science fiction film is one of the earliest movie types.
As early as 1902, George Mélière used "Travel to the Moon" to let the world see the wonder of unrealistic elements. 25 years later, Fritz Lang used a "Metropolis" to formally define a science fiction movie.
The future city with tall buildings, the use of artificial intelligence and robots, the devouring of mankind by industrial civilization, and all kinds of advanced ideas, even if they are put into the 21st century, they will not be outdated.
1. Film, art, and cultural relics
Before starting to shoot "Metropolis" , Fritz Lang already had a wealth of film work experience. In the early 1920s, he directed several films with success, so he had the idea and capital to make a science fiction blockbuster. According to
data, Fritz Lang used more than 36,000 extras, spent two million feet (609,600 meters) of film, pioneered the use of miniature models, and completed an 18-month shooting cycle. An epic 153-minute film.
is similar to traditional drama, "Metropolis" is divided into three major paragraphs, namely the prologue, the intermission chapter, and the climax chapter.
The one-hour prologue mainly shows the general environment of the story—the Metropolis in 2026. It explains that the master of the Metropolis, John Fredson’s son Fred, went to the Underground Labor City factory in search of a mysterious woman Maria. , And John Fredson and the great inventor Rotwan also have some attempts at the mysterious woman. The
interlude is the stimulus of contradictions. The long-exploited working class gradually moves to the brink of revolution, and Fred is caught in a predicament because of Maria's disappearance. The
climax chapter has become a disaster film alive, and the entire metropolis is facing the danger of collapse. Fred and Maria try to fulfill their mission and reconcile the conflict between the workers and strong Fredson. The plot of
is actually very simple and easy to understand. Even if it is a silent movie, most viewers only need the help of subtitles to understand.
So the film also breaks the chronological interval. Douban has a score of 9.0, is better than 98% of sci-fi movies , which is higher than the recognized sci-fi movie ceiling "2001 A Space Odyssey" and "Blade Runner" To some extent, it shows that the degree of excitement is not inferior to that of color movies with sound, and it is easily accepted by the public.
Audiences who understand Christianity will be more able to get the connection between the character setting and the "Bible", because the Fritz Langs (whose wife is a screenwriter) injected a strong religious color into the film.
What is really talked about by later generations is the use of expressionism in movies.
"Expressionism is the artist's work focusing on expressing inner emotions, but ignoring the description of the form of the description object, so it is often manifested as a distortion and abstraction of reality. This practice is especially used to express the emotion of fear."
The genre originated at the beginning of the 20th century, at the beginning it was just an innovative technique of painters. Then this kind of art spread to the literary world. Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" published in 1915 is a well-known representative work of expressionism.
In the early 1920s, German films began to try to load expressionism into images. When Fritz Lang applied expressionism to "Metropolis" , a classic scene appeared. After witnessing the factory explosion, Fred saw the slavery of ancient Egypt. This illusion was not only spectacular, but also criticized the ruthless oppression of the working class by capitalists. This expressionism of
brings a grotesque and unique atmosphere, and at the same time upgrades the film into a work of art.
film art is often integrated with commerce. "Metropolis" encountered various cuts when it was released. The 153-minute Berlin premiere version was not passed down. Later, most people saw the cut version of about two hours.
It is said that Hitler was also conquered by "Metropolis" , so he wanted to recruit Fritz Lang into the Nazis, even if Fritz Lang was Jewish. Fritz Lang disagreed after killing him and chose to go into exile in France. His wife Teja von Harburg made a different choice. She joined the Nazi Party and created many works for Hitlerscript.
The Second World War brought by Hitler brought great pain to human civilization, and at the same time caused the loss of many artworks, including the original version of "Metropolis" .
The restored version of "Metropolis" in 2001 was selected by UNESCO as one of the world's documentary heritage, but it lacks half an hour of content, some plots are difficult to understand, and the movie can hardly be regarded as "complete" ". Fortunately for
, some of the cut pieces that have been identified as lost were found in the Film Museum in Bueno Aires, Argentina. After taking office, a new curator who really understands film discovered the value of the film. So I brought it to the world.
has gone through about 2 years of repair work. The 145-minute repair version was released in 2010, and most of it is now circulating on the Internet. It's just that after 80 years, that part of the film was seriously damaged, and the repaired image has been blurred.
To some extent, the "Metropolis" we have seen is no longer just a movie, it is a cultural relic.
2. The embryonic form of dystopia
From a story perspective, "Metropolis" is very much like a "dystopian movie." The location of the
story is set in a future, closed environment, like Oceania in "1984" , Shi Huiguo in "The Hunger Games" , "V for Vendetta" in London City .
is then a sound hierarchy. Metropolitan is slightly simpler. Strong Fredson is the supreme ruler. He lives in a prosperous city on the ground with a group of capitalists and dominates the workers in the underground labor city. If
is expelled from Strong Fredson, he will become a worker in the Labor City and change from brain work to hard work.
The term "utopia" has been around for a long time, but the rise of "dystopia" was in the literary world in the 1940s. In 1921, the first dystopian novel "We" was completed, but the Soviet authorities did not allow it to be published, and the novel was circulated in manuscript form.
