R. L. Rutsky, in the handout on Metropolis that I gave you last week, states: "Metropolis is...a film that is jammed almost to the point of incoherence with ideas, references, allusions, and visualizations: from Oedipal triangles to Christian symbols, from futuristic modern architecture to Gothic cathedrals, from mythical figures and biblical quotations to the latest technological marvels."
Choose a theme you see in Metropolis and one 5 minute scene in the film and ANALYZE it using your chosen theme. Analyze mise-en-scene (lighting, costume, shot composition, etc.) and cinematography of the scene. In 3 well developed paragraphs, be sure to analyze deeply and DESCRIPTIVELY. I want an image in my mind when I read your response.
Due: Friday, November 9
One theme that I recognize in Metropolis is the effect that women have on men. Maria quickly becomes the love of Freder's life. And when she is taken, he does everything in his power to get her back. The robot Maria that is created also has an impact on men. For example, the dance scene where robot Maria is seducing all the men of Metropolis. She has the power in that situation. The men have become the woman's "victim" so to speak. The main female in this movie is strong, independent, intelligent, and beautiful. This impacts the audience by sending the message that women ARE powerful and they DO have a say.
ReplyDeleteThe mise-en-scene in the dance scene is very magical. Maria appears to be a mysterious, sexual goddess. She is put on a stage and the spotlight is on her. She comes out of this shell-like structure, with fog surrounding her. The smoke and shadows hide some of her more intricate features, with intrigues the large group of men standing around in bland, black suits. She isn't wearing a shirt, but she does have on a long, flowy skirt that fans out when she spins around. Her erotic dancing arouses the men and one says, "For her, all seven deadly sins." This proves that Maria's performance has made the men weak. She has power over them.
Throughout Maria's dance, the camera takes a shot of her dancing on stage, and then does a reverse shot to show the crowd's reaction. This is called shot reverse-shot. Towards the end of her performance, Maria gets on top of the shell structure and it begins to rise. The camera is set at a low angle and Maria is centered, to imply that she is the higher power. She has control over the audience. Then, the camera does a reverse shot to show the group of men at a low angle. Not only does this appear to be Maria's point of view of the men, but it also shows their weakness. They have succumbed to Maria's provocative outfit and scandalous dance performance.
Overall, the film Metropolis portrayed women as powerful, independent figures. The dance scene especially proves this. The miss-en-scene and cinematography of the scene were spot-on to help relay this theme of women to the audience.
Great response, Christina. Maria (both false and real) is an excellent example of a character with power in a film.
DeleteIn the film Metropolis, many universal themes are crammed within the context of the story and camera lens. By analyzing particular scenes in the film, you can appreciate the mise-en-scene and how it contributes to the overall meaning of the movie. The film itself is a creative work of art that is to be appreciated for many years.
ReplyDeleteIn the last 5 minutes of the film, where Freder saves the city by uniting the workers with their master, poses many societal and Biblical themes that people seem to exhibit. Freder’s father is the “creator” and the “all powerful brain” of Metropolis, and Freder is his softhearted son. This depicts Freder in relation to Jesus, being the son of the city’s “creator” or God in a broad sense. Also, Freder follows his heart and re-unites the people with their master. This could also be an allusion to the Book of Revelations, because in the book Jesus re-unites society with God, and much like society today, the workers in Metropolis were rebelling against their master.
The mise-en-scene of the film shows that much inspiration for the film was drawn from the influence of the “Anti-Christ” and the coming of Jesus in the Book of Revelations. The workers were pushed to rebel against Frederson because of Hel’s manipulation, much like in the Bible where the devil causes people to push away God. In the scene where Hel is burning at the stake, she most closely resembles the devil basically burning in a virtual Hell. Also, the flood helps to influence this end of the world idea, and the re-uniting of the people and the leader of Metropolis resembles how the Earth will be renewed and that this will most likely take place sometime in the future.
