Sequence Analysis of Fritz Lang′s Metropolis

by: Katrin Gischler

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 4

2. Sequence Analysis 5

3. Conclusion  8

Bibliography

‘The mediator between brain and hand should be the heart’. Quotations on Metropolis I enjoyed it beyond my wildest dreams. (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle quoted in Ray Lee: A Pictorial History of Hollywood Nudity) The other day I saw the most foolish film. I cannot believe it would be possible to make a more foolish one. (H.G. Wells, quoted in Frankfurter Zeitung, 3 May 1927) ¹

Introduction

Urban modernity, Berlin’s “Golden Twenties”, the cinematographic city -no other movie evokes these clichés more vividly than Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. Since its publication in 1926/27 it has ever again been praised but also brought a lot of criticism among the audience and reviewers. Metropolis stands out from the fantastic film of the silent film era and introduced a new genre in Germany, science-fiction. It compounds motifs of expressionism, “Neue[r] Sachlichkeit”,² and pulp fiction. Moreover, there are elements of film noir, which connects elements of expressionism and French poetic realism. These elements became obvious in the Father-Son conflict, the existence of a double, the architecture, and the camera-and lighting effects (bright/ dark contrasts/ low-key lighting, iris shatter). Lang manipulated the lighting in Metropolis to reflect harsh contrasts between humanity and technology. Lang’s mammoth piece still has a huge impact on contemporary film as we can see in Star Wars (1977), Blade Runner (1982), and The Fifth Element (1997). In this following paper I’m going to analyse a ten-minute sequence that starts in the eternal garden and ends after the explosion in the underworld of the workers. I will focus my analysis on editing, i.e. camera shots, and lighting since both parts play a very- if not the most- important role for the narrative of Metropolis. Moreover, the camera shots used and some invented in Metropolis gave way for the following and contemporary films. In this piece of work the original version of Metropolis- which has been restored by the Friedrich-Wilhelm Murnau foundation- and was seen in the premiere on 10 January 1927, serves as a primary source.

2. Sequence Analysis

The sequence starts with an establishing shot of the eternal garden, a place where the sons of the rich and powerful men of Metropolis, enjoy their life and disport themselves with women. The shot provides the viewer an overview of the setting and constitutes a stark contrast between the underworld of the workers and the modern, technological upper world of the rich. The lighting throughout the sequence is very bright and each shot seems to be blurred or seen through a filter, which gives the impression of a dream or unreal scenery. The women that serve the purpose to amuse men, are shot in medium and through the iris in. The iris in is used to focus on details and isolate single persons, like the women, from the rest of the scenery. Several women expose themselves to Freder- we see them through point of view and medium shots.

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1 URL: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/5555/metrop3m.jpg [21.04.05]

2 Neue Sachlichkeit – the fascination of technology