An Analysis Of Fritz Lang's Metropolis

Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, of 1927, is a German Expressionism, avant-garde, dystopic, silent film with prognostic visions of the future. Lang thematically communicates concerns which are prophetic of the present-day contemporary society. Through conveyal of themes such as urbanisation, technology and dehumanising impacts on society, the context of a 1927 Metropolis still resonates with contemporary audiences. To intensify these parallelisms, Lang uses dramatic filmic techniques, symbolism, imagery and context.

Urbanisation in Metropolis is accentuated through religious iconography and philosophical ideologies. The Metropolitan populace delineates an urban agglomeration where urbanisation is symbolised as the Tower of Babel. In the scene where

Maria says, “Head and hands need a mediator, The mediator between head and hands must be the heart.” The use of the melodramatic ‘Head’, ‘Heart’ and ‘Hands’ motif embodies the triadic structure which has overtones of Christian symbolism of the intercessing son, God the Father and humanity, a structure derived from German philosophy by Hegel and Kant. An extreme long shot of the scene showed the workers’ toil and a jump cut showed a deep focus of the workers in the foreground revolting against the ‘Head’. This can be explored through the Marxist analysis of class and societal conflict which arise due to intensified dialectical oppositions of collective urban convention and individual libertarianism. Ultimately, the class struggle culminates in a social revolution as shown in

Simmel in his 1903 essay entitled ‘The Metropolis and Mental Life,’ deduces that this would impact the individual in becoming, “completely atomized internally.” This is evident within the Metropolitan populace. The workers experience a far more profound impact of such dehumanisation, however, so too did the ‘Club of the Sons’ who were treated as subjects of commodity. The Eternal Gardens scene conveys this dehumanisation when the women are presented, “Which of you ladies shall today have the honor of entertaining Master Freder...?” Thus commodified as mere products of sexuality and pleasure. Dehumanisation of workers is explicitly depicted in the scene of Freder’s first view of the underground machines. It begins with the mise-en-scene capturing the machine’s monolithic, sharp, angular set design, influenced by Expressionist Art Deco and Cubism. A wide, low angle shot, symbolically indicates the machine dominating the lives of the workers, with its rhythmic diegetic drum beats, alluding to that of a human heart’s. Operating the machines were the workers, with their monotonous, stylised and rhythmic movements, replicating that of a