Throughout the climax, the shots between events cut very quickly, showing how chaotic and rebellious the uprising is, and when someone is addressing a crowd, the shots cut less quickly. There are lots of long shots to overwhelm the viewer with the corresponding madness, taking place in Metropolis. The ending is cleverly edited to convey the integration of a deus-ex-machina, a sudden solution to a seemingly impossible problem, which proves itself to be Freder.
Ultimately, Metropolis employs religious meaning, cultivating mise-en-scene, and astounding shot composition. Lang was truly able to present the common audience with themes of love, science-ficion, revelation, and class structure.
Nice response, Derek. However--I want you to avoid such statements as "cleverly edited," unless you EXPLAIN how it is cleverly edited. Speak cinematically ALWAYS. ALWAYS explain in detail what you see in the frame.
DeleteThe film Metropolis is a spectacular futuristic film for its time. The mise-en-scene is extremely very interesting in terms of the costume, shot composition, and the lighting. The special effects used in the film are also amazing. The themes that are represented in this film make this film so great. It is incredible that the film creators were able to fit so many themes into this film without making it into a 7 hour movie. Metropolis is a spectacle of a film and an amazing example for modern movie makers with ideas for futuristic Utopian movies.
ReplyDeleteThe mise-en-scene of the film is interesting to say the least. To start, the costumes were obviously from the time period (early 1900's) but the filmmakers had to make do with what was available. Also, there was a distinct class difference theme that was represented by the clothing. The rich people wore bright and stylish clothing and tuxedos and dresses and looked very fancy. The poor workers wore worn-down work clothes. The lighting is also significant in this film. When Freder goes down to the workers city and takes over Georgy's job, the lighting is very minimal. There is only enough light to show Freder at the machine. This lighting shows the sad world of the worker. In contrast to that, the lighting is at its brightest when the workers go to the underground to listen to Maria preach. This leads to one of the other themes of this film – religion.
There are a lot of themes crammed into this film and this makes a variety of topics for analysis. In the last couple minutes of the film one major film comes into play. All throughout the film, religion was referenced to. Maria preached to the workers to lift their spirits. Hel, which is a part of Norse religion, can also be related to Hell in Christianity. The robot Maria is sort of like an Anti-Christ that tries to lead the workers to doing bad things. In the last couple of minutes, we see Hel getting burned at the stake, which is like the workers have relinquished the Anti-Christ and are sending “it” back to the fiery depths of Hell, as the fake Maria turns back to the robot.
Metropolis is a film marvel that implements different themes, including religion and class difference, and uses the mise-en-scene to helps establish these meanings. Yes, the film was supposed to be a sci-fi futuristic movie, but there are many underlying meanings behind it.
The movie Metropolis does indeed have several themes that continue throughout the entire length of the narrative. One theme that seems to be most prominent in the film is the theme of the futuristic "technological marvels" that seem to be shown all the time in this futuristic society. The scene that I have chosen to show this theme, that is the best scene in my opinion to represent it, is the scene where Rotwang starts to take Maria's look and put it onto the machine man. Through the mise-en-scene and the cinematography, we can see how this theme is very much incorporated in this scene.
ReplyDeleteThe opening shot of this scene is a close up shot of Maria, laying horizontally across the frame, but now perfectly, she is at a slight angle from being horizontal. Also we see that she has some weird device placed on her head that sort of resembles a helmet, with wires sticking out of them. We can get a lot from this one short shot alone about the scene to come. Looking at the framing of this shot and the shot type, we see this is a close up of her, making us concentrate on her, but we can't read her emotions because she seems to be unconscious. She end up concentrating on the props and everything else that is around her instead of just her face. We can look at the props in this shot and these show us the theme of the advanced technology of the time in this movie. This weird helmet type prop is something we wouldn't usually see everyday, and thus we associate it with being something far advanced technologically wise. The composition of this shot, with her slightly off angle appearance in the frame gives us the idea that this technology could be being used for so something that is really "not normal" similar to the cabinet of dr. Caligari. This opening shot lays out the entire idea of this scene, laying out the theme of this continued use of advanced technologies, although not necessarily for a proper purpose.
