Metropolis Essay - How is Capitalism, Marxism, and Regulation of an Industrialised Society Represented?

Marxist Theory in Metropolis

- "As a critique of capitalism, what themes and metaphors, what arguments and points of view of modern life and the place of the individual in the “machine”, or the “market” of modern, industrialized, strictly regulated society does METROPOLIS put forward? How are “the bosses” and “the workers” represented? "

Fritz Lang's 1927 film Metropolis is a heavily symbolic representation of political ideologies, namely Marxism, through critiques of capitalism and representations of characters through a religious and moral lens that effectively contrasts the modernisation fears of 1920s Weimar Germany. This is explored visually as it is through narrative and dialogue, in which the film's heavily expressionistic style represents the capitalist society of this futuristic dystopia, using conspicuous shots to illustrate deep rooted socio-political issues, such as placing two extremes of social classes - the lower and upper- in literal divided segments of the industrialised city. The film can be described to be a comment on the contexts of Germany's Weimar Republic; the country’s first attempt at creating a democracy following their defeat in WW1 that led to hyperinflation and general anxiety within their ruling powers. Juxtaposing this financially unstable climate, cinema offered the German people means of escapism, so for Lang to produce a realist film on Germany's power struggles, conflict, and issues of poverty through stylised metaphors and political messages in a seemingly idealistic and wealthy representation of a future metropolis city, posed a heighted future fear of modernisation for his viewers, in which he stated: 'while visiting New York, I thought that it was the crossroads of multiple and confused human forces, blinded and knocking into one another, in an irresistible desire for exploitation, and living in perpetual anxiety'. This idea is explored during the Tower of Babel sequence, adapted from Christian theology, where the opposing classes, the exploited 'hands' against the capitalist 'heads' 'spoke the same language but could not understand each other'; though there is a display of true decadence in this modernisation, it is built from inequality, where the 'city of the future' was synonymous with exploitation, greed, and corruption of ruling forces. 

From the opening scenes, Marxist overtones dominate the story. The spectator is introduced to the workers, where everything from their costume to stylised walk reflects the misery of their exploited labour. Their first shot has a divided composition, in which the workers themselves are divided by strong vertical lines in the bars of the metal doors that control their working hours and the white line that separates those who have come from 10 hours of work to those who will be entering work - both walking at relevantly different speeds. The non-diegetic sound works with this; the music is legato and low-pitched to match the rhythmic drudgery of their movement, which changes to become more foreboding as they move to the underground worker city. The cinematography is wide with an industrial arch above that could be compared to a mouth, similar to the coming vision of Moloch that represents a machine as a sacrificial God that the workers trudge into as if they are literally feeding it. Here, it could be interpreted in the same way, where a theme of industrialisation/machines - something abiotic - controls the workers, who have had their whole identity stripped; their performance is heavily stylised with a slow gait that reflects their exhaustion, their costume of black overalls and a cap is collective, their performance shows their shoulders slumped and heads turned down that hides the dismay of their facial expressions, and their gait is in unison, suggesting the mechanisation of the working class' identity. This reflects the contexts of the time, where the significance of machinery in Metropolis mimics the rise of industry in Germany to combat the post-war economic struggles. Therefore, the majority of available jobs were industrial, so there was a consequence of discontented lower-class workers as their previous social system benefitted them with no qualifications for better opportunities than manual labour. Although the rise of modernity created more jobs, with the continued social restriction of the working class, the divide between the classes rises as a result of capitalism. This is shown in Metropolis, where the elites are shown to be more intellectual, pleasuring in leisure from an absence of work while their lifestyle is sustained by the oppressed workers below who metaphorically act like cogs within their machine, and therefore cogs within the larger city of Metropolis and the upper-class' wealth. 

This metaphor is demonstrated as Freder (the privileged son of Metropolis' 'head', Fredersen) descends into the machine halls, witnessing the stylised exploitation of the workers; the large machine dominates the frame with extreme expressionistic set-design in terms of scale and special effects, showing steam symbolic of a religious Hell, and strong vertical lines separating each worker at their station, reminiscent of how they were separated in their introduction. This suggests how their identity and place within the machine has been mechanised, with each individual contributing separately like a cog for the greater machine. Their performance is heavily stylised, with extreme robotic movements as they each alternate directions as if possessed by the machine. The lack of intelligible processes within their movement establishes the pointlessness of their work, suggesting that Lang views this labour as excessive to the point where it loses any meaning. Relating to Metropolis functioning in a capitalist system, there is greater priority towards profit over morals, so the workers' existence has a lack of meaning allocated by the ruling class. 

Lang’s organisation of the workers in a large collective state addresses their potential for class conflict through a revolution; Marxist theory pushes that an active proletariat can 'break free' of their chains once they are dedicated to a communist cause. The opening reference of the workers establishes this oppression, so when the spectator (and ruling, capitalist force, the Metropolis 'head', Fredersen) gradually sees a collective rebellion brewing, Marxist messaging is clear from Lang and is consistent with his views of the 1920s Germany: 'The period after World War 1 was a time of the greatest despair for Germany. It was a time of hysteria, of cynicism, of unrestrained vices. Terrible poverty existed right next to enormous new wealth'. Therefore, this regulation of Metropolis' industrialised workers is induced as a result. 

