The film ‘Metropolis’ is
about the disintegration of a society over a period of time due to the uprising
of the lowly in society due to the unfair circumstances that they have
undergone their entire lives. The film presents to the viewer several themes
and their attributes as well as other stylistic devices that can be interpreted
by the viewer, in this instance that will be me.
Metropolis is an ultra -
modern, futuristic society that thrives due to the advancements in technology
and the belief in science which for a modern world are its heart and soul. The
writer of the film Thea von Harbou presents a fictional film in which she
incorporates love, hatred, malice, betrayal and technology in a modern society,
for her to do this she used certain characters that are dynamic in nature and
somewhat bipolar at certain parts of the film.
The film encompasses around
the life of Joh Fredersen who is the ruler of the city of Metropolis and who
shows no compassion or care for the workers who live beneath the depths of the
city, he is portrayed as a mean and ruthless individual at the beginning of the
film intent to make his wealth last and grow bigger. The film portrays him as a
greedy man ready to do anything to sustain his good life and has no concern for
others. The von Harbou uses irony in this film by making Freder a compassionate
character that has a kind heart and does not see the barrier that clearly
exists between the poor and the rich, in this case the workers and the city
dwellers respectively. When he shows affection for Maria, an underground worker
who brings young children to see how the rich live, he falls for her and shows
his intent. He shows compassion when he takes care of Josaphat (a machine
operator) who was fired by Fredersen and attempted suicide.
The duality in Fredersen’s
character is shown when he sends the Thin Man to follow Freder, who had gone to
the underground in pursuit of Maria. When he does meet her he professes his
love for her and they have an emotional connection expressed efficiently
through action and facial expression.
Maria is represented as an
angel to the audience, a good looking woman, who is kind at heart and loving to
all. Thea uses her as the focal point of the film and at one point the film focuses
on her goodness, this is countered with the evil intent that Rotwang, a
scientist and collaborator of Fredersen, who was also in love with Fredersen’s
late wife, Hel.
Rotwang’s idea is to bring
back Hel’s representation back to life through a robot he has created. The
fight between good and bad, black and white is represented during Rotwang’s successful
attempt of capturing Maria. The tricks he uses while going after her shows his
devious nature while showing her innocence and naivety when she falls for his tricks
and in the simple manner in which she is caught. The viewer is manipulated to
sympathetic toward Maria and get a connection to her and just end up disliking
Rotwang for tricking such a loving character so easily and successfully.
As the film progresses the
viewer is reintroduced to the plans by the underground workers for a peaceful
uprising that was inspired by Maria. Rotwang with his technology and his
sample, Maria creates a bionic likeness of her using the robot he created.
The robot is again used in
the film to show the greed and lust of men and how it can be used as a
manipulative tool to turn them against each other. The robot performs a
seductive dance for the leaders and influential of the city, and they are
amazed by her beauty, transfixed on every movement, and lustfully glaring at
her well-toned and even body. The men now want her and a fight ensues between
them, and it’s a fight to the death. The robot watches this with great joy, to
her destruction is ironically life.
With this he can now use the robot to do his
will. Freder attends one of the rallies that is led by Maria but this time it
is the robot that comes and the theme of duality through Maria’s likeness is
portrayed, she now talks of violence and a forceful uprising, she has the
masses (the workers) in the palm of her hand who listen to her every word as f
it is life and for that moment they forget their children and leave them behind
when they leave the depths of the city to go and destroy the machines that to
them is a representation of oppression and suffering rather than the cogs to
their everyday life and their survival and destroy every machine that they can
see and take out their personal grudges on these machines.
The lifeline of the city the
master control is known as the ‘Heart Machine’, it runs the major operations of
the city, and to the people that is the target, the bionic Maria leads the
people valiantly and like a true general would to war. She is combative, full
of rage and somewhat manic as she or rather it ravages the cities lifeline. At
the heart machine she gives one remarkable and inspiring speech to the people
and they go crazy on the machine despite an attempt by one worker to give the
people reason and understanding.
As the destruction ravages
on the city begins to flood and havoc rises when the children are in danger,
realising this, the people place their leader on a stake for misleading them
and place her on fire, a way I feel to which they tried to deal with the guilt
of losing their children. As the robot is set on fire Maria’s likeness is lost
and the image of the robot is revealed, to the shock and amazement of the
people. The real Maria awakes from her capture and her saviour, her night in shining
armour is of course Freder. He is used as the saviour and the ‘good guy’ in the
film.
The two, Maria and Freder,
begin to save the children from the impending danger of drowning, through their
efforts and help all the children survive, the writer just makes these two
characters more loveable to the audience and a deeper relation is created.
When all seems well and
everyone is happy the worst is over, Rotwang appears and goes after Maria, and
chases her to the roof of the cathedral, where its life that they are fighting
for, good always triumphs over the bad and Rotwang falls to his death.
The good nature of Freder is
once again displayed when he brings the two factions together, Joh Fredersen
and the head worker together to show that harmony can exist and that the future
will be all well.
The film is a classic display
of how characters are manipulated to show the good and bad sides of mankind. It
brings out the themes of nepotism and oppression and how it is works
fantastically well for the beneficiaries, who are the rich. It once again shows
how societies at the top of the food chain want to be alone at the top and not
share it with anyone else and ensure it remains as such.
