Film Review - Metropolis
Fig. 1 Metropolis poster (1927) |
Biblical based imagery was used throughout the film in the set design but mostly with the main building and the Workers’ living area. “It features a cloud-scraping contemporary Tower of Babel, an industrial workers' production hell-hole.” (Glancey, 2009) With this in mind it can be said that Metropolis is a futuristic retelling of the Tower of Babel as the city’s creator wants it to be in his image while not listening to those who make it run day and night. Knowing that it was designed around an ill-fated city makes the audience release that it too is ill-fated and that it will fall in the same way.
The buildings have also been designed to make you feel trapped with no way out just like the workers living underground, even the tall buildings above ground give off the idea that you are forever trapped as they tower above you.“The feeling of alienation, of being just a number in a much larger, anonymous social whole is derived from the city, built as an evolution of the assembly-line” (Prinsi, 2013)
Fig. 2 |
One way in which we are made to understand the large scale of the city is by the fact that we never see the boundaries. The closest we come to understanding its full size are the shorts that show the tops of the buildings and even then the audience is left asking about the true layout of Metropolis – Is it just made up of a small set of tall building located close together or do these buildings stretch outwards for a few miles?
Metropolis is such a landmark in the movie industry that it’s influences can still be seen to this day in modern Sci-fi movies such as the Star Wars saga “Star Wars’ biggest debt to Metropolis might be the visual design of Maschinenmensch, the iconic female robot whose looks were obviously never far from artist Ralph McQuarrie’s mind while he was creating his concept art for C-3PO.” (Giles, 2015)
Fig. 3 Maschinenmensch and C-3PO |
But it’s not just in movies that Lang’s iconic work has left its mark, in the British rock band Queen used clips from the movie for their “Radio Ga Ga” music video and even has the band member Freddie Mercury reacting the scene when the main character, Freder, is working at the machine along with the band performing in front of an audience that have been dressed up as the Worker class.
Overall, Lang leaves us asking - Is one man’s utopia another man’s dystopia?
Illustrations
Overall, Lang leaves us asking - Is one man’s utopia another man’s dystopia?
Illustrations
- Figure 1. Schulz-Neudamm, Heinz (1927) Metropolis. [Poster] At: https://www.theguardian.com/film/gallery/2012/mar/14/10-most-expensive-film-posters-in-pictures (Accessed on 30.09.2016)
- Figure 2. Metropolis. At: http://oldhollywood.tumblr.com/post/450080108/metropolis-1927-dir-fritz-lang-this-film (Accessed on 04.10.2016)
- Figure 3. Maschinenmensch and C-3PO. At: https://filmblogjb.wordpress.com/2013/04/26/metropolis/ (Accessed on 02.10.2016)
- Giles, Jeff. (2015) 6 Classic Movies That Clearly Inspired Star Wars. At: https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/6-movies-that-inspired-star-wars/ (Accessed on 29.09.2016)
- Glancey, Jonathan. (2009) From Metropolis to Blade Runner: architecture that stole the show. At: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/nov/05/architecture-film-riba (Accessed on 30.09.2016)
- Prinsi, Eleonora Usseglio. (2013) Metropolis: Futurism to Future Living. At: http://www.port-magazine.com/design/metropolis-futurism-to-future-living/ (Accessed on 02.10.2016)
Excellent review, Rhia :)
ReplyDeleteThank you :3
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