Theme Of Gender In Metropolis

In 1927, German Director, Fritz Lang, directed the film Metropolis. Metropolis takes places in a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city 's mastermind falls in love with a working class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences. Through this film, Lang attempts to shed light on the discomfort brought upon by the evolution of traditional gender roles, ultimately shaming the expressionism society for their black and conceptions of femininity and sexuality. The significance of archetypes of femininity, the relationship between femininity and technology, and lastly the relationship between politics, sexuality and femininity in Metropolis prove that the

In Metropolis, Lang attempts to synchronize fears of femininity’s predominance in society with fears of technological progress by turning the main female character, Maria, into a machine herself the otherness of technology and the otherness of women, therefore become one in the film. Moreover, technology does not have any humanity; similarly, women possess appearance but no true essence. Therefore, one could say that Lang’s representation of woman as machine was the literal representation of the masculine belief that femininity is empty. By creating “woman”, Rotwang fulfills the male fantasy of creation without a mother, and by creating woman herself; he creates the epitome of nature, thereby restoring the natural order. Like technology, woman is supposed to be subservient and under control of men; but as witnessed in Metropolis, one realizes that woman is ultimately in control of herself. Lang consistently endeavors to explore the male reaction to this change in

Much of the built environment in Metropolis comes across as "manly" when interpreting the film through the lens of gender relations: the skyscrapers, the staircases, the machine knobs, even the smoke that is emitted in the factories. In contrast, the catacombs represent dark, vaginal spaces, which are hidden from the technological surveillance of Frederson’s empire. Fredersen does not even know of the existence of the catacombs, and once he discovers them it alarms him that there is something in his city that escapes his control; though she preaches social peace, it is not her words that alarm Fredersen but the fact that she has had influence that has escaped his control. Therefore, seeing the catacombs as symbolic of subversion, femininity is seen as obstructive, secretive and even dangerous to