The significance in this scene can be defined by the different dynamic happening in the psyches of Freder. Unlike Maria, who goes from having a balanced mind to a mechanical mind, Freder goes from only paying attention to the id, to actually rationalizing with the id and the ego, and realizing that his society has been mistreating those in the working class. J.P. Tellote argues that “The sequence in which Freder takes the worker's place, for example, only displays the horrors of being chained to a mechanism, reduced to a function of a machine, after first illustrating the seductive power that helps keep the classes separated, each in its place” (Telotte 53). Further on in the movie, in minute 40:52 Freder yells in an exhausted manner “Father-! Father-! Will ten hours never-end--??!!”, finally empathizing with the hardships the working class has to endure in the current stratification of their society, the ego and the id finally coming to consensus.
Like with Maria, this scene from Freder is also associated with several biblical allusion. According to Rutsky, “ Freder is quite explicitly presented as a Christ figure: he descends to the workers' level and takes the place of an exhausted worker, where he suffers and is "crucified" on the control dial of the "Pater Noster" machine, crying out to his father for relief ” (Rutsky 5). In this scene Freder becomes the savior of the exhausted worker, and sacrifices his commodities and his wealth to understand the life of his “brothers”. Moreover, starting from this moment on Freder becomes the “mediator”, attempting to incite dialogue between the rulers of Metropolis and the working class. This is also a direct biblical allusion since according to the Bible, Christ came to earth as a med...
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...ter the film has been released the issues that Metropolis are still relevant. While the critics of the 1920s where quick to harshly criticize the film, new generations have found it inspiring and even prophetic, rightfully guessing the course of history. Even H.G Wells founder of modern science fiction and a harsh criticizers of Lang’s Metropolis, responded to the film by creating its own version of it (Testa 182). Whether today or eighty-years ago, Fritz Lang’s Metropolis resonates with the public due to similarities this society has with our own. Fritz Lang does not argue that technology will generate a regressive society, Lang argues that not only an unstable human mind, but also an unstable society, that is not in touch with all the parts of the psyches, the ego, the superego and the id, might be easily lured by the ornamentations technology bring to a society.
Thus placing the film fully emersed in the old, mysterious, dreamlike settings of the city, they are equally balanced with modern technology and the collective past gives viewers a sense of definite decay, with no sure centre for future (Spotto 277). Through Hitchcock’s films Americans could reminiscence and ruminate about their past-a kind of nostalgia and longingness is created. When Scottie meets Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore) in the shipbuilders’ office at the Embarcadero, what he says is striking: “The things that spell San Francisco to me are disappearing fast,” Elster complains quietly and referring to the old maps and woodcuts in his office he continues, “I should have liked to have lived here then-colour, excitement, power, freedom” (qtd in Spoto 280-281/qtd from the film). Here his speech echoes urbanisation that has gripped America and he also expresses a typical American sentiment of longingness for the past well expressed. And the sadness of the old things “disappearing past” is deliberately introduced to effect in Scottie and in us who are urged to identify with him, a nostalgia for bygone era (Spoto 281). Hitchcock has taken the film keeping in mind the viewers of postwar America who were nostalgic. Artist should be able to read the mind of the people. Taine has already pointed out the importance of ‘the man, milieu and
The presence of an overwhelming and influential body of government, dictating the individuals of contextual society, may potentially lead to the thoughts and actions that oppose the ruling party. Through the exploration of Fritz Lang’s expressionist film, Metropolis (1927), and George Orwell’s politically satirical novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1948), the implications of an autocratic government upon the individuals of society are revealed. Lang’s expressionist film delves into the many issues faced by the Weimar Republic of Germany following the “War to end all wars” (Wells, 1914), in which the disparity between the upper and lower classes became distinctively apparent as a result of the ruling party’s capitalistic desires. Conversely, Orwell’s,
After dressing for work, the speaker “would descend / step by slow step into the dim world / of the pickling tank” (5-7). Comparison of the pickling tank to a “dim world” reveals that there is nothing enjoyable about the work he does. As he climbs back out “with a message / from the kingdom of fire,” the reader gains a better understanding of the poor working conditions of the speaker (20-21). Equating his working conditions to such a terrible place shows that these factory workers should have been thankful to even make it out of work alive each day.
