Metropolis essay

Description:

Created in 1926 by Fritz Lang, Metropolis stands today as the crowing achievement of the German silent cinema and is one of the most famous of all silent films. This movie takes place in the year 2026 during a time of great tension between the working class and upper class citizens. Eventually this tense balance of societies is thrown into turmoil as the workers, lead by an evil robotic woman, revolt, and destroy the machines that keep the city alive.

My experience:

Fritz Lang was far ahead of his time and perhaps ours as well. His vision for the future extended beyond the realm of possibility and into that of fantasy by suggesting such wildly futuristic technology as teleconferencing and television, and even went as far as introducing the idea of cyborgs, all in 1926!

He effectively contrasted the lower and upper class environments by incorporating German Expressionism and New Objectivity themes into lavish and elaborate set designs. All of these ideas and techniques, when combined with the fact that this film cost the US equivalent of 200 million dollars to create, helped forge the sci-fi masterpiece into something truly fantastic and fascinating.

This movie was so well made that I had to keep reminding myself it was created in 1926. I still have a hard time believing this film was created over 80 years ago, at a time when computer special effects and technology were non-existent. It seemed like I was watching a modern day remake of the movie, not the original version. This says something of how impressive the movie is.

Interestingly, the film portrayed technology as something attractive, desirable, and fascinating, yet at the same time dark, dangerous, and sinister. The way this movie switched between these two dramatically different environments made for a very interesting, yet hard to follow experience

Fritz incorporated both German expressionism and the modern realism of the New Objectivity into his film seemingly in an attempt to appeal to both audiences. Personally, I was not familiar with these two themes or beliefs before watching the movie, but by creating the movie in this way Fritz effectively contrasted the potential benefits of a technological utopia and the dystopian source of its power.

This film depicts both authoritarian and patriarchal societies in which women are seemingly isolated from the public domain, and virtually nonexistent in the majority of the film. Metropolis seemed to be a male focused film in which women were robbed of any identity and portrayed as sexual objects to be controlled and manipulated. This was disturbing because I believe women are our equal and should be treated as such.

At times the acting was too dramatic for my taste. It was over dramatic and distracted me, taking my attention away from the story. This did take away from the film in a small way, but it was still an enjoyable movie and very interesting to watch. Although the acting was annoying at times, it was also hilarious at other times. I found myself embarrassed for the actor in one scene, and laughing at his very animated facial expressions in the next.

Side Note:

This movie, in a way, reminded me of a game called Myst. The circular staircases, the offices filled with books and how the audience was left to guess what purposes the strange technology served. It's hard to explain, but I got a "Myst" feeling when watching this film. I think this is because I'm getting the same satisfaction and enjoyment from this movie as I did from the game. Myst is my absolute favorite game, and to compare that with the enjoyment I got from watching this film says allot.

Conclusion:

Never having watched the movie before, I had no idea what to expect. Yet, just as the Seven Up! series changed my outlook on older movies, this film has had a profound and unforeseen impact on my opinion of silent films. All in all this movie was an absolute pleasure to watch and I am still simply amazed that it was created in 1926. Metropolis is now my first favorite black and white silent film.

Hats off to Fritz Lang for creating this 1926 sci-fi Masterpiece!