Critic: Seamus
Fritz Lang’s film Metropolis (1927) is widely considered one of the first Science fiction epics of its kind. While it is true that it features elaborate sets and revolutionary special effects, the film could also be considered a sort of family drama as well as a tale of repression and revolution.
One of the main characters of the film is the setting, the city of Metropolis itself. The viewer is welcomed to this world with an opening of machine cogs turning with rapid motions; this coupled with the quick score evokes feelings of uneasiness. In the first few minutes the workers are seen trudging along in uniform lines as they move deep below to “the worker’s city.” This bare city with plain architecture is contrasted with the “Club of Sons” and its grand almost ancient Greek looking constructs. It is at this point that the major divide amongst the classes of society becomes apparent.
In Freder’s journey to the Worker City a large machine dominates the frame. The human subjects seem small and inconsequential. It seems as though the workers are in service to the machine as they move in patterns like cogs.
Their sacrifice becomes literal as it is imagined that the machine takes the form of the God Moloch devouring the workers. These workers are giving their lives so that a city above them can function, they will never experience the fruits of their labor.
This sentiment of sacrifice without reward is echoed through out the film with the biblical themes of the “Tower of Babel.” This tower takes a physical form by way of Joh Federsen’s headquarters, which shares the same name. It is a representation of the idea that “hands knew nothing of the dream of the brain that had conceived it.” Much like the people in the Bible verse, Federsen had hired “hands” or workers to build his grand ideas.
Tower of Babel, Federson’s headquarters
The theme of the sacrifice of hands for the sake of creation or innovation is echoed in the mad scientist, Rotwang’s experiments. Rotwang exclaims to Joh Federsen, “So, Joh Fredersen-?! Isn’t it worth the loss of a hand to have created the man of the future, the ‘Machine-Man?!” In the reveal of the Machine, a religious symbolism is present in the form of an upside down pentagram on the wall behind the creation.
This symbol is often used to represent the idea that spirit is subservient to matter, or man to his carnal desires. In this case it may refer to man being subservient to machine as well.
The men at the club respond with immense lust to the Machine-Man’s dancing. One man exclaims his willingness to sin for the machine, “for her-all seven deadly sins.”
The biblical themes of the film give way to the major point, the reconciliation of the “head” Joh, and “hands” the workers, by way of the “heart” Freder. Considering the historical context, Lang may be suggesting that it is important for the “Captains of Industry” not to lose sight of the crucial role that their workers play in helping to create their fully realized dreams. It is also possible that this film is a response to the industrialization of the world, and that it is vital to not lose sight of one’s heart or humanity by serving machines.
This is a sentiment that rings true even today as people are devoting more time than ever to their computers and similar devices while not paying as much attention to the living beings around them.