George Orwell was fortunate enough to read "We" before he wrote "1984" and led the rise of dystopian literature in the 1940s.
Dystopian literature is characterized by being locked in a steel and concrete cage made by himself, dark and cold, and depressed in spirit. In this state of existence, material waste is spreading, morality is depraved, democracy is oppressed, hierarchies are rampant, artificial intelligence betrays mankind, and finally human civilization becomes rigid, corrupted, and destroyed in the high-tech cage.
and "Metropolis" describes the world like this, everything seems beautiful and peaceful, but in fact it is full of uncontrollable ills.
Whether the Fritz Langs have ever read "We" is unpredictable, anyway, they really created the prototype of dystopian movies.
However, the core of the film is not “dystopian”. It is not the dictatorship and ideological oppression of the ruler that caused the collapse of the metropolis, but the opposition of class contradictions. The ruler of
, John Fredson, is a humane character. Although he oppresses the workers, he cares about his son Fred very much, which shows that his humanity has never been wiped out.
, on the contrary, those oppressed workers lost their reason and humanity in the end. If it were a dystopian movie, then they would probably realize the awakening of independent thinking.
3. How to coordinate the brain and hands of human society
"The coordinator between the brain and hands must be the heart!" At the beginning of the
movie, the theme was told to the audience in the form of subtitles. All the characters and plots of
serve for this sentence.
Regardless of the huge story line, there are only about 10 real "characters".
Qiang Fredson, he used his wisdom to create a metropolis, just as the ruler of ancient Egypt created a pyramid.
Fred, a blessed super rich second generation, can regard the underground workers as brothers. He came to Labor City, just like Jesus came to the world.
Maria, a female teacher living in the underground, whose name is undoubtedly the Virgin Mary of reference. She has high prestige among the workersMaybe the workers have not rioted, and she also has a contribution.
Rotwan, the great inventor of the Mets, John Fredson will approach him if he has any problems. However, he has a secret past with John Fredson.
Foreman and worker group, the worker group can be regarded as a role, and the foreman is the representative. Workers have lost their humanity due to long-term repetitive work. This is not their fault, it is just a social tragedy. The foreman is the most rational in the group of workers. Perhaps he is in a managerial position, and his thinking is not solidified.
There is another worker No. 11811 who swaps identities with Fred and has a key role. Unfortunately, the current version of the movie does not go deeper into this role.
assistant Yosafat and tall and thin detective, two supporting roles. The existence of Josafat strengthened the kindness and affection of Fred, and the presence of the detective strengthened the sense of urgency of the plot.
robot and Hull. The robot is written as a big villain in the film, which intensifies class contradictions in the metropolis. At that time, there was no computer. The Fritz Langs probably did not intend to discuss artificial intelligence, but only imagined the concept of robots.
Unexpectedly, imagination has become a reality. Rotwan said that the robot labor plan has been reflected in reality, and machines are indeed replacing labor. The idea of using machines to resurrect human beings is now an old stalk of science fiction.
Qiang Fredson’s wife Hull is a hidden character, she is also Rotwan’s love object, and the history of the movie hides a story of a love triangle. Rotwan wants to resurrect her through robotics, but the greater the desire, the easier it is to lose control.
Metropolis is a microcosm of human society. It seems that class differentiation has existed since the beginning of human civilization. People of different classes are doing different types of work, and human society can develop rapidly.
Qiang Fredson represents the ruling class or the bourgeoisie. It is the brain. Without his wisdom, a prosperous metropolis could not be established only by the brute force of the workers. The
group of workers represents the working class. Without their labor force, no matter how clever the brain is, no matter how great ideas can be realized.
If class differentiation is inevitable, then the two classes are in a symbiotic relationship. The effective cooperation of the two classes can lead to the development and progress of human society, and vice versa, it will split and collapse.
However, class struggle runs through the entire human history, and various universities have put forward different views to try to ease and resolve this conflict. The Fritz Langs also have something to say. Through a "Metropolis" , they stated that the contradiction between the two classes is due to the lack of a coordinator-the heart.
What is "heart" is the key to a deep understanding of movies.
If you have read the Bible, interpreting it from a religious perspective may be more in line with the original intention of the collaborator. To understand more briefly, just look at what Fred has done on behalf of the heart.
He went deep into the underground world, learned about the workers, and reported to the "brain" John Fredson. It's just that the "brain" didn't take his words seriously, which caused the "hands" to lose control.
If John Fredson could listen to Fred's advice and be more humane towards the workers, like Fred, treat them as brothers, maybe the tragedy would not happen.
In other words, the two classes need to have a bridge of communication, mutual understanding, all kinds of problems can be easily solved.
However, Fritz Lang's vision is idealized, and the peace at the end of "Metropolis" and is only temporary.
They just gave the design drawing of the bridge, but it is still unknown whether anyone will build it and whether it can be built.
There are not so many coincidences in the world, only the illusion of coincidence. ——"V for Vendetta"
