Similarities Between 1984 And Metropolis

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To what extent has your comparative study of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis provided an inter-textual understanding of conformity as a means of survival? The extent to which George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty Four (1984) and Fritz Lang’s silent film Metropolis express an understanding of conformity as a means of survival is measured through their synergetic use of perspectives within the dominant and submissive classes to reflect the importance of social conditioning. This purpose of conformity is achieved through class subjugation as a pillar of the dystopic social structures enabled through the censorship of information and the influence of the protagonist’s perspective of totalitarian governments on …show more content…

Freders experience of conformity ultimately leads to his moral transformation as Maria, through the sermonistic elements to her message, is able to bring hope to the workers. Biblical allusion of the Virgin Mary is reinforced through the use of Christian iconography to highlight the spiritual catalyst to Freder’s exploration of conformity as a means of finding purpose in survival as the elite society lacks substance. Essentially the values and perspectives of the authors of 1984 and Metropolis dictate the outcome of conformity as a means of survival through social conditioning however the essence of this control evidently remains constant throughout history. A strong intertextual understanding of conformity in both Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Lang’s Metropolis is afforded through the perspectives of both the powerful and powerless to reflect the unchanging attitudes of humanity. The protagonists offer an appreciation of class subjugation and censorship to highlight the flaws in their dystopian worlds and to comment on the author’s social, cultural and historical contexts. Thus it is these unchanging attitudes that determine the extent as an interchangeable ideology of conformity as a means of

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