Image of the Day : Metropolis by Fritz Lang

Still relevant today… I studied it in the past, though I had problems to follow the teacher's speech, as I had slept during a part of the movie. Not so fascinating to watch a film at 9 in the morning, and silent moreover…

This film depicts a critic on the 20's society, while Weimar republic. Drawing the proslavery of man towards the use of the machine. It belongs to a cinema developped in those years, called as german expresionism, by Lang, Murnau, Wiene, for those I know: the beginning of black and horror movies, faced to sentimental ones. A realistic cinema against one that lies to itself, in a society of dangerous promises.

Also, Metropolis outlines the myth of Frankenstein in a way, by making a robot “Futura”, with the head of Maria, the main female character of the piece. Maria belongs to the “low city”, where all stinks, while people works on machines, and have no way out, but suffer from working. From working for the “high city”, mastered by Joh Fredersen. In the “high city” all is paradise, garden, … Low, is slavery.

Metropolis is a contemporean, but future vision of the society, dealing with the idea of artificial intelligence, and the danger we may encounter with. One cannot but notice, it is still an actual matter, moreover now the technologies have developped. The film warns men about the danger men could lose control on the machine they create.

Fritz Lang made that film from a book and then a script his woman wrote. But still, he could never fix with the end he found wrong. Once Hitler came to the head of Germany, the director left the country, leaving his wife, that never hide her tendancy for nazism. Which just shows…

To my mind, the movie has not become outdated, regarding social and economic statings, the course to the robotic could engender. And I probably look at it again soon.
And now, I look at this picture, I could think that peculiar building here had been erected since. In the United States maybe. From those who prostrate themselves before the shadowing culture: their symbol as a owl.

Thank you Paulo.

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Whatz up, I fell lucky that I located this post while browsing for silent movie music. I am with you on the topic of f the Day : Metropolis by Fritz Lang at Paulo Coelho’s Blog. Ironically, I was just putting a lot of thought into this last Wednesday.

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Metropolis is about the future. Since this story was created in the 1920′s the future has come many times over. Still when I look at the scenery from the movie I think of the future. Fritz had a great imagination.

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It reminds me of a film with Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow “the skycaptain”…I think some scenes of the city are quite similar…
Love,
Lia

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Still relevant today… I studied it in the past, though I had problems to follow the teacher’s speech, as I had slept during a part of the movie. Not so fascinating to watch a film at 9 in the morning, and silent moreover…

This film depicts a critic on the 20′s society, while Weimar republic. Drawing the proslavery of man towards the use of the machine. It belongs to a cinema developped in those years, called as german expresionism, by Lang, Murnau, Wiene, for those I know: the beginning of black and horror movies, faced to sentimental ones. A realistic cinema against one that lies to itself, in a society of dangerous promises.

Also, Metropolis outlines the myth of Frankenstein in a way, by making a robot “Futura”, with the head of Maria, the main female character of the piece. Maria belongs to the “low city”, where all stinks, while people works on machines, and have no way out, but suffer from working. From working for the “high city”, mastered by Joh Fredersen. In the “high city” all is paradise, garden, … Low, is slavery.

Metropolis is a contemporean, but future vision of the society, dealing with the idea of artificial intelligence, and the danger we may encounter with. One cannot but notice, it is still an actual matter, moreover now the technologies have developped. The film warns men about the danger men could lose control on the machine they create.

Fritz Lang made that film from a book and then a script his woman wrote. But still, he could never fix with the end he found wrong. Once Hitler came to the head of Germany, the director left the country, leaving his wife, that never hide her tendancy for nazism. Which just shows…

To my mind, the movie has not become outdated, regarding social and economic statings, the course to the robotic could engender. And I probably look at it again soon.
And now, I look at this picture, I could think that peculiar building here had been erected since. In the United States maybe. From those who prostrate themselves before the shadowing culture: their symbol as a owl.

Thank you Paulo.

Reply

eek.. .

Not a tree in sight, must have been a design inspiration for a lot of the Councils in London and other cities too. ..

Scary.

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I did not know anything about the Austrian architect and film maker of the eartlys 1900. It seems that Metropolis is his master- piece.
Dear Paulo Coelho, I am a cinema fan, but not quite as ..old to have seen this film, neither you.
LOVE,
THELMA

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