The next shots start to further develop this theme. The next shot is a long shot with Maria in the foreground, and we see that she is in some kind of weird plastic tube with metal rings around it, Rotwang in the middle ground messing with some dials and stuff, and then we have the machine man sitting in the background with a lot of wires attached to it. We also can see a metal sphere at the top of the frame, that appears to be in the foreground. Looking at the props, we see all this technology and wires coming out of Maria's tube she is in, and then we see wires going towards the machine man as well. These props add to the theme even more, showing all the technology that Rotwang is using in his, what looks to be, experiment. Through the composition we can assume that the wires attached to the two body figures, have some correlation because they are both now in the frame at the same time, and before we had Rotwang say "it is time to give the machine man your face". Could this have something to do with that? Does he really have that kind of technology? These questions build in our head about this kind of technology, further supporting this theme. The next shot shows Rotwang walking around behind Maria shot from the other side, showing him fiddling around with a whole bunch of technical equipment that looks like it has to do with the experiment. These props again add to the theme of the technology, and showing how complicated it is to actually get to be running and working properly, as we see him start to activate some of the machines. After he starts turning on the machines, we cut to close ups of the certain parts of the machines, and several machines blur together in the frame, switching back and forth. This type of pairing of the close up shots, shows us the importance of these machines, again, going back to my theme. The blurring of the shots of the machines, also shows that the machines are working together in a way for this scientist trying to achieve his goal.
These types of shots continue, switching between a long shot of Rotwang messing with levers and stuff, and the close ups of the blurry machines working together, until one shot of Rotwang pulling a lever that really starts the machine an experiment up and running. We cut to a long shot of Maria, and we see the metal sphere at the top of the frame start glowing until it shoots beams of electricity towards both ends of the tube that Maria is in. This really starts the scene going, when the experiment has really start to begin. This scene also starts to become very business. The lighting on either side is still balanced, and it needs to be, because the scene has to be balanced because the experiment has to be perfect. If the scene were unbalanced, the experiment could be a complete disaster. So the composition has to be balanced in order to keep the experiment working. The scene didn't have to be balanced before because the experiment hadn't started yet. So the off balance shot of Maria before was the starting way of showing the offness of the scene, and now. Have to have it balanced, in order to have the complex technology work together to do this experiment right. As we then cut to the machine man, rings start to form around it, that are very similar to the rings surround the tube Maria is in. The rings move up and down the machine man, keeping balanced, as more and more of the rings of different sizes start moving up and down the machine. This balance shows now the super advanced technology of these rings that envelop the machine man, that stay in uniform, working with everything else to give the machine man Maria's face.
ReplyDeleteThe next shots are basically repetitions of every shot that has been experienced so far, re showing all the blurred together machines, the long shot of Maria's tube and the machine man with all the electricity and rings, showing how all these props and effects are working together to show the technology working together. This last shot is the real topping it off part of the scene. Now we have some medium shots of the machine man being added in, telling us to focus our Attention on the machine man and what is happening to it. In these series of shots, we see the massive amount of rings in motion around the machine man, as a light starts showing in the middle of it, then it looks like a lighted heart, and then it finally shows a whole lit up circulatory system, which is a characteristic of human, not fit for a robot, so we think. Then we see a close up of the machine man as it blurs into a replica of Maria. This is the peak of the technology theme in this scene. All the technology had worked together, was so advanced enough, to create a thing that looks to be alive from yet another advanced piece of technology, turning a prop into a character. This shows how this scene extremely shows the theme of this advanced technology, and how it is used in Metropolis.
Second half
DeleteOne theme i would like to acknowledge is the theme of corrupting the 'pure' to use as a figurehead. i mean, of course its the most effective way to get to people, but this makes it a very oftenly used theme or event.
