Senior Seminar. I’d like for you to keep Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We (1921) in mind as we continue our screening and analysis of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927). Lang’s film is not an adaptation of Zamyatin’s novel, yet it seems to me to give visual expression to many of the novel’s dystopian ideas. Would you agree? If so, can you give examples?
In the illustration above, just for fun, I’ve juxtaposed Lang’s New Tower of Babel shot with a still depicting Blade Runner’s dystopian, film-noir vision of Los Angeles in the year 2019.
Monday, April 13
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6 comments:
Yeah I would definitely agree. The film is heavy on the technology and "We" of course abounds with it. Everything is precise and mathematical in both worlds.
There doesn't really seem to be a hidden underclass in Zamyatin's novel, however, nor is there the sense of continual surveillance (i.e. panopticon) in the film that is so prevalent in "We", 1984, and other dystopian works.
I wish this thing would let me post photos as well; I'm surprised you didn't include a night-shot of the Ground Zero memorial along with the Blade Runner pic. Surely it would have been an excellent segue into our contemporary dystopian society...
I'd write more, but Haliburton is probably watching me on my webcam right now and I need to look busy...
It seems that most dystopian works have an aspect of science fiction and/or technology. We and Metropolis both share this idea.
I would say there is also working people, or mindless people who suffer as a result of some sort of totalitarian regime. Many dytopian works, and Metropolis seem to have this aspect in their plots.
It's difficult for me to call the machines in 'Metropolis' technology, simply because they are basic machinery with pistons and crankshafts. Yes, the scene with the professor does have a lot of gadgetry, but is it technological? It looks like a bunch of switches and knobs, and stuff.
I suppose in dystopian works the technology is only frightening if one doesn't understand it. If a computer system or networking doesn't make sense to you, it may be frigtening.
I think in the Terminator movies, technology is used to create a very scary aspect of the machine. Even though he's dressed like a human and has human form, The Terminator (Schwarzenegger) is still scary because of what he is - not what he looks like. That's the scary part about the machines in those movies - we learn what they can do.
it is a classic dytopian tale as first told by marx. class struggle as seen in dystopia and metropolis are a cooman theme. the peasent revolt of the film and the actions of russian politarians in the october evolution. the metropolis is m,erely and extension, an interlude of HG Wells is time machine captureing a moment of time between our peroid and the morlock the film is an recaction to capitlism gone wild.
ROB SAYS TO BE CONTINUED
I think Sheth makes a good point that the technology in the film seems more complicated knobs and bubbling beakers than true technology. I don't know much about the technology of 1927, but I can safely assume it wasn't even close to any level we have reached now, so viewers of the time probably took it pretty seriously. This would leave a modern viewer almost amused by the apparent silliness. I do think, however, the film still provides a good representation of the overwhelming effect technology can have on us. The multiple shots of various cranks, electric forces, bubbling cauldrons are all very good visual representations of a technological takeover one would see in a dystopian world. It becomes particularly dystopian when poor Marie's image is stolen and put on the robot, which is obviously dehumanizing to her as her reputation is out of her hands as her robot counterpart reeks havoc on the city.
Metropolis and WE have several things in common. Both have heroine who looks out for the people in the societies. Both women are persecuted for trying to help the people; in the movie the heroine's image is almost destroyed, and in We the heroine is completely destroyed because of her uncooperativeness. The mathematics of each story show the precision the people in charge want society. There are always perfectly lined up people in the movie, doing concise actions to insure the machines work. In WE math is essential for all the members to complete there work; if it is mathematically explained then everything seems right to them. Also, the recurring image of time. The schedules of each piece insure the people are at the right place at the right time so the people in charge can have more control over them.
Snoopy
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