Metropolis Notes

 “Metropolis” 1927

·      When was the movie made?

o   Right before the depression

o   Between WW1 and WW2 

·      Conflicts

o   Rich and poor 

§  The working-class humans are treated like machines 

·      They walk like machines- very coordinated 

§  Machine becomes a devil that is consuming the humans 

·      They are discarded and replaced with a new set 

§  The air in “the depths” is very polluted- People in the depths live up to 40 because of the quality of life while the upper class lives to 150 

§  The people in the depths are categorized by numbers- demeaning 

o   Young and old generation 

§  John is wearing leisure clothes while the grownups are dressed in professional suits 

§  Young kids are having fun while the grownups are worried

o   Employee vs employer

·      The city itself is an important character in the movie 

o   They saw the future as big cities with highways running through the air and airplanes flying all around 

o   The architecture in the building represents the architecture of the future

o   Neoclassic, Greek sculpture 

·      Asian, African, European people are being depicted in the higher class- metaphor for cities such as Berlin at the time

o   Germany was one of the most open-minded countries at the time 

·      The mad scientist has some sort of robotic hand- making a direct reference to Frankenstein 

o   He is already a man machine

·      Maria vs. “Machine-man”

o   The inverted pentagram in the background behind the robot means it has some sort of connection to the devil 

o   The robot is also created to bring John’s mother, Hel, back to life, the similarity between Hel and Hell supports the connection between the robot and the devil

o   Maria represents Mary

§  She is a mother figure especially when she takes care of all the children during the flood even though none of them were hers

§  Maria is glowing, she has crosses and candles behind her 

o   There is a very obvious contrast between Maria and the robot, a contrast depicting good and evil 

o   The robot is used to portray Maria in order to turn the workers away from peace and towards violence and revolt

o   The robot Maria has a much darker aura, with dark makeup around the eyes and exaggerated weird hand and body movements 

·      Perception of the future- robot is replacing humans, if there are machines that can do the work of humans it is better because then there will be no mistakes and no need for breaks  

·      The monk John sees speaks of a women upon beasts with Babylon the great, mother of abominations of the earth written above her forehead then the screen cuts to the “Machine-Man” Hel

·      “Maria” comes out of smoke wearing a crown and belly dancing seducing the upper-class men- very scandalous, she is representing lust

o   Maria turns into the women the monk spoke of from the Bible 

o   The statues of the seven deadly sins comes to life

§  Death is alive first- death is inevitable but the sins help us get to death first

o   All the men praise her 

o   She turns everyone against each other 

·      An apocalypse is coming 

·      “Death is upon the city” 

·      Relatable to WW2 and the invasion of Poland, Poland was being taken over by multiple countries and people wanted to erase my ancestors but they were able to survive

o   The working-class in the movie was able to survive and prosper 

·      The way the kids are drowning reflects how in a short period of time all of them will either die in concentration camps or become Nazis 

·      Everyone is excited to watch the world go to the devil under “Maria’s” spell 

·      John helps his father connect with the working class 

o   When John’s father is worried about where he is he realizes that he has put the working-classes children into danger and at that time he relates and empathizes with them 

·      The mediator between the head and the hands must be the heart

·      This movie is based off of different movies such as 

o   La Venus D’ille

o   Golem

o   Frankenstein 

·      Modern Crisis-there is nothing new under the sun

·      Institutional racism

o   Back in the day-

§  Germans against Poland 

o   Current- 

§  Russians against Ukrainians 

·      The city is similar to todays with how gullible and easily influenced everyone is 

o   “Maria” is able to easily influence the working-class to switch and revolt against the upper-class and destroy the city

o   Social media “influencers”