DeleteWhen Hel disguised as Maria is riling up the crowd of workers to rebel against the 'aristocracy,' so to speak, of the system, the mise-en-scene really tells the audience about the significance of the situation in this one scene, even if done without dialogue. The first shot of this scene in my opinion is the mosaic of multiple moving pictures with different crowds of workers in different implied distances to the camera, and a shot of Hel that is very hard lit(?) in contrast with all the workers. This seems to scream to me that all the light hitting the workers is being radiated by Hel. This could be said to be the symbolism of the propaganda being told, or their idolization of Maria's purity being manipulated by Maria. And then the next scene is Hel standing in front of an altar like stone, with a multitude of candles lit immediately behind her. But then even further behind her is a looming darkness. This is significant of her seeming to be the figure of the workers' salvation, their 'light at the end of the tunnel' but she is actually just leading them into an abyss into which the consequences are unforeseen. The crowd is blindly following their 'savior' without thinking of the distant future. Another thing significant in this scene is three wooden planks sticking up to the altar stone. These imply to me about Christ and the three crosses and how the people of Jerusalem mistakenly acted and did exactly what they shouldn't have done.
As the scene progresses, there are shots of the workers who are eagerly listening to what Hel has to say. Between Hel and the workers there are giant stone slabs and as Hel talks and uses her hand gestures to lure the workers closer, the workers actually scramble on the stone slabs to get closer and closer. This is followed by Hel gesturing and waving her arms and the crowd reacting to these gestures with reflections of it. As Hel raises her arm in emphasis, the crowd slams the air with their fists. This is emphasizing how the crowd at this point is being used by Hel as just an extra appendage she is not yet used to and is just testing out at the moment.
Licata you put your whole essay in a reply to my comment.
DeleteJack--Nice response. It would be much stronger if you explain where in the shot Hel is in relation to the stone slabs and the shots of the crowds--are they closed? Open?
DeleteWhile watching Metropolis, I noticed a very strong theme of religion. I think this theme is best brought out as Freder visits his father, Joh, in his skyscraper workplace. He enters as his father looks out the window over his vast "kingdom." As the scene progresses, we notice this large table on which Joh can control everything/anything. During this period as well, Freder witnesses his father's unsympathetic, almost non-human firing of an innocent man for a simple inconsistency. During this scene, we note that Freder is wearing all white while his father wears darker clothing.
ReplyDeleteThe position of Joh alludes to several things. First, we can view Joh as almost a God-like figure who can control everything/anything. He has workers who aren't even allowed to reside in the upper streets of the city but must work underground (kind of clone-esque, similar to the future Bladerunner, but that's a different theme). If Joh is God, it's almost obvious that Freder must be Jesus, the savior, the messiah, the one who will lead his "people" to freedom (which is brought out even more so by his constantly white apparel). However, conflict erupts when Hel is brought into the picture.
Hel is as much of a religious allusion as Joh or Freder, and she represents exactly what her name sounds like. She is the anti-Christ, destined to lead whoever follows into a false lull of protection and security. This is seen in the scene where Hel dances for perhaps hundreds of men and they all swoon over her (almost abandoning all of their morals and beliefs and the beliefs of their leader and controller). What's more is that Joh himself commissioned the creation of Hel. Hel can almost be a representation of all of "God's children and creations" that have been led astray and defied their leader.
Anna--Interesting response of themes. However, it is definitely not cinematic enough. I need to be able to picture shots in my head that support the themes that you mention. Describe describe describe!
DeleteA theme I noticed in this film is the devaluing of the proletariat, and the idolization of the wealthy class. Throughout the film, the workers of this city are subjugated and their lives squandered, all for the benefit and continuation of the upper class society. Throughout, the upper class refuses to provide the workers with the respect they deserve. As a result of this, however, the workers eventually revolt (when goaded by Freder’s robot Hel) and attempt to overthrow the wealthy. As a result of this, the wealthy learn the workers’ value and give the, the respect they deserve.
