How does the film metropolis visually handle

dystopian themes and what are its main

influences?
Ciaran Caul
27/10/16

Intro
The film Metropolis, by Fritz Lang, was released in 1927 and was about a
futuristic city with a huge divide between the upper and lower classes. Over the
course of this film it explores themes of religion, social unrest and dystopia. I
intend to focus on the dystopian aspects as well as the cultural influences it had.
This includes topics such as:
How it visually conveys the society as a dystopia
Is it accurate in its portrayal of a dystopia
The inspiration behind its conception and development.
How it has influenced later works
To do this I am using a variety of published sources centered around german
film, dystopias and Science fiction.

Fig. 1. Metropolis movie poster (1927)

Main body 1
Fig. 2. Metropolis tower of babel (1927)

Fig. 3. Metropolis hallucination (1927)

Fig. 4. Metropolis Workers city (1927)

Fig. 5. Metropolis Steam whistle (1927)

While on the surface the city is a shining monument to wealth and success it hides a miserable underbelly where the workers toil away at the machines. As
said in Representations of the post/human The urban-industrial landscape is organized around the discipline of timekeeping; and the citys wealth and
futuristic splendour rests on systematic bodily and temporal disciplining of a de-humanized underclass (Graham, 2002:178). It talks about how the worker's
entire lives are dictated and regimented to get the most work out of them. Another way the film visually conveys dystopian themes is in how the workers all
look and move. They are dressed in near identical overalls with their designated number printed on. They walk in a slow shuffle, emphasizing how little
energy they have, and how controlled even their basic movements are. At the end of their shifts the go back to dull concrete tower blocks hidden beneath
the surface.
However, as much as it does successfully use dystopian themes, that is hindered by the fact that there is no universally accepted definition for dystopia. It is
agreed that it is the antonym for utopia but beyond that it gets more subjective. Whereas utopia refers to an imagined place or state where everything is
perfect, dystopia refers to a state or place where everything has gone to hell (Taste of Cinema, 2014). This definition, by Emilio Santoni, lines up with most
of the ones I have found. What makes it more complicated is Metropolis uses themes of both utopia and dystopia, However I think the two coexist without
contradicting each other.
One of the main pieces of inspiration the film had was western cities such as New York, which were very different to Berlin or Munich at the time. When
talking about his visit to New York in an interview Fritz Lang said I looked into the streets - the glaring lights and the tall buildings - and there I conceived
Metropolis (Minden and Bachmann, 2002:4). One only needs to look at the two cities to see the similarities.
In terms of its own influence, Metropolis has had an arguably profound impact on the rest of the industry. Mainly in the area of science fiction, one could
say films like bladerunner and other dystopian films would be vastly different. Even Star wars, more of a western than most sci-fi, almost copied the design
of C-3PO from Rotwangs robot.

Main body 2
The urban-industrial landscape is organized around the discipline of timekeeping; and the citys wealth and futuristic
splendour rests on systematic bodily and temporal disciplining of a de-humanized underclass (Graham, 2002:178). This
refers to the opening of the movie and talks about how the rich are supported by the labour of the workers and how
regimented their lives are they are.
A definition of dystopiaWhereas utopia refers to an imagined place or state where everything is perfect, dystopia refers
to a state or place where everything has gone to hell (Taste of Cinema, 2014). This definition, by Emilio Santoni, lines
up with most of the ones I have found and fits with the main arguments of this essay.
On the subject of the inspiration behind Metropolis, Fritz Lang talked about a trip to new york and said I looked into
the streets - the glaring lights and the tall buildings - and there I conceived Metropolis (Minden and Bachmann,
2002:4).
When talking about how germany viewed the idea of a metropolis like in the film,Metropolis is therefore a good
example to describe the polemical role which urbanity played in german cultural critique (Penz and Thomas, 1997:11).

Conclusion
Overall I think there is enough evidence to say that Metropolis portrays a futuristic dystopian society with a
good degree of accuracy through its visuals as well as its narrative.
It does it through:
Religious symbolism
Acting
Visual design
Out of the three, the visual design is the most highly regarded. Metropolis was the first large budget film of its
kind, and it is still a source of inspiration of world building and set design for producers to this day. It must be
said it is a very silly film at points and the loss of some of the footage had weakened its narrative. But overall it
still holds up as a great visual effects piece and as one of the first dystopian films.

List of illustrations

Figure. 1. Metropolis Movie poster

(1927) [Poster] At:
http://retromovieposter.com/poster/me
tropolis/ (accessed on 23 October
2016)

Figure. 2. Metropolis tower of babel

(1927) [Movie Still] At:
http://www.port-magazine.com/design/
metropolis-futurism-to-future-living/
(accessed on 26 October 2016)

Figure. 3. Metropolis hallucination

(1927) [Movie Still] At:
http://pyxurz.blogspot.co.uk/2011/1
0/metropolis-page-1-of-6.html
(accessed on 26 October 2016)

Figure. 4. Metropolis Workers city

(1927) [Movie Still] At:
http://pyxurz.blogspot.co.uk/2011/1
0/metropolis-page-1-of-6.html
(accessed on 26 October 2016)

Figure. 5. Metropolis Steam

whistle (1927) [Movie Still] At:
http://pyxurz.blogspot.co.uk/2011/1
0/metropolis-page-1-of-6.html
(accessed on 26 October 2016)

Bibliography
Brockmann F. (2010) A Critical History of German Film. Suffolk: Camden House.
Dixon B. (2011) 100 silent films. London: British Film Institute.
Eisner L. (1969) The Haunted Screen: Expressionism in the German Cinema and the Influence of Max Reinhardt. Oakland,
California: University of California press.
Graham E. (2002) Representations of the post/human. Manchester: Manchester University press.
Minden M and Bachmann H. (2002) Fritz Lang's Metropolis: Cinematic Visions of Technology and Fear. Suffolk: Camden House.
Moylan T and Baccolini R. (2013) Dark Horizons: Science Fiction and the Dystopian Imagination. London: Routledge.
Penz F and Thomas M. (1997) Cinema and architecture. London: British Film Institute.
Taste of Cinema. (2014) Emilio Santoni. At:
http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2014/20-great-dystopian-films-that-are-worth-your-time/ (Accessed on 23 October 2016).