This may be due to his lineage, which is composed of generations and generations of factory workers, so it is evident that the long line of assembly workers has created a paradigm that is difficult to shift. It is even expected for Hamper to follow the same path and fulfill his familial pattern. Though the fact that the assembly line is etched so deeply in Hamper’s roots is a primary reason for Hamper’s desire to diverge from his prearranged path, it is also the fact that the shoprat lifestyle is a symbol of “obedience to the Corporation, ” or submission to the higher authorities (8). The compliance of the people in the assembly line towards the executives of the vehicle manufacturing company represent the compliance of the general public to the paradigms surrounding them. Hamper, in contrast to his predecessors, seeks a career path filled with thrill and adventure, one that greatly juxtaposes the repetition and dullness that the assembly line offers. Though Hamper does not follow his intended path and is led to the front steps of the GM plant, he does not yet admit defeat to the uniform mechanical system, since he continues to have the same negative sentiments and awareness of the workers’ submission to the
Metropolis is a silent film written by Thea Von Harbou in 1927, and directed by Fritz Lang. This film was very significant for its time. Although it had very mixed reviews by critics, it pioneered the work of the science fiction genre. The film also gained recognition by political leaders, such as Adolf Hitler, for recognizing the divides between the working class and the aristocracy. The divide between the working class and the aristocracy was the most significant idea I took away from this silent film.
In The Pathos of Failure, Thomas Elsaesser explains the emergence of a new ideology within American filmmaking, which reflects a “fading confidence in being able to tell a story” (280) and the dissolution of psychologically relatable, goal-oriented characters. He elaborates that these unmotivated characters impede the “the affirmative-consequential model of narrative [which] is gradually being replaced by another, whose precise shape is yet to crystallize” (281). Christian Keathley outlined this shape in more detail in Trapped in the Affection Image, where he argued that shifting cultural attitudes resulted in skepticism of the usefulness of action (Keathley). In Robert Altman’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller and Roman Polanski’s Chinatown, this crisis of action is a key element of the main characters’ failure, because it stifles the execution of classical narrative and stylistic genre conventions.
It is commonplace within films to replicate aspects of society like the formation of cliques, and/or groups that are subsets of the whole population. In these kinds of movies filmmakers indulge in the attributes of these subsection as well as the social orders, which facilitates them. Sociologists, like Norbert Elias, have theorized the creations and replication of social strata within Western society since before the 19th century. Norbert Elias’s infamous works theorized the creation of a unified social control within a civilization and the extrinsic influences of that control on the individuals themselves. An example of his key ideas are inherent in the movie “Divergent” where the presence of an embedded subset group “threatens” the social order and thus becomes a target for eradication.
Fritz Lang's Metropolis is a very powerful movie with various underlying meanings that allow the viewer to determine for himself. The movie itself is extremely difficult and hard to follow, although the essay "The Vamp and the Machine: Technology and Sexuality in Fritz Lang's Metropolis" written by Andreas Huyssen provided many helpful insights to aid in understanding the movie. Many of Huyssen's idea's are a bit extreme, but none the less the essay is very beneficial. His extreme views include ideas of castration and how it relates with the female robot, and sexulaity and how it relates technology. Although these ideas are extreme he does also provide many interesting ideas.
Fritz Lang’s 1931 film M, a classic thriller about a serial killer who targets children by befriending them. Trying to have compassion for Hans Beckert, might seem hard, but Fritz Lang uses his film techniques to make audiences have sympathy for the devil. The film is about a man that kills children but Lang focuses less on the crime and more on Beckert's humanity. The point of this film Lang wants the audience to see is that people are credible of understanding anyone, including a madman who killed children.