ReplyDeleteThe scene I am choosing to analyze is the scene in the beginning of the movie when we watch the shift change of the workers. The scene begins with a number of couple second shots showing a variety of machinery, whirring gears, and pumps. Each shot has a great amount of movement, all of which is very disconcerting and not able to be taken in at once. Cut into this shot progression is a short shot where we see a clock ticking, suggesting that a time sensitive change is about to occur. After a few more shots of gears and machinery, a whistle goes off, and the words shift change enter the screen. Next, we see an army of workers, clad in black one-piece jumpsuits and caps, standing in a hallway. There appear to be two groups, one on each side of a gate in the middle of the screen, and each also facing in one direction of a two-way lane. When gates rise, the groups shuffle past each other, every worker walking in perfect time with the others. The slump of the workers shoulders, the hanging of their heads, the bleak unfurnished hallway they walk through, and the prison like gate that keeps the workers in their workspace shows a complete broken spirit in each worker, as well as utter control in favor of the wealthy. Also, the uniform size and shape of the workers, as well as the complete elimination of any sign of individuality, squash the workers creativity and value, as each worker is as meaningless and pathetic as the next. A number of high-level shots categorize the workers as week and submissive. To add insult to injury, at the end of their shift, we watch the workers shuffle into an elevator, and they are lowered deep into the depths of the earth, accompanied by a falling subtitle describing this action, to the workers’ city, a drab, architecturally symmetrical city covered in shadow. As the workers shuffle into their city, the architecture around them, paired with a high angled extreme long shot, show the hordes of workers shuffling around their city, as well as their almost negligible power, expressed by the miniature size and lack of individualization. The atmosphere, shadow, and highly visible ceiling, as well as the support beams holding the earth up provide a closed frame for this scene. In direct contrast is the city of the wealthy, which is introduced by an ascending script that widens and gains substance as it introduces the wealthy, showing their significance in comparison with the workers. Above ground, we see a very open and free coliseum, where wealthy boys play games together and run races in the warm sun, without a care. This scene is much brighter, as well as much more open, than the scene of the workers city. A subtitle tells us that every turn of a gear, which is fueled by the workers manpower, produces more money for the wealthy.
This film shows that the Germans of this time period feared a growing wealthy class, as well having a strong support of the proletariat. German filmmakers recognized that the working class was extremely important to the success of everyone, as well as the fact that the wealthy took advantage of the workers and treated them poorly. The filmmakers were also warning against an imminent revolution that would occur if this didn’t stop.
Overall there are many issues that are in the common world today and in the real world’s history that is highlighted in the silent film, Metropolis.The scene that I have chosen to analyze carefully is the scene where Freder first lays eyes on the machines that the workers control with a theme of human labor.
