx’s ideology of Marxism and the struggles between the bourgeoisie and the working class, as well as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, which emphasizes the consequences of being committed to accomplish one’s personal interests rather than for the greater good. Other modern values, such Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women, expresses the distinctions between males and females in society and the belief that women are to attain the same equal treatment as men civilly, politically, and economically. The film uses these ideologies throughout the storyline and presents the audience several themes and values that have and are still questioned today. Metropolis profoundly relies on Karl Marx’s theory of Marxism, which describes the necessities of having a working class as part of a social …show more content…

He altered the plan and chose to use the machine as a weapon against Fredersen’s son instead. In this, one can see how Rotwang dismisses any respect he should show towards Maria by forcibly grabbing her ankle as she sought to escape his grasp. Once he does finally capture her, he constructs a machine that imitates her outer appearance, and controls her actions and instructs it to do as he tells it. Rotwang did this only to meet his own desires -- to use the power over his creation as vengeance. In this film, females are depicted as tools that men can use to relieve their own needs and plans. This shows that men are the dominant sex in this society, and women, or in other words, the slaves, must serve, obey, and depend on these men. In Wollstonecraft’s work, this is the “dominance” that she had explained was happening between men and women, and that this occurrence must be abolished to create an equal stance for

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