Metropolis- Dir:
Fritz Lang, 1927
In the early age of film, some of the most well-renowned of
that time were German Expressionist films, which were prominent in the 1920s,
after the First World War. The twisted imagery and shadows has lent itself to
the imagination of audiences of the black and white era. Like Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (Dir: Robert
Weine, 1920), the sets played a big part on the visual representation and
how it impacted the viewers; however, Metropolis
had subtler connotations to expressionist design, as the frenetic insanity of
Expressionism was built more around the metropolis of the films sheer size and
intimidating and overwhelming scale of tower blocks and buildings. Towards the end of this period was the release
of the ground-breaking epic Metropolis,
directed by Fritz Lang. The film was a risk, being the most expensive of its
time, at 5 million Reichmarks for the budget, and a massive size of extras for
crowd shots and the miniature sets. The look of the film was ahead of its time,
having a set design that was based on modern and futuristic symbolism, though
also taking biblical motifs to create a unique style of its own.
The city of Metropolis one
of the first elaborate futuristic cities on screen, meaning it had to capture
the technology and progression of man in an accurate way. In an article from The Centre of Creative Media, a website
for posting ideas and articles about Film and Television media, the writer Tim
Martin expresses the notion of comparison to modern filmmakers being influenced
by the design and working it into their own sets. ‘In his 1982 neo-noir science fiction classic, Blade Runner, Ridley
Scott takes key elements from German Expressionist cinema and uses them with
such accuracy that his film becomes, at a base level, a colorized expressionist
film,’ Martin writes, referencing Metropolis’s
influence on popular culture. Where modern films have access to CGI and
better ways of editing and film making, Metropolis’s
use of model work, and using pyrotechnics and lighting in those shots is
dying out in contemporary film, but still lending itself to a unique vision of
the future, whereas now, films have the option to adapt and use new techniques,
which is at the heart of the design of Metropolis.
While modern films have used German Expressionism as an influence and
though the many adaptions, growing further apart from its source, some of Lang’s
shots and set design of buildings by Erich Kettlehut, the films concept artist
look to be inspired by Das Cabinet des Dr
Caligari.
Instead of just being solely a film about the design of a
completely fictional fantasy future city, the design references some real world
places, imagery and ideas. Most notably, it has both design elements and plot
points based around Biblical ideology and themes. The conflicts of the film,
from good versus evil to rich versus working class, to other conflicts, come
from the earliest of literature. A source from a website called Strange
Horizons in an article about the film’s themes, talks about the religious
imagery from the idea of the saviour of both classes of the city to certain
motifs of character. One part of the film is referenced by the writer of the
article about the ancient civilisations mentioned several times through the
film, “Below this paradisal upper city,
hordes of workers toil and die so that the machinery of the great city may roll
on uninterrupted. Freder calls the mechanical Juggernaut that powers the upper
city "MOLOCH," a Canaanite word meaning "king." Moloch was
a god of the Ammonites, and not a kind god. Moloch's worshippers engaged in the
ritual sacrifice of children, specifically sacrifice by fire. The vast machine
churns in the depths of the city, belching clouds of steam onto the masses of
workers who know neither hope nor rest. It takes little imagination to
visualize these enormous factories as the biblical underworld wrought not in
fire and brimstone, but in molten steel and smoke-blackened iron. Indeed, Freder
imagines just such a sight after he witnesses an accident that kills several
workers; his mind conjures up visions of helmeted demons feeding legions of
helpless worker-slaves into the ravenous maw of the demonic machine. More
sacrifices tossed into the ever-hungry belly of Moloch, to be consumed in fire
and smoke and ash.” This is also true of the other vision we see of civilisations
built by oppressed workers seen as slaves, for the Tower of Babel, built as a
feat of Man’s great intelligence and strength and also as a challenge to the
Gods, to be able to get on the same level as them. Maria’s whole character is
connected to this, being seen as a Saint, like the Virgin Mary, caring for
children and bringing prophesies of better times, then the Fake Maria being
compared to the Whore of Babylon, manipulating men to kill and die for her,
imagery of her wearing red and purple silks riding a great beast bringing about
the collapse of the empire. The film is really an allegory to the future, where
history seems to repeat the patterns that doomed men to failure. Only a mediator
of such visions of grandeur can create a perfect world.
Despite having what many audiences claim to be spectacular
sets and visual effects, Metropolis
was critiqued for its long running time and puzzling subplots, which caused
Lang’s epic to be shortened dramatically. Scenes were taken out and replaced
with blocks of text which served to depict what the characters were saying and
what was part of the action. This breaks up the pacing and dates the film more
than it would be just as a film 88 years old. Despite its critical
representation, Metropolis is said to
have defined the Science Fiction genre due to its revolutionary set design.
Lang hired effects expert Eugen Schüfftan who had pioneered techniques that can
be seen in later films. Philip French, writer of an article on the Guardian’s
website noted that “we find it easier
than earlier audiences and critics to accept the mixture of expressionism,
melodrama and German romanticism, to go along with the abrupt switches in style
and to accept the apparent conflict of ideological positions.” Now that
audiences can look back on periods and of the art of that time, new opinions
can be recognised from what was before dismissed.
Bibliography
The Centre of Creative Media, author Tim Martin, 2015
Strange Horizons,
author David Michael Wharton, 2003
The Guardian,
Metropolis review, author Philip French, 2015
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/mar/15/metropolis-fritz-lang-philip-french-classic-dvdImages from
www.prettyresults.tumblr.com
www.metropolis1927.com
www.en.wikipedia.org
www.metropolisbabylon.blogspot.com
Hey Zoe,
ReplyDeleteAnother very thorough and well-thought through review - a pleasure to read :)
Just have another look at the referencing - here - http://community.ucreative.ac.uk/Harvard-Referencing
It is quite ok to use the authors name before the quotes as you have done, but you will also need to include the date in brackets. You can do that by the name, or just include it again after the quote, along with the surname, so for example,
Philip French, writer of an article on the Guardian’s website noted that “we find it easier than earlier audiences and critics to accept the mixture of expressionism, melodrama and German romanticism, to go along with the abrupt switches in style and to accept the apparent conflict of ideological positions.” (French, 2015)
Your bibliography should be ordered differently, starting with the author's surname... again, the referencing guide shows you what you need, for both the bibliography and the illustrations list.
Looking forward very much to your next review :)