ReplyDeleteThe scene starts out with wide camera shot of the machine and worker area with Freder, dressed in white is toward the center but moved to the lower right a little bit, just like the whole scene in the frame in which if the camera were moved a little bit more, the scene would be symmetrical. I believe that the camera is moved slightly to the left in order to display the depth of the machine room through the amount of bars going diagonally across from upper right to lower left and lower right to upper left. If the camera had would have been dead on symmetrical the viewer would have not been able to show the amount of bars because they would be layered behind and in front of each other in the frame. This opening shot also includes closed framing through the use of dark walls/machines surrounding the frame. There are some symmetrical aspects of this shot even though the camera is not directed in a symmetrical way. The first worker on each the left and right side both have an equal distance apart from the center of the frame. Yes Freder is the center of focus in this shot, but the objects he is looking at are the workers themselves who have rhythmical. Freder is focused because he is the only one with abstract movement throughout the shot. The next shot is a long shot of Freder himself in the mixed maze of walls and stairs. At the top, in the middle of the frame, the workers feet are still easily visible showing that Freder is obviously in the same are and that the workers have not stopped their rhythmic movement even though the son of who is in charge of the workers’ work has entered the scene. Then there is the enormous entrance of the biggest machine in this scene. Finally placed with a center shot, the symmetry of the machine represents the importance of the machine,main function of the city, and the importance of the labors of the many workers. This leads to the only thing that is not symmetrical, but is still rythmic which is the workers movements again. You now start realizing what their duties of maintaining the machines have done to the laboring peoples as themselves as a whole. The rhythm of their movement will change in a couple scenes. To display how many workers there are laboring at that one machine, they split the symmetrical shot into four quarters, but the interesting part about this is that the camera is shooting the right side of the machine from more of a left placement and the camera is shooting the left side dead center as for the other two quarters as well. This represents an aura of confusion because the order and placement of the shots are jumbled up. The camera then moves back to center wide shot of the whole machine. A new feeling enters in the next shot, where the camera is centering one worker and his machine by himself from the left. The frame seems to have a slight tilt meaning that there will be panic soon. He working on this whole wall that fills up the whole background. The big difference in this shot is that the worker’s movements are not synchronized and that they are more in panic and quick merging movements. The next shot has the same placement in the same area except it the camera has changed to a medium close up around the worker, still moving rapidly to different areas in order to keep the machine running the right way. As he moves the camera moves along with him. Then the shot switches to the reason of his massive movements, a close up of the thermometer displaying the temperature of the machine. Overall this thermometer represents the amount of work it takes to keep just one of the parts of the machines alive, in which there will (Part 1)
be another example of this full out attempt later in the scene. The camera switches back to the medium close up of the troubled worker, but then switches to a new placement of the same area. This time it is a high angle, side shot of the worker and his part of the machine. The worker then clearly brings is view over to something of great significance, and of course it is the thermometer which is the next shot. The framing is different because it is a point of view shot from the worker who is lower than the thermometer and is to the left of it. I forgot to mention that the temperature is rapidly increasing. We then go back to the same shot before that thermometer shot, along with his reaction and his falling movement toward the next shot. This next shot is of his hand desperately trying to turn the knob but fails, leading to another face on shot of the thermometer. The camera then moves back to the most important overall machine in the next shot(this is a long time for this shot), then back to the thermometer. Then moving to the overall machine again but with everyone moving faster. Finally we get back to Freder’s reaction which is the same shot of a wall taking up a third of the space. And then another shot of the machine as a whole, then the thermometer reaching its breach. What I believe is not the same worker got tired out, he had gotten blasted with a blast of mist coming from the right and blurring the vision of the worker to the viewer. Another unique shot is of Freders reaction to that with a raid movement of the camera toward him, then back to the overall machine, but now with many workers falling off with more and more smoke. There are two more shots of what is happening to the workers and then another shot of Freder’s reaction with him laying on the ground against the wall making sort of contortionist movements. One more shot of the workers suffering but then Feder stands up and realizes something that he is looking at. This next shot is a key meaning of the theme of forced labor in this film. It is a shot of the overall machine again, filled with smoke, but the machine itself turns into a sphinx like figure but turns out to be MOLOCH according to Freder. Moloch is the name of an ancient Ammonite god. He would have parents sacrifice their children into his mouth in this case. There is Freders reaction shot another time and then more of a close up of MOLOCH’S mouth. In here are a symbol of the workers, but different workers with men forcing them into his mouth. The shot switches to the stairs with the sacrifices traveling up representing the amount of workers that are being pushed into this mouth, then back to the full shot of the machine/Moloch. In this shot Moloch diffuses back into the machine but before this, a large group of people wearing black travel up the staircase, finishing up the sacrifices while also sacrificing themselves freely and jumping into his mouth instead of being forced to do it. The transfer stays this way for a little while, the middle still Moloch, and the ends being the machine, another reaction shot to Freder,and then finally transfers fully back to the machine with the workers helping each other get out of the ruckus.
