Metropolis , Technology, & the Other

1. Metropolis, Technology, & the Other

2. Analyzing Science Fiction Films • Science Fiction often seen as popular entertainment w/ little social or artistic value. Nothing much to analyze. • But premise of class: Sci Fi conveys social-cultural ideas & attitudes--often at unconscious level--worthy of critical study. • Goal: to analyze what Sci Fi films "say," whether or not they intended to say it. • And contrary to idea that Sci Fi is “just entertainment,” could argue: Sci Fi has always been a genre concerned with ideas.

3. The Human & the Other • Focus of class: the idea of what is Human and what isn't (what is Other than human). • What is seen as Other (inhuman, alien, or monstrous) tells us a lot about how we see ourselves, how we define ourselves. • Frequently, as David Desser's essay ("Race, Space and Class") points out: • What is presented as Other in Sci Fi films is a representation (often in disguised form) of social and cultural fears and anxieties.

4. Fear of the Other • May think that the social issues or anxieties portrayed in older films, such as Lang's Metropolis, are long gone. • But Desser suggests: the same fears/anxieties recur through the years, although portrayed in different forms. • As Desser notes, the "Fear of the Other" is often displaced/disguised version of fears about those who have been seen as socially different or "other." • For ex: other in terms of class or gender.

5. Fear of the Other • What is seen as frightening or dangerous in society -- comes to be presented as Other, monstrous, inhuman, in films. • We see that tendency in many Sci Fi films. • So, although Metropolis may seem dated, its fears and anxieties reappear in many films, even today. • Metropolis may seem simplistic at first glance, but is filled with contradictory ideas. • What is presented as Other in Metropolis? • What fears/anxieties is it dealing with?

6. The Space of Science Fiction • Important point for class: Desser says that social fears in Metropolis don't just appear in figures such as the robot Maria, but even extend to the way that Space is presented in this film, and other films. • Desser: "A way of imagining through physical space the contemporary conflicts surrounding issues of race, class, and gender." • Consider different spaces presented in Metropolis. What differences can you see? • Above and below? Upper class and workers.

7. The Space of Science Fiction • What different ideas (or fears) are represented by these very different spaces?

8. Sci Fi Space and the Other • What kind of spaces commonly seen in SF? • Outer Space, Other Planets, etc. (Unknown, alien spaces—also, future spaces: also different.) • Easy to see how contemporary social fears are translated to these Other, outer spaces. • But also, a common space in many SF films, one that is highlighted in the very title of Metropolis. • Urban Space, Cities (often run-down, chaotic) • Why is the space of Sci Fi so commonly an urban space? • Why is the City the site of fears of the Other?

9. Fear of City Spaces • Cities: often, negatively portrayed as crime-ridden, dirty, even perverse and decadent (unnatural). Cf. RoboCop, Blade Runner, etc. • Not coincidental that cities also seen as place where different people come together: mixing of "other" classes, races, ethnicities. • In Metropolis, working class restricted to "the depths." Mixing of classes kept under strict control. • But what happens when no longer controlled? • Workers/masses presented as a crazed, destructive mob. Why at this time was that a fear?

10. Fear of City Spaces • But cities are also feared as "unnatural" in another way. By definition, artificial, human-made, technological. • Fear of cities linked to fear of technology, of modern life, of technological changes. • In Metropolis, fears about technology, about what modern urban/technological society does to humanity: • Humans becoming mechanical, robotic, loss of emotion, spirituality, the natural • Being consumed or destroyed by technology run amok, out of control

11. Fear of Technology • These two technological fears--becoming mechanical & technology out of control-- appear in many Sci Fi films. • In Metropolis, each linked to specific figure and technology: • Fredersen's hyper-rational technology and city (= the robotic workers) • False Maria's irrational, chaotic technological life (= the rioting workers) • These technologies/fears are also strongly linked to gender

12. Technology, Nature, and Gender • Fredersen: Father/Master of Metropolis: Male will to control, dominate (people, environment, etc.). • Represents long tradition in Western culture: Technological control of natural world presented as masculine domination of feminine nature. • In Metropolis, this controlling Masculine will seems to involve repression of human (feminine?) qualities of emotion, spirituality, etc. • But what happens when you repress something?

13. The Return of the Repressed • Freud: What is repressed always returns. • In Metropolis, how does return of repressed appear? • False Maria: combines fear of technology with fear of woman's sexuality. • Note opposition between False Maria & natural, spiritual (human) Maria. • Vamp/Whore vs. Virgin/Mother.

14. Mediating Technology & Gender • In Metropolis, workers, technology, female sexuality--all linked--go out of control. • The end of Metropolis seems to call for ”mediation" of modern society through Freder, who brings not only the “head” and “hands” (the classes) together, but also • Reintegrates modern technological (masculine) & spiritual/emotional (feminine) qualities. • This mediation may sound attractive, but a problem . . . • Ask: Why did Hitler & Goebbels love Metropolis?

15. Mediating Technology & Gender • Worth remembering that the Nazis saw themselves as offering a mediation that would heal the problems of modern society and restore a lost spirit to Germany. • Also, Thea von Harbou, the screenwriter of Metropolis and Lang’s wife, was member of Nazi party and remained a member after Lang fled the country. • So, there is reason to be skeptical of the “solution” that Metropolis offers to the problems of modern life/technology. • We know how the Nazis’ “mediation” involved a repression of those they saw as dangerous Others.

16. Fear of the Other • As we look at Sci Fi films, I ask you to be skeptical of what they “say.” • In particular, consider carefully what underlies the oppositions between the Human and the Other. • When something is presented as dangerous, inhuman or alien, don't just accept it; ask "why"? What unconscious fears or ideas lie behind this representation?

17. Alphaville: A Strange Adventure of Lemmy Caution, 1965, Jean-Luc Godard • An unusual Sci Fi film. • Like Metropolis, criticizes the repressive qualities of technology and rationality, and opposes it to human emotions, memory, and poetry. • But also borrows heavily from pop culture: main character Lemmy Caution borrowed from a series of French detective films. • Godard had at one point wanted to call it "Tarzan vs. IBM."