Juxtaposing the extreme enslavement of the workers, the wealthy elites in the upper city of Metropolis, who benefit from its 'lecture halls and libraries, its theatres and stadiums', are shown in a VLS of an athletic race with audibly staccato, triumphant horns that speak to their athletic prowess and freedom of movement, effectively contrasting the worker's introduction. The shot of this race is an example of early modernism; Bauhaus architecture dominates the frame with strong vertical lines and height reflective of the city's extreme display of wealth and power through its expressionistically exaggerated size. In addition, another example of the upper-class' wealth and excess is during the 'eternal Gardens' scene, where the protagonist Freder is shown to be frolicking with assumed prostitutes in an expressionistically natural landscape. The clothing of these elites reflects their capitalist materialism, as they wear expensive garments and fashion that exceeds function, rather acting like the ornamental birds that roam around them, in a demonstration of vanity. The stylised set, although suggested to be natural from the painted montage of the many exotic trees and plants, there is something distinctively artificial about their environment. These images of excessive wealth juxtaposed with the despair of the workers suggests that there is something deeply unnatural about the status of the ruling class/bourgeoisie. They exploit the working class in order to maintain their lifestyle, ignoring their existence even though they are incredibly reliant on them, much like the workers are reliant on their machines to live. Freder is oblivious to the plight of the proletariat from being sheltered by his father’s socio-economic status, so when his world is tarnished with the entrance of Maria and a crowd of impoverished worker children, the division of the classes until this point is made apparent to the elites, leading Freder, through an apolitical pursuit of Maria, into the underground exploitation of the workers and machines, a narrative crossing of the threshold. Metropolis' first act makes a Marxist critique on how unrestrained capitalism will further the social divide between classes, and Lang has imagined a world where the rise in economic inequality has led to the disappearance of a middle-class bourgeoise and dehumanisation of workers, who have become so regulated to the point of becoming machines themselves in the continuation of Metropolis' economy. Their disposability is demonstrated as Freder envisions the underground machine as Moloch; the workers trudge into the mouth of this Biblical God, and a worker is injured, only to be immediately replaced in a continuance of unsympathetic work. 

Fredersen as the antagonistic 'head' of Metropolis represents the capitalist rulers in Marxist theory. His introduction effectively demonstrates this representation as he is shown to be pacing around his office at the literal highest point of his city - within the symbolic tower of Babel that was allegorised by Maria in the catacombs. His workers within the office are angled low in an anxious performance, assumedly dealing with their boss' corporate affairs. Fredersen is impassive, direct, and indifferent to those around him; he apathetically fires his assistant, Josephat, after discovering plans of the catacombs found in a worker's clothes. The performance from Josephat during this scene shows extreme nervousness and hesitation with a close up of sweat trickling down his head, evidencing Fredersen's ideals of placing his capitalist system above the consideration and sympathy of those around him. In addition, he dismisses the plight of the workers by declaring to a concerned Freder that the workers are 'where they belong'. This is a pivotal scene in the film, representing a Marxist class conflict, and establishing Fredersen's views on those lower than him; the disparate classes mustn't interact as it would dismantle the rigid organisation of Metropolis' economic structure. 

The mentioned Moloch is an example of the film's religious (Biblical) imagery, interestingly a running theme throughout, used in its primitive/medieval state to represent the modernising oppressions of the people, including the upper classes. Relating to Marxist theory, Karl Marx said that religion was the 'opiate of the masses', meaning that the oppressive rulers could control their lower-classes through religion as it provides social unity, stability, and a means of seeking content in hardships. In psychology, religion is suggested to have grown from 'cognitive tendencies to seek  order from chaos' , suggesting that it acts as a means for society to attempt control over their lives, thus meaning that those who have oppressed livelihoods will seek this external order more, making it disposable to the ruling classes as a tool for control. This suggests that, in Marxist philosophy, religion, much like opiates, slowly tolerates its user who may feel driven to increase their 'dose' to stay content. This is directly shown in Metropolis as the workers seek solace and comfort from their saintly underground preacher, Maria, in the catacombs. This is where she predicts the need for a mediator who must bridge the social gap between the 'head' and 'hands' - the workers and Fredersen - in order for social change and liberation to ensue through telling the story of 'The Tower of Babel'. Maria symbolically represents both the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist, who, in Christian theology, foretells the coming of Jesus - a saintly liberator of human sin - and Maria, representative of the virgin Mary, emphasised by her being lit with a downlight and soft focus, suggests her innocence and purity as a saviour of the exploited working class. She is shown in extreme religious imagery, draped in cloth that mimics the Christian cross with candles symbolic of Jesus behind her as she acts as the bringer of comfort to the workers. She is often presented as a preacher who advocates for peace, unity, and justice for those impoverished, and her connection to religion evidences the idea that the working classes are consuming this to the extreme by worshipping and heeding her words. In contrast, Fredersen dislikes this preaching as he believes it will ignite a rebellion, leading to the downfall of his capitalist materialism, fulfilling the Marxist foreshadowing from the start of the film. 

 Lang presents the proletariat as a collective, regulated identity within the film, whose place within society is controlled by the governing capitalist ruling class and thus the machines they maintain. The workers seek to dismantle the city's infrastructure in a rebellion against their exploitation (after being led by an antagonistic robot disguised as Maria - ironically, the workers are still under the control of machinery despite their goals to dismantle it) which places them as an active, united group that have the autonomy to change their place in society. Yet, even though Lang criticises the capitalist regime within Metropolis, he also seems to criticise the revolution and self-determination of the proletariat. They are regularly shown to be mindlessly submissive and lacking the intellect to self-govern; they need someone, or something, to decide their beliefs and allocate change. They flood their own city, threatening death upon their own children as they are madly represented to act like uncontrolled children, dancing in circles around their self-inflicted destruction. In response to their realisation, the workers burn the robot Maria at a stake - a medieval witch burning - in a rapid hysteria of revenge. In complications of traditional Marxist thought, both a bourgeois extreme and a proletariat extreme are portrayed as undesirable. In portraying these two opposing forces, Lang introduces the necessity of a mediator, in the form of Freder, to become a natural force of good within the film.