ReplyDeleteBefore I move on, I believe that the group of forced sacrifices are what the workers really feel on the inside. Once Moloch is half diffused, I believe that the figurines wearing black are the workers on the outside, willing to do anything they were told. In this next shot we see Freder in the background this time, at a long shot from the camera, and taking up most of the room in front of him. He stands out easily because of his costume, which is white and the workers’ costumes, that are black. Once the workers go by, the shot changes to the machine again, but now realizing that it s normal again with workers at the same place they all were before this happened and I shall end there.. To me this represents that this happens many times and that
gah! 168 characters off >:(. that was part two and this is part three:
ReplyDeletethis is what the workers are used to everyday simplified in a five-minute scene. This is their whole life, the only point that is keeping them from rebellion is Maria.
One theme very evident in Metropolis is the theme of a Jesus-esq figure coming to save everyone from the tyranny of the ruler. The figure in the film is obviously Maria, and she is saving all the workers from the tyrannical futuristic business. Another theme present is the power women have over men. This is evident in how much control Maria has over a predominantly male workforce in the movie, and how that is exploited.
ReplyDeleteIn the scene where Freder follows the workers below grounds, both of these themes are present. Maria stands on a higher level, showing superiority. There are candle and a cross, both associated with items being in a church. She speaks of metaphors, many of which make references to the bible. She then tells a story from the bible. As well, she is a very attractive women, who has many men under her control. This theme is later used against her, when the robot, pretending to be her, has them attack.
The transformation scene is a key scene in the film. It opens with a high angle, fairly close up shot of Maria, eyes closed, in a glass case, in the center of the frame, hooked up to wires through a helmet- the original mad scientist’s lab. We then get a wider view of the lab, this shot is very symmetrical and full of symbolism. It’s an eye level shot of Rotwang who is on the right behind the glass case. The case has an art deco look to it, more decorative looking than productive. There is an upside down star on the back wall, the robot is sitting centered in front of it. There are wires coming from every direction that seem also to not have any distinct purpose. Here Rotwang begins his sequence of the transformation, turning things on, and stopping to look around in between. He doesn’t appear at all rushed or unsure; he seems confident. As he moves around we see the elaborateness of his laboratory: the walls are covered with metallic levers and dials and meters and detailed drawings, there are wires coming from the ceiling, going nowhere, there are vials and steaming beakers and machines covering every surface of several small tables. As Rotwang makes progress, we see that each of these pieces of equipment begins to move up and down, or smoke, or light up- these changes are deliberate and purposeful. The shots are patterned with a shot of Rotwang completing an action, then a shot, presumably of the cause of his action. I particularly like the corner where many of his bottles and beakers are stored on shelves; the shelves are literally curves like a rainbow from the floor to the ceiling- impossible for realistic storage, but very German Expressionist. Rotwang himself is the typical mad scientist. His wearing a long robe, reminiscent of a wizard or sorcerer, has a hard face and crazy grey hair, sticking up in all directions.
ReplyDeleteInterspersed is the original wider shot of the glass case containing Maria, and the centered robot and star. As the process really gets going, we get the same shot of the case, in the sense of where it is positioned in the frame, but it is from the point of view of the robot. A triangle of light appears from the two ends of the case to a large ball on the ceiling. At this point Rotwang becomes slightly more frantic, but still fairly calm. Then we come to a medium eye level shot with the seated robot, now much brighter, still with symmetrical wires falling to the floor, and now also with rings of light moving slowly up and down around it. We go back and forth between this shot and the triangle case shot, lights getting brighter and faster moving, and shots getting shorter each time. Then we get several low angle close ups of different vials bubbling and a frantic Rotwang. Then we get to see the entire process; from foreground to background we see, all centered; the glass case, the triangle of light, the ball on the ceiling, the stairs and wires, the robot, almost fully covered by rings of bright light now. Finally, the robot is transformed into looking like Maria.