Ruppert, Peter. “Technology and the Constructions of Gender in Fritz Lang’s Metropolis.” (2000) [Accessed 18 December 2012]
Alfonso Cuarón’s movie “The Children of Men” depicts a catastrophic future for humanity. Although it is portrayed to show events in the future approximately the year 2027 what is interesting is that the society in which the people live in is very similar to the world we live in today. The buildings, stores, cars (although weird-looking) do not look at all fancy as one might think the future to look. Cuarón’s look on the future is not a positive, hopeful one as his movie foreshadows sorrows, miseries and gloom waiting to be welcomed into our world. His movie though does indeed go parallel with the political and societal events of today.
Home to a futuristic society, Metropolis (1927) by Fritz Lang, presents a city in which society has been physically divided to achieve perfection. According to Norden “With its motifs and its portrayal of workers as machinelike automatons (they even move about mechanically), 'Metropolis' unmistakably bears the mark of Futurism” (Norden 109). This society is divided into two classes: the thinkers who are the wealthy rulers of the city, and the workers, who work literally underground to provide for the city. Living in opulence, the audience is introduced to the ruler of the city Johann 'Joh' Fredersen (Alfred Abel) and his son Freder Frederson (Gustav Fröhlich). One day while indulging in his wealth at the Pleasure Garden, Freder catches sight of a beautiful women named Maria (Brigitte Helm). Freder becomes infatuated with Maria and decides to follow her into the underworld where the workers are. Freder quickly discovers that Maria is part of the working class and that she has been calling for unity between the workers and rulers of Metropolis. Enchanted by the cause, Freder attempts to help the workers, however, his father discovers the plan and attempts to sabotage it. To avoid the destruction of the tightly constructed social classes, Joh unites with an old colleague and nemesis, Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge). Together, Rotwang and Joh imprison the real Maria and they develop a robot version of Maria who encourages the workers to rebel against their ruler. The film ends with a climatic scene where Freder, in attempt to save the real Maria from Rotwang, pushes Rotwang from a cathedral roof where he falls to his death. Freder then returns to the city where he is finally able to unite the workers with the rulers, serving his purpos...
Millions of people flock to the movie theater year after year on a quest to be entertained. Even a mediocre movie has the ability to take the audience to another place, escaping the realities of their own life, if only for a mere two hours. Some movies are simply pure entertainment. And then, there are those movies that provoke conversation long after the film has been viewed. Dystopian themes are not new, and have historically provided a template to gage the course of human existence. The Matrix portrays a society where humans exist without freedom. The film is not only entertaining, but also thought provoking. It paints a world with two different dimensions, one with the mind numbing constraint of technology, the second with endless possibilities and free will. When closely examined, a world very much like today’s. The Matrix uses technology to dominate humankind, by implementing a socially stabilizing virtual reality program, thus warning that humanity’s obsession with technology can weaken the mind.
I will analyze Lars Von Trier “Manderlay” with regards to the following five factors: setting, props, characterization, theme and genre. Trier create the movie “Manderlay” and several more to generates the idea of American greed, racism, and the misuse of power. To whom he thought that American was unrecognizable to any American was irrelevant. Even though, most Hollywood movies deny their entertainment as a pretend act. Presenting imaginary worlds was a way that showed unrealistic sense of reality but came off as if they were real. The movie itself was fiercely venomous. It held a strong conception about our society and expressed them in a symbolic representation provoking change in a usage of humor, irony, and exaggeration.
As a practical sociologist, Charlie Chaplin film Modern times embodies the ideas of hyper-rationalization of Max Weber and the false consciousness of Karl Marx. His film critiques the structural evolution caused by modern society. Through satire, the film reflects the lived reality of modernity by showing how individual agency succumbs to ruthless pragmatism, and how false consciousness is taught to marginalized individuals.