The importance of lighting in the scene cannot be stressed enough- they could not have accomplished this effect without effective lighting. Also, an interesting aspect is the juxtaposition of the eye level ultra-symmetrical shots of the totally still robot and the case, and the bent low/high angled shots of always moving, bubbling measurement tools filled with mysterious liquid and the animated and ever moving Rotwang. This is pertinent because one of the main themes of this film is the balance between human error and inefficiency, with the precision and sterility of the technology we create.
Metropolis is an amazing film that was able to convey multiple important themes that are still relevant today. The cinematography and mise-en-scene was ahead of its time, because it used techniques that were never before used for film purposes. Fritz Lang was definitely a genius who knew what he was doing.
ReplyDeleteSeveral times throughout the film, there are concepts of equality amongst the people and acceptance into a certain social group within a utopian society. Freder is upper part of the city where the thinkers are located, but he wants to support the workers. Once the workers find out that he is Joh’s son, they refuse to accept him as one of their own, similar to how Joh rejects Freder due to his alliance with the workers. Since there is no social group that fits in between the two major classes, Freder must basically walk the thin line between them, acting as a savior for both. The workers are placed under large amounts of pressure to control the machines that only benefits the the higher part of the city that the Thinkers live in. This questions the value of men when machines become prominent in society.
During the scene that shows the workers maintaining the machines at a synchronized pace, it almost seems as though they are a part of the machine itself. Their inhuman movements make them look like slaves that are controlled by man’s own creation, technology. All of these workers are dressed in the exact same uniform, taking away from their individualism, and shows how the value of life is less than the value of the machines that they work for. The steam that is constantly shot out amongst the workers brings life to the industrial complex. When the temperature became too high, the steam begins to fill the entire screen as if the machine became angry. This leads to the human sacrifices to the “Moloch” type monster that the machine melted into. Freder wears a white outfit that contrast against his dark surroundings, showing how much he disagrees with this corrupt system that was hidden from him all of his life.
The camera views the massive machines through low angle shots, representing its amount of power over the the men who look tiny compared to it. In the part when the single worker loses control of the levers and buttons in an attempt to maintain the temperature, he is shown from a high angle, barely holding onto the controls. All that he can do is work at this machine, so he holds onto the it like he is in fear of his life.
The film Metropolis has many different themes packed inside of it, almost as if overflowing with different ideas and themes. The one that struck me the most was the inhuman and not realistic movements of the workers while on the machines. Metropolis used mise-en-scene that was way ahead of its time because of the amazing structures used such as the machines the workers used to run the city. This was a fantastic movie that had a major influence of films well after its time as well as still today.
ReplyDeleteThe scene where Freder first goes to the worker city and watches the workers turn some sort of generator that kept the machine going is an important scene to understand the awful life these workers have. These workers were moving the cranks of the machine in different spots of on the machine and were moving in-synch and very un-human like to a degree that it is suppose to in a sense freak the viewer out. The viewer at first thinks they are actually apart of the machine, as they are wearing the same color clothing as the color of the machine, dark grey, until the viewers take a closer look and see they are actually people working the machines. As the camera cuts back to Freder, the viewer should notice in a very dark place and where everyone is wherein very dark clothing, Freder is wearing white, making the viewer believe he may be the savior of these workers eventually. As the workers on the machine got tired and started to slow down, the machine let out steam as if mad at the workers for letting down and the machine then let out so much steam it covered the entire shot. As the steam clears the viewer sees a scary, monster- looking machine that is swallowing the workers as they walked into its open mouth. This symbolizes the machine taking away the souls of these workers because they are forced to do the same thing on these machines over and over, taking away their individualism.
The film had many themes throughout, but the theme I was most touched by was the one used in the above scene, and how in this film, individualism did not exist for the workers and Feder’s disagreement with the way they are being treated. I very much loved this movie as well as many other people did because this film helps to influence many films that where made well after its time.